Is anyone else paying approximately a billion dollars for groceries each month?

I feel like groceries have gotten so expensive. Of course, I have two small boys who eat more than their body weight every day, so that might be part of it.

Seriously, though. I spend about $150 a week on groceries. I’m a bit embarassed to admit that, because that feels like an extravagant amount, and I’m worried you guys will think I’m crazy. I work hard to keep it within that budget. We eat a lot of organic and natural foods, and I try to balance the extra cost of that by couponing and shopping the sales.

I use sites like SouthernSavers.com and FaithfulProvisions.com to search for the best grocery deals each week, and then I plan my meals based on what’s on sale and what we already have at home.

I’ve thought about reducing the amount of organic and whole grain foods we eat, but eating that way is fairly important to me. I usually get organic milk and meat, trying to avoid the hormones and antibiotics that are common throughout the cattle industry. But you guys — organic milk costs $6 a gallon!

Organic foods are important to me for the health of my kids, but I also like buying them to “speak with my dollar.”  I like telling the food companies that I don’t want junk in my food. (Except for you, Sonic. Keep putting that cellulose in your yummy shakes.)

So since I want to keep buying organic for now, I’m trying to find cheaper meals to fix. Some Twitter buddies advised me on using dry beans instead of canned beans in my chili recipes, and I think we’ll be having a lot more meals based around whole grain pasta soon.

I’d love to hear how y’all are handling your grocery budgets these days. Do you have any cheap recipes or amazing shopping strategies to share?