Email to Stella      

Recipe Categories: Stella's HOME PAGEAPPETIZERS BAKING_SITES BBQ BEAUTY BEEF BEVERAGES BIOGRAPHY BREAD BREAKFAST BROWNIESandBARS BUTTERS_SPREADS CAKES CANDY CANNING_PRESERVING CASSEROLES CELEBRITY CHEESECAKES CHOCOHOLICS_ANONYMOUS COMFORT_FOOD COOKIES COOKING_FOR_2 COPYCAT CRAFT_RECIPES CROCKPOT DESSERTS DIABETIC DIETS ENTERTAINING ETHNIC FISHandSEAFOOD FONDUE FREEZER_FRIENDLY FROSTINGandFILLING FRUIT FUDGE GIFT_BASKET GIFT_JARS GLUTEN_FREE GRILL HINTSandTIPS HOLIDAYS HOMEMADE_PRODUCTS ICE_CREAM JAMSandJELLIES KIDDIE_MENU LOWFAT LOW_CARB MARINADES_RUBS MINUTE_MEALS MUFFINS OAMC PASTA PASTRIES PET_FOOD pHBalance PICNICandCAMPING PIES PIZZA POLITICIAN_FAVORITES PORK POULTRY PRESSURECOOKER QUANTITY_COOKING SALADandDRESSING SANDWICHES SAUCES SEWING_CRAFTS SIDE_DISHES SNACKS SOUPS_STEWS_CHOWDER_CHILI SOUTH_BEACH_DIET STATE_RECIPES TOP_TEN VEGETABLES VEGETARIAN

Tips for Cutting Your Grocery Bill #2




Source of Recipe


Kim Tilley


Recipe Introduction


Kim Tilley, a tightwad at heart, is a wife, a mother of three active boys and the founding editor of Frugal-Moms.com. Frugal by force and later by choice, Kim cut her income by 60% to stay at home with her children and discovered that anyone can live better for less. Her work has appeared in print publications such as The Tightwad Gazette. In her free time, she entertains herself by chasing kids and finding ways to create something from nothing!


Recipe Link: http://www.fabulousfoods.com

List of Ingredients




16. Maintain a healthy weight -- once you begin eating better and dropping some pounds, you will notice you tend to eat less. This saves money and your health. Not only that, if you maintain a comfortable weight, your clothes will fit and you won't have to buy bigger ones, not to mention all the great deals to be found at yard sales where people sell their "skinny" clothes.

17. Substitute (or eliminate) expensive ingredients for less expnesive ones -- Does the recipe have to be made with the expensive item? Can a cheaper version be found and taste just as good? Can you eliminate the ingredient all together? I have found no taste difference between real vanilla extract and imitation. When we have a fancy Christmas get together and want to serve a seafood platter, we serve imitation crab instead of shrimp. It is cheaper, still tastes wonderful, and keeps for much longer than shrimp. If I buy the crab meat when Cub Foods deli is having a sale, I can get it for around 1.49 a pound (reg $2.50), that beats $8-$18 a pound for shrimp any day. The same can be said for many expensive ingredients: look for alternatives and substitutes.

18. Can't substitute? Then cut down on expensive ingredients -- If you just can't live without that certain something in your recipe, try cutting the amount in half and see how it tastes. Keep cutting down the amount until the recipe starts to suffer, then add a little back in, until it tastes the way you like. You may be surprised at how little you actually need.

19. Grow herbs yourself -- Still want to use bundles of fresh herbs in your famous pasta sauce but hate the price? Plant some! Herbs are so easy to grow and so useful. Many are perennial: sage, oregano, lavender (yes you can use it in cooking), mint, lemon balm, chives, the list is extensive. Biannuals will reseed themselves if you let them go to seed, these include: basil, parsley, dill, nasturtium, pansies (great in salads as decoration). Even saffron ($16 a pound!) can be grown at home. Saffron comes from the saffron crocus, a bulb plant, which blooms in fall. Plant some in the spring and you will have one of the world's most expensive seasonings at your fingertips for very little money.

20. Gardening -- Growing a few herbs may give you the courage to grow a full-fledged vegetable garden. Or you may want to try edible landscaping - putting plants in your landscape that give you food too, like fruit trees, berry bushes, etc. The best books I have read on gardening come from Elliot Coleman. He is a market gardener who grows food organically. He hosts a TV show on The Learning Channel called "Gardening Naturally". Check out books from the library, read a few gardening magazines and pick some gardening friends' brains. The most important advice: have fun and grow food that you actually eat. I have grown a few "cool" foods that went to waste because the family wouldn't eat them and I didn't know what to do with them. There are many cookbooks on using garden harvests, so check those out too. Many are arranged seasonally so you can take advantage of what is fresh and abundant (even if you don't garden, these are handy). For more gardening information, check out our favorite gardening site, GardenGuides.com.

21. Canning and Drying -- As you become more accomplished both in cooking and gardening, you may want to can those special sauces, pickles, and jellies for even more savings. There are many excellent food preserving books in the library and bookstores s well as online. Don't have time to can or is it too hot? You can freeze some things, like berries, to make into jellies and sauces later on, when the weather is cooler and you have more time.

22. Shop Alternative sources for food - Get creative and keep your eyes open. Check out the farmer's markets, food co-ops, farm co-ops, undamaged freight stores, restaurant and baking supply companies, wholesalers, roadside stands, health food stores, etc. Don't forget to ask about grocery store "seconds" those foods that may be slightly damaged and not quite perfect enough to sell at full price. Check out grower's seconds, as well as drops from fruit orchards. There are always cheaper alternatives, just keep looking and asking.

23. Buy and use in season veggies and fruit --They are usually fresher and cheaper. When tomatoes are in season, make lots of tomato sauce and can it, and plan to eat lots of BLTs. Make strawberry shortcake when strawberries are at their best and cheapest, usually in June and July. Cook with more root vegetables in winter, when they are at their best and summer veggies are out of season. Check out seasonal cookbooks at the library for more ideas.

24. Learn the sales pattern -- This is best done using your price book. Not only are there better seasons to buy some veggies than others, but meats and other food staples tend to go on sale according to season, holiday, and what store you are shopping at. Hams are usually on sale around Easter and Thanksgiving, turkeys are always on sale in November and December. Learn the sales patterns of your favorite stores and stock up.

25. Try store brand and generics -- As with substituting cheaper things for the expensive, try lower cost items. Keep going down in price until you notice a change in the quality, then move back to the next brand/item up. You may discover that most brands are created equal and some generics are pretty good too. Some basics, like sugar and flour, really don't change from brand to brand, so go with the lowest price and/or what is on sale.

26. Use coupons and rebates occasionally -- I only use coupons and rebates if I like and buy the item regularly, and I can't get the item at a lower price by using store/generic brands. Sam's club sometimes has some very good refunds on items I use, such as disposable diapers (theirs are cheaper than most stores and good quality). Another refund I look forward to are the underwear refunds around back to school time. Usually there are coupons and refunds for the undies at the same time. So use discretion, don't go nuts on coupons and rebates. Your price book will be a great help in determining whether a coupon is really a good deal or not.

27. Free Food Sources -- Yes, there is such a thing as free food! Here in Illinois, we go mushrooming in the spring at my mother in laws' farm. We pick bags and bags of morelles (store price: $16 a pound)! We also go berry picking. The trick to any kind of wild food foraging is that you absolutely MUST know what you are picking, no guessing. Free food is not worth it if it makes you sick or poisons you!

Some other alternatives: extra produce from relatives', friends' neighbors' gardens, fruit trees in your yard, or picked from with permission if they are in someone else's yard. You may be surprised at what you get if you just ask. Check out the WIC program if you are pregnant, nursing or have kids under 5, this is an excellent source of free foods (milk, juice, eggs, cereal, peanut butter) for those who need it most. Also check out local charity programs, such as "ShareFood", where you do a little bit of work and get a bag of groceries for $13. There are no income restrictions and the food varies, but some of my friends have tried it and liked it very much, especially the volunteer work.

Also consider bartering. Perhaps you could mow your elderly neighbor's lawn in exchange for a bushel of apples. Get creative.

28. Menu Planning -- Build your meal plans around: A) what you already have and B) what is on sale. You could also plan around what is in your garden and in season locally. Use all of the methods here to plan a loosely constructed menu plan. I try to think of many different ways to use what I have so I won't spend too much, but I can't seem to keep to a strict menu. We eat everything I cook and improvise with leftovers. So try it out, but be flexible.

29. Once a month cooking -- Ok, it doesn't have to be once a month, it could be once a week or twice a month, or just bulk cooking. The secret is to make every cooking session count, this way you are not only saving money, but time as well. For more information, check out the invaluable book Frozen Assets: Cook for Day, Eat for a Month! (click for full review and ordering info.)

30. Keep it simple -- You don't have to give up gourmet foods, but keep your daily meals simple. Don't feel like you have to make "five-star" restaurant meals every night -- make them special. Here in the Midwest, the cuisine is very simple, much to my dismay (I LOVE gourmet foods). I find my husband and kids are happiest when I make the simple, humble meals, instead of fancy spreads, and I find that I am more relaxed. I compromise by making up some wonderful, gourmet foods for myself, freezing the dishes in one person portions and eating them at lunch. I can have all my favorites and no one turns their nose up. The best of both worlds.




Recipe



You'll actually have to click on the Fabulous Foods website above to get to the "Click Here" links.