Grocery question

[ivankannan]

I am tired of spending so much money on Grocery. I go to Ralphs in Los Angeles twice or thrice every week. Everything is very costly there. I do have a car but never tried anything like costco or trader joes. Any tips as which store is cheap? I spend a lot on lactaid milk also, which I am planning to stop. I just came to know that I gave about 4 bucks for a dozen of brown eggs at Ralphs whereas the same stuff costs 2.5 bucks at Costco. WTF man. I feel like I have been cheated so much money all the time.

PS: I am a student but have funding, so not extremely poor but of course I can only spend so much.

[Carnivroar]

Just go to Costco then, what's stopping you?

I get my cheese and olive oil from there.

[ivankannan]

Wanted to know which is possibly the cheapest. I think I need to buy membership at Costco..

[ivankannan]

And can anybody tell me where to get raw milk in Los Angeles? (I don't know any farmers). I have been hearing about this a lot in this forum and I want to try.

[Dastardly]

http://www.realmilk.com/where1.html#ca

[tertius]

I doubt any one place is going to be cheaper on everything (except maybe Costco or Sam's Club, if those are in LaLa land).
You'll have to look at the things you typically buy, and see how it balances out. And if you're looking for raw milk and so forth, find the nearest farmer's market. Or look at Dastardly's website. Either way.

[Squatson]

Isn't everything expensive as fuck in LA? I would suggest moving to Iowa or something.

[confuzzl3don3]

If you're going to want to save money, as per usual try to get things in bulk, but make if you have the space to store it away ie. if you're going to buy a ton of meat, make sure you have enough freezer/fridge space.

[Dastardly]

You could also cure it.

[crc]

If you really want to start saving on groceries you need to find at least 3 grocery stores nearby, and get into the habit of scanning their circulars for sales every week. At least one of them is going to have essentials like beef and chicken on sale(for example, Ralph's is selling chicken thighs for 88 cents/lb and split breasts for $1.49 right now). Asian and Mexican supermarkets tend to have cheap stuff all the time, too.

[ivankannan]

Yeah LA is very costly and because I am a student here, I can't move out.
Fridge space is also an issue and since I am sharing it with two others so sometimes it might frustrate others if I hog lots of space.
But yeah I think I need to do some serious scouting around. I have always neglected the coupons. There is one super market which is cheap but I feel the meat there is of low quality. I will try trader joes sometime, costco seems to be very far, so its may be pointless to go there. Probably will try different supermarkets for different items.

[amazhad]

Along with the asian markets already suggested, try middle eastern markets in your area. I live in Irvine, south of LA (not a cheap place to live); the asian and middle eastern markets are nearly half the price of Ralph's, Albertsons, and Von's for fresh items (fruits, meats, veggies). Processed items are a little cheaper than than the three big commercial chains.