A More Detailed Post on Saving on Groceries

On my last post someone requested that I be more specific about how I save money on groceries.  Hope this helps!

 1.Treat saving on groceries is a serious business.

Not only do you need to go to the store and actually hunt for the bargains, you have to work hard to preserve the groceries once you get them home. I treat it like a serious business This week I found some amazing deals on meat, because I got myself up early and got dressed and went to the store.  We were about the only one in the store at that hour.  Guys, I bought ground chuck that was $7.99 a pound for $2.66 a pound!  I bought 6 pounds and brought it home and canned it up immediately. It was out of the canner before 10 AM.  We also bought a roast that was marked 65% off.  Ran cut it into strips and made a marinade for it while I was canning. The next day he made it into jerky.

2. Use every last bit.

That hamburger I canned?  Well, when I can hamburger I put it into a roaster without water and into a 350 degree oven. to brown it.  That way it remains nice and chunky.  When I take the roaster from the oven I drain the meat through a sieve, catching all the grease and broth into a bowl.  Once that is cooled, I scrape all the tallow off the top and use the grease for sauteing  and greasing pans, etc.  The broth was made into a gravy with an addition of the remaining meat that didn't fit into the jars.  Along with some carrots, onions, parsnips and potatoes from the garden, this was made into a pot pie. Our meals are never based upon what do we want to eat, but upon what's in the fridge that we need to use up. Back here I wrote about using every bit of a turkey except the quack.

3.  Learn how to make everything from scratch.

We do not buy anything that is made for convenience.  This week we made bread, granola, pie crusts, tortillas, noodles, crumpets and  all from just what is basic pantry items; flour, some sort of fat, and some sort of leavening.  We never buy cream of soups but make a basic white sauce.  We make our own salad dressings from vinegar that we make from peels of fruit while canning and yogurt. Never buy canned beans, but buy them in dried form and can them ourselves. We make our own catsups, barbecue sauces,  spaghetti sauce, salsas, jams, pickles, chutneys, herbal teas, etc.

How to make vinegar

Put you peels and cores from you apples or pears (or both) into a bowl and cover with unfiltered water.  I also add a bit of the mother from last years vinegar.  Let it set out uncover for a week.  Warning: you'll have fruit flies.  After a week, cover the bowl loosely with a cheesecloth and let it set another week. On the third week, strain the vinegar and put into a jar. Loosely screw on the lid and let set like that for a couple of weeks.  After that, your vinegar should be ready to use.

4. Be flexible.

Maybe you went to the store thinking you were going to make tacos for dinner, but when you got to the store hamburger was too expensive, but they had chicken drumsticks for 99 cents a pound.  So, skip the hamburger and make shredded chicken for the tacos.  And when you're done, throw the bones and skin into a pot and boil them up for stock for a pot of chicken soup.Just because a recipe calls for one thing, doesn't mean you have to use it. Personally, when it comes to any sort of Mexican food, I actually prefer to skip the meat all together and use beans.  Spicy foods really don't need the added flavor of meat. I never go to the store with a specific menu in mind.  I find the deals first and knowing that I have basic pantry items and basic recipes, make up the menu as I shop.

5. Eat at least three of your main meals, meatless each week.

There's so many good meatless meals this shouldn't be a problem. Here's a list of some easy quick meals that most families like: vegetable pizza, grilled cheese and tomato soup, spaghetti without meatballs, cheese omelettes or quiche, a vegetable chowder, bean burittos,  black bean burgers, Welsh rarebit,and my favorite, a vegetable stir-fry.  These are especially nice in the summer when the vegetables are in the garden.  I just take a variety of vegetables and onions and garlic and sometimes I add a jar of drained chickpeas, and stir fry them and here's a very easy sauce that goes well with any vegetables:

Basic stir-fry sauce

1/2 C. water

1 1/2 tsp. cornstarch

1/4 C. soy sauce

1/4 C. catsup

2 Tbls. brown sugar

1 tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. ground ginger

1/4 tsp. black pepper

Just combine the ingredients and pour over the vegetables after the have been sauteed to tender crisp. Heat until boiling and let boil, stirring, until the sauce is desired thickness.

6. Never look a gift horse in the mouth.

The other day we were in our favorite thrift store and the cashier asked if we wanted a bunch of bananas that were left over from the food pantry.  No one wanted them because the were not picture perfect.  I took them home and put them in the freezer.  One of these days they will make a lovely loaf  or two of banana bread.  We were driving down a back road when we saw black walnuts covering the road.  We stopped and picked up a bagful along the roadside.  Ended up with about two pounds of walnuts once they were hulled and shelled.  We might go back and get some more.  I just picked some ripe tomatoes that had grown in the compost bin yesterday and earlier this year I picked a bunch of button mushrooms that had sprouted there.  Ran gave our neighbor some walleye he caught and he told me that next time he catches a pike, he will send it down my way.  Which I will gladly take and can.  Canned, pike taste like the finest abelcore tuna to me.  

7. Don't turn up your nose.

Let me tell you about the bargain I got this week.  I bought a four pound wheel of Guggisberg Baby Swiss cheese from the Amish scratch and dent store for ten dollars!  On Amazon they sell a two pound wheel for $64.99. People turn up their noses at the good old scratch and dent stores, but it is like everything else, you have to be a savvy shopper.  Last month I bought wild-caught tuna for seventy-nine cents a can with an expiration date of 2028 there.  Not everything is out of date there.  Sometimes the stores are just getting rid of the oddball items to make room for more popular items. I always buy my dried beans there because the sell them for fifty cents a pound. Dried beans are selling for almost two dollars a pound at the bulk food store. We always buy our coffee there. Just to let you know, that there's more to the scratch and dent than  junk  and processed food and expired goods, so don't be afraid to venture into them. I see some pretty fancy cars parked outside of them.  Just saying!

8. Pay attention to the price per unit.

This is self-explanitory. They are posted under every shelf so it isn't difficult to do.

9.  When you find a deal, buy as much as you can.

Groceries are never going to get cheaper, so when you find a deal on a pantry essential, buy as much as you can. Even if it means you have to eat more meatless meals for the month or have to go without some of the little niceties  that you might want.  It is better to suffer a little now than to suffer a lot later.

10. Learn how to preserve what you buy.

You might not care to can as I do, but you can still preserve your bargains.  Remember last year when I was telling you about the deer carrots (which now is the time to be looking into them)? Well, if you didn't want to can those carrots. you could still cut them up parboil and freeze them.  In November when turkeys are cheap, cheap, cheap, you can still cook up the turkey, remove all the meat, and make the broth, save the schmaltz and freeze it all.  I can because our electricity is not reliable over here in ice storm country.   

So, I hope that helps.  It is hard to write about being thrifty.  It's one of those things you just learn from experience.  Sometimes when I'm out in the stores shopping and I overhear someone grumbling about the sky rocketing prices, I wish that I could take them by the hand and show them all the tricks.  Can someone explain Uncrustables to me?  Why on earth would anyone pay  so much for what is essentially pbj on toast?  Or instant oatmeal, when you can microwave quick oats just as easily and add your own sugar and cinnamon.And don't get me started on Lunchables. Ha! Feel free to add you own tips in the comments.

Hugs

Jane