Groceries on the cheap is as much economizing on time as it is money. We all have to put food on the table, but we all have to wear many other hats too.
The concept we are about to talk about is nothing new. Business models have used it for years and have been successful.
Simplify.
We all have meals that we love 💕. Usually they fall into a catagory, We love Tex mex, Italian, and what I will call modified mid century. That is, things like Mac and cheese, chicken pot pie, meatloaf, chicken noodle made more healthy.
Concept
If you identify the ingredients of favorite economy meals you will find that you are buying some ingredients that do more than double duty. We all buy about the same things every week. By finding the lowest prices on those ingredients and buying a four to six week supply of them, you don’t have to buy it again for a while. It saves money because you aren’t paying full price, and you save time because you have less items in your cart to have to put away when you get home. You might have five items in your cart, not fourteen.
Pretty soon, you will find that you are just walking around the perimeter of the store.
You are buying raw ingredients vs things in a package that have ingredients that you can’t pronounce and take up more room in the pantry.
Basic, efficient food; Food that does double or triple duty,
With flour, sugar, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda you can bake muffins, pancakes, cakes, and many more baked goods, thicken gravy. bread meat, and make pizza. All a lot cheaper than buying the ready made counterparts.
Chicken breast or thighs, hamburger, pork loin, and you have many meals, but only three compartments in the freezer. You have purchased it at RBP and you purchase it once in weeks.
Buy dairy on sale, buy enough for a month except maybe milk, Most dairy has a month pull date.
Sour cream, cottage cheese, eggs, cheese. I have a “buy price”. If it isn’t something I just have to have, and it is expensive, I don’t buy it. Cheese freezes well in the grated form. Eggs can be dehydrated.
Fruits and vegetables are bought in season, They taste better and are less expensive. We can still find frozen vegetables for a dollar a pound. In some ways , they are fresher because they are picked at their peak and flash frozen.
Pasta is a labor of love, as well as tortillas. Buy them when they are on sale, Pasta has a ....eight year shelf life. Tortillas can be stored in the refrigerator.
Some canned goods are a necessary part of life. Everyone should have some on case of an emergency, In this part of the country, we have hills and trees. Lots of trees and lots of rain.
Having a tree fall on power lines and wiping out our power can happen during the winter. Snow cripples is because of the hills. Having food that can be cooked outside in a bbq or in a fireplace is a
necessity
Some things are just cheaper than making scratch.
To recap. Buy low and eat high, It’s a concept the stockbrokers know well. You profit when you buy the shelf stable food that is on sale or with a coupon cheap, and have enough to last you until it comes on sale again. It’s just logic if you think about it.
Buy food when it is at its lowest price, eat it when it’s high, and never be without food. Studies have proven that not having food in the house is putting a stress on you that actually lowers your life span.
We bought mayonnaise for .66 with coupons,. It is on sale this week for over two dollars...I want to say 2.69. That’s a big difference. Multiply that a few times and you have half price food.
It works, amd it makes eating for as low as four dolkrs a day the difference between potato chops and top ramen like I’ve heard of, and eating a balanced regular meal. Tacos and refried beans, roasted chicken, potatoes and a vegetable, pork roast, baked potatoes and broccolli. You can eat well on odor dollars a day. We have done it for almost two years now and we have a stock of food. There is a smug satisfaction on knowing you beat the high cost of food and still have food on the house. LOL.
