Share tips on purchasing "good food" for less
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Is it a canadian thing? Because my grocery bill is close to 800-1000 per month and that's shopping as smart as I can! We dot even throw out a lot of food. That amount includes everything though such as detergent, soap, toiletries, paper towels etc. I can't ever find good coupons. Nothing that we'd eat anyways. I shop at costco because the meat there is the cheapest. Gah canada is an expensive place to live!0
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I buy a lot of frozen veg and frozen veg medleys, keep dried grains and legumes/beans on hand, as well as dry pasta, canned tomatoes and chicken broth, and only buy meat when I will be cooking it. Otherwise I keep a basic mire poix set up in the fridge plus a few staples I always use: onion/carrots/celery/garlic/bell peppers. Anything else, I try to keep seasonal, in terms of veg/fruit (though to be fair I think I could go a month without eating a fruit and not realize it).
Also it really, REALLY helps to know how to cook. So I suggest that.0 -
For ex: the last two nights I combined different frozen veg medleys (they were all steamable bags, different varieties, 3x$8? I think), some type of grain (once brown rice, the other, couscous), all of which I had on hand, so all I did was buy the protein and with a little jazz, was able to feed a total of four people both nights for under $4 each.0
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We qualify for the food bank, so we can obtain items that possibly COSTCO weeds out of their shelves. I make the veggies into batches of soups, with rices and pasta. I also share within our complex items that come in the huge containers. Share the wealth is my motto.0
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Oh also I am in a community garden and have a plot. Presently I am snipping off HUGE spinach leaves every now and then. Yesterday I snipped 7 (6.7 ozs of spinach). I sauted'1 oz of beef kelbasa, some white kidney beans, some zuuchini sliced and piled the spinach on top with spices. Oh man...heaven.0
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We qualify for the food bank, so we can obtain items that possibly COSTCO weeds out of their shelves. I make the veggies into batches of soups, with rices and pasta. I also share within our complex items that come in the huge containers. Share the wealth is my motto.
When I was laid off and my mother was on disability, my youngest sibling decided to go volunteer at a food bank (not because of our circumstances, mind you, she just up and felt like it). Anywho, she'd come back with everything she could get her hands on that they couldn't give a way.
Needless to say, after so many crates of tomatoes, zuchinnis, bananas, etc, I've learned to get really creative and resourceful.
Again, learn to cook. It's the most useful skill.0 -
Yep @shrinkingletters knowing how to cook, and be patient in cooking...helps. My Mom was a "Betty Crocker" cook....cook and ba'am you are flinging it on the well-set table with a clean apron on. I like to take my time. To put ingredients together to, "make merry in a pan, their flavors making a great new thing" is more my goal.0
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We live in small space on the outskirts of a major metropolitan area so we do not buy in bulk except for rice from the Asian market. We eat very little meat. We eat lots of beans, nuts, vegetables, fruits.0
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I spent $10 in yen on strawberries...it was one container but they were perfect. This was years ago....0
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Oh, man, I was never so confused as when I lived in Okinawa and was shopping off base and trying to convert yen/gram to dollars/pound. I think I ended up buying produce locally and meat on base.0
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Reading this post makes me jealous! I moved from a large urban area to a very small town in the U.P and there are only two pricey local grocery stores (with terrible produce imo) and the nearest walmart is over an hour away so it's definitely a food desert! Whenever I'm downstate I make a point of shopping and loading up a cooler to bring back what I can but it's frustrating that I can't just run to the store and get something healthy that won't cost a bunch. =/ However I heard there is a farmers market in the summertime and I'm excited to check that out!0
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Reading this post makes me jealous! I moved from a large urban area to a very small town in the U.P and there are only two pricey local grocery stores (with terrible produce imo) and the nearest walmart is over an hour away so it's definitely a food desert! Whenever I'm downstate I make a point of shopping and loading up a cooler to bring back what I can but it's frustrating that I can't just run to the store and get something healthy that won't cost a bunch. =/ However I heard there is a farmers market in the summertime and I'm excited to check that out!
Since your town is listed on your profile, I put it in http://www.localharvest.org/and you're right! But maybe this raspberry place is still around? http://www.localharvest.org/vinas-vineyards-M14318
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RavenLibra wrote: »I feel bad... all these folks with tight budgets... and I took the wife and daughter out last night and spent almost $200 on 3 courses and a bottle of wine JUST because the wine was 1/2 priced... BUIT on the flip side... we buy bulk, a side of beef, and most of our vegetables and we can our faces off.. and make preserves in the fall. there are some up front costs to do this... but spread out over the whole year.. and we probably save a couple thousand/year... and NEXT year to save on the side of beef we're going out to find an Elk and possible a Moose...
trade the hides and possibly a 1/2 for something of value... up here in Canada a tanned & smoked moose hide can fetch almost $2K .. and don't tell anyone.. but.. they just wander around in the wild
How do you plan on tanning the moose hide? My husband wants to start this, but doesn't know how! That would be some nice income. Maybe we should start mounting and selling the racks too.
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RavenLibra wrote: »I feel bad... all these folks with tight budgets... and I took the wife and daughter out last night and spent almost $200 on 3 courses and a bottle of wine JUST because the wine was 1/2 priced... BUIT on the flip side... we buy bulk, a side of beef, and most of our vegetables and we can our faces off.. and make preserves in the fall. there are some up front costs to do this... but spread out over the whole year.. and we probably save a couple thousand/year... and NEXT year to save on the side of beef we're going out to find an Elk and possible a Moose...
trade the hides and possibly a 1/2 for something of value... up here in Canada a tanned & smoked moose hide can fetch almost $2K .. and don't tell anyone.. but.. they just wander around in the wild
We chose to have a smaller grocery budget right now, as well as keeping other areas in our budget tight, because we're focusing on paying off debt. We'll be totally debt free, including owning our house outright, completely paying off student loans etc, in 8 years. I'll be 44 and my husband will be 43 Being a bit more strict with our budget now will go a long way to helping us out in the future, so I don't mind the smaller grocery budget. 0 -
jessica22222 wrote: »Is it a canadian thing? Because my grocery bill is close to 800-1000 per month and that's shopping as smart as I can! We dot even throw out a lot of food. That amount includes everything though such as detergent, soap, toiletries, paper towels etc. I can't ever find good coupons. Nothing that we'd eat anyways. I shop at costco because the meat there is the cheapest. Gah canada is an expensive place to live!
Agreed. We spend at least that on groceries in Canada as well. The only coupons we seem to get are for non-food (P&G products like laundry soap and TP). Rarely do we seem to get coupons for food items.0 -
billieljaime wrote: »
Well it was a container that held about 10 strawberries, so back in 1980 the yen rate was about 180 yen=$1.00...so it was about 1800 yens worth. Actually when ever I did have like $20 to spare on stuff I would take the $20. in yen and just blow it. Go to the 7-11 and buy items and then have my Japanese friends tell me what it was. :-) I did think that $10 for about 10 strawberries was crazy though....but I enjoyed them!0 -
Reading this post makes me jealous! I moved from a large urban area to a very small town in the U.P and there are only two pricey local grocery stores (with terrible produce imo) and the nearest walmart is over an hour away so it's definitely a food desert! Whenever I'm downstate I make a point of shopping and loading up a cooler to bring back what I can but it's frustrating that I can't just run to the store and get something healthy that won't cost a bunch. =/ However I heard there is a farmers market in the summertime and I'm excited to check that out!
I hope you have a nice farmers market, its great to buy locally. Most farmers are eager to sell to the local communities, because you know that it was probably picked the day before, or that morning, and they can tell you how to best store it, cook it etc. There is no middle man. Have fun!0 -
Shopping seasonally is a big one for me. Also, it kills me when people let produce go to waste- either you don't need it all for a recipe or it goes bad before you use it. I like to can and freeze left overs to reheat later or use in other recipes. It takes a little extra time but saves money in the long run.0
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