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Are you shopping for yourself or a family?
I spend maybe $200/month on groceries for myself. I save by combining coupons with sales. I'm pretty shameless with the coupons and it may be hard to imagine a 23-year-old girl clipping them, but sometimes I have up to 60% when I buy something that's on sale and have a coupon for it.
If you plan ahead, it's not hard to save money. And not shopping while you're hungry is an age old tip, but believe me, it works.
Personally, I don't think it would be very easy to stay below $400/month for groceries in NYC.
Honestly, I'm living proof that it can be done, and without sacrificing on either quantity or quality. And being a very good cook (if I do say so myself ), I never, ever feel deprived.
A couple of additional (small) examples:
Cherries are usually $3.99/lb - not cheap. Two weeks ago, there were on sale for .99/lb. Two pounds = saving $6.00.
Strawberries are often $3-4 a package; this week, 3 for $2.00. I bought 6, sliced and froze what I couldn't eat immediately (which means I'll have lovely strawberries in the winter, if I don't eat them now). Savings: $4-6.00.
Multiply this by every trip to the grocery store, and you can save a LOT of money over the course of a year.
And again - stocking up and freezing saves more time than you can imagine.
Another tip for saving money: one of my favorite grocery stores in NYC is Net Cost Market (in Brooklyn, two locations - Coney Island and Gravesend). It's largely Russian, and some of the prices are ridiculously low. I haven't been there in a while (since I left Brooklyn), but for example, they generally had "vcherashnyi khleb" - literally, "yesterday's bread" - for a dollar (as opposed to $3.99, if it were "fresh"). Yes, it's a day old - but there is absolutely nothing wrong with it (and, in fact, it's better than 99% of the horrible, chemical-laden, mass-produced "bread" you will get in major grocery stores).
Learn to cook/prepare more of your own foods. I'm not being facetious here.
For $20 you can make a big pot of stew, for example, that you can divvy into 15-20 freezer bags for individual meals at a $1 each.
For about the same money, make a vat of pasta sauce and freeze 2 dozen portions. It'll take a couple of hours to make the initial batch, but you also save time by simply boiling some noodles when ready to eat a quick meal 5 weeks later. A similar Ragu will cost $16 at a restaurant.
As mentioned by Dirimini, things like skinless chicken breasts cost a premium because the markets know most people don't want to do any prep work. But you can buy whole chickens or bone-in thighs, for example, for much less... you simply need to learn how to prepare them.
If in a hurry, I'll toss together a packet of tuna with some mayo and spices, then blend with pasta for a dish that'll stretch 2-3 meals. Likewise a 70-cent cabbage, chopped up, turns into a huge pile of edible stuff that with a couple of carrots, etc. can become a stir fry base or coleslaw that'll stretch over 3 meals. Buy a $1 head of lettuce rather than a $3 salad bag (or a $10 restaurant salad). Buy a chunk of cheese rather than the costlier shaved stuff.
Being a smart shopper is also key. Bigger stores always have something on sale or clearance. Scan the ads. Scan the sales. Talk to employees. My local grocer has a butcher and he loves showing me the best deals.
Finally, if you do eat out, look at what's offered and see if it can't be turned into two meals. No shame in only eating half and having the rest the next day, even from fancy places. Heck, you can buy a $5 foot long at Subway and turn it into 2 meals.
...things like skinless chicken breasts cost a premium because the markets know most people don't want to do any prep work. But you can buy whole chickens or bone-in thighs, for example, for much less...
...No shame in only eating half and having the rest the next day, even from fancy places. Heck, you can buy a $5 foot long at Subway and turn it into 2 meals.
Good points. For the first, I'll add that, of course, you have to take into account that cuts with bone/skin are cheaper per pound, because you're buying more waste - but as the previous poster notes, they're still often very, very economical. And don't forget you can buy an entire bottom round roast or pork loin on sale, cook the whole thing in the oven, and then freeze what you don't use immediately. Stews are excellent, as joninaz points out - quick to prepare (but need ample cooking time), and easy to divide into smaller portions (and freeze).
For the second: we need to be aware that the portion sizes we've become accustomed to in this country are FAR larger than what we actually need to be "full" - and this is probably why we have such an epidemic of obesity. Having massive plates full of food is, in many ways, a cultural construct - out bodies don't need to ingest that many calories three times a day (or more).
As for the meats, some of the butcher shops offer meat plans. The prices range from $20 to $60. We would get ground meat, pork chops, pigs feet, chicken thighs/drumsticks, stew meat, salchicha, tripe.
Fruits are usually purchased at the farmer's market - closing/6pm are the best times to get the most items (since most are ready to pack up and go home).
I am of Dominican, Puerto Rican and Brazilian heritage - we are hearty eaters! That means a lot of stews and casseroles - plus learning how to cook from scratch makes a big difference!
Do you know how to make home made bread? The best in the world - and cheap, too!
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), I never, ever feel deprived.
Food on the cheap
