It's hard to decide which is more infuriating, $4 gasoline or $4 milk, but
whichever you personally find most appalling, one thing is for certain,
someday a time will come where we look back with nostalgia for the good
old days of $4 milk or gas.
That is to say, we can count on prices always advancing. Even when
they do retreat a bit, like gas is doing now, you know it won't be for
long.
That's just part of the rhythm of modern life, I suppose, but we don't
have to like it, and we don't have to let ourselves be billowed by every
inflationary breeze that comes wafting our way. Like most anything
else,
there are ways to get by cheaper and better when you buy groceries.
Here are forty-five ways to get more food and spend less cash:
1.
First, Track Your Expenses You can’t save
money if you don’t know how much you’re spending to begin with. Keep a
list of everything you buy. Once you’ve got an idea of what you spend
each month or each week, then you can make a budget and begin to set
goals.
2.
Grow Your Own Obviously this is the way to achieve the most savings.
Make a garden this year. Next year make a bigger garden. If you own a
freezer and know how to can and preserve you can do more financial damage
to your local grocer than with any other method. Not only that, but you
can’t buy healthier food, and you’ll never your meals even more when
you produce them yourself.
3.
Cook Without question, you can cook your own food more cheaply than
you can hire someone to cook it for you. This is not to say that you
shouldn’t ever go to another restaurant or order another pizza, when you
want to celebrate or just take a break, but if you’re out to save money, you need to be the one who
prepares your meals.
4.
Eat less No, really. Can you honestly say you wouldn’t be healthier
and feel better if you lost a little weight? Don’t cut out any meals, you
need nutrition, but try closing the kitchen up after dinner and leaving it
closed until breakfast. In short, avoid snacks.
5.
Use Discount Grocery Stores Preferably the type that buys
surplus lots from bigger chains. We save a small fortune every year by
shopping at a local discount grocery, Not only do we save a lot of
cash, but our diet
is much more varied than it used to be because the discount stores wind
up with lots of unusual items that may not sell so well in middle America. For
example, we always have lots of fancy foreign cheeses, Brie, Camembert,
Gouda, you name it. These apparently don’t appeal to the typical Ozarkian,
or maybe the typical American, palate, but we love them, and we get them
for less than the price of Velveeta.
6.
Buy in Bulk As with most everything else, the more you buy, the
cheaper it you get it. Olia recently brought home a 40-pound carton of green
bananas from the discount grocery for which she paid $6.50 total. That’s
16.25 cents per pound versus 60 to 90 cents per pound in regular stores. Of course
you don’t save much if your fruit rots in the fridge, but I prefer my
bananas slightly green, Olia likes them slightly brown, and when we’d both
had what we liked, she made many loaves of tasty banana bread.
7.
Cook for a Week, or Month If you’ll cook up large batches of your
favorite foods and put them away in the fridge, freezer or pantry in
single-meal portions, you’ll not only save money because of buying in
bulk, but you'll also earn yourself quite a bit of free time. Try making a stock-pot
full of soup or stew and freezing what you don't eat. You'll have a quick,
tasty meal that the biggest clutz in the family can prepare for himself.
8.
Recycle Old Meals A/K/A leftovers. Don't just keep them, make a
meal from them. Monday’s Casserole and Tuesday's Roast can become
Wednesday’s stew with a little stock and some seasonings. Likewise a large
piece of meat can be stretched a lot further, as well as be more tasty and
healthy if you use it in several different dishes with many bite-sized
morsels. We rarely eat large pieces of meat alone, but often have meat
mixed in a bowl of rice or buckwheat, or on a large salad.
9.
Don’t Throw Away Food Save your bacon grease, make stock
from your chicken carcass, save hambones to add to bean soups. If you
don’t have time to do these things after dinner, put them in a bag in the
freezer. Save everything you can think of a use for, and don’t forget the
livestock/pets and the compost pile.
