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In an attempt to provide sales and "specials" on certain items, the grocery stores have BOGO sales. These are very frustrating to those of us who live alone and don't need two pints of tomatoes when one will suffice. The second pint rots before the first pint is consumed.
I don't need two of almost anything. I don't have a basement in which I can store the second non-perishable package of toilet tissue and I can't eat enough for the BOGO of perishable items. I often don't take the second pint of tomatoes or the second container of cut fruit. I would just have to throw them in the trash. So, the grocery store may think they are providing sales and value, but not for many people, particularly seniors, who cannot avail themselves of these promotions.
I wish I could just BO at half the price and not have to GO to get value.
Donate the other to the local food bank.
The food banks in my area are a big part of cheap food for poorer families.
It's also unfortunately used by the meth-heads that then sell their SNAP to buy drugs.
Pre-prepared foods is making your grocery bill more expensive because their costs have gone up in many ways.
We're retired so we have more time to cook than working folks with kids (who may be picky eaters). I have food intolerances due to a medical condition but my food bill is lower than yours because I can't eat most pre-made foods due to their ingredient list.
To save money learn to how make one or two dinners that freeze well. That way you won't be cooking every night and get cranky. On a busy day (today is one) I'll defrost a chicken dish I made last week from freezer, stick in toaster oven to heat while I sit down and relax, then cook some pasta, cook some frozen petite peas and it's yummy and easy. Dinner cost is maybe $4 for food for 2 of us.
Covid made me more interested in cooking than I was before. So many great and easy recipes can be found online and at the local library. No cost there. Last week we went to the local farmers market for the first time, bought mushrooms and apple pie. Going back because there's a lady who has fresh crabmeat, she's from Maryland and gets it shipped to North Carolina. Husband LOVES crabcakes and his birthday is in 2 weeks, win-win.
edit to add: I'm also cutting down the amount of meat we're eating after reading that is one way to live longer and healthier. We can afford meat but I'm upping our veggie intake/decreasing meat, probably will be zero sum game on cost.
It is my practice over almost 2 scores that if you can prepare food from raw goods, you make out like a bandit at the grocery store.
My diet consists a lot of beans of different types. When I got out of the service, I didn't have much money and my Father suggested beans because that is how the Army ate before WW II when they didn't have much money. My type of beans are dry goods. Bought in bags and not can, stored in jars on the counter (with lentils, brown rice, and split peas).
I do two basic bean dishes. The first are my stews which are a mix of beans. This is where I cook my pinto beans. They aren't easy to cook except there but they are cheap and like this, they provide more protein.
The second is my version of Moors & Christians: black beans, black eyed peas, and either lentils or brown rice. It cooks up quickly on the stove top, makes its own gravy, and doesn't need any additional seasoning ....... but one always could if they want.
There are many little things about being a cook. It relaxes me, it can bring me pleasure, and when times are rough like if you are taken hostage, if you are good at it, they will shoot you last. Being a cook does play into my fantasies, I picture a house where there is always prepared snacking food, an ice box in need of raiding, like in the Manor of the Witches or quaint little country kitchens where Soviets held their summits.......just in reality with just me, there is not too much snacking.
BUT........keeping the cookie jar filled with baked goods or having an ice box to be raided might keep the cost down with a family.
I practice eating dry and frozen goods first and then get into the cans as I need to. I tend not to use canned chicken in my stews (but can pick up a can at $1.25 at Dollar Tree usually) but instead use my frozen chicken. Cook it up in the big wok pot with the beans, olive oil, and spices; allow it to cook with all the "bugs" for a while; pull it out and let it cool; pull the meat off the bones, cut it up, and back into the stew. Then, put the stew into pitchers, into the frig to consume for meals at home, usually dinner, during the week.
Right now, though.....bought my avocados the other night but they were resupplying at the store when I got there so only could get the big ones, well into the ripe state. So right now, it is at least half an avocado a day at breakfast. Yesterday, it was cheese and fish, this morning in a Romaine lettuce salad.....but I am afraid they don't have to wait around for that. So it may be time to make Avocado Bread. Mine is more a dessert bread since I use nutmeg instead of Allspice (just didn't have the latter the first time I made it).
Such a recipe is an example of using what you have as far as you can. Like the old days when the veggies were going bad? Time to make a casserole.
If you can handle a freezer, it is probably a good idea, even if it is a shared one. When I could finally have one, I went for it, it was part of the house construction plans. Right now at Lowe's, a 7 cu ft manual chest freezer can be done for around $300. I prefer manual defrost to frost free since in the latter, as it raises and lowers the temperature to work against frost, it shortens the life of food in the freezer.
Learn hurricane rules when it comes to freezers. If the power goes out, KEEP THE BLOODY THING SHUT until the power comes back on. One's food ought to be good for 2.5-3 days at least in a power out situation if it is kept completely shut. One can probably extend that by having bottles of frozen water in there as well. It is when one has idiots about, who think they can open the door "just for a minute" that food becomes at risk.
There is so much stuff one can keep in a freezer over the long run.
Curiously enough, with my change in health, I find I don't need ice cubes anymore, hence more room to store things in the ice box.
On "Best by" dates. Understand that it does not say that after that date, it is no good and should be tossed. If can integrity is still good, if it is not rusting, leaking, or bulging, if it does not hiss when it is opened, it still should be good. But, if in doubt, don't risk, toss......at least I do.
Beans, spaghetti, and potatoes. Those were my super cheap items for many decades; now, it is just beans. There are some kinds of potatoes I can still eat but have just moved away from all of them and almost all pasta is out of the question now. Cheap and if just starting out, it can be a way to build up one's pantry supplies.
On shared food storage, like pantries, locations; try to have something that you like that hardly anyone else does. For many years, i would keep a supply of white rice, split green peas, garlic, and oily canned fish in the pantry. It cooked up well in a sauce pot, provided its own seasoning of the pot, and since it was the kind of stuff not many would eat, the family told me to stop giving sardines as stocking stuffers, I was pretty sure to always have a meal there. Want to increase your odds on that meal? Use anchovies instead.
Last edited by TamaraSavannah; 02-22-2023 at 10:43 AM..
Yes, part of the cost is I do buy a lot of prepared meals frozen dinners, deli sandwiches stuff like that for something quick and easy.
I do cook but not nearly enough I am trying to cook more and spend less money it is a chore though.
So, you’ve answered your own question. You can’t live on convenience foods and fast food without spending a lot more that you have to.
We have a 2 person household, but I cook from scratch. It’s not hard. You could, for example, put 2 pork chops, and 2 baked potatoes in the oven and bake for 45-60 minutes. Pop a cook-in-bag of frozen vegetables in the microwave for 3-4 minutes and you’ve got dinner, after spending maybe 5 minutes in prep time.
I shop the sales and cook accordingly. I keep the average cost of the protein under $10. for two servings. Tonight we’re having $28. worth of lobster rolls, but this week we’ve had $3.00 for 2 pork chops, $4.00 for 2 burgers, and pasta, so it all averages out. Just because I bargain shopping does not mean I compromise on quality.
Food, including $125. in liquor, and maybe 2 fast food burgers, was about $600. in January. Some months are less and some more. I have a freezer in the garage, so I can store a lot of sale meat and fish. I also have 7 grocery stores within 5 miles, and time to go to them. Not everyone has the time, I know.
I don’t know what kind of paper products you are buying, but I get Cottonelle TP from Amazon for about $25. every 5 months. Anyway what’s wrong with buying a few rolls of paper towels a month instead of spending a lot at one time?
I make a crockpot of beans like once every 2 weeks. Sometimes it's redbeans and rice, sometimes it's pinto beans with a ham bone and scraps, sometimes it's 15 bean soup with andoullie sausage...
Beans are cheap, and they go far. We usually get 2 or 3 meals out of a pot of beans. And we LIKE beans...so it's all good.
In the crockpot, my beloved wife would make beef shanks, rice, & gravy. It was delicious the way she made it, the spices she used. We loved it, & inexpensive.
Yes, part of the cost is I do buy a lot of prepared meals frozen dinners, deli sandwiches stuff like that for something quick and easy.
I do cook but not nearly enough I am trying to cook more and spend less money it is a chore though.
That's what's costing you. Plus, you're ingesting chemical preservatives with some of that stuff. Cooking doesn't have to be a big deal. You can find some easy recipes and do those. Make oil & vinegar salad dressing, and buy a variety of greens. Go beyond lettuce to make salads of mixed greens, thin-slicing purple cabbage into it, cucumbers, sprouts or whatever, spinach, etc. Highly nutritious. You can even turn a salad into a meal by adding leftover salmon (salmon's the easiest thing to cook: poach in oven or on stove top, a few minutes and you have a nice, tender, yummy fish dinner) or turkey and grated cheese, avocado, rice or garbanzo beans, and whatever.
All that is far cheaper than what you're doing, OP. Do a little exploring of recipes online. I recently started doing a couple of different Thai recipes. They're just as tasty as eating out, and you have leftovers for later in the week. The only thing is, you need to stock up on the various flavoring ingredients, but once you buy them (coconut milk, curry paste, etc.), you have them for the next Thai meals.
In the crockpot, my beloved wife would make beef shanks, rice, & gravy. It was delicious the way she made it, the spices she used. We loved it, & inexpensive.
Crockpots are a great way to go, OP. You can put a whole chicken in there in the morning, and it will be ready when you come home from work.
Speaking of pizza. Walmart has DiGiorno rising crust Supreme Pizza for $7. I think they are pretty tasty.
Don't overbake the bottom. I take it out of my oven at about 20 minutes, oven at 400F. https://www.bing.com/search?q=baking...&wsso=Moderate
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Seriously?? For pizza, salads, a beer and a soda???? Good grief!!!
