With the talk about rising grocery prices, I thought it might be fun to post ideas on

[MJN]

ways we can cut our food budgets down. Someone mentioned cooking dried beans and freezing them vs. buying canned beans. One of the things we're doing is making our cookies and breakfast breads from scratch. We can hardly eat a store bought cookie anymore, thanks to my dds great cooking. :)

 

So, what are some things you are doing to stretch your food dollars?

[Jean in Newcastle]

My dh used to eat breakfast (he leaves the house at 4:30am) and lunch at his work cafeteria. Now I make breakfast and lunch the night before. It saves a bunch of money!

[MJN]

not much of a breakfast eater, unfortunately. He'll skip lunch many days, but will eat a lot of supper. He just doesn't have much of an appetite. What kinds of things do you fix for your dh? He gets tired of eggs and breakfast meat quickly.

[Jean in Newcastle]

oatmeal with fruit to put in it.

 

waffles (you could even do the freezer ones).

 

scones

 

bacon/eggs/toast

 

barley cereal (like oatmeal)

 

My dh is diabetic so I always have some kind of meat for breakfast too (sometimes a ground meat patty, some sausages, bacon or even a chicken breast).

[MJN]

nt

[Chris in VA]

We buy a lot of store brands. It's cheaper even than stocking up at a Costco.

We don't buy any fancy cereals, and we shop the ads.

We stick to the list, planning our meals weekly.

We try not to take extra trips, and we don't eat snack foods like chips and stuff--ds' hate that, but too bad. We do eat pretzels, tho', and I drink diet soda, but the kids don't (ds18 has had more soda lately, but that's a new development).

My husband (and usually my ds18) drink ice tea--very, very cheap drink.

We don't keep a well stocked larder, either.

[Nestof3]

Cooking from scratch can save a lot of money. My Dad was impressed that he and my mom don't spend much on groceries -- he said $500 a month and I about passed out. If we spent the same, we'd be spending over $1,000 a month in groceries! My mom buys a lot of meat, a lot of prepackaged stuff, donuts, etc.

 

We eat mainly vegetarian meals, and if we do have ground beef, I run it through the food processor to make it fine. It seems to go farther in spaghetti sauce, chili and such. It adds a little flavor without needing a lot of meat. I usually buy a large plastic container of growth hormone free from BJs at $2.99 a pound, brown it all in a skillet and freeze portions in little ziploc bags.

 

I make soups with leftovers a lot. I buy organic chicken broth in cartons at BJs -- I really stock up (no pun intended). Every few days I take all leftover veggies, rice, barley, lentils, pasta, meats etc and throw them in a pot with a carton of broth, an onion, some diced garlic from a jar, white pepper and salt.

 

I also make other soups a lot:

 

corn chowder (chicken broth, corn, potatoes, sometimes diced red peppers, milk, salt and black pepper). I usually have salad and some kind of muffin or homemade bread along with it.

 

chili (with diced tomatoes, corn, black beans, kidney beans, frozen peppers food processed, an onion, diced garlic and spices). I usually make brown rice to serve the chili over. We then sprinkle some mexican shredded cheese on top. It's very filling. We also eat leftover chili with quesadillas with tortilla shells and cheese.

 

Another cheap meal is carrots, potatoes, a little ground beef, an onion, ketchup, white pepper, salt, marjoram, dill, basil and garlic pwder cooked in the crock pot or oven together until carrots and potatoes are tender. I scrub the potatoes but do not peel them.

 

We also drink mainly water around here. My husband likes his apple cider and I drink coffee, but we don't by sodas and very little juice.

 

I buy fruit when it's on sale.

 

I buy generic products 99 percent of the time (except toilet paper and paper towels because we just end up using more of them).

 

Whole grains are more filling than white grains.

 

We also have green beans and potatoes cooked in chicken broth with a lot of pepper and onion. I add other things as side dishes -- it just depends on what I have. Muffins, homemade bread, lima beans, carrots -- who knows. Potatoes are still pretty inexpensive, so I use them a lot.

 

My carrot lentil casserole is also very cheap.

 

We eat pancakes and eggs for dinner often. Sometimes I make roasted potatoes too. Coat potatoes with olive oil, sprinkle with dill, basil, marjoram, white pepper and salt. They're like hasbrowns. The boys like them with ketchup.

 

I know some people who do not have a regular land-line phone. Since they are paying for a cell phone, and long distance is usually free at night, they have cell phones only. That can save a lot of money.

 

Late fees and bank fees can add up too. Be diligent about library items, video rentals, keeping up with how much is in your checking account, etc.

 

Thrift stores are GREAT -- especially for children's clothing. We also bring almost anything we no longer need to our house church for others to go through. This includes food no one likes, hair products that didn't work out, toys, books, clothes, etc.

 

I have sold some things on Craigslist as well. Every little bit helps.

 

The internet is a wealth of info as well. So often, there are just the right math practice sheets or whatever without spending a dime. Many audio books can be downloaded from sites like librivox as well as through your library.

 

I notice that since my children are homeschooled and don't watch TV, they are oblivious to what toys and clothes are hot. A friend of mine was telling me about a pair of "crocs" she bought for her daughter (because they are so "in" -- I played along but had no idea what she was talking about).

 

I buy heavy duty freezer bags in gallon and quart size from BJs. I then wash them, hang them to dry on my kitchen curtain and reuse them. I know this saves quite a bit because I rarely have to buy them.

 

You can cut dryer sheets in half and they work just as well.

 

I compost so I can spread it on our garden and flower bed.

 

I buy the boys' markers, colored pencils, construction paper, paper, etc. at rock-bottom prices during back to school sales or with a coupon from Michaels and A C Moore. I bought my own Prismacolor pencils from A C Moore with a coupon and got a rebate on top of that. They also sell homeschool things like solar system, gem, chemistry kits. They sell some Dover coloring books, sketch books, lots of art supplies, Lincoln Logs, Thomas the Tank, all sorts of things. There is always a 40 or 50 percent off coupon available.

 

I buy huge boxes of computer paper from the office store or BJs. This is the drawing paper for the boys. I make scratch pads from scratch paper. I cut 8.5x11 sheets of paper into four sections and staple together.

 

We are also very organized. When you are organized, you don't lose things and things tend to be taken care of better, thus you have to buy less.

 

I hope all of these tips help.

[Nestof3]

I also try to plan meals based on the fresh vegetables on sale that week.

[Amy in Orlando]

I think it's something you grow into and something you have to plan for. I know when I started buying things "frugally" we didn't always have the money to take adavantage of whatever was on sale, but I persisted. If you do it long enough and can learn to stick to your list it makes a HUGE difference.

 

For us, the kids' allergies have been a blessing in disguise, we buy just about NOTHING pre-made. No pre-packaged snacks, no weird yogurts, no nothing. Again, it took me quite a bit of time to just accept this and move on, but it's been so good for us finacially and health-wise.

 

I will confess that I'm still a Diet Coke addict. Yes, I know it's bad and evil, but ::::sigh::::: I just love it's bubbly goodness in the morning. It's my downfall. And it's a stupid one because I like tea and water equally as much - just those bubbles . . .

[Free Indeed]

I buy a bag of chicken leg quarters and boil and debone them. The I freeze the meat into individual bags. I use this in place of chicken breast is most casserole recipes, or for soups,enchiladas, etc...

We drink water, tea or sometimes koolaide -rarely though. Hillbilly housewife has a few good tips and recipes. A big pot of pinto beans can go a long ways- beans and rice with cornbread, mash for refried beans for bean burritos.

Hunt, we get great organic meat just by hunting- wild hogs, deer, turkey, rabbit, etc..

Make a pot of chicken and rice casserole and then use leftovers for chicken soup.

Do not eat much cereal- rare for convenience foods, but I will make a meal and freeze it so when we have one of those days I can still have a quick dinner without the need of a restaurant.

We spend about $400 a month, but that includes dog food, cleaning supplies, and extra stuff- that is a Walmart budget, not necessarily a food budget.

[BonAmy]

I do lots of the things that Dawn and AmyinOrlando said!

 

I also like to make crockpot meals that will last for 3 or 4 meals.. so, like a good quality organic pot roast, a package of McCormack pot roast seasoning, potatoes, carrots, 2 cans of chicken broth.. initial cost for the meal is about $10-$12... but I can get Friday dinner, Sat. lunch and dinner, and sometimes part of Sunday lunch out of it. I also add a salad to it, and some bread (we have major food allergies here, so we use Ezekiel bread... which seems to be more expensive, except you eat way less of it, because it's so filling and satisfying). So those 3 meals I get out of the pot come to about $3-$4 each... and that's feeding 5 kids, 2 adults.

 

I also pre-brown ground turkey meat and keep in the freezer to add to everything.

 

I buy onions and red/yellow/orange/green bell peppers when they are on a good sale, and chop & freeze them, to add to whatever I'm cooking.

 

Fresh herbs make everything taste awesome.. if you can grow a little pot of basil and/or cilantro in your kitchen.

 

I got rid of 75% or more of the kids clothes, because I was spending all my time (seemed like) doing laundry... which costs money! and sanity! so, I realized that they had way too many clothes.. I have them boxed up in the garage, going to have what I call a 'charity' yard sale this weekend... where I sell their stuff for almost nothing (25cents or 50 cents) so people who need them can buy them.

 

We also have massive food allergies, which has been a huge blessing (diagnosed in January) because we no longer by boxed/pre-packaged of almost anything. Cooking from scratch! muffins, cookies...

 

You're getting great advice here.. looking forward to reading more.

oh.. we also only have a land-line phone for 911 emergencies.. costs $17/month. we use our free long distance with our cell phones.

 

BonAmy