Getting started

This concept of just buying what you need to supplement what you already have sounds overwhelming esiciakky if you now barely make it from payday to payday.   It is possible.   It takes time,   I maintained and built our stock last year on 55.05 a week fir 3 of us,  my daughter pays for her daughters food, we just supply her groceries that are meat and dairy because she is vegan.  

First, take some baby steps to lower your food bill with the idea that you can use the “found” money to stock.   Try cutt8ng out any pop and snack type chips etc.. Buying  a whole jar of applesauce and a few snack cups from the DT that have screw on lids will help.  

• Buy a bulk bag of flour, rice, and oatmeal .  This is about 25.00 at Costco.  
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• This is a breakfast go to that costs eight cents a serving and feeds a family of six with a little fruit for a buck.   
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• Rice is dirt cheap per serving.   I use the insta pot, but my mother used the microwave to cook it.  Rice pudding, rice with either a Chinese , American, or Tex mex flair works with a lot of meals.  At two cents a serving, it stretches your starch budget.  
• Flour is a good versatile means of cooking.   pancakes. Waffles. Muffins,   Bread, cookies. Noodles , pizza dough,    The last calculation for Costco flour was eight cents a cup.  That makes pizza dough nineteen cents.   My daughter paid two bucks and she still had to roll and bake it.    It takes about three minutes and you do t ha e to knead it.    My granddaughter at 4 could roll a crust,  you can also pat it into imdividual pizzas 🍕 or into a large circle or rectangle to fit a cookie sheet or baking pan.   Muff8ms are a great go to for breakfast.  They cost pennies vs dollars fir ready made.  
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• Next, use what you saved on inexpensive shelf stable food that your family will eat and that you use on a regular basis.   Right now, Winco has green beans and corn fir five bucks a case.  That’s the price of a big bucks coffee.    That’s 41.5 cents a can.   I saw them well over a dollar at FM this week.   
• Anither mainstay at this house is diced tomatoes.   Watch for a sale. I paid as little as 39 cents.  I only buy diced.  You can put them through the food processer or blender and make sauce,  reserve the “juice” and replace the water when you make rice.   You can use the drained tomatoes in salsa oron top of nachos instead of fresh in a pinch.   I use them for stock with vegetable or chicken stock in soup.   I want .49 or less 
• Invest in beef boullion and chicken boullion .  The price of about three boxes of stock will give you many cups of stock .  Another pennies vs dollars.   About 3.50
• Pasta sauce can be really expensive.  Look for sales and sales with coupons.  Coupon.com has a new load the first of every month.  You are allowed to print two coupons.   Check them early for coupons.   I want close to a buck. 
• Try to set aside five bucks a week.  No room ?    Use the flat free boxes from Costco and put them under the bed if you have to 
• Keep you eyes peeled for inexpensive meals your family will eat that scratch cook efficiently.  If it takes all day, it isn’t sustainable.