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I need to cut costs and food is a likely place to start. I started yesterday. I landed at $43. I spend nearly three dollars on dish washing liquid and commet. I made my goal.
There is room for improvement. I spent $4.99 for cupcukes. I know. I should have bought salmon.
That is around what I pay weekly as well and even more as I might stop by to pick up something during the week or grab lunch out. That's not including cat food.
I need to cut costs and food is a likely place to start.
Not so much.
Well, not unless that means a lot of beans and rice.
Quote:
I spend nearly three dollars on dish washing liquid and commet.
I spent $4.99 for cupcukes.
These aren't groceries.
If you're serious about wanting to save on FOOD costs...
share a kitchen with others, scratch cook together, avoid waste and utilize leftovers (stock, soup, etc).
But these items are on the "grocery list" when one goes to the "grocery store", so I think they can fairly be considered groceries, no? This begs another question, then.........what do "you" (the general population) consider "groceries" when grocery shopping?
Just because you can buy it at a grocery store doesn't make it groceries. My grocery store also sells things like folding lawn chairs, and small appliances.
Maybe the term "groceries" is misleading. Maybe we should just use the term "food." That would exclude cleaning supplies, paper goods, etc.
I think you did well. But you could have bought pudding mix for less than $1.00 instead of the 4.99 cupcakes (if you like pudding). Not sure the cost of making cupcakes from a mix?
dried beans
bulk grains (brown rice, millet, oats, couscous, barley...)
frozen fruits and vegetables
celery, onion, garlic, bananas, mushrooms, carrots, rutabaga, jicama, some lettuces and cabbages, collard greens, cauliflower
canned salmon, tuna, sardines (I buy wild caught and still find it to be relatively cheap and nutrient dense; I buy canned salmon with bones in for added calcium source)
potatoes, sweet potatoes
cornmeal or polenta
natural peanut butter
for cleaning, use white vinegar on mirrors, lemon juice on countertops or for grease or grime etc. I use washing soda sometimes in the bathtub.
for hair, I only use Dr. Bronners liquid castile soap. A bottle is slightly more expensive than commercial shampoo, but a little goes a long way and I can make it last more than six months (I wash my hair every other day also which saves on water; granted I have very short hair and don't sweat much).
If I eat bread, I often make my own, several loaves and freeze one. It requires little more than whole wheat flour, water, yeast, a pinch of sugar. I add a tiny amount of oil and blackstrap molasses in place of regular sugar. I am very picky about the ingredients in commercial bread, most of which are appalling, so making my own saves a lot of money versus expensive organic bread, though it requires more time (I make my bread by hand not machine). I often pick a few hours on Sundays to prepare lunches for my work week and also make foods for the week that take a long time to make (dried beans, bread, long cooking grains etc). It saves a ton of time during the busy week, though it does take planning for the week. Planning is work but saves money because you are not impulse buying, but buying only what you absolutely need.
I do buy expensive local fresh fish but only 1-2 x month and usually buy direct from a local fishery. I do the same with eggs, spend more on quality grass fed pastured eggs etc from the same farm and limit egg intake to 6 eggs per week (for husband and self) at most, so a dozen will last two weeks. I do buy plant milk but it will last me a whole week. My husband buys dairy milk for himself separately. I eat minimal dairy but do splurge on organic plain Greek yogurt for a source of protein, calcium, B12 etc and eat this most days. Cheese is a luxury item I buy once every few weeks.
My splurges are stuff like pure local maple syrup, sunflower butter, whole raw or unsalted nuts, Kerry gold butter etc but I limit how often I buy them, and stretch them out so they last. I also buy cold pressed extra virgin olive oil to make my own salad dressing (a bottle will last me several months), and keep vinegars on hand like cider, balsamic, red wine vinegar etc. Those usually last up to a year and make great staples for flavorings, sauces, etc. Red wine vinegar in canned tomato sauce with simmered vegetables (mushroom, green bell pepper, zucchini etc) and oregano spice, garlic clove, and cooked red lentils is great over spaghetti and the whole meal is dirt cheap.
For an every day treat or dessert, I make chocolate hummus, which is no more than blending a can (or 2 cups dried cooked) chickpeas, 1/4 cup maple syrup or other sweetener, 1/4 cup tahini (can also use peanut butter in place), and 1/4 cup cocoa powder (baking kind with nothing else in it which is relatively cheap). I eat it with toast, or rice cakes, or apple slices etc, and it keeps refrigerated for four or five days.
I hope these ideas help! It also helps if you know what produce is in season.
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"I don't understand. But I don't care, so it works out."
(set 5 days ago)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cebuan
Should be able to find sweet potatoes this week cheap, maybe 10c or 20c a pound. they'll store for a month or two, so buy at least 20 pounds.
I can't imagine eating 20 pounds of sweet potatoes in a month.
Reminds me of when my roommate discovered how cheap liver is, and bought more than one serving. That went to waste.
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