Creative budget cuts to combat high food prices

[lynnzop[$]]

I found this article very interesting.

Unlike Melanie, I'm a terrible grocery shopper. I hate cutting coupons, I hate reading ads, I hate making lists and planning meals. Since it all revolves around cooking (which I hate ) I guess it makes sense.

I'm trying some new things though...and wondered what other great ideas y'all have here!

Coupons: still suck. I went through the coupons in my Sunday paper and they are worthless. Very few food coupons, and very few non-food ones that I would use. Since I don't use diapers, wet wipes or hair dye, I guess I'm out of luck there. And bah on the online coupons...I honestly believe I will never be organized or motivated enough to go out and look for them.

Shopping 1x per week. So far, THIS is working. I grocery shop on Monday, which is also the day I plan meals for the week. Unless we run out of something essential, like milk or bread, I don't go to the grocery store outside of Monday. I also go on my way home from work (the grocery store is on the way home) and while I'm a little later coming home that night, I don't have to make a special trip to the store.

Meal planning. I have been using the local grocery store recipe and shopping list service, which is easy and convienient, and gives me some interesting (and tasty) ideas for meals. The only thing I don't like about the recipe service is that it drives you to the more expensive items in the store...not necessarily what you COULD use for the recipe!

Using what we have. I swear, we could feed all of EA for a month with the food that's stockpiled. So I am going through cupboards, freezers and fridges and taking inventory...and then using those ingredients! The other thing I've done is to creatively use leftovers - the extra noodles and peas from a tuna salad that I didn't use in the salad (made more than we needed that night!) and leftover chicken noodle soup were used to make home made mac and cheese that got gobbled up - even by DH who claims not to like mac and cheese.

So those are my brilliant ideas of the day. Who else has used creative ideas to keep down their food bill?

[mjfrombuffalo[$]]

Mostly what you've got on the list - planning meals (Women's Day calendar, since it usually features produce in season and I can substitute other cuts of meat than what they recommend if I want), planned leftovers or leftovers used for lunches, shopping once per week (one Sunday it's BJ's for bulk items, alternate Sunday is grocery store for things I don't like to buy in bulk), eating from the pantry, coupons (detergents/household cleaners and HBA items are our big savings, sometimes good cat-related coupons too), stocking up on sale items.

[mtomm[$]]

I'm giving away one child. If anyone is interested just PM me and we'll work something out.

[lynnzop[$]]

Hmm...now there's an idea I hadn't thought of. Teen aged boys DO eat a lot.....

[mjfrombuffalo[$]]

But according to Jonathan Swift, if you fatten 'em up right...

[emeleel]

(Interesting side note - remember the "Blanket Party" I mentioned several months ago to raise money for Ethiopian mothers and a particular orphanage? The Mary mentioned in that article is the same lady whose blog hosted the blanket party. And she actually has 10 kids, not 9 as the article states. It's just that one is away at college, so that child isn't getting fed by her every day.)

I don't actually do much meal planning, but I should. I basically just stock up on whatever's a good buy on any given shopping day, then make up meals revolving around that.

Coupons are a tricky strategy, and you have to learn to use them right. It takes a while. Also, even if you can't figure out how to save much on actual food, if you can save on other household goods, it eases the overall budget so that the food bite isn't quite so bad.

One of the handiest places for learning to save money is MoneySavingMom. She has great stuff with very down-to-earth, easy to understand posts about saving at various stores. Most of it I already knew before I discovered her blog, but she also has a lot of "current deals" type posts.

Another thing to do is to learn the ins-and-outs of your favorite stores and keep your eyes peeled for the good deals. Learn what the markdown stickers look like and watch for them. Learn where the clearance spots are at, like at Target. (I have my little "route" around the store at Target that makes sure I hit every clearance end-cap that I care about.) The other day I got tons of meat super cheap at a local Kroger grocery store because they happened to have marked a bunch of stuff down due to being close on date. I bought as much as I thought I could get in my freezer and put it all there as soon as I got home.

Getting creative with leftovers - we had one good-sized boneless chicken breast and one boneless chicken thigh left from dinner a couple nights ago, as well as most of a jar of spaghetti sauce. Yesterday I made a quick pizza (30 minutes start to finish, recipe here: Biblical Womanhood: Homemade pizza in less than 30 minutes BTW, this blog is also run by the same lady who does the Money Saving Mom blog) and used up that chicken in a fun way.

Look for store coupons and "wine tags". Some stores will have coupons either in their flyers or hanging around the store with good deals. And some alcohol companies put out coupons for all kinds of stuff (NOT alcohol - everyday items) as a form of advertising. I don't see many here in Auburn, which drives me nuts, but I've seen coupons for food, household goods, Christmas decor and more over the years. Also really good rebates on food and other items.

Get prescription coupons if you can - a lot of the name brand Rxes have websites. Go sign up, and a lot of them will either send you coupons or a savings card that will knock off some of the cost for you. If there's no generic for the drug, it can be a great help. This helps the overall budget, too.

I'm sure there's tons more!

[theworm[$]]

I have no brilliant ideas. I'm just trying to get over the idea that someone doesn't like Mac and Cheese

[amykhar]

I only shop every other week now. I get meat 'bundles' at the farmer's market and store it in my freezer. I also buy very few convenience foods. We're cooking almost totally from scratch now. I grow my own basil now (love fresh basil. hate the price) We'll see how my tomatoes do.

[emeleel]

A lot of people swear by this program:

Coupons, Grocery Coupons - The Grocery Game :: Home

I think they are available in most areas now, and you can get a 4 week trial for just $1. They do all the work for you - looking through the ads, matching up the coupons, etc. It might be worth looking into.

[amykhar]

The grocery game doesn't have any grocery stores in my area. The problem in my immediate area is just about all the grocery stores closed down except for Giant and the crappy Redners.

[lynnzop[$]]

theworm said

I'm just trying to get over the idea that someone doesn't like Mac and Cheese

I know, he's sort of weird like that.

[emeleel]

I have an aunt who doesn't like m-n-c, but that's because she really doesn't care for cheese. I have actually seen her eat cheeseless macaroni.

[emeleel]

Another good tip: know what's a good price and what's not, and make sure it's based on units, not the package. A lot of people keep a formal price book, but I'm not that organized. I just keep it all in my head. And if you find a deal that's better than the usual best price you can get on an item, go ahead and stock up if you've got enough in the budget for the week. It will also keep you from spending more per unit without realizing it - this is a big deal at "bargain" places like the dollar stores. That $1 price tag may look good on the surface, but when you realize you're paying more per ounce or per cookie or whatever, it doesn't look so good anymore.

[conradd]

Great thread - we like to eat well but we're also frugal.

Our biggest cost-saving strategy is to shop at restaurant supply stores. We have Cash & Carry in Oregon - don't know if it's a national chain - where I can get prepackaged frozen chicken, fish, beef, etc. for far less than I'd pay at a grocery store. It's so easy to take out one or two portions for dinner. I buy cream cheese in 3 lb. blocks for under $3 - we use it as a spread on bagels, in scrambled eggs, in cheesecakes, etc. Ted likes the premium eggs, but I buy the cheap ones for cooking and we use the premium ones for breakfast. Cash & Carry is a great place to buy dairy products too.

Secondary shopping destination is Costco. Even though there's just 2 of us, we buy large sizes and repackage when necessary into portion sizes.

We buy bulk fruits & veggies, and share with local family - if a box of oranges has 4 bags, we keep 3 for juicing and send the others to my mom & dad. It's still cheaper than buying them at a grocery store.

I buy onions on sale, chop them and package them in Foodsaver vacuum packed bags. They stay usable for months.

Like Amy, we have an herb garden and have planted a few tomatoes. Ted planted artichokes last year and there must be 25 baby chokes on each plant. I will add a few zucchini and summer squash plants, and will supplement at the farmer's market each week.

Good bread is $4/loaf, so as soon as the range is installed I'll be baking again. I can bake 4-6 loaves at a time and will freeze them. I buy flour and sugar in 25-50 lb. bags and store it in plastic containers. I never run out and it's so much less expensive to buy in bulk. Same with yeast - store it in the freezer and it stays fresh.

We use our rice cooker almost every day - extra rice is bagged for breakfast when I'm not there. It does a terrific job on polenta too.

I buy his tea at the Stash Tea outlet store in Portland when I'm up there. I buy my coffee beans at Costco.

[emeleel]

We're lucky enough to have a good meat and egg supply here that most people don't have. Auburn is primarily a vet and ag science school (although engineering is big here, too) and there is a place called the "Meat Lab" just down the road from us where they sell beef and pork products from the student raised animal projects. They don't sell chicken meat, but they do sell eggs - brown or white, $2.36/flat of 2 1/2 dozen. The meat is all great prices, too, although not quite that good.

Sam's - I mostly only buy staples at Sam's like peanut butter, cheese, butter, etc. Yeast is a *fabulous* price - I think it's something like less than $5 for two pounds. I'm keeping one pound in an airtight container and the other in the freezer. Again, Sam's is a place where you need to know what a good unit price is for any particular item. And to watch out for things like "that's a great price for *that* item!" when another, less expensive version would do just fine. Like meat - I actually buy very little meat at Sam's. Their price may be good for a particular cut, but it's still more than what I usually want to pay for meat because I buy fairly plain meats, nothing fancy. And I never buy chicken at Walmart - every bit of it is injected with saline, and why would I waste my savings on salt water when I can buy non-injected meat at the regular store on sale?

[mjfrombuffalo[$]]

I do a lot of Perdue or Tyson frozen, skinless, boneless chicken breasts from BJ's, where the price is lower than the supermarket's fresh breasts (which I'll only buy in bulk, wrap, and freeze anyway).

[Helen_B[$]]

I try to buy staples like different kinds of canned beans. bread, whole wheat pasta and frozen pizza when they go one sale. We're mostly feeding just Marty and I, but I like to have something on hand for when the children turn up. (Fortunately, they all cook when they're here!) I have tried to read the ads, but I forget, or I never get there that week, or the things on sale really are still cheaper somewhere else. So I concentrate on only buying somethings like chicken breasts and porkchops when the price is low.

[conradd]

I thought this was interesting. I'm not sure I want to take on the care and feeding of chickens just to save $3.50 a week on eggs (and the local raccoons would probably decimate the entire flock in the first week or so) but it would be a moneysaver if the chickens ate table scraps.

[magenta321]

I won't be buying a chicken any time soon. I don't think the association would approve

I'm buying the cheapest meats whenever possible and stocking up on them. I'm also greatly cutting down on the type and the amounts of the meat we eat. For example, a traditional dinner would have been chicken parm, but last night I made chicken caccitore because I could stretch it much further. If I gave Kevin a half a chicken breast for chicken parm, he'd have thought I was starving him, but as chicken caccitore it was a welcome treat. Go figure.

I buy most of my veggies frozen. Even with summer prices, they're cheaper.

I shop first at the dollar store. On anything I am unsure of the price of, I'll wait and go to Stop and Shop (next door) and if it is actually cheaper there, I'll buy it. Usually, the dollar store is cheaper, however. And yes, I mean per unit, not per package. Some exceptions are bottled water, gatorade, cans of soda, etc. But for spices, nuts, and spaghetti sauce, the dollar store can't be beat.

I stopped buying organic. I can't afford my bills already, I really can't justify making my food bills worse and possibly get into debt just because people market to my fears.

I am making my own... just about everything. I don't make my own pasta, nor my own spaghetti sauce. I could make my own sauce, but I hate to do it. Dollar store sauce works for me!

I stopped eating breads for breakfast. Now most days I have low-fat vanilla yogurt (I don't make that because I'm afraid of bacteria) with granola (which I did start making for myself). I miss fruit in it, but it's not in the budget.

Lunches are left over dinners.

Dinners are as skimpy on meat as possible, as discussed before.

No real bulk shopping to speak of, because I can't scrape together enough money to get a Costco membership. Plus everyone tries to talk me out of a membership saying that they spend way too much money in Costco... who knows. I did find someone who would like to "split" membership with me but neither of us have the extra $25 right now.

I would like to get off my dependence to bottled water. I just really have a hard time thinking about drinking tap water. I pass water and radon tests but I get ooked. Kevin wants me to get a Brita filter. Even if he buys the filter, I'm not sure I can drink the water. We had a Brita filter in college and the pitcher grew mold. I'll admit we were college kids and didn't wash it as often as we should, but, the pitcher itself grew mold, and the roommate that lived with us was only there one semester... so... it grew mold in under 3 months time. Ick. Grey. Fuzzy. Mold. Gahhh!

[emeleel]

We've had a good Brita pitcher for 6+ months now, and it's never grown mold, even when we occasionally forget to stick it in the fridge.

Which reminds me, I need to change the filter....