Where do most you non-FCBs go grocery shopping?

paydawg

Active member
I feel like my grocery bills have been getting higher and higher the past couple years.  Is the Ralph's in Woodbury more expensive than other places?  I tried to price shop on certain items at Target, but that's hit or miss.  I even stopped by Walmart for the first time yesterday, but their prices weren't much better -- and I'd rather avoid the Walmart experience altogether since the bargains aren't much better.

Where do all you TI's go?  (1) Ralph's/Albertson's?  (2) Trader Joe's/Sprouts? (3) Costco? 

FYI - Stater Bros. is too far....so I'm not going there. 
 
The best thing about Woodbury Ralph's is Ressie in the meat department. (Pronounced: Ree-see.) She's the little Filipino lady. I've known her for years. I highly recommend her. She does a wonderful job. Everyone absolutely loves her.
 
SoCal said:
The best thing about Woodbury Ralph's is Ressie in the meat department. (Pronounced: Ree-see.) She's the little Filipino lady. I've known her for years. I highly recommend her. She does a wonderful job. Everyone absolutely loves her.

I know who you're talking about.....she's pretty good. 
 
Need more details, what exactly are you trying to buy?

For fruits and meats and veges, it'll be hard to beat the Zion market prices.  Yes it's Asian.  Yes it's crowded, but the prices are really good.  Just smile and nod, there's other non Asians there as well.

For regular items (non fruits and meats) I've been dealing with similar situations recently.  Ralphs at Woodbury has been not having discounts as usual, been going to the Albertsons next to cypress village more recently. 

Of course, Costco for anything else I need in bulk.  Mostly cleaning supplies, soaps, water bottles, eggs, bagels, deodorant etc.  I try not to buy other stuff in bulk as I find I end up buying too much
 
YellowFever said:
I don't buy groceries.

I drive back to Cerritos every weekend and pick up 1 weekday's worth of food from my parents.  ;D

Groceries in Cerritos is wayyy cheaper than in Irvine.

Then I only eat out on the weekends.

Besides, my M6 needs a freeway exercise to keep it in tip top shape as opposed to just driving locally around down.

So that's how you afford the M6...it all makes sense now  ;)
 
Sadly, we plan the weekly meal plan around the grocery flyers.  Or I should say, I try to, as I'm a cheap *ss.    I'm about ready to buy a half steer from a grassfed farmer out Temecula way as the difference is becoming minimal. At least if I'm paying over $8/lb for beef, I'm getting quality.

For veggies, I've hit up the semi-local Superior Grocers.  Other things I pick up here and there as needed.  When Smart & Final has the cryo-pak Chuck on sale, I'll pick one up and cut bunch of roasts from it and vac-pak freeze them.  It's easy to grind it myself for ground meat if we want it, chop it for stew or use as a roast.

Otherwise, if we try shopping on the spur, you run into the we want chicken breast to make some stir fry and it's $4.99/lb.  Or chuck roast will be $6.99/lb.

 
Costco for milk (the super pasteurized organic milk has like a 1+ month expiration, saves time), Zion/Hmart for most fruits, Trader Joe's for bagged kale, bananas, berries (if Zion doesn't have a good selection), wine at Ralph's (Woodbury liquor manager very helpful), Albertsons for cheap beer (coupon in weekly flyer usually), Amazon S&S for whatever's on Slickdeals for drinks and snacks, and  Ranch 99 when I feel like cooking (but usually a fail)
 
About $120/wk for 3 people.  Not including dining out which is additional.  Some of that $120 is sloppy accounting, I don't split the target receipts and instead categorize them according to majority item on it.  So part of that is typical household consumables like TP, cleaning supplies, soap, personal care.  Other stuff is like pasta, pasta sauce, etc.  Pantry long store items.
 
I'm at $350/mth for 3 people.  Used to be around $200 a couple yrs ago with little difference in consumption.  This doesn't include dining out.
 
SoCal said:
The best thing about Woodbury Ralph's is Ressie in the meat department. (Pronounced: Ree-see.) She's the little Filipino lady. I've known her for years. I highly recommend her. She does a wonderful job. Everyone absolutely loves her.

I take it she hasn't Todd'ed you.
 
You guys sound like old me.  I used to spend $250/week as well.  Finally it just hit me that I spend so much on food that I changed my ways

Weekly (M-F) my family (2 people) spend $20/week on groceries
I like to go to Zion market and get their pre marinated Korean bbq
1 lb of bone in short rib is like $7... I get 2 lbs, grab some vegetables of the week then meal prep 5 days.  I get tired of their short rib at times so I do their teriyaki chicken for $3.99/lb and get 4 pounds of chicken for the week.  It's all about changing it up and not get burned too soon with "boring" food

On the weekend, it's tough to do that.  So I set aside around $40-80 on the weekend meals since I do go out. So best case $60/week worst case $100/week

I've saved so much from doing this. 
 
LOL. I feel like I'm blowing my money on food now. We mostly get stuff from Costco + Farmers Market but also do some of the meal delivery services. Then there's eating out a few times a week. I've been afraid to tally this all up into a weekly rate.
 
SoClose, what else you eating?  4 llbs of chicken equates to 3oz portion before cooking each for lunch and dinner over M-F.
 
nosuchreality said:
SoClose, what else you eating?  4 llbs of chicken equates to 3oz portion before cooking each for lunch and dinner over M-F.

This is going to sound depressing but I don't get very full.  Just enough to last the day LOL.  4 lbs is equal to maybe like 5-6 large pieces of thigh.  What I do is cut it up into small pieces.  Then put it all into a fly pan with some olive oil and cover it.  Then take it out.  I also buy some eggs from Costco some week (srambled or over easy).  Cook 3-4 cups of rice for the week, then stir fry some vegetables.  Each meal prep has about maybe 4-5 pieces of small cubes of chicken with rice, eggs, and vegetables

I think it's the rice that fills me over the day.  Also drink lots of water and work has free coffee

quick edit:  I also adjust sometimes by making some fried rice instead.  A can of spam or some good ol' Chinese sausage.  Stir fry it together with some soy sauce and it'll last you a few days.  Cost of spam or sausage/egg?  maybe $5-6

When I feel lazy, I'll admit I've done fast food as well to keep it steady at the $20/week.  Big mac Mondays and Fillet o Fish Fridays are less than $2.  Some recently favorites are the Tuesday 2 piece chicken at Popeyes for $1.59, also taco Tuesday at Fish district or Buffalo wild wings Tuesday specials. 

I try to be flexible but keeping it fresh too.  It's been tough but I like my savings every month after doing this. 
 
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