What a bunch of great ideas! I really needed to read this now. We are in a major crunch here and have got cut back as much as possible. This is one area I can help. I tend to go a bit nuts at the store but not nearly as nutty as my dh. He is no longer allowed to shop with me! I am sitting down today to make my menu for next week and this is really helping.
One thing I am going to do now is use more rice and potatoes to stretch meals and to use more meat that is on sale. Also I can't remember who said they use canned juice but I am going to try that and see if it saves money. My kids drink tons of milk and dh and I decided we need to limit that. They can drink more water and even koolaid is supper cheap. We can limit milk to breakfast and before bed and they can have tea for dinner.
oh I just printed a coupon for $.50 off of 10 kool-aid-- I hate to say it but we do a lot more kool-aid than juice these days. And on milk... we offer it for breakfast and maybe at dinner, but during the day they are encouraged to drink water!! But at least its gone down in price lately! ON TEA: we recently tried wal-mart's best value brand and it is not very good, I am going back to lipton even though its about .30-.40 a box more we buy a 2 litter of "soda" (I call it pop but can't get the kids to say that).... for fridays the WM brand is .69 I always make a menu and grocery list and lately I've been going to the websites that tell me what coupons are out there and the sales at the store I need to go to. My DH does the grocery shopping. And trust me I make that list so detailed!--- or he will call and ask me if I want red onions, yellow or green onions! I also write the dinner menu on the back of the grocery list so if I may forget to add something he knows to pick it up or if I put roast and they have pork on sale we re-arrange the menu.
Fridays are our usal Pizza days, we have been making it, but tonight we aren't because dh had to work and we didn't make it to the grocery store like we planned, but also Donald's birthday is Tuesday and he asked for pizza, so we will pick up little ceasars $5 pizza....... but we need something for tonight-- wich is "movie" night too, so I am weighing the Dollar menu from Wendy's or Burger king or maybe subway (split 2 foot longs for the kids)
I stopped making tea and Kool-Aid all the time to encourage more water. If the kids don't have a choice, they will drink water. I buy the Sam's choice sodas for Friday game night. Tiffany, we rarely eat meat as a main dish. I put it in casseroles to make it go further. I think Sam's has good meat prices, especially because the quality is so much better!
Yes, I agree with Pam, Sam's in Texas has the best price for meat... that is where we get all ours and we love it...
DH and I have been doing weight watchers, and our food bill has been going up up up! I need to take some of this advice! Potatoes - very healthy, low cal, high fiber, and can be topped with lots of things like chili, broccoli, etc. I need to stop buying expensive high fiber crackers and stuff. Any alternatives? Maybe I should learn how to bake my own high fiber breads. Fresh veggies are expensive. Perhaps I need to use more frozen. We don't eat tons of meat, but I should check out tvp for a cheap low fat alternative. We have a garden which is wonderful! I made a wonderful zucchini lasagna tonight - replace the noodles with zuch, and it was FREE zuch!
Popcorn is great for high fiber. I pop it myself on top of the stove and just lightly salt it. Very good for you as far as fiber and very cheap! My kids love it too!
I have really enjoyed reading this thread. Lots of really good ideas. Two things I wanted to mention though. One- ediesbeads go to the foodnetwork website and look up crackers on there. Alton Brown did a really neat show on his Good Eats program all about making crackers from scratch. Two being there is a food program that I just found out about a few days ago while reading a free ebook. It is called Angel Food Ministries. You order boxes online or at the local host site and its 30$ a box. One box equals enough food to feed a family of 4 for 1 week. You don't have to qualify or fill out paper work for it. Just google it. There are places all over that do it. I just wish I had known about ti sooner Good Luck ladies!
There are several people on here who use Angel Food. Every few months someone brings it up. Which is good, because we're always getting new people. I looked into it, but my family is picky, and there's too much in the box that my family won't eat.
I always stock up on boxed pasta when it is $1 a box when we buy hamburger helper I always add in extra pasta. We take extras (the stuff that isn't enough to make a meal but still have plenty of) and make burritos. During the winter months I managed to feed three people on $20 a week, thanks to big lots and Aldis. We ate lots of homemade soups, modified hamburger/tuna helpers, lasagna, spaghetti.
Unfortunately we are back to that point again. That is why we are considering the transfer to Jacksonville FL since they are not cutting hours down there like they are up here. We do alot of things like instead of steaks or pork chops we chop them up so they last longer. We mix them into things, We were able to get deer meat for free from my dad and we ate alot of it. We also don't under estimate the value of managers specials in the meat department. You can use it that day and freeze leftovers or freeze all the meat and just thaw as we eat. Same with salad mix (which doesn't last more then a day in our house) I buy the discounted stuff because it is getting ready to turn. My DH and DD eat it like it's going out of style.
Don't forget a kind word goes far........... If your family really likes a product tell that company how much your family likes it........It takes 5 minutes to google the company and push the "contact us" button..... most of them have a "form" always include your full name and address with your complement. ---- not always but sometimes they will send you coupons for either free or cents off. ( but if you do a lot of this try to keep a note book about the date you write them and the response you get)
I may have said this already, but before our grocery trip I make a menu with everything we will eat in a week...... all snacks, desserts, breakfast, lunch and dinners!! (this way you know if you need something at the store-- just put a little dot or something by that item if you need it on your list then when you make your list you can look at the menu and you will write down just what you need because you can have one of the kids help you inventory just how many cans of green beans you have or what meat you have in the freezer) I don't assign days to my meals so that I can have choices but you usually know if you have leftovers or not so it can help you plan your lunches.
We've done that On-Cor gives coupons for free items so does Mt.Olive pickles. Tyson gives 50cent coupons. I do it during the fall time because winter time is when we need it the most. His job cuts more during that time because that is when business drops.
Our church gets all the out dated produce every other week from Safeway. They pick it up and bring back to the church and whoever wants it - takes it. Usually not many show up that day so alot of the dairy is up for grabs. I usually get milk, yogurt, smoothies, fruit, vegetables and all the bread that I can handle. Last week was hot dog, hamburger buns, whole grain breads, and tons of others. Check with your local grocery stores and see if they donate to anyone and if they don't maybe you can see if they would start one. It has been a great blessing.
I have a vacuum sealer, so I get large packages of meat & separate them into meal-sized portions before tossing them in the freezer. Chicken is cheaper if you buy the whole chicken instead of packages of breasts, legs, or thighs. So, I buy whole chickens most of the time. When using ground meat, I use a blend of hamburger, ground turkey, and sometimes ground pork. It makes the meat stretch & gives the food more flavor. I rarely buy cereal (only if it's on sale for a really good price). Instead we have eggs, yogurt & fresh fruit, homemade waffles, pancakes, or french toast for breakfast. Dh takes leftovers to work for lunch. I'll use meat from the different meals & do combination fried rice. If we have just one kind of meat left over, I'll make casserole or soup with it. We almost never buy bread, I make large batches at home & freeze some. I generally use a mix of wheat & white flour, since wheat flour is so expensive. If fruits or veggies are getting close to going bad, they go in the freezer. That way I can use them later for soups, desserts, muffins, pancakes, breads, etc. When I make really big meals - lasagna, chicken soup, chicken & dumplings, etc. - I freeze. The kids like pizza, pizza rolls, and mozzerella bits. Those can get pretty expensive, so I make them from scratch. They're cheaper & healthier. I use leftover spaghetti sauce for chili. I make homemade pasta & only buy the shapes I can't make. The few occasions we seem to be getting a lot of leftovers in the fridge (the weeks when I get over zealous with cooking), I don't cook for a few days & we eat just leftovers for lunch & dinner. I add leftover meat to salads for lunch or omelets for breakfast. I make large batches of homemade pancakes & waffles & freeze the extras for days I don't feel like cooking breakfast or to use as snacks or quick dinners or lunches. We get some of our food at Aldi, shop Hilander for really good sales, and get our meat at Sam's. The meat from Sam's has less fat & comes in bigger packages, so we get more for our money.
