groceries Archives — Page 3 of 5

Even More Ways to Save on Groceries

January 4, 2016 By MelissaB 5 Comments

Besides your mortgage, your grocery bill may be your next largest expense. Of course, you usually can’t alter your mortgage payment, but with some planning and strategizing, you can alter the amount you spend at the grocery store and save on groceries.

A few months ago, I wrote about the techniques we’re using to keep our grocery bill low for our family of 5 (spending approximately $500 to $600 per month even with food intolerances to gluten, dairy, and corn). We’ve learned a few more strategies to lower our grocery bill that I thought I’d share with you, especially since it seems like the price of grocery is on the rise again.

Stop by the grocery store whenever you’re driving by. I know the “experts” say to go in the grocery store as little as possible. Many of them recommend shopping just every two weeks or once a month. However, if you’re a disciplined shopper, I recommend stopping by the store every time you drive by. Why? I only buy eggs on clearance for .99 a dozen. I also buy organic chicken when it is close to its sell by date and marked down by 50% or more. If I stop by the store whenever I drive by (every couple of days, usually), I have a better chance of finding these deals. If nothing is on clearance, I simply leave empty-handed. I don’t buy eggs or meat if they’re not on sale, or ideally, on clearance.

Don’t just take sandwiches for lunch. My husband packs his lunch every day. However, he never packs a sandwich. Instead, whenever I see clearance chicken fajita meat, sausage, or other meats, I buy those. He cooks something up on Sunday, like three sausages I found on clearance, and then he brings some every day along with a grain, veggies, and a fruit or two. His flexibility and willingness to move beyond sandwiches and my bargain shopping skills mean he saves a lot when packing his lunch.

Consider having a separate meat budget. I just learned about this technique, and I plan to start utilizing it. Say you have $500 a month for groceries. The idea is that you set aside a certain amount, maybe $50 or $100 a month, solely for meat. The rest you spend on your other groceries. If you’re able to save up $500 or $600 in the meat fund, you might buy a ¼ side of beef, which you’ll likely get at a much cheaper price than at the grocery store. Then, you eat that meat and start saving again for your next bulk purchase of meat. Eventually, you’ll have a deep freezer full of healthy, lower cost meat direct from the farmer.

Slowly buy in bulk. I have consciously started buying in bulk to lower our grocery costs. I’ve had to do this slowly because we don’t have a lot of wiggle room in the budget. Gluten free oats cost $2 a pound, and that’s when they’re on sale! Instead, I bought a 50 pound bag of gluten free oats for $61. That is $1.22 a pound, which is cheaper than I could ever buy them at the store. Then, I bought a 25 pound bag of pinto beans for $12.50, or .50 a pound, which is again cheaper than the rock bottom price I can get at the store. Just remember when buying in bulk not to buy items you really don’t want to use or won’t be able to finish before they get stale.

What are your favorite techniques to lower your grocery bill?

3 Easy Ways to Get a Home Cooked Meal on the Table: Save Time and Money

March 9, 2015 By MelissaB 5 Comments

Do you cook at home? If so, how many times a week?

Chances are, your answer will vary depending on whether or not you work outside the home, your age, and your income.

Sure, cooking at home can save you plenty of money, but not a lot of us do it. According to Harris Interactive, “Two in five (41%) say they prepare meals at home five or more times a week and three in ten (29%) do so three to four times a week. One in five (19%) of U.S. adults prepare meals at home one to two times a week, and 11% say they rarely or never prepare meals at home.” There aren’t always easy ways to get a home cooked meal on the table.

In the last several years, my husband and I have made the switch to exclusively eating at home. We go out to eat less than 10 times a year, usually only when we’re traveling. What I’ve discovered is that cooking at home can actually be A LOT of work. Making healthy, low-cost food requires time and energy, and then there is all of the clean up to do afterwards. If I were still working full-time outside the home, I doubt that I would have time to cook as much as I do now.

Home Cooked Meal — Original IMG credit: DSC_0719 on Flickr

However, there are a number of strategies that can help make preparing foods at home easier.

Have a go to meal. Everyone should have a few easy meals that they can make from staples in the pantry when they’re short on time. Choices might include spaghetti, cheese quesadillas, grilled cheese sandwiches, etc. These meals may not be ideal nutritionally, but they’re still better than grabbing fast food, and they’ll save your wallet.

Use your slow cooker. Start the slow cooker in the morning, and when you come home, you’ll have a hot meal waiting for you. To save even more time, prep all of the ingredients the night before so in the busy morning, you can just dump in the ingredients and go.

Utilize freezer cooking. Take one day a month and cook up several meals for your family for the month. This might take you three to four hours, but then you will eliminate much of the cooking you’ll need to do for the rest of the month. Simply take a meal out of your freezer the night before you need it and then reheat it when you get home from work.

There are short cuts to freezer meals, too. Search Pinterest, and you’ll find crockpot freezer meals. Simply dump the ingredients in a freezer bag and freeze. This type of freezer cooking doesn’t require any cooking before putting it in the slow cooker, so you can make a month’s worth of meals in about an hour.

Another idea is to double any recipe you are already cooking and put the second one in the freezer for a busy night.

Don’t be discouraged if you haven’t yet mastered how to eat at home without spending all of your time cooking. As Marion Nestle, professor of food studies at New York University and author of What to Eat says, “Anything that you do that’s not fast food is terrific; cooking once a week is far better than not cooking at all. It’s the same argument as exercise: more is better than less and some is better than none” (The New York Times).

What is your favorite strategy to get a healthy meal on the table quickly?

4 Ways to Spend Less on Groceries Each Month

March 2, 2015 By MelissaB 4 Comments

Are you familiar with the USDA food plans? These plans state how much food should cost a family each month based on four categories: thrifty, low-cost, moderate and liberal. The plans are updated each month to accommodate food price increases. You determine how much your family should spend by choosing one of the four plans, and choosing the ages and members of your family.

For instance, according to the most recent USDA food plan, my family of five (2 adults and 3 kids ages 4 to 10), we should be spending approximately $176.60 a week on the thrifty plan up to $348.90 on the liberal plan. (Am I the only one saying “WOW!” to the liberal plan?)

Recently, I voluntarily decided to cut back on my freelance workload so that I could spend more time homeschooling my kids. We decided to tighten our belt and live off my husband’s income alone while banking the money I’m making.

We’ve been thrilled to spend under the USDA thrifty plan every week, usually by $40 or $50 a week, even though we cannot have gluten, dairy or corn. Here’s how we’ve been doing it:

Stock up when things are on sale. I now try to only buy fruits and veggies that are loss leaders in the weekly ads. When I see things at rock bottom prices, I stock up. Recently, oranges were on sale for 4 pounds for $1. I bought a case, which was 40 pounds. That case only cost me $10, and we’ve had fresh oranges for the last 5 weeks. We have one more week left before we run out. (Keep in mind that some stores will give you a discount when you buy a case, so you can save even more.)

I also found organic potatoes 5 pounds for $2, so I bought 40 pounds. Same for cabbage at 33 cents a pound. I bought 6 heads.

Inevitably, there are weeks where there are no good sales, so we eat from the pantry. This week is one of those weeks, so we will be eating a lot of meals with cabbage and potatoes.

Make your menu plan based on the items that are on sale. I’ve always made a menu plan. (If you don’t, start now! It’s such a money saver.) However, I made my menu plan first and then went shopping. Now, I do the opposite. I find out what is on sale, and I make my menu plan based on those items.

Make freezer meals based on low cost items. When I have extra time or extra groceries, I make freezer meals. Then, if there’s a week where we’ve run out of grocery money or there’s nothing good on sale, I have at least a week’s worth of meals in the freezer.

Be disciplined when going to big box stores. I love shopping at Costco, but I’m very careful to only buy what is on my list. I can get organic carrots 10 pounds for $6.99. I can buy a 2 pound bag of organic greens for less than $5. These prices can’t be beat! However, if I stray from my list and spend on impulse buys, I’m not saving any money.

What USDA plan is your weekly grocery spending closest to? What other tips do you have to save money on groceries?