Happy Tuesday all. Hope you are all well. It looks like some nasty weather is about to hit many areas this week - oh, Mr. Winter go away! I guess we will get through another bought of it! It is chilly and cloudy here this morning. Dry - so that is a plus. I have been out and fed all the critters.
All is good here.
Today a bit about shopping strategies that might help someone. Many are old things we have spoke of before, and a couple new ideas. Today we will talk groceries, and tomorrow we will talk about other things.
We need to truly work on zero waste of our food and food dollars.
Use what you buy and don't let it go bad. Freeze, preserve, dry, or just remake - otherwise, you might as well just throw actual cash in the trash can!!!
What is your grocery budget covering? Is it just food? Is it everything you need - pet food, trash bags, cleaners, etc.? When I speak of spending say $50 - that covers everything that I might buy that week - not just food. I know many people have different budgets to cover things. How do you handle it?
Use what you have. If you end up with several partial bottles of soft soap - combine them into one - don't throw out partials. You can also add water to extend most soaps - I do this all the time. Cut those containers of creams and lotions and toothpaste open - there are many, many more uses in there. Keep bits of things - and freeze. They can be combined to make big pots of soups. Use leftovers for lunches or even breakfast.
Buy big packs of meats or veggies - re-wrap into smaller packs for the freezer. A pack should be what would be needed for one meal for your family. Cook ahead and freeze those items for quick meals. That sure is handy when you don't feel like cooking, and it helps keep you from being tempted to eat out. You have a quick fix. It uses up your other resources in a wise way as well.
When meal planning - use what you have in freezers and pantries - it is already money spent. THEN add in sale and clearance items. I rarely pay full price for anything. I would say my one exception in general - is pet food. Just not many deals around.
Keep your meal planning to basics. Keep basics on hand - flour, sugar, baking needs, basics in veggies and fruits. You can still get creative and make a lot of good tasting food.
GROCERY SHOPPING should START at home - NOT the store!!!
Go with a list and try to stick to it. I know a lot of people have grocery delivery now - and that DOES keep you from veering off list. I don't like that - because I do want to see the clearance items - they may help everything in the future.
Try to get local and in season items if possible. Look for someone close by for things like eggs, or meat or veggies. Local farmers and neighbors can be a great source. Your gardens or pots. Gleaning. Foraging when out on walks. Sales and clearance are stock-up times. Many items have cycles - pay attention and stock up. Condiments and hotdogs/hamburger etc. around holidays - get enough to last until the next sale. Be willing to try new things.
Clean out your frig weekly. If you clean it regularly - nothing gets left behind. It can be used up in some way and not turn into a science project!
Look at different stores than your "usual". Ethnic stores are great for many items, rice, noodles, dry beans/legumes, herbs and spices, certain meats, etc. Amish or Mennonite stores are great if you have anything like that around. It might even be worth a day trip to stock up from them.
Scratch and dent or salvage stores have great products and good prices. They often get overflow from other stores (not nec. dented) and offer it cheaply. We have a new one in our area (past year or so) that has fantastic deals from fruits/veggies/snacks - to clothes and appliances. Circle City Bargains is a fun place to go.
Budget the way that is best for you. Be honest and realistic and strict with your budget. Try cutting out the junk - and just getting what is REAL food. Eventually it will become a habit. Plan meals, plan your shopping, plan using what you have and plan to reel in your spending. YES, it can STILL be done!!!!
Again, my favorite thing this year - is get creative. Get out those old cookbooks. Ask people for a recipe if they make something you like. Look at places like Pinterest and online foody sites. There are tons of them and tons of You Tube channels that are about using what food you have, stretching that food, and getting creative with your shopping.
Again, I will mention if you need help - get it. Community/church food pantries can be vital to many. They are there to be useful - don't be ashamed. If you use SNAP, make it stretch as far as possible with REAL food.
Do you and what is best for your family. Sit down and think about things and make a new plan.
Again, use it if you have it! Don't waste - ZERO food waste should be every person's goal!
Have a great day. Be joyful and be happy.
I went to Trader Joe's on Saturday and discovered they had eggs for $3.49. At that time they had no limit. My daughter went last night and they were still 3.49 but limit 1.
ReplyDeleteI remember when eggs went to 2.57 which I thought was high but I bought 3 dozen to freeze. And they did go higher. I used those eggs up last spring & summer. That was before we used a lot of eggs. I don't eat eggs but hubs has decided to eat eggs for breakfast instead of a donut. So our egg use has gone way up. I make egg bakes to make them go farther.
Good way to stretch with the egg bakes. You can add other items and they go further. I like that idea. Thanks - good tip.
DeleteYeah, that food waste is ridiculous! And to think, how many of us waste 0-2%!!! Someone is wasting our share as well 🫢🫢🫢
ReplyDeleteI really wanted fresh veg rather than CSA from the freezer. Bought a 3# bag of broccoli florets. Last night made a big batch of Broccoli beef w/flank steak from the freezer. Hubster has 2 lunches from it. Today I will make a big bowl of broccoli salad (his request). YUM! and tomorrow I will steam the remaining for my lunch and grate some fresh parmesan over it and cook up a salmon patty.
My egg farmer sent a difficult text yesterday. "Due to cost of feed rising, I need $4/dz for eggs. Please call me if that's an issue.". I sent her a thumbs up/heart emoji. I am grateful for my long-term relationships with farmers. We've been with our CSA farmers for 28-30 years (I can't remember the exact year we started). And our beef ranchers and Alaska Salmon fishing family as well. Do the prices go up with their expenses? YES. Is it more expensive than the store? YES. But if issues arise in production, we're covered by our relationships and lack of disease spread in small family farms is like buying insurance for our home and never having a claim. I will pay it. $$ well spent!
Happy Tuesday ya'll! I'm off to pick up 3 donated bikes from a nearby family and get them to the local Bike Project. They fulfilled 634 bike dreams for kids under age 11 in 2024 :-) They refurbish bikes through a 100% volunteer work force and community donations.
Sometimes fresh just hots the spot - I understand that. Sounds like you made good use of the broccoli.
DeleteStill, even with prices going up and with maybe costing more - you know where it came from and that it is fresh! That is huge. I say dollars well spent as well.
We just have so much waste in so many areas. It really is sickening.
YAY on the bikes - that is wonderful. That is a good for tomorrow as well. Tomorrow is about other items in our lives and things like that is just wonderful.
Limiting trips to the grocery store helps me cut down on grocery costs. It does involve some planning starting with shop at home. Next step: review sale flyers. Monthly grocery costs have remained stable 2022-2023. The weekly menu is driven by frugality; I despise waste. This has been a week of use it up - frozen fruit puree in a smoothie; frozen veg from the garden; roast chicken turned into chicken pot pie & added to green salad. That salad also included some grated kohlrabi from a friend's garden. There's often a "fridge fallout" night where the fridge is scoured for what needs to be used up. Also, a meatless night.
ReplyDeleteI agree less shopping trips. Shopping according to sales is huge.
DeleteI hate waste as well. Use it up. Why waste - it is just throwing money and good food away. You sound like you made good use of what you had left. I like those frig cleanout days!
I try to look at things as "how can I make this instead of buying it." For example this week I have made pancake syrup, chocolate syrup for milk, ice cream or whatever and tartar sauce. If you can buy it in te store the manufactures had to have had a recipe/way to make it in the first place I mean tartar sauce is not something that is grown......
ReplyDeleteI aim for zero waste, I don't always hit my goal but I do most of the time. I am able to give anything possible to my chickens.
Last week I made 40# of clearance apples into 20 quarts of applesauce, the peels and such are in a 3 gallon pickle jar making vinegar. I could use them for jelly but....we just don't eat much jelly and it takes a quite a bit of sugar....so vinegar will be used on many things.
The waste I hear about is just appalling to me.
JC
Super tip. Yes, so much of what we buy, we can easily make at home. It is cheaper and tastes better. It doesn't have all that extra packaging. Just a win in many ways.
DeleteGreat us to make vinegar and so easy to do. You really made those apples stretch.
I see it - with family and friends as well. I watch the stuff they buy go in a trash can. I have family (yes I do) that will not use something the day of or after the 'best by date'. It just infuriates me, as they are the ones who often have money problems. Go figure. So they throw perfectly good items/money into the trash.
Yes, shop at home first! You have us all well trained to shop sales (thank you!), and watch out for those clearances. If we paid attention during class, we should have a fairly deep pantry and freezer. This time of year we can't shop for grow-ceries in the backyard and I sure look forward to it again. "That means if you spend $1,000 - $400 gets wasted and trashed.". That is a very sobering statement. Who has that kind of money to throw away? We bought a half gallon of heavy whipping cream at Costco and divided it up into small freezer containers. Cheaper per ounce than the grocery. The only thing that I buy regularly that isn't cheaper at Costco is sweet potatoes. We will eat one occasionally and the dogs have baked sweet potato on their homemade dog food. We have used up the onions that the Farmer grew and the price is good at Costco. Since we get our renewal $$ back plus more, we think it is a good match for us.
ReplyDeleteBrrr, it is chilly today. Just grateful to have a roof over our heads and a furnace that works. With all the weather catastrophes in the world, we all have much to thank the Father for what He has done for us.
LOL - I love your statement about school!!! I appreciate it - maybe I got to be a teacher of some sort after all!
DeleteExactly - who can waste that much money? Even if you have a lot - that is just insane. It could some good somewhere - not just throwing it away.
That is good on the cream. People need to look at those unit prices too. Good reminder.
Yep it is chilly. I went to bring the trash can back up, and I walked the alley picking up trash - Grrrrr. A neighbor drove down the alley about that time, and said I figured you were the one who does the picking up. And he thanked me. At least someone notices.
Lots of good information in your post, Cheryl, and in the comments, too. If you order your groceries online, it may be wise to check your receipt for prices against the sales flyer (if you've purchased items that are on sale). One of our stores (a regional chain) uses a standard price list for online orders, so you don't get the sales price. They do this to off-set the cost of their "shoppers" pulling orders, and some of the fulfillment for delivery is done at their warehouse, not in-store. And, this prevents lost revenue from those purchasing loss-leader items only. A "shopper" told me about it, as her list was totaled before she even got it for shopping -- they get paid per "pick" and she was shopping for 3 orders; she was checking off items electronically as she went thru the store and we kept running into each other. I saw her shopping/price list when we were reaching for the same vegetables and her list had full-price listed, so I asked her about it. I also double-checked pricing on their online ordering page of their web-site, which had different prices than my local ad. I don't know if all stores do this, but it's something to investigate if you regularly do on online ordering.
ReplyDeleteI tend to prepare my menu plan for the week and shop my freezer and pantry first. But, I also take into account sales and specials advertised in local store flyers. I have 8 major grocery stores within 3-5 miles of where I live (Jewel, Aldi, Meijer, Trader Joe, Whole Foods, Mariano's, Caputo's, and Pete's Fresh Market) + 2 big box retailers that also carry groceries (Target and WalMart). I will often peruse the ads (online, but I still get a few in print) and compare who has what at the best price. If I'm running low on chicken breasts in the freezer, for example, or if I want to make chicken soup and one store has breasts or packages of leg quarters on sale for a super price, I'll pick up some to replenish my stock and make a tasty meal for dinner + leftovers for lunch. When making a grocery list, I'll often have multiple columns to record flyer prices at each store. Last week 6/8 stores had ground beef on sale for $4.29#. A new store had it on sale for the same price, but it was 80/20 compared to 70/30 for the other stores. Guess where I bought my ground beef? As for canned goods, if it's something I'll be eating on its own, I have no issue with buying name brand. But if it will go in a casserole where uniform size and looks don't count as much and I'll be adding other spices and seasonings, store brand works just as well in most cases.
Like you, Cheryl, dog food is pretty standard price. My pup is on a specialty kibble that rarely goes on sale. Every now and then I'll see a coupon, but that's far from often. And, I don't count it in my monthly food budget. I will say that, for pet medicine, check 1-800 Pet Meds online. They are very good pricewise, and have been very reliable and cost-effective for my pup's heartworm and flea and tick meds. His local vet carries what he takes for heartworm @ $20/pill (or $120/6 mos.). I just ordered it online this morning and, with points which I didn't know I had and a coupon for putting it on auto-ship for the year his prescription covers, it was $87.15 for the same 6 month supply. I also check other online providers, but so far, this place has been the most reliable.
Hope this helps someone!
Thanks for that info Lori. I didn't know that and I am sure many others don't either. I have never used the 'shopping' option - but good to know if that ever arises.
DeleteGood tips on the ads and stores as well. I have many places around - not as many as you - but I tend to go to a couple. Some just never have good prices around it seems. Other like Trader Joes are nowhere close by.
Thanks for the pet info. I can get that stuff for a lot more money at the vet, but often use Chewy, for the same items it is a lot cheaper as well. I will sure check out what you listed as well. Thanks
Terrific blog post, Cheryl. Yes to all of the above! Yesterday I found a small bowl of dressing and one of squash in my freezer while looking for soup. I added them to our dinner menu last night. It might take a little bit of work, but it will save us money to use what we have.
ReplyDeleteThat sure added to and changed up the meal a bit. Good find. It just stretches our food and our dollars. Always a win in my book.
DeleteThanks
There are no ethnic stores near where I live, but there is a local family-run scoop shop, where I can buy as much or as little as I want of dry ingredients. This is really useful when a recipe calls for a small amount of something that I don't normally carry in my pantry. No need to buy a 1lb bag if I only need a couple of ounces. Because the products are just decanted into paper bags there is no plastic packaging to dispose of either and the price per ounce usually works out cheaper than the supermarket price. It's a great system.
ReplyDeletethat is a neat thing to have close by. I like that. There used to be a health/organic place close by that one could buy like that here. Sadly, they are gone now.
DeleteNice that they use paper as well. Heck that is reusable or can even be composted.
That sounds like a neat place.
Years and years and years ago, someone told me that her husband REFUSED to eat leftovers. He's missing out IMO because leftovers are soooo yummy. I can't change what others do or don't do. For me, I enjoy leftovers. Especially soups, dip and anything with sauce. Delightful.
ReplyDeleteI know those people too! I love leftovers. Like you soup, chili, pizza anything hearty is just better the next day. Nothing but good in my book!
DeleteMy grocery budget line includes everything except cat food/litter.
ReplyDeleteI certainly notice a difference between shopping in the city, and when I'm in my small town. We only have two grocery stores, one dollar store, and the food bank has a small store that sells discounted items. It's only open a couple of days a week in the afternoons. Of course in the city, I'm limited only by how far I'm willing to travel.
I/we plan for leftovers too, they make an easy meal for busy days.
Location does make a big difference - that is a great point. Seems that is the thing with lots of items!
DeletePrices are much better in larger locales IMO. I often plan for leftovers of certain things as well.
My cat food and cat litter are a separate expense too - they go with vet bills and flea meds. Cat expenses.
DeleteOnly occasional waste here - like this morning I found one of the clementines was all mouldy. Ick. Compost time. So now I'm trying to eat up the rest before they all go bad. Not like they've been neglected at all, I'm working on them every day! If I could buy 6 instead of a whole bag full I would but they're not priced or offered that way. Maybe they should be in the fridge, but I prefer them room temp.
My fridge looks mostly empty, as I try to eat up everything - fix a big pot of whatever and work on it until it's gone. Soup lasts for many suppers. So easy just to heat and eat. :)
MaryB
I love that grocery shopping should start at home!
ReplyDeleteThank you mam! It's just good sense.
DeleteSticking to my budget. Today I placed a Instacart order with a strict list and had my DH stop and pick up. I kind of kills me to pay extra for the food and a fee for the order. But I stayed under my $30 for the week. It is worth it every once and a while.
ReplyDeleteGood for you. $30 for a week is fantastic. I have heard that they charge for that service. I guess they have to pay someone to pick it. Maybe that is why I haven't tried it yet!
DeleteMy grocery budget includes absolutely everything from food, to soaps and everything in between. I even count lightbulbs and batteries in there.
ReplyDeleteLots of tips and yep definitely grocery shopping should start at home.
God bless.
I do the same Jackie. Basically anything I buy at the grocer is in my food budget.
DeleteThanks, it sure does save $. We have spent the money already - so use the goods!!
That figure of tossed food is amazing ( in a bad way) I’m certainly not counted in that figure because if I buy it, I’ll use it.
ReplyDeleteThat’s not to say that sometimes a container of leftovers gets leftover too long in the back of the fridge!!! When no longer fit for human consumption then either the dogs get it mixed in with their wet food or the chickens get it. But it never gets thrown out.
I am not a meal planner, I have tried to be but I just can’t make it work for me.
This year I am continuing to use up freezer and pantry items but my medical and toiletries section is running pretty low and so I am looking out for good deals there. I always let my kids take whatever they like when they come home and it did take a bit of a hiding at Christmas.
Thanks for all these great ideas, take care, Louise.
It is crazy I agree. I am not in that figure either!
DeleteI think we have all had the occasional oops. That happens.
I plan by 'the day'. Whatever sounds good today or whatever is left from yesterday. I have never been good at planning long range either.
Continue to watch for sales. I hope you find what you need. I am trying to use my freezer and pantry more. It is here, and I need to use some things up.
Wow! Fourth percentile waste is terrible! When I was a child, my grandmother would come over and look in the fridge for any veggies getting past their prime. She would take them all and make vegetable soup, which we kids called “clean out the fridge soup.” It was delicious, and so much better tasting than canned soups. My mother was not the best about food waste, but my grandmother was and I learned much from her. I am thankful for the lessons!
ReplyDeleteThank goodness for grandma! That is a great way to make soup even today! yes the waste today is just terrible.
DeleteI know you don't recommend it, but this works for me and I very rarely have any waste. I get a monthly delivery of heavier items and on my daily walk I come home via the supermarket most days and buy fresh food and anything on special to carry home. Only specials that I like to use, not a special if it is processed food I wouldn't eat at full price.
ReplyDeleteThis also makes me get out most days for exercise.
You have to do what works best for you - everyone does. There are no set rules.
DeleteIf that works then do it. I just worry about daily shopping and not having a big pantry, if something happens to the system. If the stores have nothing, daily shoppers might be in trouble. That is my concern.
I still have a big pantry and freezer, and I could eat well for months if I had to stay home
DeleteI account for spending much the same way as you do. And I hate food waste. If there is any, it's often fed to the dog -- or composted.
ReplyDeleteI looked at our annual spending and for two of us plus a dog, we are at $134 per week. Very little is wasted. $90 is considered thrifty, but I don't think that includes health, beauty, cleaning supplies, etc. Mostly I make those anyway. But I HATE food waste!
Good for you. Pretty good totals. I need to think about averaging my out - I am pretty sure I spend more on animals than me!
DeleteI make a lot of those things too. Great job.
I never counted food fed to my hens as food waste. After all, I was benefitting from egg production. Never feed anything moldy to any kind of bird. Bones are hollow and birds can get mold and fungal infections inside their bones. I taught Tommy to look in the refrigerator and find the end of things, things that needed to be used up. He is really good at this. It helps.
ReplyDeleteNo food to animals is not a waste.
DeleteGood that he has been learning to use it up as well.
No food waste - agree! Some of our best dishes come from bits and bobs. Cheryl, I really struggle with the food bank/pantry thing. I used to be a big giver. Then I came across people who have loads of food stored, LOADS, and eating fast food and so I stopped. Why am I scrimping and skipping treats and donating my excess pantry only to have it taken by someone who isn’t doing any of those things and taking what I donated for people in true need. It’s a real shame. But it really ate at me. So I stopped.
ReplyDeleteI can understand that. Maybe you can be choosier about the one you give too. I know there are cheaters out there, but there are also people in need. You have to use your best judgement and just give with an open heart. Hugs
Delete