We have a recipe book in which you buy all your groceries at one time, cook them all at once and then freeze them. We tried this once - man! what a trip to the grocery store that was. The bill was close to $500 BUT the groceries (which were supposed to last about a month) lasted closer to six weeks. The only thing I had to run in and pick up on a regular basis was milk and dairy stuff. We don't buy a lot of junk because if we do that's what we would tend to eat (and we really can't afford to buy junk over the healthier choices). When we do get it, it really is a treat that is appreciated by eveyone. Brenda
I buy meat on sale. Example...this week has chicken breast for $1.99/lb. And it's "real"...not tthe bag of flash-frozen stuff with all kinds of junk added. So I buy about ten pounds and freeze it. Same with the ground chuck when it's on sale. I avoid buying pop, none of us drink coffee, and i try to avoid all the expensive snack-type foods my kids love except for when I have a coupon and they're on sale (talking things like Fruit Roll Ups, or the Cereal bars). I don't buy hardly any convenience foods such as Rice-A-Roni or boxed stuff. If we have rice, it's long grain/wild rice that I buy at the Farm Market. I bake a lot of bread (again, buying baking supplies cheaper at the farm market), but we also have "regular" bread on hand for sandwiches. I buy fresh fruit when it's on sale. I recently spent $10 on strawberries when I went picking at the farm market, and they are being frozen. I think the cost was about .70/lb, compared to on sale at $1.50/lb in the stores. I'll be buying about 12 dozen ears of corn in about a month from a friend whose father gows it, and will be cutting it off the cob and freezing it. We go apple picking in the fall, and I make lots of applesauce which I will freeze. We cut out canned veggies about two years ago when DH was put on a low-salt diet. I try to have salad and baked potato at least once a month. I'm lousy with "meal planning"...I know I could probably cut back more if I were to actually sit down and write out menus, but for some reason I simply "can't". I feel two big things help...first, I pay CASH for my groceries. That means I only have so much in hand, and I tend to think, "Do I REALLY want that?", especially when it's getting into the second week and I only have $40 or $60 left. Second, and this is MOST IMPORTANT, my family believes in tithing. I grew up with it, and before we were married, when DH first became a Christian, he actually gave 10% of the food he got with food stamps to the local food pantry! It's simply a way of life for us. And I believe with my whole heart that, as a result, God somehow stretches my food budget. Just when I'm running low on something, it somehow turns up on sale again!
Brenda, I love the idea behind OAMC, but can't seem to get it to work for me. For one thing, I freak out at buying enought chicken right now for three or four meals when it's $4.99/lb, when I know that next week it will be $1.99. If you look on-line under OAMC, you can find specific plans people have come up with. They will have a "Chicken Plan", with directions to do four or five chicken recipes at once, or a "Ground Beef" plan with four or five ground beef recipes. But, because of my PICKY eaters, I have trouble even with that. Recently they had chicken leg quarters on sale for $.50/lb. I bought a ten-pound bag and boiled them all, took the meat off, and made several cassaroles for my freezer. Is it something you think you'll do regular?
Jackie.....we did the same thing with our food stamps. I know there were times when at the end of the month we had so much left on our food stamp account (IL uses a debit card) that we spent it all on the food pantry cuz we knew more was coming, and way more than our family could spend. Then hubby got a bit better job and no more food stamps so we had to use the food we stocked the pantry with... :lol: What goes around, huh? I'm so happy! Just yesterday with no prompting, my hubby told me that he thinks it is best if I do the grocery shopping alone cuz I can make the $ go at least triple the distance. That took alot for him to hand that over entirely to me. He's precious 8)
YES!!! Rule nulmber one when it comes to grocery shopping: LEAVE HUBBY AT HOME!!!! Though I have to admit mine is much better than he use to be.
AMEN to that one Jackie - I hate grocery shopping to begin with - bring hubby along and oh Lord what a disaster that becomes (and far more expensive). Brenda
My husband is actually a better grocery shopper than I am. Alas, I am an impulse shopper . A lot of times, it's him leaving me at home.
The taking the hubby to the store thingy......eeps :shock:! If I want a buggy full of Treet meat and Chips Ahoy cookies :lol:!
