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Hey guys,

Lets start with our Grocery Budgetting...First lets brainstorm what all we use day 2 day in our cooking. Then we can sort out what is essential, what can be specials. Then we will put a budget what to buy on a trip to grocery.like what shud be every 3 months and what shud be in the weekly list[ yes, doing it weekly is cheaper than fortnightly or monthly and also veggies don't get spoiled]

So come on girls, lets try to save some money.. I have listed down what all is required... Please post as much as possible, because this is just the discussion thread.. once finalized, we can put it out as a separate thread and we can do our budgetting every month :) not just for grocery.. but other ways too..

Kitchen
--------

Dals
---Toor
---Channa
---Urad
---Masoor

Rice
---Basmati
---Cooking (Whatever you choose)
---Idli/Dosa

Milk

Yogurt - For those who dont make it at home, Girl.. start doing it at home ;) now that summer is out as well.

Oil

(Some might use separate oils for frying and cooking. Like Peanut oil for frying and Idhayam for cooking, so splitted it)

---For frying
---For cooking
---Common if any

Powders

Essentials to do cooking

---Chilli
---Corriander
---Sambhar
---Rasam
---Tumeric
---Garam

Vegetables

Essentials

---Onion
---Tomato
---Green Chillies
---Curry Leaves
---Corriander Leaves
---Garlic
---Ginger

Other veggies

----Beans
----Carrot
----Potato
----Plaintain
----Brinjal
----Ladysfinger
----Tindora
----Longbeans
----Avarakkai
----Greens
------Spinach
------others
-----Cabbage
-----Cauliflower
-----Beetroot

Nandu,

I was very curious when u were talking abou tthis budgeting and was waiting to see the list(believe me i thought of a excel list..but this is too cool.i burst out laughing..first reaction...)

My budgeting technique is very simple...I will come back at the end..I am known to be too frugal and miserly.....in my circles..so let me come in the end...but i don't compromise anywhere....+

Shanthi,

Acho.. dont expect that level with me.. I need to start from scratch.. what to buy and what is essential..As I mentioned earlier.. this is all new If I like something and want to try, I just drop it in the basket.. I guess thats a big no no.. Also some dals and powders, you should buy in huge quantity and keep it.. When I see the bill its $60-$80. and I had to cry all the way.. So thats the list I wanted to start with.. get the grocery bill to $20-$30 always... no matter what I buy...

May be 10 years from now.. I will do the actual accountant kinda budgetting me thinks

Hey Nandhu!

I just posted in the other thread, and here I am now!

I have thought over how much we spend on Groceries, and roughly it comes to about $100 a week. I buy the daals, and all other Indian groceries once in a while and this $100 includes all that. So roughly $ 400 a week is our approx. budget on groceries for a family of 3. How about u?

ANK

Wowwwww.. its $100 I am crying for $60-$70...

We are just 2 of them ... why is it $100 every week???

Rice, Dals and Oil, I plan every 3 months... so weekly it shud be just veggies and milk right?

Hi Nandhu!

U mean to say, ur grocery bill for a week is $60-$70?
Well mine comes to $100 approx. I have put it on the higher side actually.
I visit Walmart/Sams/Indian Groc./ every week, and my combined bill comes to almost $100 a week. I find fruits expensive, and not to mention Indian veggies, sp. the frozen variety like drumsticks, Kantola etc. I have a 12 yr. old foodie at home, and once in a while I get frozen Spring rolls, chicken nuggets etc., so all this adds up!

ANK

Originally Posted by Nandshyam

Wowwwww.. its $100 I am crying for $60-$70...

We are just 2 of them ... why is it $100 every week???

Rice, Dals and Oil, I plan every 3 months... so weekly it shud be just veggies and milk right?

May be you are an impulsive buyer. a simple thing, go to your pantry and storage and check how much of the things you buy you are effectively using. do you have things that you have brought and have not tried for various reasons???

Hi all,

Just thought I will share with you. There is an organization called " Bountiful baskets.org" in Phoenix. A group of ladies go buy in bulk from a big grocery chain and distribute it at a subsidized cost to whoever signs up with them.
Each basket is filled with roughtly 10-12 veggies and 10-12 fruits of the season.
The cost is $17/-. They offer it twice a month and it is delivered at a nearby location, usually a a park. It is all done by volunteers.You place the order online and it is to be picked up by a certain time on saturday morning. I have been doing this for nearly 8 months and very happy with it. We get some fruits that we do not try normally. Some of the produce are organic, some are not. It has become so popular that they have opened several sites. You can try and explore if there are some groups like these in your city.

I have to tell you also that since I do not get the Indian veggies with this order, I make a trip to the local Korean market to make up for the deficit.
Cutting down on prepared foods, except for kid's school lunches is an option while budgeting.

MY Blogs

Hi Nandhu,
From your list, several things are missing which I usually purchased for weekly basis.....
Bread
Eggs
Fish (only for Dh, I am a veggie)
Paneer

Greens and Beans (mustard green, water spinach etc)
Several fruits (Apple, Pears, Peaches, Grapes, Strawberries, bananas ....I used to buy all these every week for 11:00 am snack for both of us). And certain seasonal fruits ones like Cantaloupe and Water Melon and berries

Salad things (Lettuce, cucumber, carrot, avocado (I like avocado in salad))

Soup Mix with Croutons
Fruit Juices
Several frozen stuffs like peas.....mixed veggies.....etc......
Certain Indian veggies like okra...brinjal.......yellow squash.......

I used to get these in weekly basis......we are just two and yeah most of the time our bill goes around $80 per week.......
I don't think there is anything I can cut down.......
All these fresh veggie and fruits are costly.......so can't help with that......

Only things are which we purchase in six months basis.......rice........wheat........and sugar.......otherwise......for a balanced diet we need all these........
Me and hubby are not in the group who does budgeting in food.......other things can be cut down like use less gas by buying most of the things from a supermarket.......
Walk down to nearest mall .......cut down the money you spend for Happy hour etc.....

Regards.

Originally Posted by sundarusha

Hi all,

Just thought I will share with you. There is an organization called " Bountiful baskets.org" in Phoenix. A group of ladies go buy in bulk from a big grocery chain and distribute it at a subsidized cost to whoever signs up with them.
Each basket is filled with roughtly 10-12 veggies and 10-12 fruits of the season.
The cost is $17/-. They offer it twice a month and it is delivered at a nearby location, usually a a park.

Hi Usha,

WOW.. thats really a nice idea!!!

Unfortunately, we don't have it here or in NY.. (may be upstate ny.. but filling gas and going up there, i would rather buy myself here me thinks)

So they just do it out of love, huh? Thats really nicee... buying something and selling it out for a lesser cost.. very nice...

Here, I am yet to find the best place for fruits and veggies thats cheap... [indian veggies no other go.. got to go to indian stores] but others in general... I am planning to buy some this summer from farms.. Last year during summer, we went to apple picking and on the way.. there were lots of farms.. I got loads of onions, tomatoes, capsicum, squash, brinjal(long ones), carrots, cabbages and cauliflowers for so cheap.. a cabbage was like .50cents and stuff like that.. I am planning to save as much as possible this summer.. because during winter.. i have no other go.. but buy from these stores