Frugal Groceries

Striving to be Good Stewards of the Gifts He Has Given.

So, in response to the question "what kind of things do you do to be frugal with meals and groceries"...

In the grocery department, I am not as careful as I once was (since we became mortgage free I have a little more flexibility in this area of the budget) but I will share the things I find really help cut grocery costs. I realize that many of these things might be disappointing to city dwellers, as we live in the country and therefore have more options to "finding" and "growing" our own produce and meat.

-my husband is an avid hunter/fisher, so deer provides all the ground meat and sausage we need for the year, and I *rarely* buy fish at the store (although this winter was meager in the ice fishing department...) He also hunts duck and geese but I have yet to learn to master the culinary arts of making a palatable dish out of these wild tasting critters, so if anyone has any recipes or advice, bring them on!

-we raise our own lambs and hope to get our first steer this year, and also have plans to start raising rabbits in lieu of chickens (can't stand the smell of chicken poop and rabbit is more popular than chicken in Italy so we learned to actually prefer it to chicken meat).

-I buy my chickens whole and in bulk from Costco, then boil/shred/freeeze them after purchase in meal size packages.

-We have been blessed in that even when we lived in town we had abundant fruit growing on our yard (rhubarb, raspberries, saskatoon berries, cherries, plums and crabapples), and here on the farm it is even better. So I freeze fruit as it ripens, and then make jam and juice and use all of our own fruit for desserts and preserves.

-We love gardening, so most of our vegetables are covered in the summer, fall and most of the winter. I am back to buying from the store now, everything except potatoes, carrots and onions and I still have some frozen swiss chard and zucchini.

-I do all my own baking, never buy store bought cookies or processed junk like that (except Dorito's for nacho's that is!) for the most part.

-I buy pretty much all my staples at Costco, yeah, you need to be organized with storage but it does save me quite a bit in the long run. When I am sticking to staples (not getting sucked in by all their temting pre-packaged goodies), I find it is comparable to shopping cheap no name brands in other stores but Costco quality is SO great, you are getting much better for less.

-We eat salad with almost every meal. It is a cheap and healthy way to round out any meal. I try to have a starch, protein, veggie and green salad with each meal, when you have a balanced meal you seem to need less, can't explain this, but I've found it to be true. A meat portion the size of your palm, a tight fist of starchy carbs (potatoes, rice, pasta) or loose fist quantity of healthy carbs (green/yellow/orange veggies), and as much salad as you like is a good balance, then a fruit for dessert or evening snack if we have a sweet tooth.

-Having a menu plan with a coordinating grocery list helps a lot. You know what you need and only buy that. You use what you buy and don't lose money to waste.

-Alot of money is thrown away on food gone bad. Doing a half hour of pre-prep and packaging when I get back from the grocery store helps alot with curbing waste. If I need to buy onions from the store, I run the whole bag through the food processor when I get home and freeze them in ziploc baggies, I buy fresh peppers in bulk and throw them in the freezer, pull them out one at a time as I need them and nuke them for a minute before chopping them up and throwing them in whatever I'm making. Fresh Tomatoes can be done the same way. I am not a big canner, but I LOVE my freezers. I buy Romaine lettuce in six packs but then individually wrap them in saran wrap, and throw them in the crisper, they last longer this way.

-I make my own spaghetti sauce and salad dressings (recipes are under "keeper of my kitchen" label).

To be fully honest, I am not as frugal as I could be anymore, I used to make our own breakfasts (oatmeal, cream of wheat, fruit pancakes and waffles, muffins, etc) This saves alot of money but is more time consuming, and in my current stage of life I mostly opt out for buying prepared breakfast stuff (cereal/toast)just so that my mornings can be more relaxed.. I do suffer from guilt in this department though and would like to get back to making homemade hot breakfasts.

I am also not one to skimp on certain things, I buy Tropicana orange juice in bulk and try to buy all fresh cooler veggies rather than frozen. Granted, I pick and choose what is on for a good price, we keep it pretty simple, lots of steamed broccoli/cauliflower, green beans, carrots, squash... also, we buy alot of fruit, my kids can take fruit whenever they want without asking. I find that saving in the other ways pays off in being able to stock up on fresh fruits and veggies.

That's all that's coming to mind right now, feel free to pick my brain with more questions... This has gotten long so I'll make a new entry about the clothes, which will be short and sweet!