Am pre surgery and making my pro list for when I tell my friends of my intentions later. A family of 4 can easily spend $50 plus eating out and my grocery bill (with 2 teenaged boys) can reach $200 a week.

I'm thinking after surgery that when my family eats out then I'll just take a little entree from hubby or kids (as long as its good for me) or order a la carte.

So, how much are you saving on food a week/ month?

The truth is, my food expenses have increased.

The sad fact is that healthy foods cost considerably more than junk food.

Ever wonder why obesity is so rampant in impoverished communities? That's because it's a lot cheaper to live on boxed macaroni and cheese with a side of snack cakes than it is live on a bowl of fresh fruit and a chicken breast.

as normal, i agree with mis

but since i am not buying chips, cookies, junk food, soda, (alot of beer), i also have to say we are saving $ also

although i do not know how much

I have spent more initially bulking up on foods that I normally did not keep in the house, but I imagine it will turn around in the near future and cost less, especially as I eat less with fills, but then again, I'm only feeding one mouth

I recently purchase 2 different plates with covers that help with measuring your food consumption. They are BariBowl at "bariware.com" and EZ Weigh Plate at "store.ezweightplatestore.com".

The baribowl is a tubberware type which is good for taking your lunch because it has 2 side that separate for hot and cold food so you can heat your food separately. On each side there are demarcations marks where you can slide these little plastic thin sleeves in to separate and measure 1oz sections and the whole bowl is 8 oz. A baratric surgeon invented it. It makes you feel/look like you are eating a lot, but is not deep at all. The other is a plate with cup like compartments that you can measure your food because the plate is totally semi-transparent and is also microwave safe. This I would use at home and especially when my husband cooks it will make it easier for him as well, he likes to cook and likes to make me a plate. I plan on taking the baribowl with me to restaurants and use the compartment to measure out what I can eat and ask for a doggy bag for what is left.

Check out the websites. and you can eat out too.

So far i havent saved any, i spend more because, i need the fresh stuff for me and the rest of the family still eats all the stuff we had before . so getting all the fresh food on top of what i usually get adds but its worth so im not complaining.

I have not noticed a change in my grocery bill but have noticed we go out. I usually order a cup of soup and its $3-5 vs preband when i would get a $15 entree. Sometimes I will split an entree with ds. Sometimes I will split a kids meal with ds and order an extra veg. It really just depends on where we are going.

I save a lot as far as going out to eat. We would go out probably once a week and now it is once a month. As far as groceries, I dont think that has changed much. Healthy fresh stuff can be expensive. Plus Im still buying all the regular stuff for my family. Granted I am not buying as much of it now.

I spend a bit more on groceries these days, fresh veggies, fish and good lean meats don't come cheap. I don't buy in bulk anymore because I waste a lot of food doing this, so I go to the store more often (2 or 3 times a week). Fresh foods don't keep, so again, I have to shop more often. I buy enough to get me through a few days, which obviously ends up costing me more money in the end. Also, my protein shakes aren't cheap, $10 for 4 bottles is seriously highway robbery! Before surgery I thought "Yay, I'll save money not eating!" umm no, not even close..

My food bill is higher too. Healthy food cost so much more!

I might be the odd one out but I am saving. Not huge amounts but some. I even buy some more expensive things than before(like the individually packed chicken breasts) but since I'm only eating 1/2 a breast for dinner, it lasts so much longer. I just in the last month got on track after 2 years (embarrassing) of not utilizing my band properly. I bought what I felt would be 2 weeks of groceries and at the end of the 2 weeks I still had so much food left. The protein powder was an added expense and quite pricey ($50) but it will last forever because it's huge and I don't use a whole lot of it. The cereals, crackers, frozen dinners and those type of prepackaged things were a big part of my grocery budget before and now I don't buy hardly any of that. Just this week I made chili and it would normally last us 2 days but it's lasted all week and I threw some out because I was just tired of it.