For years I have been reading all I could about cutting food costs. It has been a constant adjustment for rising food costs , availability of foods , and a new approach to eating basic food instead of so much processed foods.
Our media blitz is full of store pick up food and ready prepped food. All this is more expensive than doing it yourself. Duh!
Groceries on the cheap takes a different approach to buying food. Instead of buying 1 day, 1 week at a time, you are buying to replenish a small stock. Sales are on a 4-6 week basis. By taking advantage of that, you can save a lot of money and still have good basic food.
By sticking to basic food and avoiding a lot of processed food, you can eat better and spend less. That’s a good combination.
In addition, buying in bulk when it makes sense is a really good tool in lowering food costs. Rice in bulk at Costco ( we dont have Sams Club or BJ’s here ) makes white rice 02 a serving. Oatmeal is .085 cents a serving as opposed to .40 a servingfor instant that takes no less time. Flour at Costco is .08 a cup. That makes a batch of muffins even with fruit added less than a buck instead of five dollars. It makes pizza crust .19 instead of 1.50-2.00. A loaf of sour dough bread is upwards of 2.50. It takes ten minutes and .25 to make it. Other than the dealing with the very hot oven, a child can make it in ten minutes hands on time.
There is something about a hearty bowl of home made soup and hot crusty bread that is nutritious and satisfying. It is one of the cheapest meals you can make. It can be one of the most efficiently cooked meals as well. That’s a winner in my book.
Another concept is simplicity. The least amount of things in your cart simplifies grocery shopping. When you buy a rotating RBP protein and stick to one cut of meat per variety, you save money and time. The concept is to buy one meat or protein source a week and rotate in a 4-6 week interval. In other words, If pork loin is on sale for .99-1.69, you buy enough to eat that protein a specified number of times a week. In other words, we eat pork loin in some form along with chicken three times a week. So we need six servings for four weeks. That is because if I cut a roast from the pork loin, we have enough for a Sunday dinner type roast meal and a pork slider eat agin sometime in the week. This saves time an money. The other three days we eat boneless, skinless chicken breast. It, too is purchased for a dollar or so if possible. It is possible to purchase bonless, skinless chicken breasts for as low as .88. It may take a few minutes to prep and portion control.
Hamburger is purchased at the RBP as well. We eat beef once a week. Buying hamburger in bulk, cooking it until it is no longer pink and de-fatting it is a good way to cut fat and costs. Portion control it in quart bags and put the quart bags in a gallon bag and mark it with the date.
We have a side by side refrigerator. I have marked the freezer shelves(bins) with beef, chicken, pork, and fish or veggies. It makes live simpler. We eat fish once a week as well. Please don’t buy tilipa. It is as far as I ca tell garbage fish from china.
If you don't have a side by side, you can by baskets from the dollar tree and label the with a laminated label and put on with zip ties using a punched holes. Yes, that takes time, but you only have to do it once.
By picking a limited number of meats that are versatile, you save time and money. Chicken breast, hamburger and pork loin are all very versatile. The internet and cookbooks have literally a ton of ideas so you wouldn't have to eat the same thing for months. That being said, the average family eats a variety of 7-10 dinners.
Eating vegetarian two nights a week helps too. Our family likes breakfast for dinner. It’s a way to involve the whole family and it can be a cheap meal. Or not.
Using these ideas, we can eat an entire week of dinners for the cost of two dinner at your door meals. And, you still have to cook those dinners and do the dishes. LOL.
Sample meal plan :
Breakfast for dinner : french toast, fruit, eggs
Pizza - vegetables and pepperoni or buffalo chicken
Pork roast, mashed potatoes, vegetable
Pork sliders, oven fries, salad
Baked salmon, seasoned rice, green beans
Vegetarian chili, sourdough bread
Spaghetti with pasta sauce, sourdough bread with garlic spread, salad
In concept , you can save money and cut your food costs by :
Simplifying the food that you buy
Shopping at a variety and more than one store.
Buying in bulk and stocking when prices are low.
Portion controlling your food. No one needs to eat the better part of a two pound roast. LOL
Planning meals and cooking scratch efficiently
Eliminating waste by portion control and morphing leftovers.
