When we were in England, I spent around $700 per month on groceries. Last month in New England, I spent closer to $1000, at at the end of the month we were still scraping by on what I had in the freezer and cupboards...which wasn't nearly as balanced as I would have liked. Food costs are higher here, partially because I'm not shopping at the Commissary...but the food quality can be higher, too.
I currently have a budget of $800 for monthly groceries. Something I recently saw online said that the average food cost per family in the US right now is close to $1000/month. (After a bit more research, the USDA projected cost of food for a family of five on a "low cost plan" was $1020.80.) So, how will I get the quality of food I want (and my family deserves), without going over budget and spending money we don't have? That's my project for this month, and I'm hoping I'm off to a good start.
Which comes first, the menu or the shopping list?
Well, for me, this month, it was a bit of both. Our local grocery store has a bulk option for buying meat. They have packages available for a set cost, but you don't pick and choose what you want - you get a specific list of items. That's ok. Before shopping, I picked up a brochure with a list of the packages available, and built my menu around the meats I would be getting. Then, I made my list based on the meals that were planned. Basing my menu off the bulk meat order, it looks like I won't need to buy any additional meat for my family all month, and we'll likely have more left in the freezer. Even if some of the items, like hot dogs, aren't something we're likely to eat immediately, I can keep them in the freezer until BBQ season.
Is it really a better deal to buy in bulk?
Oh my, YES - but with a caveat. Only buy things in bulk that you know you will use in a reasonable amount of time. I could only buy the bulk meat order because I have a large chest freezer (that I'm still trying to fill). Also, as soon as I got home, I started repackaging the meat into a manner that I could freeze it and defrost it as needed. For example, I took the 3.5 lb packages of ground beef and separated them into approximately 1 1b. packages in freezer bags, squeezing all the air out and flattening them to let them freeze faster and store easier. I opened the large packages of chicken, put the individual pieces in "perfect portion" bags, squeezed the air out, then put those in large freezer bags. Now I can choose to thaw only as many pieces as I need at the time, allowing for less waste.
I'm glad I planned to have roasted chicken for dinner yesterday after coming home from the store, because the chicken I got in the meat order was bigger than I'd expected, and I wouldn't have had the space in the fridge to have it wait a few days. Since we did roast it right away, however, and the family only ate about half the meat from it last night, I now have roasted chicken leftovers for lunches, and the carcass (still with fair amount of meat on it) went straight into a stockpot to make chicken soup this weekend. The boiled chicken that I get off the bones will probably go into the freezer to use later, either in cassaroles, enchiladas, or salads. (The soup is the only thing actually on the menu...the rest is "bonus".)
Another things that was done immediately after getting home from the store - started spaghetti sauce. We're not having Spaghetti until tomorrow, but, again, it will be easier to store as sauce than as raw ingredients. I currently have more freezer space than I do refrigerator or cupboard space, so instead of keeping several pounds of meat and several cans of tomato products waiting, I started the sauce early. This will let me cool and portion the sauce later today (cooked in the crockpot overnight last night) and put it into the freezer to defrost as necessary. Then, for the rest of the month, Wednesday dinners will just be a matter of cooking noodles and defrosting sauce.
Now, I did want to double check the actual savings on the meat order, so I know if it's worth doing again. So, I added up the price of the individual items to see how much value I actually got. The package cost me $92.99 ($94.99 - $2.00 coupon)...and the individual prices added up to $136.34 for a total savings of $43.34. Not bad!
Meat isn't the only thing that bulk buying is saving me money, either. I finally ran out of the imitation vanilla that I had inherited from someone ages ago, so got to buy new vanilla extract (the real stuff this time!) Usually, I buy the 4 oz bottles...the "big" ones in the boxes on the shelf near the spices. A 4 oz bottle of vanilla was $4.99. Scanning the top shelf for something else I was looking for, I happened to see a 16 oz bottle of the same brand for $9.99. Vanilla extract doesn't go bad and the more baking I do, the more likely I am to be using it anyway. Even if it takes me a year to use (possible), it won't lose quality. So, even though I initially had to pay twice as much, I get four times as much product, leading to the unit price being cut in half, for a total savings on the vanilla of $10. Again...not bad.
I found a larger container of honey at the store, as well, and it was almost as good of a deal as the vanilla, especially since I'm using a LOT of honey right now in homemade bread. The 24 oz. container I'd previously bought cost me $7.19. The 48 oz container I bought yesterday cost me $7.99 - again, almost half the unit cost. Chances are, I'll go through the honey in the next month, but even if I don't, honey doesn't go bad or stale, either. Oh, and I almost forgot....savings...buying two of the 24 oz containers of honey would have cost me $14.38. Buying the large container instead yielded a savings of $6.39.
So, what's my total savings so far? On just the meat, honey, and vanilla, I can show a savings of $59.73. (Woot!)
How else can I reduce my grocery costs?
Hmm...I'm off to a good start, but I'm sure I can even more. (I'm SO glad my mom taught me how to shop!) While I may be accustomed to buying name brand products, because that's most of what was available to me for the last few years, there is a significant savings to be had by buying generic. Some things I won't compromise on...like Campbells soup, or Kraft mac & cheese (if I buy it at all.) Other things, though, don't seem to make enough difference to be worth the extra cost. It's all about value for money. For example...
1) Butter. I don't really see a lot of a quality difference between the Land 'o Lakes butter that I'm used to buying and the Market Basket brand butter that I'm starting to buy. The Land 'o Lakes tends to cost around $3.49/lb, while the Market Basket brand is $1.99/lb. If we only go through 4 lb of butter in a month (not likely...between baking, cooking, and putting it on bread, we probably go through closer to 6), that's a $6 per month savings, just on butter. I bought 7 lbs of butter yesterday, between whipped and sticks, so the savings for the trip was $10.43.
2) Cereal. I hate the idea of spending huge amounts of money on breakfast cereal. Many name brand cereals are at least $3.50-$4.00 per box, but the generic versions are closer to $2.00/box. One of my kids' favorite cereals is Life, which generally runs close to $3.50/box. The generic version is $2.00, so a $1.50 saving. If I figure an average saving of $1.50/box, and I bought 6 boxes, that's another $9.00 saved. (This is adding up pretty quick!)
3) Crackers. Just like cereal, there's a huge price difference between the name brand and the generic, and usually not much of a flavor difference. Cheez-its are the one that my kids notice, so I won't substitute those, but Ritz or Club crackers aren't much better than their generic equivalents. The price difference varies, so I don't have the definitive savings numbers for these.
4) Flour. I'm going through a lot of flour right now, because I'm making our bread instead of buying it. Flour is definitely one of those places where it's important to look at unit price. I have no problem with buying generic flour. I haven't really noticed enough quality difference between flour brands to make it worth spending the extra money. Looking at flour by unit price instead of total price per bag, I've seen as low as $0.35/lb an as high as $1.10/lb for all-purpose flour. Granted, to get the $0.35/lb, you have to buy a 25 lb bag, and that might not be feasible for storage, but generic 10 lb bags of flour are about $0.50/lb, so that's still not bad when compared to the name brands that run closer to $0.60/lb. Also, beware of the price difference when buying smaller packages. A 2 lb. bag of flour can cost twice as much per pound as a five pound bag, and a ten pound bag is an even better deal most times.
This seems to be enough of a ramble for now, but I'm sure I'll write more as I figure out what else works to save money...and if I make it through the month on the reduced budget.
Finally, though, the savings I've been able to identify and verify so far from yesterday's shopping trips...
Meat.......................$43.34
Vanilla...................$10.00
Honey.....................$ 6.39
Butter......................$10.43
Cereal......................$ 9.00
Total verified savings.........$78.16
Woot!
Total spent was $419.76.
Total value of items bought was 497.92.
Savings is approximately 15%
I currently have a budget of $800 for monthly groceries. Something I recently saw online said that the average food cost per family in the US right now is close to $1000/month. (After a bit more research, the USDA projected cost of food for a family of five on a "low cost plan" was $1020.80.) So, how will I get the quality of food I want (and my family deserves), without going over budget and spending money we don't have? That's my project for this month, and I'm hoping I'm off to a good start.
Which comes first, the menu or the shopping list?
Well, for me, this month, it was a bit of both. Our local grocery store has a bulk option for buying meat. They have packages available for a set cost, but you don't pick and choose what you want - you get a specific list of items. That's ok. Before shopping, I picked up a brochure with a list of the packages available, and built my menu around the meats I would be getting. Then, I made my list based on the meals that were planned. Basing my menu off the bulk meat order, it looks like I won't need to buy any additional meat for my family all month, and we'll likely have more left in the freezer. Even if some of the items, like hot dogs, aren't something we're likely to eat immediately, I can keep them in the freezer until BBQ season.
Is it really a better deal to buy in bulk?
Oh my, YES - but with a caveat. Only buy things in bulk that you know you will use in a reasonable amount of time. I could only buy the bulk meat order because I have a large chest freezer (that I'm still trying to fill). Also, as soon as I got home, I started repackaging the meat into a manner that I could freeze it and defrost it as needed. For example, I took the 3.5 lb packages of ground beef and separated them into approximately 1 1b. packages in freezer bags, squeezing all the air out and flattening them to let them freeze faster and store easier. I opened the large packages of chicken, put the individual pieces in "perfect portion" bags, squeezed the air out, then put those in large freezer bags. Now I can choose to thaw only as many pieces as I need at the time, allowing for less waste.
I'm glad I planned to have roasted chicken for dinner yesterday after coming home from the store, because the chicken I got in the meat order was bigger than I'd expected, and I wouldn't have had the space in the fridge to have it wait a few days. Since we did roast it right away, however, and the family only ate about half the meat from it last night, I now have roasted chicken leftovers for lunches, and the carcass (still with fair amount of meat on it) went straight into a stockpot to make chicken soup this weekend. The boiled chicken that I get off the bones will probably go into the freezer to use later, either in cassaroles, enchiladas, or salads. (The soup is the only thing actually on the menu...the rest is "bonus".)
Another things that was done immediately after getting home from the store - started spaghetti sauce. We're not having Spaghetti until tomorrow, but, again, it will be easier to store as sauce than as raw ingredients. I currently have more freezer space than I do refrigerator or cupboard space, so instead of keeping several pounds of meat and several cans of tomato products waiting, I started the sauce early. This will let me cool and portion the sauce later today (cooked in the crockpot overnight last night) and put it into the freezer to defrost as necessary. Then, for the rest of the month, Wednesday dinners will just be a matter of cooking noodles and defrosting sauce.
Now, I did want to double check the actual savings on the meat order, so I know if it's worth doing again. So, I added up the price of the individual items to see how much value I actually got. The package cost me $92.99 ($94.99 - $2.00 coupon)...and the individual prices added up to $136.34 for a total savings of $43.34. Not bad!
Meat isn't the only thing that bulk buying is saving me money, either. I finally ran out of the imitation vanilla that I had inherited from someone ages ago, so got to buy new vanilla extract (the real stuff this time!) Usually, I buy the 4 oz bottles...the "big" ones in the boxes on the shelf near the spices. A 4 oz bottle of vanilla was $4.99. Scanning the top shelf for something else I was looking for, I happened to see a 16 oz bottle of the same brand for $9.99. Vanilla extract doesn't go bad and the more baking I do, the more likely I am to be using it anyway. Even if it takes me a year to use (possible), it won't lose quality. So, even though I initially had to pay twice as much, I get four times as much product, leading to the unit price being cut in half, for a total savings on the vanilla of $10. Again...not bad.
I found a larger container of honey at the store, as well, and it was almost as good of a deal as the vanilla, especially since I'm using a LOT of honey right now in homemade bread. The 24 oz. container I'd previously bought cost me $7.19. The 48 oz container I bought yesterday cost me $7.99 - again, almost half the unit cost. Chances are, I'll go through the honey in the next month, but even if I don't, honey doesn't go bad or stale, either. Oh, and I almost forgot....savings...buying two of the 24 oz containers of honey would have cost me $14.38. Buying the large container instead yielded a savings of $6.39.
So, what's my total savings so far? On just the meat, honey, and vanilla, I can show a savings of $59.73. (Woot!)
How else can I reduce my grocery costs?
Hmm...I'm off to a good start, but I'm sure I can even more. (I'm SO glad my mom taught me how to shop!) While I may be accustomed to buying name brand products, because that's most of what was available to me for the last few years, there is a significant savings to be had by buying generic. Some things I won't compromise on...like Campbells soup, or Kraft mac & cheese (if I buy it at all.) Other things, though, don't seem to make enough difference to be worth the extra cost. It's all about value for money. For example...
1) Butter. I don't really see a lot of a quality difference between the Land 'o Lakes butter that I'm used to buying and the Market Basket brand butter that I'm starting to buy. The Land 'o Lakes tends to cost around $3.49/lb, while the Market Basket brand is $1.99/lb. If we only go through 4 lb of butter in a month (not likely...between baking, cooking, and putting it on bread, we probably go through closer to 6), that's a $6 per month savings, just on butter. I bought 7 lbs of butter yesterday, between whipped and sticks, so the savings for the trip was $10.43.
2) Cereal. I hate the idea of spending huge amounts of money on breakfast cereal. Many name brand cereals are at least $3.50-$4.00 per box, but the generic versions are closer to $2.00/box. One of my kids' favorite cereals is Life, which generally runs close to $3.50/box. The generic version is $2.00, so a $1.50 saving. If I figure an average saving of $1.50/box, and I bought 6 boxes, that's another $9.00 saved. (This is adding up pretty quick!)
3) Crackers. Just like cereal, there's a huge price difference between the name brand and the generic, and usually not much of a flavor difference. Cheez-its are the one that my kids notice, so I won't substitute those, but Ritz or Club crackers aren't much better than their generic equivalents. The price difference varies, so I don't have the definitive savings numbers for these.
4) Flour. I'm going through a lot of flour right now, because I'm making our bread instead of buying it. Flour is definitely one of those places where it's important to look at unit price. I have no problem with buying generic flour. I haven't really noticed enough quality difference between flour brands to make it worth spending the extra money. Looking at flour by unit price instead of total price per bag, I've seen as low as $0.35/lb an as high as $1.10/lb for all-purpose flour. Granted, to get the $0.35/lb, you have to buy a 25 lb bag, and that might not be feasible for storage, but generic 10 lb bags of flour are about $0.50/lb, so that's still not bad when compared to the name brands that run closer to $0.60/lb. Also, beware of the price difference when buying smaller packages. A 2 lb. bag of flour can cost twice as much per pound as a five pound bag, and a ten pound bag is an even better deal most times.
This seems to be enough of a ramble for now, but I'm sure I'll write more as I figure out what else works to save money...and if I make it through the month on the reduced budget.
Finally, though, the savings I've been able to identify and verify so far from yesterday's shopping trips...
Meat.......................$43.34
Vanilla...................$10.00
Honey.....................$ 6.39
Butter......................$10.43
Cereal......................$ 9.00
Total verified savings.........$78.16
Woot!
Total spent was $419.76.
Total value of items bought was 497.92.
Savings is approximately 15%
You might considering going a step further and making your own vanilla extract. We started doing that when we moved to Amsterdam and couldn't find it in the stores. We use ~1T vanilla every week for making waffles, and so we end up making extract maybe once a year, but even though vanilla beans are expensive, and hard liquor here too (not so much a problem in the US), it's still way way cheaper than buying it ready-made, even if we could. And there's nothing like walking into a liquor store and saying "I'd like your biggest, cheapest bottle of vodka".
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