Food Costs (long post)

nickelsthoughts

I know there are tons of sites out there and I've been researching over the last few days. The great thing about the internet is we can find millions of sites on any given topic but sifting through it all and finding the good stuff takes time. So i'm asking here to see if anyone can give me some tips on lowering food costs.

Let me start by saying, I'm not looking for replies with you need to prioritize costs and think about your health. I am abviously thinking about my health or I wouldn't have decided to go Paleo. And I pay ZERO medical costs and I mean zero. I don't pay for doctors visits, medications, or anything else. So I'm not saving money there.

Here are the things I'm doing so far, are there any other suggestions?

We are a family of four. I'm trying to lower my grocery bill. According to my husband groceries include food, toilet paper, paper towel, diapers, wipes, any basically anything I can get from the left side of walmart. I live in the middle of no where, there is no Trader Joes or Whole foods or any other health store near me. AND the closest town to mine is 1.5 hours away so definitely not cost effective to travel. I do have a Sam's club, Walmart and HEB. HEB offers better quality food and more of a selection but they do have higher prices than my local Walmart.

I haven't really tried my Sam's club for meat and produce. Usually the packages are so big I worry about spending twenty dollars if the meet isn't quality meat. And I think my husband would die if I spent $100 on just meat. Even if we did use it for the whole month. So how do I begin to stock up without over buying the first two times? Also, my Sam's club does not have the best produce and there are always fruit flies and the entire produce section smells like sickening sweet fruit, which makes me want to gag.

There are no farmer's markets where I am. I did find Bountiful Baskets in my area and will be purchasing a basket every other week but there is no way the produce is going to last two weeks. I have been using salad bags which keep all sorts of vegetables and fruit fresher but have not yet tried to green bags. I'd like to pick some up next week.

I cannot buy a cow or half of cow because one, I can't afford the initual purchase and there is not a meat co-op in my area. I also would have to have the meat shipped to me as my city (literaly City) is seriously in the middle of nowhere.

I also have to pack school lunch which means the food can't be reheated for my daughters lunch and my youngest daughter is lactose intolerant but still needs milk (she's two. I'm not taking her milk away). And lactaid is about $3.87 per half gallon here and we are buying six of these at the minimum every two weeks, sometimes more if I use it or she has a growth spurt. She is also an extremely picky eater, sigh.

I'm not trying to complain, don't get me wrong and at this rate I'm not even looking for organic or grass fed. I'm looking to stock my shelves without running out of food before next payday. I am committed but can't starve my children, you know??? We don't eat out barely at all anymore and I've even lowered my electric bill tremendously. but I'm not sure where else I can cut corners.

I know a lot of people say that eating Paleo isn't any more expensive, but let's be serious here. On a bad day I can feed my entire family a box of spaghetti with cheap tomato sauce for about $3 and have lots leftover. That's less than a dollar per person. I can't afford to spend $10 per person. I've seen many people make that argument and I can't do that.

I've been using coupon.com and have registered at several manufacturer sights like Green Works or Colgate, etc, I'm hoping that helps. Other sites or suggestions are appreciated. I'm sorry this is so long, and I AM NOT trying to make excuses to eat grains and processed crap, I'm just trying to find a way to eat as healthy as I can on the budget I have.

Thanks in advance

nickelsthoughts

Oh, and one more thing, my daughter is allergic to eggs which is a real bummer because we can't eat as many eggs as we liked...

twinmom01

milk costs - switch to almond milk - my daughter is lactose and casien intolerant and we switched to Almond Milk (I don't do soy) - it is cheaper than Lactaid and has just as much if not more calcium you can also find coupons for Almond Breeze and Silk - a half gallon cost me about $2.50 (less with a coupon) - it also has a longer expiration date. She is not a big drinker anyway - a half gallon lasts us 2 weeks for her. I do buy the vanilla one...

As far as meat es - do you happen to have a freezer sealer vacuum thing? I will buy chicken, pork and meat when it goes on a good sale and separate it out and vacuum seal it for later use. Every once in a while pork loins go on sale and I will buy 2-3 of them - one I will cut into medallions, another I will cut in half to get 2 meals out of it...

For veggies I will stock up on the forzen bags of steam veggies when they go on sale - and will use those when I do quick stir fries and such

nickelsthoughts

Thanks for the advice. We did try almond milk and she absolutely refused to drink it. And we can't do soy because it upsets her stomach and causes diarrea. I was going to get a vacuum sealer thingy with a coupon but then my printer went on the fritz and coupons.com wouldn't let me print another one, so I'm out of that for now. I'm looking for more coupons before I buy one at full price. I did buy a big pack of chicken breast this week and am going to portion it out and put it into freezer bags. Some of it will be used for kabobs the rest I'm not sure. It was a huge pack of large breasts with rib meat for $8. I know I'm suppose to buy bone in but I have to be honest and say I have no idea how to separate the meat and it kind of grosses me out. I also bought a big pack of stew meat for less than $10 that I'm going to use the large peices for kabobs and the smaller peices for either steak salads or "fajita night" sans tortilla lol but even that with ground beef and veggies was almost $40 for about 6 meals.

jsuaccounting

These are some great foods:
-Chicken Leg Quarters by the 10 lb bag (you can fold them back and cut off the leg and thigh if your kids love the legs)
I prefer the whole chicken but you cannot beat chicken leg quarters on a budget. I actually have a way of cutting them into small peices and baking at a high temp in a cast iron skillet with no breading or added oil - just a little salt. The fat in the skin melts and fries the skin. Tastes better than conventional fried chicken, once you get the knack for it. It is a little tricky at first.
-chicken gizzards (stew them for a long time until tender)
-chicken livers ( look up the recipie for 'stolen chicken livers')
-bacon (you can use the grease for cooking)
-kerry gold butter is expensive but a good value for a grass fed product that can be found in many box stores.
- canned alaskan salmon with the bones (this is almost always wild caught. it can be smashed up- even without an egg - and cooked as salmon patties)
I would stay away from the low fat products. By reducing carbs you are already cutting calories significantly. The fat will help you keep from being hungry. Of course, grass fed is the best but few people can afford it - especially, if you don't live near a city. Conventional meat is still way better than processed foods.
-sardines - if you like them
-bananas
-sweet potatos

Also, fyi - I have been eating high fat-especially saturated but have still managed to lose 10 pounds this month which is a lot for me. For the last 4 weeks I have had a 'cheat' day on Saturday where I eat whatever seems tasty. Therefore, I am not strictly paleo.

nickelsthoughts

Thanks for the reply. I will look into the chicken legs. I also saw a huge package of chicken wings that looked really cheap, but since I was planning on making kabobs I skipped that for the big package of chick breasts. But maybe next time I'll try the quarters. I used to get the big bags of chicken with the frozen breast fillets. I'm betting there are tons of processed crap in those, but it won't hurt to at least look at the ingredients.

I appreciate everyone's advice. We do eat tons of bananas and apples are cheap to as are strawberries right now. It's hard because everything goes bad so quickly if it's not consumed.

I have found that zucchini is on sale right now and carrots are relatively cheap, so we stock up on those as well. I love peppers but they have been very pricey as of late, so I usually only get one or two for the entire two weeks, chop it and store the peices in ziplock bags.

Has anyone had any luck with Sam's club as far as meat? At this point I am definitely just looking to stick to the plan as much as we can afford and hopefully switch to grassfed later. Although i do try to buy antibiotic free as much as possible.

Thanks again for the replies

MrsAbles

You might want to look at another thread "Paleo and Pocketbook" (I just bumped it to the top). There were some very helpful posts there.

IAmABetterMe

Hi I'm new... but have you tried wellness meats? I think they will shop for free...

http://www.grasslandbeef.com/StoreFront.bok?affId=110352

I haven't purchased from there yet... but it might help.

GalaxyDuck

Just wanted to add that the thread MrsAbles linked has good info, especially in regards to grass fed vs conventional meat.

I know what you mean about food costs, it def can cost a lot more if you aren't prepared for it. I live on a tight budget myself as I'm just starting my "career" and have a substantial amount of student debts to pay off each month. Every Sunday I make myself a meal plan for the week. It's been a HUGE help, budget-wise. I'll go through the flyers for the grocery stores and get an idea of what meats are on sale that week. I pick a few options for meat, and then fill in the rest of the week with veggies. I try to plan it so that I re-use what veggies I have for the week.

For example, I'll normally buy a bag of carrots, some parsnips and sweet potatoes. At the start of the week, I'll chop them, toss them in olive oil and some italian seasonings and roast them. Then I can have roast veggies as a side 2-3 times that week. Lunches at work are normally my leftovers from dinner the night before. Once you get into the habit of it and get used to picking meals that "go together" in terms of what ingredients they use, as well as getting used to planning for for leftovers, I think you'll find you can save yourself a lot of money compared to if you just go to the store with a general grocery list and no real plan for the ingredients.

The Paleo on a Budget website I believe posts weekly meal plans that you can check out for references/ideas. Good luck!

beccarockslife

Your daughter being allergic to eggs doesn't mean the rest of you can't indulge. My son was allergic to the point of anaphalaxis, it's a pain, I get that, but we had separate cooking pans and things with his name on and he had nothing from there. When we cooked eggs he had to leave the room or his asthma would start up.

Practically unless you really are committed then it won't happen, prices aren't going to fall. Hubby and I had to review our whole household budget and we reduced our tv/broadband/tele/mobile packages in order to free up some money. I quit my gym membership and started to workout outdoors. We cut back on luxuries completely.

I love eating this way, it's benefited us massively, we are in the UK too so no healthcare costs either. We also don't spend money on treats/sweets etc either. My kid doesn't need them, we don't eat them, so we don't buy them.

The worst bit for us was the initial start up costs, then we plan our meals so we only buy what we need (and don't already have). Meat is really expensive in the UK, particularly organic, so we only buy what we will eat in a weeks period same with veg. Everything else we do in a monthly online shop so that we don't get distracted in the supermarket. Planning was by far the best way to bring down costs without compromising on quality.

mehaugen

Walmart sells most of their frozen vegetables for around $1 in one pound bags, so I would buy more frozen over fresh. Usually the frozen stuff is actually fresher and not wilty.

monkeydharma

I know a lot of people say that eating Paleo isn't any more expensive, but let's be serious here. On a bad day I can feed my entire family a box of spaghetti with cheap tomato sauce for about $3 and have lots leftover. That's less than a dollar per person. I can't afford to spend $10 per person. I've seen many people make that argument and I can't do that.

Since everyone else is given you good money-saving ideas, I will just focus on this statement.

Trash costs less than treasures.

You are looking at it backwards. Garbage foods are cheaper because they are garbage. Like in any other manufacturing industry, one lowers the price but using inferior components, shoddier workmanship, and cutting corners. Organic foods, and other whole foods that are grown in the manner of our ancestors, are the true cost of food. While I understand your need to do this on a shoestring - you also need to face reality and re-prioritize your budgeting.

One can still get most of the benefits of eating paleo/primal without buying organic and grassfed - so you can focus on the cost-cutting measures mentioned by the other respondents. But if you're going to judge your grocery budget against a tub of Spaghetti-Os, then you won't remain paleo/primal for long. The commitment to eating whole, quality foods means you are avoiding the cheap crap - which is cheap (and crap) for a reason.

GalaxyDuck

Couldn't agree more with what MonkeyDharma said. I re-prioritized my budget around the same time as going primal/paleo. For me, this meant not eating out with friends all the time, buying lunches at work, and drinking every weekend/going to the bars. That's all it took, and those were habits I wanted to get a handle on anyway.

Once you start feeling the benefits of eating this way, I suspect you will find it a lot easier to spend less in other areas of your life in order to satisfy your food needs.

jellerose

Some great suggestions already. Just wanted to offer an idea for helping your daughter convert to almond or coconut milk. Try adding just a bit to her lactaid. Then gradually, over the course of weeks or months, whichever works, increase the percentage of almond milk. Can't hurt to try ; ).

I'm more primal than paleo, I do cheese and other dairy. Those and eggs really help me stretch my $$$. And coconut oil, can't do without my coconut oil and kerrygold or other pastured butter. You're in the boondocks but not farm country? My mindset is that the middle of nowhere means family farms close by so trying to imagine where you are.

Do you have space for a small garden, either in ground or containers? Tomatoes are kind of expensive at the store but so easy to grow and you can put herbs around the base of the plants (that will actually help keep some pests away naturally!) Radishes are like instant growth. I live in an apartment with no balcony space so can't use this option but I keep looking at those tabletop grow systems, would love one at least for tomatoes!

Zeromilediet

Is your daughter lactose intolerant or casein? By that I mean can she eat cheese which has casein but not lactose? Gouda is particularly good because of the vitamin k. Blending coconut milk into frozen smoothie popsicles might also migrate her to that flavour difference. Personally I like that better than soy or almond milks which are more processed and generally have too much sugar. At two not really a reason to still drink milk, but would be helpful to understand why she is unable to digest it. Kale can be blanched, frozen, and blended with fruit to ensure she gets calcium.

Endorse the idea of growing what you can, if you can. Very nutritious greens can be grown in containers and lettuce especially makes me choke at the price in the store. A 12" pot produces lettuce for several weeks and depending on age of kids they can be responsible for growing kale, leaf lettuce, chard (colorful chard is ideal for kids), cucumber, and beets. Feel free to message me about this--I'm a longtime gardener.

If you can get meat in bulk packs and spend an afternoon cooking and freezing meals, that might reduce your costs. Do you know anyone who hunts? You or husband interested in starting? If so, investigate local hunting clubs ... that meat will be grass fed.

Not very much help ... wish I could offer more constructive suggestions ... looks like you have a challenge, and believe monkeydharma when he says your health is priceless.

DrBorkBork

I dunno if this will help you, but I wrote up some tips for shopping primally
http://theprimaljunkfoodie.blogspot.com/2011/10/tips-for-shopping-primally-on-budget.html

coupons & sales are going to be your best friend.

Kids don't need milk imo. Almond milk is frankenfood. Grace went a year without cow milk before I was able to locate raw milk. The only time she really has any raw milk now is with a meal.

hpsnickers1

Some great suggestions already. Just wanted to offer an idea for helping your daughter convert to almond or coconut milk. Try adding just a bit to her lactaid. Then gradually, over the course of weeks or months, whichever works, increase the percentage of almond milk. Can't hurt to try ; ).

I'm more primal than paleo, I do cheese and other dairy. Those and eggs really help me stretch my $$$. And coconut oil, can't do without my coconut oil and kerrygold or other pastured butter. You're in the boondocks but not farm country? My mindset is that the middle of nowhere means family farms close by so trying to imagine where you are.

Do you have space for a small garden, either in ground or containers? Tomatoes are kind of expensive at the store but so easy to grow and you can put herbs around the base of the plants (that will actually help keep some pests away naturally!) Radishes are like instant growth. I live in an apartment with no balcony space so can't use this option but I keep looking at those tabletop grow systems, would love one at least for tomatoes!

Almond Breeze or Silk - not sure which - I think AB - makes a vanilla unsweetened almond milk that to me tastes better than whole milk. I think doing the slow switch would work.

nickelsthoughts

I want to thank everyone for the suggestions! I am trying to incorporate the ideas I received. I sat down and planned out my meals depending on what was on sale that week. I also started couponing. It's not very effective in regards to food items, but I was able to save money on nonfood items. On top of that I bought my first Bountiful Basket and am waiting to see whats in that on Friday.

My daughter is lactose intolerant I think? She can eat some cheeses but too much ice cream will make her sick (vomiting). I am not ready to wean her off of milk because she is a tremendously picky eater. Thereby she really does get most of her calories from milk. I have reduced the amount of milk she drinks, but there are days where she will refuse to eat anything but a few bites. She also had some wheat products last week after being wheat free for two weeks and her stomach has been hurting and she's had other problems. So now I have to take her into the pediatrician and have her tested for food allergies which means she has to continue to eat wheat to see if they tests show she's wheat intolerant. I wouldn't care of getting an actual diagnoses except that she'll be starting daycare in the fall and the only way I can bring food from home is with a doctors note because of food allergies. I'd rather avoid the drama and just have the note then fight with the daycare. And before you all bash the daycare it is a really good one even with the strict food policy.

In either case, she is drinking less milk and we will probably not go dairy free. But that is our personal decision after considering the information. That may change in the future, but for now we are still consuming dairy. I also switched over to olive oil, coconut oil and butter and this pay day I focused on purchasing meats and vegetables. I bought everything in bulk to be sorted and separated into individual servings.

I do live in the middle of nowhere but there aren't farms here. I live in West Texas in a dust bowl. There are ranches around here but no grassfed ones nearby that I could find. Most of the open land between here and anywhere is either barren (little vegatation) has wind farms. I've seen some cattle, but mostly goats, And usually less than ten in any group. It's hard to explain. I'm not from here and we are only here for another year, but it's surrounded by nothing. It's hard to explain and it's very conservative here so when you talk about eliminating grains and processed foods and chemicals people always have comments to make. I imagine it's like that everywhere but here its.... well.... i'd rather not say something I probably shouldn't.

I would have thought there would be more cattle available here but it doesn't seem so. A friend of mine told me about a friend of heres that found someone who was telling her about buying meat off of one of the ranchers. It's an hour drive but might be worth it. I asked her to find out how much I would have to buy and how much it would cost. I cannot afford a half of a cow right now no matter how much I stretch my pennies.

In any case, I'm doing what I can do eat Paleo and still have enough money and food to make it till the next pay day. We don't go out to eat and we don't drink alcohol. We haven't for years. We don't have cable and instead use Netflix for entertainment. We don't buy junk food and we don't entertain often either. We don't go out every weekend and are pretty much home bodies. My husband works, I am a full time student and we have two daughters 10 and 2 as well as several dogs. I have to work within my budget. I can't scrape together any more than I already am. So I am trying to stick to this lifestyle. I know how much better I feel when I don't eat all the processed crap. So I am committed but I can't afford anymore than I am. I am skipping the organic and grassfed at this point opting just to eliminate the junk and see how it goes. I know my daughters both feel better without the grains and I want them to continue feeling good.

jellerose

If she can tolerate some cheeses then the more aged varieties are probably going to be what I'd look at. And if you can find them raw, cool. Maybe not where you are ; (. I hear you about doing the best you can and just balancing it out. I'm lucky in that we live in a huge agricultural area and there are great produce options available. And we're the site of a huge mushroom operation that grows portabello, crimini and white mushrooms for various companies including packaging for Green Giant. And our 99cent stores end up with quite a bit of those mushrooms in addition to local organic greens and such! Stuff that would cost $4-6 in a normal store for $1 helps stretch my budget but I have to go frequently as they don't carry everything every day. I often have to make do with regular rather than organic, figure eating the fresh and home cooked veggies even when not organic is a better option than not having them at all. I will also go for regular eggs when money starts getting too tight but try to eat the free range as much as possible. I look for sales on things I know I like and try to plan meals around those. With an ice cream maker you can make some killer "ice cream" with a banana and coconut milk if she likes bananas. If you get to town with a trader joes and/or whole foods you can stock up on the kerrygold butter (cheap at TJ's and freezes well!) and almond meal, coconut oil, coconut sugar, etc. Check out Elana's pantry for some baked good recipes and look for the ones with the fewest exotic ingredients and put those on your list for when you can make it to a store that carries them or make an online order to stock up. Sounds like you're on the right track and little by little it'll come together.

cathyL11

I don't have much to add to all the great suggestions that others have posted but I do want to say that I think you are doing a great job with your budgeting and family management - well done -- hopefully this is just a phase in your life that will pass and you will be able to relax more in the future but your thrift training will always stand you in good stead.
I do know that using a pressure cooker can drastically reduce cooking time so that may shave a bit off your fuel bills if you can find a decent second hand pressure cooker. The more modern ones are just fantastic and safe (the only mishap I have had came from over filling the pressure cooker and so the gasket popped as designed and I had a big clean up to attend to ). Modern pressure cookers are very easy to use and make wonderful soups and stews. You can also make great bone broths from left over chicken and turkey carcasses and beef and pork bones (even the ones that the family has gnawed on - they become sterilized in the pressure cooker so it's not as gross as it sounds). The bones are always softer after being cooked in a pressure cooker so you know that the pressure cooker does a great job of releasing the minerals from bones -- so if you are worried about your daughter's calcium intake then tasty bone broths will take care of that.

If you buy "bone in-skin on" cuts of meat, they are usually cheaper, also dark chicken meat is often cheaper than breast meat, and remember we Paleoites don't usually stress out too much about fatty meat so that is often a bargain. I look for turkey necks to use in the pressure cooker -- they are usually fairly cheap and they have a lot of meat on them and they are great for pulled meat and Mexican type recipes, and again the broth from cooking them is very rich in minerals. If you roast a chicken whole, you can pressure cook the carcass and save all the meat and internal organs that just fall off the bones and make Scrapple out of it. Same with pigs feet or pig shanks or any beef bones. Scrapple is a very old recipe that is part of the tradition of "nose to tail" eating. You can google paleo scrapple and will probably find a recipe that will work for you.

If you buy big bulk trays of meat and want to separate them out before cooking, I was taught that it is OK to refreeze meat that is partially thawed enough to break it apart into smaller portions - but if that's not something you want to do then just do a bulk cooking session and freeze the various portions.

Again I commend you for your organization -- when my two were younger I certainly wasn't as organized or as diligent as you in saving money -- it would have helped out a lot if I had been a bit better at being thrifty.

cathyL11

Oh and I have a pretty delicious recipe for Oven Baked Southern Fried Chicken Legs using ground up pork rinds instead of expensive almond meal.
Grind up a packet of plain pork rinds with a pinch of cayenne pepper, and thyme, oregano and parsley, regular pepper to taste and grated rind of one lemon

Use skin on chicken legs,
Coat with coconut flour (if you have some) then, using food tongs, dip into milk or beaten egg and then coat the chicken leg with ground up pork rinds.
Place on a parchment lined baking dish and bake in a hot oven until cooked through (meat should be 160 -180 using a meat thermometer). The pork rinds have their own fat so the chicken legs taste fried when they're cooked.
Cleanup is easy, and because you don't have to handle the chicken much, the coating stays on the chicken really well.
Can be frozen and reheated later or eaten cold.
Quite a family favorite in our household.

If I have left over ground up pork rind I usually place it in a container and freeze for the next time I make this dish.