It's no secret that times are getting tough. Yeah... Money is getting tight. Jobs are getting scarce. And groceries are getting CRAZY-Expensive!
Cooking for 6 kids... 4 of whom are bottom-less-pit-teenagers is killing my grocery budget!
They are home for the summer, which makes it even worse!
I gotta do something to get my grocery budget under control...
This week, I plan on cooking meals from the food I already have in my house. I have a pretty well-stocked freezer, my pantry is stocked. Lets see how it goes...
I'm thinkin I'll have to buy milk.. Thats all I plan to buy.
Cross your fingers!
Be back soon with today's meal-plan.
How bout you?
What are you doing to help stretch your food dollars?
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I buy what the snackers will eat and they know they have to try the off brand at least once to see if we can save money on the off brand. I buy a half or whole beef instead of buying it at the grocery store because we save a BUNDLE of money that way. We share a veggie garden with my parents and spend less at the store because we pick from the garden and can what we cannot eat right away. We only cook what we know we will eat, throwing away leftovers was a killer on our bill. One last thing, we have a warehouse-fleamarket type place on the other side of town that gets large quantities of dry food and canned food and re-sells non-damaged or slightly damaged cans/boxes for cheap so we check out that place before we go to the grocery store.
ReplyDeleteTrying to balance healthy with cheap is the dilemma I have. I try to cook from scratch as much as possible, and we rarely, if ever, eat out anymore.
ReplyDeleteDo I hear you about the bottomless pit teenagers!
ReplyDeleteI have been cooking things so that we have enough leftovers for Cool's lunch the next day plus enough for "make overs". For instance...one night we had mexican rice and beans, salad and probably something else but I can't remember. With the leftover beans I made a mexican bake. I used bicuit dough on the bottom of a 9x13, spread it with some bean and cheese sour cream dip I had in the fridge, mixed a half pound of burger with the beans and rice and put on top of the sour cream dip. Then topped the whole thing with cheese. And only about 3/4 of a cup. I baked it until it was nice and ooey gooey and the bottom was done. That along with some cut up cucumber mixed with ranch was a delicious supper, fed the 5 of us and provided lunch for Cool the next day. I do alot of that kind of thing.
I just joined the All You grocery challenge. The challenge it to spend $25 per person of less per week on groceries. The prize is a $1000 grocery card. I figured I won't win but challenging myself to be even more frugal will be fun!
Hope you find a plan that works for you.
This month was baaaad. We ran out of TP this afternoon and I had to empty out the coins in my car ashtray to buy a roll at 7/11. Fortunately my freezer is pretty full of meats and my pantry still has many staples. I literally ran out of cash Saturday.
ReplyDeleteI've been striving to keep our groceries down, too. They have gotten a lot more expensive.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I've been making is brown rice. It's seems to be more filling. When, I make it, I make enough for dinner and to use it for fried rice a day or two later, I try to use leftover meat in the fried rice, it's a good way to use it up. I also, pack my lunch for the next day with leftovers from dinner before I put them away. Sometimes, I'll do two lunches if I think no one else will eat what's left.
Mainly we drink water, it the beverage of choice and it saves us a lot.
We make popcorn as a snack.
We have a pretty good stock pile I try to keep a fair amount of staples in the cupboard, so I don't have to pay too much if I run out.
I use distilled white vinegar in place of fabric softener. It may sound strange, but it really works!
ReplyDeleteIn my family we can all stand to loose a couple pounds so I have made portion sizes to an actual portion. This makes me cook less and have more meals out of the same amount of groceries. This means less leftovers but in our case this also means less unknown substances or "science projects" growing in the back of my fridge.
ReplyDeleteLeft you an award on my blog!
ReplyDeleteI went back to clipping coupons and planning our menu based on the weekly flyer. Last Sunday, the cashier discounted our bill by $110. We were thrilled.
ReplyDeleteForget fancy name brand bathroom cleaners. The best thing to clean the shower, tub and toilet bowl is Comet cleanser - usually 75-99 cents a can.
I used to drink 1-2 cans of soda per day. I gradually weaned myself off soda by always having a pitcher of sweet tea, lemondade, etc. in the fridge. I don't think I drink more than 1 can per week now.