Mine initially increased but I was buying a lot of the LC shakes & bars. Once I stuck mostly to natural foods it went back to normal. I also try to keep it low by looking for special sales on meats etc. at different grocery stores.

Mine has definitely gone WAY UP!!!
I am an AVID COUPONER, and there just doesn't seem to be many coupons for these products. I have called several of the companys to see if they offer coupons, but most do NOT.
We used to live on $25/week and that is buying meat and EVERYTHING, now it's more like $200/month!! And that is for our family of 4!!!

ANY COUPONERS???
There is a coupon for SPLENDA coming out in this weekends paper!!
Woohoo!!
Heidi

Heidi
I'm with you. I use to use major coupons each week. Now I have maybe 2 if that. I sure wish I could find coupons for meat. LOL

Deana

Oh yes !
 

..increased - A LOT ! I also spend more time making food. As I'm making everything from scratch. Only fresh foods. We dont have any LC products here. I eat more meat and more vegs than I used to. DH said we've never eaten so much tasty and good food. ..... and he does the dishes !

Mine sure has gone up as my hubby and daughter don't want to do Atkins with me...they don't like ank kind of fish and are not willing to give up up potatos and such. So... This leaves me making 2 differents meals at supper time. So along with the food cost going up so has my time doing the dishes....lol

My Food Bill has DECREASED!!! I buy for a family of five. I am the only one on Adkins - my hubby is on weight watchers (guess who is lossing more weight). We buy less bakery foods, chips, pizza, candy, ice cream, prepare foods (frozen). We now buy more fresh meats, veggies, eggs, and make most meals from scrach. I also stopped drinking my diet pepsi.

My kids are not missing all the pasta, breads, ice cream and chips. Yes I still make them some pasta, and PB&J sandwiches it is just not a nightly affair!!! Desserts for the kids are now fresh fruit with real whip cream or frozen fruit bars.

Good Poll.

I'm a money nerd. If your food bill has increased consider the following:

Find a meat market. I get Filet mingon for $7 a pound. Ground beef, 1.50. Use a Sams club - Salmon 3.99 a pound. Buy bulk when it goes on sale. I got chicken for 28 cents a pound this week. I bought a LOT. Buy everything on sale!!! and work your meals around it. Chicken breast boneless goes on sale for $1.99. Get a lot and freeze it. Snacks too.

The only place you can get stuck is in the vege department, but again, get extra of what's on sale and cook with it or make salads.

USE COUPONS!!! I have to buy for a hubby and two kids who are not low carbing. Using coupons helps. Again, if something is on sale, BUY EXTRA. Then you don't have to pay more for it two weeks from now.

I save 30% - 45% on my grocery bill every week. Get a card. Consider shopping at more than one store and stick mostly to the sale items.

Can you tell I'm into this??? LMAO :D

Kristi

Oh yes! Steak is pricey!

The thing that makes my bill more expensive is that I cant always eat what everyone else does! My pizza quiche tonight cost 20 bucks...but i will get 6 meals out of it. About the same as six meal deals somewhere! :)

I also forgot to mention that Pre-Atkins, I could get free food sometimes...All I had to do was watch out for flyers on campus [usually for parties, clubs, or town hall meetings] that said "Free Food." Can't do that anymore 'cause the "Food" was usually bread, snacks, pizza, and/or soda/beer...all of which are High in carbs. My Freshman year I attended an event for incoming freshman for no other reason than the flyers saying "Free Food." They actually had eating contests. One that I remember was eating OREOs off a piece of plexiglass without using your hands. Glad to say that I didn't win that one...and that it was the last time I ever ate OREOs. They gave out door prizes...I won a gift certificate for a local Pasta place.

The bill started out higher, mainly because I was testing all the "frankenfoods" and protein bars....but had to pare down when I saw it was eating our meager budget...now it pretty much stays even because I buy lots of fresh veggies and mostly meats on sale...and stick to simple condiments like non-hydrogenated spread and olive oil, mayo, mustard, and worcestershire sauce. I buy nothing pre-prepared....that would run up the cost quite a bit.

AND....we haven't eaten OUT in weeks!! :D

Mine has gone up slightly. Partly this is because i like to cook and try new things and have been pretty creative about finding substitutes for the things I miss. What bothers me most is the waste. I find myself buying things like sour cream and some veggies like leeks or the 3 head packs of romaine and throwing too much of it away because I didnt use it before it went bad. I do a good job of stocking up on meats when they are on sale. I go to Costco and buy family packs and divide it up in freezer bags. I am sticking to only 20 carbs long past the first two weeks and so my veggie intake is limited. This leads to some waste but if it bothers me I step on the scale. I also find I am spending less at restaurants. No sides a la carte. When I go to Fuddruckers for a burger, I dont pay for fries or rings. When I go to a steak house, no baked potatoe and creamed spinach like I used to . . . and I enjoy cooking so I eat at home more often than I used to. I miss pizza and pasta and those regularly were cheap meals but it is still cheaper to cook at home. I pay a little more for some things in order to get it portion packed. I dont control my overeating well if things arent portion packed. For instance I never make a meatloaf where there is nothing to artificially keep you from eating way too much. I never get a whole chciken, I got parts that I can control by only cooking or only heating up what I want myself to eat at one seating. But this is money well worth spending. It helps me achieve the portion control that is the hardest part of my eating habits to control.

For some reason I can't cook meat - it tastes gross, so my mother cooks me meat dishes on Sundays(shes on Atkins so she's cooking anyways for herself). I bring that home for the week, then I take a few cucumbers, green peppers, and water. I stocked up in August on sausage patties, vienna sausages, cheese, and premade frozen fatty burgers(all these things last a long time and are way cheap).So the bill is pretty cheap(not sure exact cost I don't do the shopping). When I was eating regularly I did the shopping and the bill was around $100 a week of high carb foods for one person. My bill now must be lower than $20 a week. When you eat high carb you eat way more b/c you are always hungry (at least I was). I would go daily to the little market near my house by about 5 cokes at .60 per piece. So just in coke that was about $15 a week.

I'm not sure yet whether we're spending more or the same. I just know I've been making very frequent trips to the store because I still haven't figured out just how much produce we need for however many days! :p

I think in the long run we may wind up spending a little less because we have always and will continue to use cheaper cuts of meat except for the occasional splurge. Even so, at $2.50 a pound for a splurge, our dinner meat is going to cost $10. We definitely can't afford that! :D

One thing I would urge anyone who has the room is to invest in either an upright or chest freezer. We have both, and even an extra fridge, and we still run out of room sometimes! Home Depot carries a 13.x cubic foot upright for under $300 (ours was $290 with tax). A freezer can pay for itself in six months.

I also buy a lot of bulk when I find good sales. For example, if you've ever paid attention to milk prices you'll notice they go down in the summer, right about mid-July to the first of August. This is the time when butter will be the cheapest it will be all year. It's just now come back up about 10 cents a pound to $1.76. During this time I buy 10 pounds at a time and put them in the freezer. You can do the same thing when cheese is on sale, but it's best if it's grated before it goes into the freezer because once it's frozen and thawed it crumbles.

Someone mentioned the high price of olive oil. Yes, it is expensive. However, you can buy a 3-quart can of olive oil and if kept in a reasonably cool place the oil will stay good (even opened) for at least two years. Also, remember, a good alternative to olive oil is canola. My preference is a combo of olive oil and butter, but canola comes in real handy a lot of times.

One thing I noticed over the years about coupons was that generally speaking they were for foods I would never even buy because of the original prices, and even a coupon didn't make them cheaper than a good generic. I can go through the weekly coupons and find maybe three of them.

Generics (or store brands) are a great way to save money although you need to find out which ones are as good or better than name brand products. For example, I'll never buy 'cheap' laundry soap because I don't like the way they work. I also won't buy DH store brand tea bags because they're just not worth it. However, WalMart's Great Value brand of salsa is excellent and the GV mixed nuts put Planters to shame in flavor AND price.

And don't overlook the corner grocery! Our little grocery store often runs specials on meat that surpasses what I can buy at the larger stores and it's much better quality (this week alone: pork sausage, $1.39/pound; pork steaks $1.29/pound; GOOD chuck steak, $2.29/pound). And their eggs are cheaper than in the big stores.

If you have outlet stores in your area, also check them for exotic-type foods at reduced prices. I love the dollar stores for fancy mustards, marinated onions and excellent quality salad dressings at $1 each. I also check Big Lots periodically because they tend to get a wide variety of canned meats and such that are sometimes super cheap. (You do need to watch, though, because often I do find cheaper prices at either WalMart or WinCo.)

If you don't have to, forget shopping at stores like Albertsons, Fred Meyer and other high-priced grocery stores. The quality on some of their produce may be worth the extra price, but the over-priced staples aren't any better than discount grocery chains like WalMart.

Oh, another thing! I've noticed that corner 'fruit stands' often times have way better produce and way better prices than grocery chains. They're abundant in our area in the summer time.

Ah well! You asked a simple question, and I wrote a lecture! I'll shut up now. ;)