Yes...so much so that I can't even talk about it :(

I raise much of my own food, and mostly buy fresh fruit, which I don't care much for, dairy products and staples like flour and sugar, plus cleaning supplies.

I'm more diligent about using up my own home canned/home grown stuff instead of going shopping for something else but since the major portion of my food bill is paid for with sweat equity I haven't changed my habits much.

Annie

Nope, we really haven't changed any of our habits. We have restarted our veggie garden this year. A bit larger then what we have done in the past. We will be making tomato sauce, stewed tomatoes, dried, etc.,and then freeze them. We buy/pick fruits in season. Went peach picking last weekend. Sliced and froze those. Have lots of frozen fruits in the freezer. God, I love our Food Saver! There isn't anything I can think of that we would do without or do with less of if it is something we like. NancyLouise

I'd cut our occasional meal out before I'd change the way we shop and cook. I'm suddenly babysitting and feeding five of my grand kids (two 10-year-olds, two 6-year-olds, and a 3-year-old), and even though I feed them the same kind of healthy, from-scratch meals we generally eat, I'm still spending about the same amount of money. When the grandkids started eating with us, I cut out a good bit of the junk food I used to buy--chips, soda and ice cream (one granddaughter has an allergy to milk), so maybe that's why my grocery bills are staying about the same as they have always been.

One thing is that we used to have prime rib every few weeks for Sunday dinner, but at 50.00 - 60.00 for a roast for 6, we now reserve it for special occasions.
Jane

Higher costs of everything and less freelance work has made me conscious of not shopping for fun and not wasting what I buy. I try not to throw out too many leftovers!
Or let produce rot anymore.

I am balancing a lot more between good food and good economics.

I believe food prices will continue to rise rapidly from now on due to worldwide increased consumption.

dcarch

I've always been frugal, so we're not changing a lot. We've cut back on meat over the past few years, and we eat fewer and fewer desserts and rich foods. We eat out very seldom because there aren't many good places to eat in our area.

We have a rule that we don't throw food away. We eat leftovers until they're gone, or we feed them to the cats. At worst, they'll go into the compost.

Cheryl

My menu planning is often based on what's on sale. Many the time I have had a menu item in mind, only to check out the price and change my mind right there in the store. And we have a nice local market, so I pick up produce as needed, not more than a day or two ahead of time, so we try not to have muck waste.

Wasted food is the most expensive food.

I've been buying freezer pack specials from the local butcher shop, individual portioning everything, re-packaging and freezing. I'm not a big frozen meat/poultry fan but the price are a substantial savings and I've been able to stock my freezer.

I used to portion to feed 4 but now I never know if I'll have 2, 4 or more so I found that freezing individual portions saves me money and calories but is more labor intensive.

Usually I have a large garden and can and freeze the bounty. This year my work schedule has been crazy so for the first time in 30+ years I didn't plant a garden. I regret it. I still harvested asparagus, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries and hopefully some apples. I should have a few figs to enjoy as well. I also have some tomatoes and cukes in pots so I've canned tomato sauce and made a batch of pickles.

For the past several years I've made all my own baked goods. The price of good bread at the store is obscene. I buy my eggs locally now, better qulity, same price. My biggest expense is milk. DH & DS drink about 5-6 gallons each week and when DD is home that adds another another gallon. Oh yes and cereal, they all love sugary, nutritionally void cereal. I've tried for years to get them converted to no avail.

It hasn't altered my food budget - $125 per month for 2 adults - just what and how much I purchase....

Instead of one meatless day each week we now have two, and that might increase to three next year because I limit meat purchases to $10 per week.

I stick to whole, nutrient-dense foods and leave the convenience and junk food at the store. I make all our baked goods, snacks and "convenience" foods. We don't go without things like potato chips - I just slice and bake home-grown white and sweet potatoes and make "chips" in the microwave. We also eat a lot of dehydrated zucchini chips. I make our cereal (hot and cold versions) for pennies.

We garden and take advantage of free food when it's available. The neighbor had more tomatoes than she could use so I ended up with more in the freezer and a bunch more dehydrated than what our garden was producing. I'll soon be picking and dehydrating enough free apples to last us for a year. I use dehydrated apples in baked goods, make it into applesauce, and use them for snacks. I honestly think we are much healthier for the austerity and our healthier whole food choices.

But don't think our cupboards are bare. We practice home food storage and I have enough pantry foods (things I need for everyday meal preparation) for a year, and enough of the "Seven Survival Foods" (grains, legumes, seeds for sprouting, sweeteners, salt, fat and powdered milk) for three years. This is a major benefit because I only purchase food at rock-bottom prices to replace what's in storage. The food in storage is actually appreciating more than if that same amount of money was in a savings account.

I've been researching food rationing for an article I'm writing - especially during WWI and WWII - in fact, in March 2012 the Cuban Ration Book turned 50-years old and they continue rationing - and decided we don't have anything to complain about ;-).

-Grainlady

I am spending less on my grocery trips and eating out of my freezer and pantry. Then I re-stock when I find good buys at the store. A few weeks ago I even made a special trip back to a small local store to pick up more packs of chicken thighs at .99 a pound.

In the past, I could find chuck roast on sale fairly often. Now I don't see it on sale and I just won't spend $10 or more on a beef roast for just one person. I did find a 1.25 lb. package of stew beef at a good price last week, so I had several meals from that package. I need to go back to the store nearby that has the 5 packs of meat for $20 special. My mom and I often share the "buy 1, get one free" specials - that works well for us. And I still get my eggs locally from a co-worker. They are worth the slightly higher cost to me.

I don't buy chips, beer/wine or ice cream very often and I never buy soda. I make my own bread when the weather is not up in the 90s and beyond and I don't make too many desserts. I do eat out with friends now and then. I'm using more ground turkey than ground beef which is cheaper.

Soup weather will be here soon and I can save more making lots of soup!
Teresa

For staples (like oatmeal, ketchup, or dishwasher detergent) that I buy only occasionally, I like to keep a backup in the pantry. Formerly, I would buy a new package as soon as the one in the pantry was put in use. But now I keep a computer file of the sale prices at my supermarket (listed by brand and size), and I buy those products only when they're on sale. I get the info from the weekly circular (printed or online). My file tells me that certain items go on sale every month, or every 6 weeks, or that there's an even better sale once every 3 months, so that's when I stock up. My goal is to never pay full price for an item that goes on sale regularly.

Sue

We buy store-brand items regularly. Many of these, we like better than the national brand. Compliments corn flakes are far superior to Kellogg's for example. Plus they haven't down-sized the packaging. Soda crackers, ketchup, any canned veggies are store-brand.

We eat meatless a couple or more times per week. I buy my pork when it comes on sale in a crayovac bag. It's a large boneless loin, that I cut into pork chops and roasts. I can usually get it for 1.88/lb.

I also have no qualms about buying discounted meat. If I use it that night or freeze it, darned right I'll buy it for 30% off.

It's sure going to get worse, and it scares me what the prices are going to be for flours, cereals, pretty much anything we eat, after this dry summer.

We very seldom eat out, but when we lived in Venice we were very close to so many very good restaurants. Now we have to travel a bit further for the same selection, and so it seems easier to eat at home. Groceries are a small percentage of our overall budget - about 1/10th of what our mortgage is - and so we aren't making much of an effort to save money there. Shopping at Trader Joe's saves us money if we are careful, and I tend to buy a lot less when I shop there, probably because I am anxious to get out of the store! If I shop leisurely, I spend more. A few years ago, our income was significantly lower than it is now, but I have kept the frugal habits that I had when I was poor; i.e., stocking a lot of dried beans and pasta.

Lars

We also practice home food storage. We fund our food budget annually and when it's gone - it's gone. So, typically, we are very frugal January through August to make sure we're okay through the holidays. When produce starts becoming available August-October we purchase enough to last a year. We increased the total dollar amount 15% three years ago to allow for the fact we were changing over to organic, as much as possible. Considering we have a one year storage program changing to organics has taken some time. We are on the last leg this fall. We will have some left over in the account this year so no plans to further increase next year's budget.

/tricia

Boy Tricia, would I ever love to see photos of your storage system. You're amazing.

No, we haven't changed anything and don't plan to. We live in one of the greatest "foodie" areas in the world - the San Francisco Bay Area - and enjoy taking advantage of it.

Dining out is my hobby. But DH prefers my home cooking, so we compromise. Eat dinner out 1-2x/wk, and eat lunch out 2-3x/week.

Sunday we had Eritrean food; we love injera and all the various meat and veggie combos. Monday/Tues was my linguine with meat sauce; doesn't excite me but DH and MIL who lives with us, adore it. Tomatoes are in season so caprese salad is a standard for DH on the nights we eat at home.

Today's lunch was at a local Anatolian (Turkish) restaurant we're becoming very fond of. Not fancy as most of the places we go to, but quiet and comfortable with homestyle food, assuming your food at home is centered around lamb, eggplant, tomatoes, sumac and hot chiles!

Dinner at home tonight was marinated boneless rib-eye steaks off the grill, with glazed carrots and sticky rice. Tomorrow it's going out for Peruvian ceviche and beef heart anticuchos with some of my family, who are also foodies.

Friday...hmmm, haven't thought of anything yet. Saturday we are getting together with friends for a high tea and private tour of a local historical home, provided by volunteers, which should be fun! It's mid-afternoon so dinner will probably be something simple and light. I have a couple of bunches of asparagus in the frig, so maybe an asparagus bisque might be in order.

We are fortunate to be able to buy whatever we like, and to live in an area with a wide choice of good-quality food providers. I'm probably one of the few people in the US who doesn't shop at her nearby Trader Joe's; if I'm buying specialty food I prefer a couple of local independent high-end grocery markets which carry specific items we prefer. Oherwise I go to the biggest Safeway; based in nearby Pleasanton, CA, they have made a tremendous effort to improve their produce and carry better quality. I have found their produce to be consistently fresher, cheaper, and better than the nearby Whole Foods and much-vaunted local Berkeley Bowl.

We eat a fair amount of meat, but I don't obsess about where it's from, although we have many friends who do and a good number of vegetarians amongst them. I'm allergic to wheat, buckwheat, rice, and gluten - not violently, but they give me asthma which is uncomfortable, so I go lightly on the carbs.