A new experiment

Life in the northern states can be rough when it comes to food. For the winter months, much of our food has to be imported from somewhere. There is little here in the way of local fresh foods because of our short growing season and cold winters (that start in October and last until June some years). This makes eating on a budget really difficult. We've watched our limited home stores dwindle over the past 2 months. It's been hard to maintain a healthy diet on a tight budget. We did up our budget from $100 a month to $150 to accomodate 2 Bountiful Baskets every month and some additional bulk fruit/vegetable purchases. Our goal is to still keep the cost as low as possible but January did not come out as well as we hoped as we maintained our normal shopping patterns for our $100 budget (we got 2 bountiful baskets and 1 big box of tangerines with our extra $50).
So we thought we'd try something interesting while waiting for spring. Our new plan is to eat like a "normal" American. Attempt to feed our family on our budget without regards to nutrition.
Normally when I plan a meal, I plan nutrition first and then find a way to find a budget into my plan. This time we are budgeting solely based on cost. I'm not sure how this will work but I get tired of people saying they can do a better budget (no complaints here on this blog but I have seen it elsewhere) because they feed their families bean soup and top ramen. We didn't stoop quite that low even though I did buy some top ramen because my teen begged for it (who can resist eating something that comes out to 22 cents per meal or 44 when he's extra hungry).
We planned for a lot of soups. We swapped out our more expensive wheat bread for the cheaper white bread (with the hope I can find a recipe that makes the perfect loaf of bread). We bought family sized cream soups. We planned for lots of soup this month because it's cheap to make. Tonight we start with Chicken and Dumplings (one of the more expensive meals because I bought the ingredients last month to experiment with the baking mix). We have cheap cereals because we hit a great cereal sale.
The bountiful baskets will provide some variety while we try to stretch our budget further with package soups that were given to us.
We have onions and potatoes for more soups.
I may hate soup come March but we have to come with a better plan to get us through these winter months. I feel like a pioneer. Our harvest was not great last year and we're still learning all about the foraging (which had some good and bad harvests last year). we'll be stocking up on fish and crawdads (hopefully) this summer so the winter will not be so bad but we have to wait and see how the weather goes. Maybe this year my garden will grow like crazy.

Grocery Shopping - October

I do my shopping on the 10th of each month. So now is the time to start planning my trip. October is the beginning of baking season so that's something I need to remember. It's possible this month we'll have a little extra money. If there is enough I want to stock up on baking supplies and do a SF Herb order. Taking this into account I need to budget accordingly. I understand that planning on having extra money feels like a good time to blow the budget. The problem with that thinking is that plans fall through. Sometimes money doesn't stretch as far as we hope so I need to plan my budget around the potential for not having the extra (however, I will know what extra amount we have before I do my shopping).
I have two plans going on - my grocery shopping under my normal budget and my wishlist with a budget of it's own. There are some things I want to stock up during the baking sales - those are the items I plan for the extra money. If we end up not having extra money then I don't get to stock up but it doesn't hurt my monthly planning.
So onto the plan. It's the 6th, giving me 4 days to plan my shopping trip. That might seem like too much time but actually I am starting late this month. I need to take in account that this month has Halloween. With our son in high school, we no longer have to worry about class parties but we do throw a Halloween dinner party for family and some friends as a before trick or treating meal. I need to take into account my menu for that. (same as next month in planning for Thanksgiving - might want to think about that now since I'll need to plan money and freezer space for a turkey).
The first thing I need to do is go over my kitchen inventory. I've been meaning to do this for two days but off the top of my head I know we are out of several items - canned corn (no freezer space so has to be canned), mustard, tortillas, cheese. I know we'll need eggs even though we still have some. I pull up my kitchen inventory. The one on my computer is not as up to date as the printed one I keep in my kitchen but I can remember what we have run out of - somewhat but it also gets me thinking.
Tonight, I'll sit down with my family and ask them what they want in terms of meals and groceries. I will, also, run through my kitchen inventory to make sure it's up to date. The most important counts will be the items we go through the fasted - canned foods, fridge and freezer. I will need an accurate count of meat in the freezer - this will tell me how much we ate over the past month and how much I'll need for the next. If I started the month with eight bags of chicken (3 chicken thighs a bag) and I still have 4 then I can skip buying chicken. If I have 1 then chicken was something we liked but then my son made a comment the other night when I made chicken that he didn't really like the chicken anymore so maybe we had too much this month.
I start thinking about the items that went fast - tortillas are a big thing in our house. I buy packages that have 30 tortillas but they never make it through the month. I bought more english muffins this month but everyone seems content with homemade bread for toast so maybe I'll skip them this month and focus on buying more tortillas. The cheese still didn't make it to the end of the month but we did have a few meals where cheese was our protein so I think I'll stick with buying two 2 pound bricks. If we do have extra money then I will invest in more cheese and maybe something other than cheddar.
When I have the list somewhat narrowed down, then I start looking at ads. Most often, I don't find the items on my list on sale but we're moving out of fresh foods season and into more staple type food season for sales so I might get lucky. Both of the grocery stores in Pullman have online ads (I usually shop at a store in Moscow which does not) so I can check the ads easily. Because I keep notes about the prices at the other store I can compare but I have to realize that some prices at my favorite store will have gone up. I know I stopped in with my mom on a trip and in a week the eggs had gone up 50 cents so I'm going to budget an extra dollar.
Nothing in the Safeway add made me go ohh and ahh but it did remind me that I should probably look into getting a pumpkin. Here's where some thought needs to come into effect. I can get just any ole pumpkin, we carve it and roast the seeds. Doing that I lose a pumpkin because after we carve it - it's no longer food. If I use my food budget to buy the pumpkin then I have taken food away. Most carving pumpkins are not great eating either. They are edible but not as tasty as smaller pumpkins. So I could look into buying better tasting pumpkins, painting them and then roasting them later. That would do double duty but it would all depend on price. When it comes to squashes - bigger is not better. The smaller squashes are sweeter and have better flavor so I have to keep that in mind. We've been trained to believe that pumpkins need to be huge so they can make great jack o'lanterns.
Another thing to think about is that this weekend is fall festival and pumpkins and apples will be available for picking. They may be less expensive than the stores. Dissmore's has honey crisps for 1.59 but WSU has apples for about .75 a pound.
That's a lot of food for thought. How's your grocery planning coming?

Splurge: San Francisco Herb

San Francisco Herb is a great resource for baking ingredients, herbs, teas, spices and other odds and ends. It's a splurge because they require a $30 minimum order and it throws off my budget for the month. However, I take caution to only buy that which we use on a regular basis and take comfort in the fact that I am getting a great deal.
I've been using SF Herb for nearly ten years and have loved everything I have gotten from them.
I started buying from them as a way to get spices at a low cost. There is a disadvantage to ordering your herbs and spices from them - nearly everything comes in a 1 pound bag. A pound of some herbs is a lifetime amount and tough to go through. Sharing helps (both for amount and for cost) but sometimes the deal is so good that it's worth the waste. I try hard not to waste.
Things I buy from them on a regular basis - cocoa powder (*7.40 a pound), Cinnamon (ground and stick - between $2-3 a pound), essential oils - Eucalyptus (2.70 for 1 oz), Peppermint (6.10 for 1 oz), Spearmint (5.60 for 1 oz) and Rosemary (3.10 for 1 oz).
In the past we purchased their pill making kits and made our own herbal supplements. The cost was low but the work was not cost-effective. We found ordering pre-made supplements from Swanson Herbs gave us better quality for a similar price.
I purchase herbs still from SF Herb to make salves, oils and teas. The quality is not the best for everything but I still find quite a few high quality herbs for low cost. Their essential oils are culinary grade so I can use them for salves and cooking which will be nice when I get to making my own sodas.
I'll be putting in an order over the next few months. One thing to remember is that the cost constantly changes as SF Herb gets in shipments. They strive to provide the best cost and if they can lower the price they will but since they depend on harvests the prices fluxuate. Currently Cardamon is high but as the next harvest comes in the price should drop again.
* prices on 10/05/2011

The Cost of Food

I had plans to share foraging with you today but when I read Vinobaby's post for today I realized there was another topic better suited for today. She shared the USDA Food Plans: Cost of Food. The Thrifty Plan is what the USDA uses to determine food stamps for families. What I found interesting is the huge amounts they use. I have to be grateful that they use such a high number to determine food stamps but is it realistic?
For my family of a 14 year old male, an adult male and an adult female the total is:
Thrifty Plan - 504.80
Low Cost Plan - 661.80
Moderate Cost Plan - 821.00
Liberal Plan - 999.99

Those numbers are staggering to me. The USDA bases these plans on their food pyramid and what Americans should be spending to meet those food requirements. It makes me want to ask what they are shopping for and where they are getting the costs of food. I know they have an explantion for these numbers but do they really reflect the cost of feeding a family nutritiously. If so, perhaps this has the answer to the US's obesity problem. Is nutritious food too expensive for the average family? I worry that I won't have enough nutritious food for my family. As we go into winter the access of fresh produce in my area will decrease. To buy produce in the store will become expensive and what we get is wilted, bruised and unappealing foods.
For me, to have $500 a month for groceries would mean eating more than healthy, we'd be eating in luxury. It would mean organic meat for every meal, raw milk, beautiful cheeses. Purchasing fruit and vegetables by the bushel for canning, drying, freezing. It would mean a full-time job just to use the food, let alone afford to buy it.
To me, this just shows how out of control our nation is. If this is truly what we need to purchase good food then the cost is too high and we need to do something about it. If this amount is what we believe we need then we need to relearn how to eat and cook because it's unrealistic.
I'd love to hear your opinion.

Freezer Expirations

This information comes from the October 2011 issue of Taste of Home Magazine.

As I said yesterday, I never thought of things in the freezer as having an expiration date. The freezer was always a place I tucked things away for a better day or to extend the life of whatever I was freezing. For years, I tucked away things that I never got back to. My husband became the mean man who actually threw away my frozen shriveled treasures that I was sure I would come back to some day.
This list of expiration dates is going to become my new guideline for things in my freezer. The plan is to use up the old zucchini, rhubarb and other produce that I have stashed away over the next couple of months. After that, I will only freeze what I can use in a reasonable amount of time. The meat I freeze will be for each month but with the notion that they will not sit there for more than 60 days (except bacon and you'll see why in just a moment). Using up what I have doesn't always feel like a good strategy. I grew up learning that storage was the way to go. You bought in bulk and then over stacked your pantry, freezer and what ever nooks and crannies you could find. My grandmother was the expert in this. When she moved from Washington to Arizona, she left behind a house full of food. There was enough to feed our entire community of 350 people for several meals (no exaggeration). Most of the food was bad, we gave away five gallon drums of various grains and dried foods to a pig farmer because it was all stale (and unappetising).
That food was a wasted expense and that's not what we want. It may seem counter-productive to not have a huge food store but it guarantees the food isn't wasted. That doesn't mean not having a food storage for emergencies, it just means re-thinking. I promise to go more into emergency food stores at a later date (trust me, I dream of having the money to invest in a huge food store).
Back to the topic at hand: freezer expiration dates

Here is the list - the numbers represent the number of maximum months the food can be stored in the freezer. You'll see this is not an exhaustive list, for more information there are a number of freezer websites out there (and don't hesitate to check with your local extension office).

Cooked Casseroles with Meat 2-3
Cooked Soups and Stews 2-3
Raw Bacon 1
Raw Steak 6-12
Raw Pork Chops 4-6
Raw Hamburger 4
Cooked, plain chicken breast 4
Raw Chicken Pieces 9
Whole Chicken or Turkey 12
Cooked Fish 4-6
Cooked Shrimp 3
Ice Cream 2
Cheese, hard or soft 6
Butter 6-9
Frozen Veggies 8
Baked Pie 1-2
Cheesecake 2-3
Baked Quick Bread 2-3
Yeast Bread or Rolls 3-6
Baked Cookies 8-12

Hope that helps make your freezer storage more efficient. Coming next - how to use up some of those frozen items in my freezer. If you have excess frozen goods - let me know so I can come up with some ideas for you.

Freezing as preservation

There are a variety of products out on the market to improve freezing conditions. Years ago, I succombed and acquired several products (well actually purchased one and got the other two free as part of a special promotion). I bought a Foodsaver Vacuum sealer. I have nothing against the product itself but it wasn't worth the expense. There are some problems with the way I wanted to use the product. I tried to seal zucchini but what it vacuumed out was a lot of moisture making a huge mess and leaving the bags not as I wanted them. I was able to finish storing the zucchini but it wasn't great. I did love the ability to vacuum seal rice krispie treats and granola bars but they aren't something I store a really long time. The Foodsaver system is really pricey and not worth the expense.
The other two systems were from Ziplock - one a battery operated vacuum sealer and the other a hand system that resembled a tire pump. Both required expensive bags that are difficult to find in stores.
In the end, I discovered that investing in freezer bags of a variety of sizes did everything I wanted and was a more reasonable expense. I buy freezer bags in quart and gallon sizes. I fill them carefully and work to remove all the air on my own. I, also, strive to use the products in a reasonable amount of time. Freezing feels like a long term solution but foods do go bad in the freezer. We rarely throw out anything from the freezer but we've eaten things that were not as good as they should have been.
Taste of Home Magazine sent me a free magazine "sample" this month and it was filled with tips for freezing foods. Most of the tips were not unknown but they did include a time line for using up foods in the freezer. I planned on sharing but I left the magazine at home so I'll share that tomorrow. What surprised me was how short those time spans were. Only 1, if I remember correctly, was a year. Most were less than six months. I can tell you that I have things in my freezer that have moved with me and we've lived in our apartment for over two years. Time to really use up those products (might explain why my zucchini muffins were so dry).
I follow a blog that encourages freezing foods so that you can enjoy a dish more than once while cooking once. As much as that sounds like a great plan, it doesn't work for everyone and it doesn't work for me. I barely acknowledge my freezer in my cooking plans. I forget what's in there (hense the kitchen inventory) but more because frozen foods do not appeal to me except frozen vegetables and bananas. I don't mind freezing my meat but I have to know how quickly I can thaw it without using the microwave since I'm terrible at pre-planning (which I am getting better at). This explains my obsession with pasta because I barely have to think about it.
If freezing meals works for you, it can be a great way to save money and time. It often doesn't cost much more to double a recipe, depending on the ingredients and pre-baking goods and freezing them can save waste as well as offer your family a quick and easy breakfast or snack. Check out Once a Month Mom for more tips and recipes.

Preserving the harvest

It's not enough to get a lot of food for a low cost, there needs to be a way of extending it's use. Now I have posted about canning. I will saying canning is one of my favorite ways to preserve food but I'm not a real creative canner nor a real adventurous one. I'm working on it but I stick to just a few types of canned products - pickles and jams being the big ones. I make a lot of pickled foods. They last forever and were amongst the first ways people preserved their harvest. However, I'm not really good at using up those pickled products. My son hates pickles - I have never known a child who hated pickles before. He doesn't mind pickled beets but most everything else is not going to be eaten by him. So I have a pantry with a variety of pickled foods that will be buried with me.
The same goes for jams and jellies. I make a ton because it's easy and rather fun. I give it away by the gallons. Works wonderfully for gifts but it's not doing a lot for my family. I used to cook with jams and jellies but I get out of the habit. I eat my share of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches .
I share this with you because you may come across the same problem. I have a case of applesauce I canned last year. That's food we acquired but didn't eat - it's no better than food I bought and threw away.
I'm not against canning, not by any stretch but I want to caution against the endless pantry. Part of my goals for this winter is to come up with creative ways to actually use the items in our pantry and that we gather so it's actually providing for us.
Another way I preserve my harvest is by freezing. I have a horrible freezer habit - more of an out of sight, out of mind. I had a deep chest freezer that wasn't all that large but I lost so much in the bottom of it. I have finally gotten rid of that extra freezer space but now the freezer above my fridge is packed full (no more ice cream for us). I had to actually stop myself from freezing stuff. I was one of those great freezer bag users - I froze extra bits of bread and fat for future use that never came. It's a bad habit I have - it's like I'm almost squirrling food away but I don't use it.
My favorite way to store food is dehydrating. It's so easy and can make such tasty snacks. I hate to admit, we're not so good as using up the dehydrated stuff either.
The more I write this the worse it sounds. Can you relate? Are you one who stores for a future that never comes. I will continue to use these methods but I have to do so with a plan in mind. Currently, we freeze meat in meal oriented freezer bags. I keep them in the front of the freezer so they are used up each month. It may seem counter-intuative to use what you have and not have much carry-over month to month but the truth is if you don't use it, you won't. There are some things I keep for sporadic use such as special flavorings or flours. However, nothing lasts forever and if my food goes bad then it was a waste to buy it in the first place.
My original plan with this post was to talk about the techniques for preserving and I will some day in the future come back to this but I think it's more important to think about what is already stored before adding to it. Only replace that which is almost gone (or already gone) this year and work to use up everything else.

Foraging

Foraging is a great and inexpensive way to add to your food budget. Note that I did not say it was free. While the actual food is free, there is some cost involved in driving to where the food is and having equipment to forage. For me, my equipment is a plastic bucket leftover from a gallon of ice cream. I share rides and other equipment such as clippers and gloves. What you need will relate to what you can forage.
Time is another expense that you add to foraging but I justify much of my foraging as entertainment. We drive out to beautiful places as a family and with friends, what more fun can you ask for. Sometimes foraging is not as successful as other times.
What exactly is foraging? It's collecting edible vegetation, basically. This past week or so, we have foraged for crabapples, elderberries and mushrooms. Our mushrooms were the least successful but still got us 8 that I will dry for future use.
Foraging often coincides with preservation. I can, dry or freeze the foods we forage.
It's not hard to learn to forage but some individual foods can be difficult. When it comes to berries and mushrooms - you must only pick what you absolutely know. There are a large variety out there and many are poisonous.
If you are uncertain what you can forage in your area, do a quick internet search. There are many foraging websites out there and many are area specific. They may not tell you where you can find the plants but they will tell you what's available. Plants on public lands are open for foraging, private lands you will want to get permission.
Don't hesitate to join a group or take a class if you really want to learn about foraging. It is an expense but as I said I justify our foraging expenses as entertainment. We do fishing and foraging vacations. I go to mushroom forays (groups that go searching for mushrooms together) - so far they have not cost me anything and I have learned about 2 mushrooms we can pick (there are more but so far I know 2).
Ask questions. If you find a group but can't afford to join or take a class, ask them if they know of someone who would be willing to help you. Look for online groups. Mary Janes Farm has foraging discussions and tons of friendly ladies who are always helpful.
I know this is not a long detailed post on foraging and that's because a new project is in the works to teach people to forage and fish (and whatnot) and as soon as that is up and running I will share.
Please ask me questions if you have some. Here in the Palouse during this month of September there are blackberries, crabapples (so many crabapples), elderberries, chestnuts, and pears. Mushrooms are just starting but it's been on the dry side so watch for more rain to bring out more mushrooms. I hear there might still be peaches as well due to the late summer. We found a few thimbleberries as well but not enough to call it foraging (more like taste testing).

Creating a food support system

If I had to share one thing to lower your food costs, I would say a really good support system. This can be friends, family, facebook contacts, whatever but they should be local to your area.
My support system helps me in two ways - we share meals and we share information.

Sharing meals: Our meal sharing began several years ago when my mother decided we needed to have family meals. These meals were open to any family member or close friend. Each Sunday, one person would be responsible for preparing a main dish and everyone else would supply side dishes. It created a bonding moment for family member but also relieve the stress of having to prepare an entire meal on your own. When we moved away from my mom, we continued that tradition with family members who were close to where we currently live. We have extended it to Friday night movie night when we make a less formal meal.
The benefit of sharing meals is that you can stretch the cost of meal amongst other people and still have a great meal. We discuss what the main dish will be so that other's can plan their sides. Some weeks we have themes just to liven it up.
I have heard cases where several families get together and share meals on a daily basis. As nice as that sounds, I can't imagine having most of my dinners away from home. I like having my time at home so I can eat dinner in my pj's if I so desire. But if that works for you - build up to it. Start with once a week and see where that goes.

Sharing information: The one thing we, as humans, can't seem to grasp is that we can't be everywhere or know everything. We try but not successfully. However, one way to feel like that is to have a network of people who will be your eyes and ears. It's not uncommon for me to call friends/family and tell them about this great deal I saw at the store. They do the same for me. This network let me know that corn was on sale for .05 an ear earlier this week at a store I don't normally shop at. It was this network that introduced me to Bountiful Baskets. These are resources I wouldn't have discovered on my own but now I can pass them on. We, also, use facebook to share information.
I use this network for foraging. We teach each other where there are places to pick fruit or fish to extend our food budget (more on that coming soon).

The other thing I use my network for is sharing of overstock foods. Sometimes when we can a food we end up with so much that we couldn't possibly store it all, let alone eat it. That's when we share. Sometimes we get great harvests from our garden or foraging that it would be a waste not to share. We, also, swap recipes to use our harvests. Having a strong network of like minded foodies is one of the best resources you can have. Don't have a network - start building one. Start with close friends and family. Let them know when you find a deal, they'll think of you next time they find a deal. Food is a popular topic - let it come up and then make comments like "I wish I knew where I could find the best deal on..." or "I would really love to eat more ... but it's out of my budget." If anyone knows of a great deal, they'll share (or however they get the food).
For me, I'm always looking for creative ways to stretch the budget and I share. I'm not too proud to share my blackberry picking spot or to ask someone where they find huckleberries or mushrooms. I won't learn if I don't ask. I hear that many foragers are hesitant to share where they forage - more often than not those are individuals who forage for profit. Those who forage for themselves are more than willing to share, more often than not. (oops - I will probably repeat all that when I talk about foraging next week).

Last bit of advice for today - don't hesitate to ask for help! Everyone eats and most people cook. We all come across problems or issues when it comes to preparing inexpensive food for our families. Whether it's the kids not liking what's for dinner or not being able to provide enough fresh vegetables, someone you know has a solution or an idea to help.

Grocery Shopping 3: Heading to the store

It's not uncommon for people to suggest shopping at multiple stores to get the best deals. For me, it's like robbing Peter to pay Paul. Yes, I can go to the four grocery stores in my area, get the best deals for each item and spend $10 on gas doing it. For some of my friends they spend more than that in gas attempting to get better prices. With gas at just under $4 a gallon, does that really make sense? One friend justified it by saying they got food stamps so it wasn't the same budget. I wanted to ask where they could have used the extra money if they hadn't spent so much on gas but I didn't.
Yes, I get food stamps and that makes up the bulk of my budget but after bills and gas, I get to use the leftover money for more groceries. Sometimes there isn't any but I would rather fuel my family than my car.
I pick the best store for my needs for the month. Lately, that has meant a discount grocery store that is the furthest away from my home. Because I only go once a month and I save a great deal, I do my shopping there. However, I don't buy much in the way of produce or meat there (discount groceries often have poor quality produce and horrible meat prices to make up for the discounts in the rest of the store).
I go into the store with my list, my kitchen inventory and a calculator. My kitchen inventory is on a clipboard with a pen so I have a good writing surface. As I pick up items, I write the price on my list next to the name of the item. I do this for two reasons - 1. I like to keep track of the prices on my KI so having the prices on my list makes going through the list easier. and 2. if I find the same item for less somewhere else in the store I have the amount so I can change it in my calculator.
As I shop, I add the prices in my calculator. This keeps me from estimating how much I am spending (which only works part of the time). I can keep a accurate record of the expenses so that I don't get to the checkout and find I have overspent.
I walk into the store with a budget in mind. My goal is often less than what I have available to spend so I can keep some extra for later in the month. It doesn't always happen because I can't always guess how the prices will change from month to month. However, by aiming for lower than my budget I can almost guarantee I won't go over my budget.
For me, it's not enough to just have an overall budget. I, also, give myself budgets for certain items. The store closest to my home has a deal of 5 packages of meat for $20. Because I know that I can get meat for that price, that becomes my meat budget. I can not spend more than $20 on meat. But that's still not enough of a budget for me. If I spent $20 on meat without considering how that would impact meals then I could end up with only a meal or two so I challenge myself more - No more than $2 a meal for meat. That allows me to get higher quality meats if I desire without overly impacting my budget. Now $2 a meal budget doesn't mean I buy hot dogs and canned tuna to keep my budget down (even though we occasionally buy those as well). What it means is that I have to come up with a way of stretching the meat so that I am only spending $2 or less per meal (I like to challenge myself even lower but that doesn't happen easily).
We like bacon, it's something we add to a meal as the meat - it's not the meal its self. Bacon runs about $2.50 for a package. I can take a package and make two meals out of it. Lately, the meat department has offered bacon that runs $2.29 a pound for thick slices that look really nice. In this case, I break up the package into freezer bags with six slices each. This past month, I spent just over $7 for the package and broke it up into 7 bags giving us 7 meals at just over $1 a meal.
I found chicken thighs for .98 a pound. The one thing I don't like about bone in chicken is that it becomes very difficult to stretch it. When I can buy them, I prefer the boneless skinless chicken parts because I can easily cut them up and toss them into whatever dish. Bone-in parts almost always become part of the meal, vegetable, starch menu. However, for the price it wasn't two bad. I spent between $4-5 for each package (bought 2) and broke them into about 8 meals with a two having extra parts for a lunch. With bone-in thighs I give everyone 1 piece. Cooking more than that will guarantee that they eat more than that so I don't cook anything more than 1 extra piece for lunch (I'm the only one who takes a lunch since my son eats at school and hubby eats at home).
I keep things flexible when I shop. I keep my mind open to deals I can't pass up. In August, hotdogs were .68 a package. We don't eat hotdogs often and I feel like they are a good quick fix and they freeze really well. I picked up two even though they weren't on the list. It did mean making sure that I had enough for everything on the list. I, also, don't always walk out with everything on my list. I like crushed ginger in the glass jars but if I'm going to pay $3 I want it to be all ginger not ginger with oil and high fructose corn syrup (I didn't even realize you could buy it that way). Not getting the ginger meant money for the hotdogs.
Be aware that prices change. Something that was a great deal last month may not be as great of a deal this month which is where having the prices on your KI comes in handy. Shopping can easily be stressful and crowded stores open us up to mistakes. Take your time, go when it's not so crowded and don't have it part of a busy day. I, always, make a shopping day when nothing else is planned (atleast for me). I want to be able to take my time through the store and have time at home to put the groceries away and update my KI. I can't do that if I only have a limited amount of time. I've gone grocery shopping in the middle of the night just so I can have enough time (thankfully all our stores are now 24 hours).
Hope that helps. Tomorrow I will talk about developing a food support system and how that can benefit you more than any other technique.

Grocery Shopping 2: Let the Negotiations Begin

The next step in the preparation for grocery shopping is to negotiate the list. For me, that means asking my family what they want. This is like any business negotiation. I have them bring to the "table" five meals and five items that they want. This gives them a voice in the shopping and a chance to help plan some of the meals. If they give me five meals each - that's ten meals that have been planned with little hassle. I don't mean that they have to plan the entire meal - more just give me entrees. Have they been craving mac and cheese? Do they really miss having stroganoff? Would they kill for the summer's last watermelon?
More importantly, it gives them some feeling of control. When the budget is tight, meals can get boring fast - pots of soups, beans or days of the same meals over and over again because you can make a huge batch for so little cost. That may feel like a solution but it's not a good long term solution. What we are looking for is a long term solution. You don't have to skimp always and I will talk about splurging and when and why I do it at a later date. If you have a good basis then when the money is less tight you can stick to your plan but add to it.
Yesterday I talked about meal planning some. When planning for a month of meals, plan for back-ups. You may envision making amazing time consuming dishes because they are the least expensive and you have the time. Except life happens, these are the times when it's far too easy to order a pizza or slip off to McDonalds because you can't think about what to make for dinner. You have to plan for back-ups. For us, pasta is a back-up plan. When we can't think what to make for dinner we have spaghetti - sometimes marinara and sometimes carbonara. Sometimes I make fried rice or bean burritos. This is easy because we always have the ingredients in our pantry (and I know they are there because they are listed on my Kitchen Inventory).
What happens when what your family wants doesn't meet your budget? I never say "no", I say "what can I make to substitute?". My husband loves soda. It's not in the budget and it's not really healthy so I can't justify buying him soda. Last month was his birthday so he used the Walmart gift card from his family to buy his soda but there's no windfall this month. We talked and decided that Kool-aid would be a good substitute. I made sure to add Kool-aid (.10 each) and extra sugar ($5 and change for 10 pds) to the list. Now the price of the sugar is a little steep but it allows me to make more than just Kool-aid. As we go into winter, we're going to want more baked goods. It cuts a little from my shopping this month but I can make up for it next month.
My son loves milk. Right now we're doing powdered milk but I always by a fresh gallon during my shopping trip. I got to thinking about the previous month and shortfalls. A two pound brick of cheese didn't last the whole month. We were given a brick of cheese from my dad but it's Velvetta-like cheese and my son hates it. I use the cheese in sauces and he doesn't mind but he's commented on more than one occasion that he really wanted real cheese. So I went to him - what would you prefer a gallon of milk or an extra brick of cheese? Now - it's more for the cheese than the milk but the cheese would last longer so I felt it was a good trade off. He thought for a minute and said he would prefer extra cheese to the fresh milk.
After talking with my family, I make my list. It's never a very long list because the goal is to cut down the shopping cost. I look for things that can be stretched over several meals, like the cheese.
Now as I head to the store, I don't keep my list rigid. I allow for other negotiations to occur. I may have hamburger on my list but, at the store, find that it's far more expensive than my budget allows for. At that time, I have to have a back-up plan. Can I alter the menu ideas using less expensive ingredients or is there something else I can drop to make up for the extra expense?
Tomorrow, I'll talk about what to do when you actually make it to the store that will help maintain your budget and your plan.

Grocery Shopping 1: The Plan

Having a grocery shopping plan is not the same as having a list. A list helps but there needs to be more if you are going to keep your shopping with-in your budget.
One tool I have been using is my Kitchen Inventory. Quick recap from the post about that - KI is an excel spreadsheet broken into areas in my kitchen and food groups that gives me a fairly accurate account of what I have or do not have stored, along with the last price I spent. I made a mistake this past month in not printing the KI after I had inputted prices. I had taken the document with me as I shopped but I didn't have the prices to compare (and was shocked at how drastically some changed). That won't happen again since I am finally understanding how best to use this.
What the KI does, aside from price comparison, is tells me what we use and gives me ideas how to combine new items with the old to make a meal. For example, staples - tortillas, cheese; ingredients at home - diced chiles, green salsa. If I buy a can of refried beans, we could have bean burritoes or I can buy some meat and make tacos or different burritoes. There's no second guessing about what we have and what we don't have.
I mentioned that tortillas and cheese are staples. Using the KI, I can determine what foods are necessary in my family and what we don't use as fast as I thought and what we don't really use at all. I make notes on my KI so I know when we didn't like something or a brand. That will save me money because I am not buying something we won't use.
For us - staples are pasta, tortillas, cheese, flour, sugar, eggs, peanut butter, Nucoa, rice, yeast and garlic. With those items in our house, we will always have something to eat. They are also what I replace before I replace anything else.

Then I plan meals - I don't do a hard plan like: 1st Roast chicken with mashed potatoes, green beans; 2nd meatloaf, green salad; etc. I take what I know we like and think of additional meals we might like to have. We love pasta so I plan for spaghetti with marinara, pasta carbonara, mac and cheese. Note: I don't buy processed foods. They may feel like a bargain but in the end they are not. I may be able to purchase a box of mac and cheese for 50 cents but it could take as many as 3 boxes to feed my family without taking in account the milk or the butter. For $1 I can buy a pound of elbow macaroni, use powdered milk (free), 1/2 stick Nucoa (.20), flour and 1/3 pd of cheese (.86) making the whole amount 2.06 vs the cost of the box mac and cheese. That might not feel like a bargain compared to the 1.50 but think of this - the homemade mac and cheese will be more filling and more nutritious. There's less sodium. I can easily alter either mac and cheese to include veggies and meat but with the homemade - I can make extra sauce to use for lunches or dinner the next night. That extra .50 can make a big difference. More importantly, all the ingredients for the mac and cheese are included in my staples so I don't have to really think about what to make.
The last Plan tip I'm gonna share today: traditional American meals of meat, vegetable, starch are expensive and lack nutritional variety. Think past the traditional dinner and start thinking one dish meals. Not everything we eat is one dish but when you start thinking in this manner all sorts of things open up. Meat and fresh produce are some of the most expensive items in the grocery store. Shopping in season and sales will help but I find that creative one dish cooking helps more.