Someone once said to my daughter, you saved a dollar, what can you do with that...buy a Mac Donald's hamburger?
I get that some people just don't get it. The concept of saving money 💰 is not part of their mental process. Unfortunately, there are more and more people that I am afraid are going to need to save money. The current administration is on a path to reduce the rich people's taxes and balance the budget on the backs of the poor and elderly.
I am a firm believer that knowing how to save money on food is a good skill to have even of you don't need to use it. If you know how to feed your family on a strict budget, it's not hard to spend more. Having a small stock on hand of things you can make a meal out of is insurance, What if, the car gets in a wreck and you can't get to the store? Or your child is sick and you don't want to take him out, or you are sick, or the road floods and the grocery store isn't getting shipments....that's not far fetched it happened here a few years back. If you have a small stock on hand, you are covered. You can do that with a meger budget if you know how to shop.
Shopping......walking through the store with a shopping cart and throwing everything that looks good in your cart. Wrong.........this is especially hard not to do if you go to the store hungry, Now, of you go to the store extremely full it will backfire and you might get home and wonder what's in the house to eat! Lol.
I don't go with a specific list. I have the ad with the RBP items circled. I know pretty much which food groups need replentishing and if there is a rotation protein that is a RBP. I rarely spend more than 30.00 at a store. Probably closer to 25. That is for three of us. It would have to be a big sale to have that happen. Now, I do go to at least two stores a week. More if I hit the occasional Costco or dollar tree/ grocery outlet.
The advantage if this kind of shopping. Is that you rarely get home and forget a major item . You also never pay that nasty F word.....full price. You are not looking for specific items except the few RBP items. You are, rather, looking for food groups. Your mindset is , I need calcium ( dairy) what's on sale. If you can get your calcium during a dairy sale and buy enough to last you with expiration dates, you will be better off. Pay attention to the rhythm of the dairy sales. Here, Fred Meyer (Kroger) will pit dairy at least once a month. I can usually get sour cream and cottage cheese a month out. Milk can usually be augmented at oor other Kroger store (QFC) for either a dollar or a dollar and a quarter. If we have too much nearing the expiration date, its time to have clam chowder, potato soup, or pudding.
Meat is purchased on a rotation basis. First you need to make a list of protein that you can make meals of and that your family will eat. These need to be economical cuts of meat. For us it is pork loin, chicken, low fat hamburger. Sausage, cheese, and beans. When a protein is on sale at a RBP, buy as much as you will need to cover a months worth of those meals. In other words, if you eat hamburger once a week, you will need to buy enough for four to six meals. This allows you to be on a four to six week cycle. You can almost bet someone will have hamburger at a RBP sometime in that six weeks.
I get pork loin for somewhere between 1.49-1.69 a pound for a whole or half loin . It only tasked a few minutes to make roasts, stew meat, and Pork chops out of a loin.
Chicken breasts are eight dollars a pound, Sometimes they are half price. Split chicken breast that are local grown can be as low as .88 a pound and sometimes 1.28. It takes a few minutes to cut the ribs off and cook the meat and bones for stock, and pit the breast on quart bags, I put the quart bags in a gallon bag and date it. The bones go in a stockpot with herbs and onion ends to make stock and I pick the bones. I usually get 2 quarts of stock and a quart of chicken pieces from six large breasts. A quart of chicken pieces can be two to three meals. And a quart of stock can be two to four dollars a box. Place the stock in the fridge and scoop away the fat after it has congealed. Chicken pieces can be in enchiladas, chicken pot pie, chicken soup, tacos...
Sausage is up to almost five dollar a chub (pound) . I have bought it for two and a quarter with a coupon. It is less in the three pound chub at Costco. Fry it, de-fat it and freeze it. You can add it to omelets , put it in a quiche, or soup.
My target price for cheese is as close to two dollars a pound as I can get it. Never over 2.50. I buy Mexican blend and pizza cheese. It is a misconception that shredded cheese is more expensive than brick cheese. Cheese is cheese. A pound of cheese is a pound of cheese. Go by the price per pound. We toured a cheese factory. The grated cheese is what is left over from cutting the bricks out of a huge brick. They place the scraps in a bus boy tray like vessel and it goes to the shredding machine.
Beans can be purchased in bulk at Winco. The cheapest price for pinto beans is .67 at the DT. ( dollar tree) they are non gmo and made in America. The only other place they are cheaper is at Costco and you have to buy 25 pounds. It would take us too long to eat that many beans. Lol
I keep them in the containers we get popcorn in. (Costco) .
Pasta at our house has a dollar a pound limit. I usually pay less. Some of our pasta ( Barilla) I paid 38 for , some of it was free. There are almost always coupons for pasta. Pasta has an eight YEAR shelf life. Buy it when it is cheap. Buy as much as you have coupons for. I just got Barilla pronto for .88 a package and I had a. 75 coupon. Yes, Virginia, there are coupons for real food. Like shopping at the goodwill, you have to plow through a bunch of garbage to find the food stuff.
Every twenty five cent adds up. The notion that you got food stamps so it doesn't matter how much you pay for the food is shooting yourself on the foot. The more you can buy with your money, the longer you will be able to eat. Not having anything in the house to eat makes a child feel really insecure. The stress of no food in the house they have found shortens your lifespan. Learning to stretch a buck in food is important .
