I am still struggling with my budget and this Sunday we spent 152.93 at Kroger and honestly, it still seems like I don't have enough to make whole meals. We buy a lot of produce but the most expensive things we bought was a box of Clementines and a bag of apples (a little over 6 dollars each).
I sent out a plea for you guys to help me and Bea had some good tips, and we are definitely going to plant a garden this Spring and try to grow our own tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers (maybe some other things too). I am also trying to decide what products I should still buy organic (definitely meat and dairy for my son) and what products I can get away with not buying organic. Organic peanut butter and bread for example is much more expensive than the non organic brands.
A super nice blogger, Biggest Diabetic Loser, (she is an awesome grocery shopper and her pictures of food are KILLING me) has essentially offered to be my grocery shopping guru and I just don't think she understands what a novice she has taken under her wing. She sent me such a sweet email trying to help me out but it in it said something like "if you roast a chicken to make chicken enchiladas you can use the bones for chicken soup." Oh. Hm. Well I have never roasted a chicken and I would have absolutely NO idea how to go about doing so.
What her strategy seems to be is plan your meals based on what is on sale. OH! yes. But what if you know how to make absolutely nothing? I will tell you we eat mostly beans and rice and pasta. We aren't vegetarians, but we do try to limit what meat we eat. We don't eat or prepare red meat at home, but we do cook chicken breasts or I will make meatloaf/chili/or tacos with ground turkey aaaaaaannnnnnnnddd that is pretty much ALL I know how to make.
It is quickly becoming very important for us to make cuts wherever we can (although I refuse to cut off the cable at this point). I need to make budgeting a priority and yet I just don't WANT to. I think I need to take this grocery shopping up as a challenge and try to make it fun for the whole family. I am curious what cuts the rest of you are making if you are struggling in this tough economic time.
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Ok. Not that I am a big cook but I do cook a lot of meals at home and they are vegetarian (duh) but tasty (if I do say so myself) and fairly easy (I cook a lot on the weekends ahead of time) and I will put together a list of meals and menus and send it to you and maybe it will spark some ideas....I usually get my best stuff from other people's ideas so there you go.
I think planting a garden is an awesome idea. I wish we had a sunny spot in which to do it. Which sounds crazy, considering we are in Texas where it is HOT and sunny most of the time, but our yard is full of trees...
Beans and rice rule!
You know, after I sent that email I thought, I need to take baby steps!
Could you email me your zip code so I can get the right flyer for your area? (bdl319@gmail.com) Don't worry - I am not a stalker and live in Chicago :D
My sale papers usually come out on Wednesdays - maybe we can start small with two new recipes a week based on the sale flyers?
We can do this! You'll be amazed at the savings.
i totally agree with biz319. my stores sale flyer comes out on thursday and i base my shopping budget around that.
we eat pretty healthy and a lot like you. beans and rice, pastas, and salads. but i also buy a lot of whatever is on sale, especially if its buy one get one free.
we've had to cut back on the organic stuff too. now i really only buy organic milk, some meats, and some of the more important fruits and veggies. also, to go along with what bea said, if you google top ten foods to buy organic you can find a list of the foods you should buy organic whenever possible. i try to always keep it in mind.
You might want to check out www.moneysavingmom.com. She has a fantastic blog that talks a lot about feeding her family for really cheap, as well as what she cooks. She does once-a-month cooking too. You'll get some good ideas from here site.
My biggest thing about grocery shopping is don't buy food and let it go to waste...I used to be really bad about not using up produce and dumping the entire drawer of slimy veggies in the trash. Now I might buy less and make a couple of trips to the store each week, but I'm getting what we will eat.
As for other things, shoot, we have cut back so much since my kids started college. Starbucks is a treat - we are talking once a month maybe. We never get drinks when we eat out - I can't stand paying $2.75 for iced tea. We don't have a home phone - and we have a pretty basic cell service (keep in mind that we are paying for four phones) - no internet, but unlimited texting because that's how my kids communicate with us. Um, we have basic cable and have though about dropping it entirely and just watching our shows through Hulu. Our stuff is old - I would love to have a flat-screen tv, new furniture, new flooring...but those big-ticket items have been on hold for some time now. I try not to drop money on spontaneous purchases so I can have it to buy new clothes - priorities, ya know!
It's not always fun, but it does become a way of life.
With chicken, it is cheaper to buy a whole organic chicken and cook it in the oven (like a turkey for Thanksgiving) then to just buy chicken breasts or other cuts of chicken. That saves money and you can easily get a few meals out of a whole chicken. Comparison shop your meats- if you eat other meats- you'd be surprised what is cheaper sometimes.
Only buy the produce that absolutely needs to be organic, organic. (Tammie's idea is great to google it- we have an article somewhere on it- basically anything thin skinned like berries). We eat a lot of bananas- not organic- and you can use them even after they've browned in muffins. Apples, berries, pears, etc. we buy on sale or when seasonally cheaper. It just gets too expensive and the girls eat a whole pint of berries before we even leave the produce section if I'd let them. In our garden, the biggest money savers were the tomatoes, peppers, and onions- I use them almost daily and I hate having to pay for them now.
We do not buy organic grains. Too expensive and we use too much bread, tortillas, pasta. You can make your own bread pretty easily which isn't too bad- just a little planning needed. Otherwise I look at the food labels and buy the healthiest cheap grains.
Do you have a Costco or Sam's? I buy all our pasta and beans through them in bulk because we use them so much. At Sam's the cost of a 6-pack black beans is the same as 2 medium cans of black beans at the store. They're also great for bulk produce like apples and snacks for the kids (pretzels, etc.). and alcohol.
I used to keep a stocked pantry and now not so much. I try to use what I have first and just keep the bare minimum in stock for when we don't want to cook and just throw spaghetti together or something.
It's hard. Be a coupon queen (which is hard too). Also how much of your grocery budget includes cleaning stuff? That and other household items can eat up a lot of cash. But it's an entirely different post.
Here are some things I've done that have made a difference:
1. Meal planning. I plan my meals weekly, and plan secondary meals based in primary meals. My fave is "Rubber Chicken Run" (it stretches). Day 1 - Roast a chicken, serve with potato, bread and veggie. It's easy, you can look up how to roast it online, and please don't kill yourself after you find out what ease and delicousness you've been missing all these years.
At the end of the meal, while you're sitting around, separate the meat from the bones/skin. Store the remaining meat and put the bones/skin in a pot, cover with H20, add a splash of white wine, a pinch of curry, an onion and some celery tops and/or parsley. Simmer several hours = chicken broth. Strain and reserve.
Day 2. Chicken Soup - very easy. Take your stock, add water as necessary, re-add the chicken meat, and your fave veggies and a grain, dinner in 45 minutes. Serve with bread. Day three, thicken the soup with flour, plop in a pie crust, top either w/ pie crust or mashed potatoes, and you have chicken pot pie. 1 chicken = 12 servings.
2. Eat nutritionally dense foods. Replace salad with sauteed greens. Replace marg. with butter. Replace vegetable oils with olive oil and grapeseed oil (Trader Joes if you have one). Replace sugary snacks with real food. Eat eggs for breakfast not cereal. Eat beets (roasted are pretty good). Eat sweet potatoes not regular. Hunger is a physical response to a nutritional need, the better your nutritional needs are met, the less you will need to eat.
3. When I make a meal, I don't make another one till the first one is gone, or pretty close to it. If I have one serving left over, I'll make something new and eat the leftover for lunch, otherwise, we eat the same thing a couple of nights in a row.
4. Make your own yogurt. Good yogurt = $4 a quart. Milk = $1 or $2 a quart. Use an old quart yogurt container, or a glass jar, add 1/4 c yogurt, stir in milk, cover, and set in a fairly warm place for 8 - 12 hours (my mom puts hers on top of her water heater, covered with a towel). Add jam, dried fruit, honey or maple syrup if you don't like it plain.
5. Your food budget should be priortized by needs. It is important to buy quality fats, then quality meat, then quality veggies/fruits, and quality grains last of all.
6. Eat fewer grains, eat whole grains, experiment with unusual grains, and most importantly, soak your grains in an acid medium for 8-24 hours before eating.
Soaking grains in water mixed with an acid, such as yogurt (1 T per cup), lemon juice, whey (yogurt water) or even vinegar (all 1 tsp per cup). Most importantly this releases the protein available in the grain, so less grains will keep you full longer, and your body can use the protein. Secondarily, all grains contain phytic acid, which blocks the absorbtion of minerals (leading to hunger, and eventually health problems).
7. Keep your gut healthy. Healthy gut = proper digestion = optimum usage of food = less need for food.
8. Make your own mayo with grapeseed oil. WAY healthier, delicous and really, truly easy. Adding a Tbsp of whey will help protect it from bad bacteria and keep it fresh for a long time.
Can you raise your own chickens? It only takes 6-8 weeks to raise a flock of meatbirds. They can run around in the yard (fertilizing it for you while eating up all your bugs), and research in your area to see if there is someone who will slaughter them for you. In our area, it's $3 per bird. Chickens eat everything, including meat - they're like pigs with wings. Anyway, you can raise your own organic chicken. I plan to do 30 birds this year.
Okay - your flyer is good until March 6. I want to start with baby steps - how do these sound to begin? I'll email you step-by-step instructions and recipes.
Greek Chicken with baked potatoes
Beef and Cheese Stuffed Peppers
Savory pork roast (which can then turn into bbq pork sandwiches during the week)
Basil Shrimp over angel hair pasta
Side dish - simple asparagus with parmesan cheese and lemon zest
While these may seem complicated they aren't. I figure if we build up your cooking skills we can go from there.
I don't want to overwhelm you either so just let me know if you just want to go one new recipe a week at a time! :D
we eat pretty healthy and a lot like you. beans and rice, pastas, and salads. but i also buy a lot of whatever is on sale, especially if its buy one get one free.
home based data entry
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