Food - At Home
There are three steps to minimizing your food costs:
1. Plan Ahead
2. Buy At The Lowest Possible Price
3. Eliminate Waste
Plan Ahead
If you spend 10-15 minutes planning before you ahead to the store you will ensure that you purchase what you need instead of wondering through the store throwing things in the cart. First decided what your dinners will be each day. Here is a trick that will make that step easy. Get some index cards and write one supper menu and all the items needed to make that meal on each card. Make up 15 or more of these cards. Some of the menus can be fancy and some can be as simple as grilled cheese sandwiches and canned soup. It will take a couple hours to get the index cards written out, but then each week you can easily flip through them and pull out the ones you want to use that week. If the menu includes something that you need a recipe for, the ingredients can be listed on the bottom of the index card. Once you know what suppers you plan to make, determine what items you need to purchase to make those meals and put them on your shopping list. Next, decide what lunch and breakfast foods you need and add that to your shopping list. If you want to get an A in planning you can also make lunch and breakfast index cards.
When you have to run to the store several times because you forgot something, you often leave the store spending $35 even though you only needed one $3 item. Here is a trick that can help. Make up a list of the items you purchase most frequently. Group the items by department – produce, frozen, dairy, canned goods, dry goods, household, etc. Then save the list on your computer or make copies. When you are ready to make out your shopping list just put a check by the items you need that week. You can leave a few blank spaces in each group to write in items that were not on your master list.
Buy At The Lowest Possible Price
An easy way to cut your grocery bill week after week is to purchase generic or store brand items. Generic brands are better than they were years ago. If you haven’t bought generic recently, try a few items, you will probably be pleasantly surprised. Walmart’s Great Value and Sam’s Choice brands are good. Many grocery chains also have good store brands.
Another way to save is to cut coupons, but make sure the final price is less than the generic brand price. Some stores have double coupon days where they will double the value of your coupons up to a certain limit. Also, some stores will honor the published sales prices of other stores if you bring in the sales flyer. Stop by the service desk of your favorite stores and ask about their policies.
Convenience foods sometimes cost more than making things from scratch, but not always. For example: a batch chocolate chip cookies made from scratch (which only takes a few minutes) is 1/3 the cost of prepared cookie dough. But, you may to able to buy generic brand prepared cookies for less than the cost of making cookies from scratch.
There are several types of grocery stores and you should figure out the most cost effective way to use them: the traditional grocery stores, discount stores, and wholesale stores. Traditional stores usually have a good variety and frequently offer special sale prices. Pay close attention to the specials and stock up. NEVER BUY ALL YOUR GROCERIES AT A TRADITIONAL STORE. The discount stores often have less variety but offer everyday low prices that are often substantially less than a traditional store. Even if you don’t buy all your food at a discount store, you should shop there and buy as much as you can. The wholesale stores offer items in bulk quantities. If there are items that you use frequently and they won’t go bad before you use it all, this may be a good option. You could also shop with a friend and split the items.
Organic food is becoming more popular. With all the chemicals, hormones, and preservatives in our food organic food is a healthier alternative. The downside is it is expensive. One way to get the most for your money is to buy organic fruits and vegetables only if you plan to eat the peel (ex. strawberries and blueberries), but don’t buy organic if you will not eat the peel (ex. bananas and watermelon). Because of all the hormones in cow’s milk, organic milk is worth the extra cost. Soy milk and rice milk are both becoming more affordable and are often only a little more expensive than cow’s milk. Buy a small container and try it. You can also shop the specialty health food stores and buy whatever is on sale. Whole Foods recently had generic Fruit Loops for $2.50 per box. No matter what store you are in read the labels and avoid items with hydrogenated oil and high sugar content. Try to buy more whole grains and high fiber foods.
Eliminate Waste
Once you get the food home you need to eliminate any waste. Items that can spoil should be used early in the week. If you frequently throw out fresh vegetables before you have a chance to cook them, purchase frozen vegetables instead. They taste fresh and will last for months in the freezer. Along the same line, canned fruit will not spoil like fresh fruit does, so consider replacing some of the fresh fruit you buy with canned fruit. There is a good variety of canned fruit to choose from – things like single serving fruit cocktail and individual strawberry applesauce. Even if the cost per ounce is a little more, if less is wasted it could save you in the long run.
Try to use all your leftovers. You would never throw a $5 bill in the trash, but it is no different than throwing half a pan of lasagna in the trash. Remember – The freezer is your friend. Divide leftovers into single serving microwavable containers and freeze. You can take the containers to work and enjoy a free lunch. If you have a recipe that calls for a small onion and all you have is a large onion, chop the large onion up, use half in your recipe and freeze the other half. Next time you need a small chopped onion for a recipe it will be there for you. Many foods are freezable, so get them frozen before they go bad.
Food – Eating Out
Some families eat out frequently because of the convenience. If you find this is the case, simply having food available for a couple of easy dinners could help – things like grilled cheese sandwiches and canned soup, or frozen pizza and a salad. Don’t let your pantry get too low or you will be more tempted to eat out.
Determine how much you can afford to spend eating out each week or month and then stick to that budget. Get a folder and put all the resturant coupons you get in the folder so you have them when you need them.
Bringing your lunch to work at least four days per week is a good habit. Breakfast should be eaten at home and the coffee stop should be an occasional treat instead of a daily event.