Good source of protein, but you gotta be fast......
Good source of protein, but you gotta be fast......
Scratch red meats off your list. Learn to make your own soups, it’s cheaper than buying them by the can. I wish I could say the same about breads, but I haven’t found a way to make it cost-effective (I have one mouth to feed, my own).
Costco or Sam’s Club. If you don’t want to buy in bulk - Aldi’s is really good.
Compare the price for frozens and even canned items to the price of fresh. Sometimes they are significantly cheaper.
When you find a deal, make sure you try some first as some “deals”” are simply nasty tasting products.
Go on Mondays and Tuesdays and check the very end of the meat coolers. There are usually some discounted meats from the weekend that are perfectly good.
Plant a simple garden with some summer squash or other high yeild low maintenance plants. Nothing too elaborite, just enough to be fun and take an edge off the grocery bills.
Sweet potatoes are INCREDIBLY easy to prepare, relatively cheap and sweet and delicous. If your family is not wild about them plain with butter. Use sugar. Lot’s of it.
Make sure you keep onions and garlic on hand as they make almost anything better. Try to avoid buying soda and if you are don’t buy brand name soda. Koolaid is super cheap comparitavely and the kids usually enjoy making it. Iced tea is another lowcost alternative.
Look for a thrift shop where they sell bread, pasta and other foods cheaper.
Also look up this outfit. “Angel Food Ministries” I will look for them later myself. They sell prepacked food packages that are nutritous. Basic things like chicken nuggets, vegepacks etc.. They work through churches and you preorder a set package and pick it up when it’s ready.
Buy the Debbie Meyer Green Bags for your produce. They cost $10 for 20 bags, but you can reuse them about a dozen times. You can buy them on TV or from the Harriet Carter or Walter Drake websites. They really prolong the freshness of fruits and veggies, cutting down waste.
Lots of tips and recipes
Sounds like you are already on the right track.
What’s killin’ me is milk prices. Over 4 bucks a gallon-more than gas. I have 2 small ones at home, so we go through a lot of it.
Big pots of soup are great! You can eat on those for days!
The Mormons have a booklet about making the most of your food costs-ties in with their philosophy of emergency preparedness- I can’t recall the title, but it had some good lists and recipes for feeding a bunch on very little. I requested it years ago and it came in handy. (and no, I didn’t have any white shirt and black tie kids show up on my doorstep afterwards.)
I just wish I could recall the title of that Mormon brochure.
Beef is cheap now but it won’t be for long. We use a lot of frozen veggies. Meatless at least twice a week.
Dumpster diving. It’s not just for street bums anymore.
In the past I have saved a ton of money using coupons, easily 50-65% of my grocery bill. There are various coupon clubs that help you get organized, and in Arizona and Utah, www.couponsense.com is an awesome service that compiles all the local grocery ads and allows you to print reports with the best deals. One of the downsides of couponing is that they are usually for processed foods.
My typical lunch at work is spuds, frozen veggies heated up in the microwave, and one piece of chicken - a thigh or drumstick. Add a bit of margarine and I'm happy. But, then again, I'm Scots-Irish (among other things), so I have mashed potatoes flowing in my veins instead of cholesterol.
Also, there often are bulk produce stores in your area. The quality is generally good - it may not have been top-shelf when bought, but the turnover is high, so it tends to be fresher than the grocery store stuff.
Eat less and then only food you don’t really like.
I try to cut coupons, shop at cheaper stores (I love the Walmart Grocery Stores), buy generic and buy frozen or canned instead of fresh. One store close to me has a section where everything is a dollar - I buy the toilet paper (6 rolls for a buck), paper towels (3 rolls for a buck) soap, shampoo, dog treats, cleaning supplies, etc. I buy my laundry soap, softener and dishwasher detergent at Big Lots - a lot cheaper than even Walmart. Big Lots also has great bargains on canned products and other food products. I also buy eye shadow there - a dollar for a name brand with several colors.
A food ministry for everyone, not just the indigent and poor.
Even the “warehouse stores” like Costco are too expensive. Go to your local restaurant supply place...ours is called “Cash and Carry”. You won’t believe how cheap some stuff is.
Example:
I found Kleenex for 80 cents a box at an outlet and it was over $1.25 everywhere else. The 80 cent Kleenex was fine... same with paper towels and pine cleaner, etc. You just have to experiment..
I NEVER buy off brand meat, though... I always go to the butcher for that. But all other food items are fair game for experimenting.