A Store Near You

When I moved in with my future husband, I took over all of the grocery shopping. His idea of shopping was to get some Top Roman, Tuna Helper, pancake mix and some plastic wrapped cheese and call it good (although I have to say the man has a gift with pancakes). I love to cook and any cook knows that these few items are just not enough to make a decent meal with, so to the store I went. At the time we lived near a Safeway so that is where I started. It took me awhile to figure out how to buy all of the food I needed without spending a small fortune. At first I fell in to the trap of buying too many frozen items, and then I would not get enough food to last for two weeks or I would get to many “treats”. After awhile I got the hang of it but along the way I discovered that where you shop has a great deal to do with your ability to keep everything within the budget.

First, if possible shop at a store near you, and pick one store to do most of your shopping at. There are some cheap food stores that send me fliers every week but it is just not worth the gas to go so far out of my way. My favorite place to shop is Fred Meyers (no, I do not work for them and they are not paying me, I just really like the store). I love that they send me really good coupons every three months when I use my card. I realize that other stores have a card too but come on; everyone knows that they are just making you use the card so you don’t get ripped off. Those “deals” are not deals at all. I also hate when I forget my card and don’t know what number I gave them, and they charge me a load of money. Fred Meyer will give you the sale price with or with out the card. Then every three months I get a $5, $3, $1 coupon and random ones like $2 off any dairy items over three dollars. I have done my monthly shopping at many stores but I just can’t seem to find everything I need at the prices I need anywhere else. Of course this depends on what you are buying. I have some friends that swear that Safeway is cheaper but I have not found this to be true for myself.

Fred’s has everything. If you need to get groceries, motor oil, a pie plate and a tomato plant they’ve got it. The prices on non-food items are not as great as the food but they are not bad either. With the price of gas these days it’s worth not getting the few dollar difference to drive across town. I believe that Super Walmart or whatever it is called also it like this. We do not have a Walmart in my city so I don’t go there very often. Bottom line is to shop around the stores near you and find out which store meets your needs best. Just because you have always shopped there does not mean it has the best deals.

The Price of Food

The soaring price of food itself has been all over in the news lately. I have not personally seen my bill go up but many people have and I believe that it has a great deal to do with what you buy. When I plan out my meals, I always pick things that are fast and easy to make. The easy part means picking meals that don’t require a lot of ingredients in them. This keeps cost down as well as my sanity when I am cooking. I also do not include any meat in my meals. This is because I happen to be a vegetarian but it also has the effect of saving us money. Meat is expensive! I do splurge on some fresh wild salmon when it is on sale but most of our protein comes from cheese, beans, shrimp and tuna. Beans are a wonderful source of protein and they are cheap. That is why they are one of the staples of the people of Costa Rica (named one of the healthiest places to live because their people have the longest life expectancy). There are many wonderful meals you can make with beans being in the main dish or side dish that are very yummy. Like Mexican pizza, Costa Rican beans and rice, and bean enchiladas. You can find more ideas for meatless cheap food at one of my favorite web sites hillbillyhousewife.com. I would challenge any family trying to cut costs with just serving two meatless meals a week. See if it cuts your food bill just a bit. If you just can’t put down the steak, shop the sales and warehouse clubs, and make friends with a hunter. Maybe they will share some of that deer or moose they get with you. Unless they are feeding five children chances are they will have plenty left over after winter.

I am a big believer in store brand food. Look down people! All the way to the bottom shelf, that is where you find the deals. At Fred Meyers (a Kroger store), they even have the cheaper then the store brand. It is called FMV (For Max Value). Now I am not saying that you can go generic with everything but some things are the same no matter what brand they are and some things are better when they are store brand (like the FMV frozen veggies, the only mix with out lima beans all for $0.89). For instance, some store brand items I buy are mayo, mustard, ketchup, eggs, yogurt, canned fruit, rice, sugar, and hot dog buns, but I will buy brand name tortillas, tea, refried beans, fish sticks and bread. It is all about your tastes and the quality of the item. It just requires a little bit of experimentation on your part.

Cheap Date

One of my favorite ways to save money is to play with my food budget. We spend for a family of two (the baby is still getting all of his food from me via boob) $250 a month. That is $200 at the grocery store and $50 at Costco. My husband does not go out to eat for lunch so this figure includes the lunches I pack for him. For some families, $250 is a lot of money for food, but many people struggle to keep there food budget in line. One of the ways that I keep my food budget reasonable is by making a menu of dishes for two weeks and just buying what I need for those meals. I do not schedule what we are going to have on a particular day, I just look at my menu and pick from there. This way I only have to go shopping every other week. This saves on time and gas. It may sound like a no brainer, but I see people running to the store for this or that all the time. It is such a waste! A little planning will prevent this. I also believe that having meals on hand has prevented us from going out to eat many times. We have all been there; you get home from work and look at your mate and say “what’s for dinner?” “I don’t know, let’s go get something.” Trust me, it’s a lot easier to resist that impulse when you have a few meals to pick from and know that you have what you need to make them. Now I am not saying that I follow my menu exactly but I find that having the ingredients to make 14 breakfasts, lunches, and dinners makes it easy to change things up. For instance, I might buy shrimp, veggies, and rice for shrimp scampi, veggies, and seasoned rice, but I can just as easily make garlic chili shrimp, lemon garlic veggies, and plain rice (assuming of course that you have the right spices on hand). Tune in next week when I go over the tips I have learned to make sure you get cheap quality ingredients for your meals.