Ooh! Ooh! How could I forget TVP (textured vegetable protein), the meat-extender of champions! Replace part or all of the ground meat in soups or casseroles with it. I used it once in a pot-luck pastitsio and they all lapped it up and asked for the recipe.
I dont know what to add to this post, everyone else seems to have covered it. Stick to grains, rice, kool-aid (generic if possible), generic soda, and when a good sale arrives buy tons of stuff. Pasta Roni is on sale for 50 cents a box this week and i went and bought 24 boxes. i will probably buy another 30 boxes before the week is up, they are usually about $1.29.
In my opinion, its not how much food you get per dollar its how many calories you can get per dollar you spend. The way i see it buying 5 pounds of potatoes (which my brother does all the time) for a few bucks is not a good deal as potatoes only have about 350 calories per pound. if 10 pounds is $4 that is about 875 calories per pound. of course if you add butter or cheap sour cream you can get more calories out of that. But at the end of the day you will most likely end up eating roughly the same amount of calories no matter what you eat.
Thanks for posting that. I had not thought of it that way!
If you do invest in large portions of perishables, like 5 lbs. of burger or 3 lbs. of cheese, divide it into portions and freeze what you won’t use right away as soon as you get it home. Few things are more depressing than pulling your big block of cheese out of the fridge and discovering massive amounts of mold. Almost as bad is having to toss a huge chunk of meat in the freezer just before it spoils because you never got around to dividing it and then having to cook all of it at once when you unfreeze it. Unfortunately, I learned this tip the hard way.
I’m doing the low-carb thing, and I don’t really have to severely watch my grocery spending, but I don’t like to waste money. (And neither do my three sisters and four brothers. :)) But I don’t have tons of time, either. So here’s where I make my biggest dents. (I’m also including tips I used in my pre-low carb days.)
**Meat: **If you’re not vegetarian, meat is one of the priciest parts of shopping. Always check your circulars for good meat prices. The cheapest meat I can think of is chicken quarters, which I can get around here for as low as 29 cents a pound. Boiled and deboned, the meat is wonderful for chicken pot pie, chicken and dumplings, stewed chicken, etc. Also, right now (at least in my area of the country), pork is generally much less expensive than beef.
**Menus: **Speaking of circulars, use them to plan your grocery list and menus. Never mindlessly throw food in the cart. It adds up. OTOH, be ready to take advantage of a good sale. A few weeks ago, I saw Hellmann’s mayo for sale at $1.50 a jar. That’s an incredible price. I didn’t need mayo right then, but the next time I do need it, I have a jar in my pantry ready to go.
Convenience foods: Someone’s said this already, but it bears mentioning again. Convenience foods will wreck your budget. Also, they’re generally quite unhealthy. The more you cook from scratch, the more money you save. Also, homemade treats (sweet ones especially) are WAY better than the alternative.
Fruit and veggies: When you buy fresh, only buy what’s in season. If it’s not in season, it’s not very tasty anyway.
Casseroles, etc.: Casseroles and one-pot meals are awesome for stretching that food dollar, often because the amount of meat per person is much less than if they had an individual serving.
Don’t forget to check out local food banks. Many cities have them and don’t be ashamed to use them and many don’t require any proof of income. I was also going to suggest SHARE portions that had already been suggested. I also vote for reducing the meat. It’s healthier to use vegetables anyway. I spent one summer on stir fry and never felt healthier. Many people suggested potatoes and pasta which is good for you some of the time but can also be fattening. As for homemade bread, because there is no preservatives, the bread goes bad quickly so it can be more expensive if you don’t eat much bread. I suggest you look for a bakery outlet. I pay half as much as I pay at the grocery store. I subscribe to Taste of Home and Quick Cooking magazine and they often have $.99 recipes or under $2.00 recipes. I am a single mother of 2 and have to spend little on groceries. I have really learned budgeting skills.
As far as other saving tools, don’t forget the used stores, Salvation Army, Disabled American Vetran stores etc.
Wow, so many good tips. I wish I could follow them. The trouble is that:
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I can’t cook,
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I tend to let ingredients rot, and
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I’m a very picky eater. There are SO many ingredients in a typical recipie thread that I would NEVER eat, that my choices are pretty limited.
Guess I’m just stuck with paying a lot of money forever…
Get a large freezer and take advantage of special offers when you see them - supermarkets often do ‘two for one’ deals, also look out for products that are reduced in price as they near their end-date (there is quite a comfortable margin of safety in the ‘sell by’ dates, so you’re really not buying rotten food this way)
Avoid prepared meals - they are very expensive for what you get - buy ingredients and cook them yourself.
Make use of leftovers - for example, those three spare boiled potatoes can be mashed up, mixed with some leftover corn and carrots, shaped into little cakes and fried the next day.
Challenge yourself to make a large piece of meat (such as a chicken) serve for several meals, so a roast chicken becomes:
Day 1 - some of the meat as part of a Sunday roast dinner.
(then strip the remaining meat from the bones and use them to make stock.
Day 2 - some more of the cold meat in sandwiches, or in a salad etc.
Day 3 - the last little bits of meat in a risotto, using the stock.
Supplement your diet with wild foods (not suitable advice for every locality) - in late summer, I can go for an evening stroll and return empty-handed, or I can take a container with me and pick five pounds of blackberries in an hour - these I freeze and use through the winter in pies, crumbles, tarts etc - I wouldn’t ever buy blackberries, but if I didn’t have them, I’d be buying more of other kinds of fruit.
Bulk out your meals with cheaper ingredients - a handful of rolled oats in with the ground meat (for a shepherd’s pie or meat-based pasta sauce) makes it go further, thickens the sauce and (in the case of sauces) helps it adhere to the pasta better.
If you add tasty sauces to things like stir-fries, you need more (cheap) rice to soak it up, and consequently you can get away with less meat.
(Don’t take this idea too far, or it will be like living in tightly-rationed wartime Britain and you’ll grow to hate the food)
If you must snack, have a jam sandwich or an apple, rather than something pre-bought in a packet.
Leaper, with a decision and just a little bit of effort on your part, you can indeed benefit from these tips.
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Cooking is easy. I suggest taking a local adult community course on basic cooking skills to start with. If you can use a knife without taking off your hand and use a burner without…well…catching fire, you can cook. Even if you can only do these things without hurting yourself most of the time, you can cook.
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So don’t let ingredients rot. It’s like the patient going to the doctor thing where he says, “Doc, Doc, it hurts when I go like this” and the Doc replies, “so don’t go like that”. Buy only what you will use in the next week, and then use it. Unless you have some manner of advanced food rotting mechanism in your fridge, you’ll be ok.
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Learn recipes that appeal to you. There are plenty of 4 or 5 ingredient recipes out there. You certainly can’t be that picky that you can’t find a couple dozen that suit you. Further, with most recipes, you can take them as a starting point and turn them into something you like. Less salt, more mayo, replace pork with beef, eliminate green peppers entirely but add some salad on the side. Even the pickiest of eater should be able to find a nice selection of recipes. Again, you can check out www.allrecipes.com and find ones that suit your eating preferences.
My problem is when recipies require something like half a cup of red wine or one clove of garlic or half an onion. I don’t drink, so that wine will turn into vinegar before I use the rest of it. Same with the garlic and onion (though not vinegar, of course). Hell, I like salads, and I can’t even finish a head of lettuce before it rots. I’ve got a bag of flour I used half a cup of, and haven’t used since. I buy eggs six at a time, and I STILL end up throwing four away 99% of the time, because I don’t want scrambled eggs and omlettes, which are pretty much my only options.
I once bought a book of five ingredient or less recipies. You know how many looked appealing to me, AND had ingredients that fit what I mentioned above for your #2?
Four. Out of something like fifty or sixty.
Plus, I never, ever, EVER deviate one bit from the recipie. I’m too terrified of screwing it up. What if substitutions mess something up that the writers never intended? Nonono. Never.
I know about allrecipies, but it’s just too BIG. I have no idea where to start looking, and I’m completely intimidated. Plus there’s the #2 problem listed above (not meant literally, of course 
). Too many peppers and cabbage and wine and salsa. Besides which, most recipies I find that I try last me two or three meals, making them MORE expensive than prepared foods.
It’s taken long experience, but I now believe that cooking, for someone like me, is a hopeless experience. I’ve given up. I hate to do it, but there it is.
Cooking is for large families, and people with eclectic tastes. Not me. I’m stuck with prepared foods 'til I die.
a hint on using some of the suggestions made above:
If you have two consecutive days off (a luxury to some I realize) – do your shopping on one day, and on the second day do a lot of cooking in advance… make your chili, your curry, your spaghetti sauce, whatever… but cook SEVERAL main courses. Then, during the week, you can alternate among the main courses you have in the fridge… usually just the rice or pasta to cook on that night while the accompanying main course heats. It might seem cheaper to live by mac and cheese for days on end… but by the third day you wanna scream, and order out… Try not to eat the same main meal two days in a row, alternate… but if you have three main dishes already in the fridge, you’re laughing.
Dress as a priest or nun & go to authentic Italian or Mexican restaurants.
The roach on the plate trick works in any restaurant.
J/K!
That’s the problem with recipes. You’re much better off doing your own thing, which can be daunting, but there’s no reason why it should be.
It is better to buy a few basic ingredients that you like the look of and throw together a bunch of ad hoc recipes using bits and pieces, inspired by the books if necessary, but not slavishly following them.
For example:
Bag of frozen chicken drunsticks
Potatoes
A red pepper
A bottle of cheap white wine
Butter
Olive oil
Flour
Shallots
Carrots
Dried mixed herbs
Can be combined in different ways to make whatever you fancy at the time, so:
Cut the potatoes into wedges, toss them in a little oil, then toss them in flour and herbs and lay them on a metal tray, make a foil pouch and drop in two (thawed) chicken pieces, a chopped shallot, half the red pepper(chopped), a chopped carrot, some butter and a glug of wine, seal the foil pouch and put it into an ovenproof dish (in case it leaks) - put the tray of potatoes and the foil pouch into a moderately hot oven for an hour and a half, then remove and serve - the potato wedges will be golden brown and crispy, the chicken will be tender and moist - take the chicken out and throw the pepper/onion/juice in the blender and you have a nice sauce.
or
Leave the skins on the potatoes and bake them in the oven - rub the chicken pieces with seasoned flour and roast them in an open tray, also in the oven; while this is cooking, slice a shallot, half the red pepper and a carrot into long, thin strips and stir-fry them in a little oil.
or
Slice the potatoes thinly and put them in layers an ovenproof dish, adding little bits of chopped shallot now and again, add half a cup of milk, cover with a lid or foil. Cut the meat off three chicken pieces, throw it in the blender along with a quarter of the red pepper, some herbs, a slice of white bread and a little salt - whizz it round for thirty seconds and then form it into balls with your fingers - put them in a tray and bake everything in the oven.
or
You get the idea. - if you add a couple of different types of meat and a few other basics such as dried pasta, eggs and a few different vegetables (even frozen peas and sweetcorn), the range of permutations and methods of presentation is surprisingly broad.
Recipe books inspire some people but stifle others - in most cases, cakes and pastries being something of an exception, recipes are quite malleable and you can substitute ingredients quite freely - you make the rules - if you don’t have a pepper, add some chopped tomatoes, if you don’t have shallots, use celery etc…
All “cooking from scratch to save money” doesn’t especially have to be COOKING. Say for instance you’re in the habit of buying a cup of coffee at the gas station on your way to work every morning. That can be as much as $2-$4 a day, or $520-$1040 a year. Even if you have to buy a coffeemaker (what are they now, a whole $20?) and a thermos cup you’ll come out WAY WAY ahead by making your own and bringing it along. If you’re in the habit of getting a snack from the vending machine at work it’s the same thing. Start buying the big bag of chips (or whatever) at the grocery store and divide it up into little baggies or containers to bring with you. If even the snack budget is tight, switch to popcorn. You can buy a bag of corn kernels for like $2 and it makes about a jillion servings of popcorn. Sweat the small stuff; it can add up.
voguevixen is on track there with checking out where the rest of your money is going. Making cutbacks elsewhere can free up extra cash for your food budget. Test some cheaper wines/beers, do you need to buy 5 different household cleaners or would one multi-cleaner do, etc.
Leaper, there are lots of ways around the issue of “half an onion, one cup of wine”. Learning about cooking would help a lot, for example there is a good chance that you could exchange that half onion for a whole leek, or that you could do like us and buy a big bag of shalottes. Believe it or not, the wine can be frozen for adding to sauces at a later point. I usually freeze that sort of thing in icecube bags so I can drop them in individually. Throw one inside a chicken before roasting for another layer of flavour. There are also jars of preserved, mashed onion, garlic, ginger etc. where you use a spoonfull instead of an onion etc. Buy them in your local ethnic store.
Which brings me nicely to another tip (round here anyhow). I have found that you can get fantastic deals at “ethnic” grocery stores. In Dublin we used to buy boxes of 200 mini-spring rolls at the rate of a penny each, that is a cheap snack. We would buy our rice in five kilo sacks and jars of preserved, mashed garlic, ginger, etc. Now the local middle-eastern store has loads of interesting canned and jarred veggies, great prices on fresh veggies, tins of dolmas and homous and babbaganouch for a few pence each, and also has loads of strange, cheap stuff imported from Germany. They also have black-market Coke which is much cheaper
Everybody’s mentioned beans (prt…prt…prt… why are the bed covers floating?), but nobody’s mentioned refried beans.
I love to refry my own beans. Easy, tasty. Ingredients: cooking oil, water, beans. Need a mashing device. I have a wooden one also used for potatoes, but you could put your hand in a potholder, and the potholder in a secure plastic bag, and use your fist; and wouldn’t that be fun? Release tensions?
Heat the oil until it smokes, dump in the beans, mash, add water, mash some more. Season with at least salt, and as much more as your little heart desires. (Mine usually desires garlic, plus many spices that might be too much money for someone counting the cents.)
Also, not to forget: Rice and beans = whole protein. Beans or peas and wheat = whole protein. Corn and beans = whole protein.
Although a little cheese melting across the top makes it much nicer.
Don’t skip meals.
Buy generic porridge oats or whole grains and make porridge or muesli for breakfast instead of buying breakfast cereals.
Buy dried fruit (raisins, prunes, apricots, apple, banana) for snacks or to add to your porridge or home made muesli.
Make your own sandwiches from left overs, and take a thermos of tea, coffee or soup instead of buying them.
You do not need to eat meat at every meal. Try to substitute beans, tofu or fish, whichever is cheapest.
Investigate offal. Liver is cheap, nutritious and makes a great meal when fried up with onions and potatoes. Same goes for kidneys and sweetbreads.
You don’t need desserts, cookies or chips. Don’t buy them.
Don’t buy ready made pasta or stir fry sauces. USe tomato puree and soy sauce instead.
Buy natural yoghurt and add honey or fruit.
One of the best recipes for soup is just onion, and garlic fried up in oil, adding red lentils and stock to cover, simmered till cooked, adding lemon juice, tabasco, salt and pepper to taste. add bacon if you want.
Boil chicken and meat bones for stock, you can freeze it.
Grocery store sales are cyclical, usually around 6 week cycles. When something you use often goes on sale, buy enough to last for about 6 weeks, and only use your coupons when that item is on sale. After a while you may start to notice these patterns and can plan accordingly. Obviously, this technique won’t work for everything, but Ziplock bags are a good example. You can find coupons for them frequently, then double your savings by using them when the item is already on sale.
Leaper, can you give some examples of dishes you DO like to eat? Maybe we can help you figure out how to make them yourself without wasting ingredients.
Cooking starts off as a science, but ends up as an art: once you learn some of the basics (how long you can go away from the sauteing onions before they start to stick to the pan, what a fish fillet looks like when it’s done cooking, how much oil you need in a stir fry), you can really begin to get creative with your recipes, making them to match your own tastes. Every couple years I try to learn a new cuisine: I start by following recipes strictly until I learn, for example, what sort of ingredients you put into a Teriyaki sauce, and then once I know the appropriate ingredients, I get funky (putting in wasabi, plum paste, etc.)
burundi and I make food in mass quantities. We’ve spent the week eating shrimp jambalaya (very cheap except for the actual shrimp), trout, twice-stuffed potatoes, lemon pie, and a frozen pizza on the night we got lazy. It’s not much more work to make 6 servings than to make 2 servings, and it keeps you fed for a lot longer; if I can go home for lunch instead of going to a restaurant, I’ll save five bucks or more.
Daniel
LEAPER
Bless your heart…
If I could fix it … I would