I've read your book The Basics of Frugal Cooking and I've done good with saving money at the grocery store, but lately I can't save like I used to. What are you doing about the increases in grocery prices
Well, it's hit us really hard. I keep reminding myself that God is indeed in control, and He knew about this since the foundation of the world, but it is still hard when I go to the grocery store with only $100 to spend, and realizing that it barely covers the bare bones minimums. I have been much more careful about my grocery shopping (moreso than usual!), and also have been coming up with less expensive ways to make things, even though I have cooked frugal before.
For example, this afternoon I made WonTon Soup for Dinner, but I didn't want to use too much meat in the wontons. Our grocers had cans of chick peas on sale 4 for a dollar (just a quarter!), and so I bought them for quick use. I use dried beans too, but that takes more forethought, so I also like to have some canned and some frozen beans on hand for quick use. This was one of those times, because as I worked a little outside in our yard, I had a brainstorm to use ground chick peas with the ground turkey to make it stretch farther. :-), and that is what I did...and everyone raved that it tasted BETTER. Woo hoo.
Other things we've done include looking for other areas in which to save money. Our car insurance has been climbing over the last few years, and I have simply been too lazy to shop around (it does take some time and effort), but I finally did so this past weekend, and saved 50% (!!!!!) off of my car insurance bill...the savings were about $14 a week. I am still working on homeowners insurance with the same company and it looks like I may be saving even more. Apparently our old company has been raising everyone's rates, and so it was time to move on. I saved an additional 20% by paying for it in full, which by the grace of God we were able to do :-) We also saved on the electric bill by turning off lights, keeping lower wattage light bulbs in--that drives me nuts, by the way, as I like LIGHT...but it does save money and that is pretty important right now...I've also bought some insulated curtains from the Dollar Store (of all places!) to insulate the windows.We live in an old house with huge drafty windows, so this helps. One of these days we will save up enough for more new windows...we are doing it one window at a time.
I've also been making more things that I normally would buy. For my daughter's birthday, we just had our neighbor's over, and we served homemade cake and some homemade chocolate mocha ice cream...everyone wanted to know where we got it as it tasted way better than normal ice cream, and I agreed...though it was probably cheaper and healthier for you since it had low fat milk and leftover coffee and melted down leftover valentines chocolate in it. Ok, so the melted chocolate probably wasn't so healthy...but the low fat milk definitely was. We also made some blueberry sorbet from some blueberries we froze last year, and some honey we bought off of friends of ours. I made a simple syrup of honey and water (I did it 1:1 because we don't like it too sweet) and added the frozen blueberries, cooked for about an hour at a low simmer, strained it, then chilled it. After it was chilled for a few hours, I put it into the ice cream machine, and then into the freezer again to firm it up. It was perfect. We do this will all kinds of berries.
Whenever I make spaghetti, my dh likes garlic bread...the sort one buys from the frozen foods section (he likes the taste). Sure, that isn't that expensive, but still in times like these, every penny counts. I perfected my garlic bread making skills by making French-style bread, but with oil in it, and then spreading a mixture of roasted garlic and butter into the bread. We got to the point where he loved it but I am an airhead at times, and don't always remember to start a batch of garlic bread earlier in the day. With five kids, life happens, you know? So...my daughter and I prepared 8 baguettes of bread dough, froze them on cookie sheets, and then plucked them off, wrapped them well, and put them in 2 gallon freezer bags (which I re-use), and into the freezer for quicker use. All I have to do is thaw and let rise, and bake fresh. I keep a tub of my homemade garlic butter in the fridge for this purpose, too. I may try to freeze it in individual portions...hmmmm...
3 comments:
Hi...i'm a joyful momma too. I like your blog. I'll come back to read more later.
Informative post..for me personally I save money by using online coupons from www.smartsource.com.....do you feel that you're using coupons more now that the prices of groceries have substantially increased?
"do you feel that you're using coupons more now that the prices of groceries have substantially increased?"
Not really. I have always used coupons only for what I use regularly, and only if it is a good deal...mostly for products such as toiletries and condiments. Most coupons seem to be for pre-packaged products, and not for things that I buy more often. Most everything else that we use rarely has a coupon for it (bulk grains and flour, spices, produce, meats). I especially use coupons for shampoo and conditioners for my hair (with my thick, easily tangled hair, only Pantene, Aussie, or Garnier Fructis work well for me, but thankfully those products often have coupons and rebates!)
Anyone else? Do you find coupons a big savings or can you get better deals in some other way?
Post a Comment