Food Budget
Live fab-u-LE$$: Video: WPBF: Make lobster at home for less than chicken at a restaurant!
Watch the video HERE
Cooking at home is one of the ways to best keep your food budget under control– and you can eat well, VERY well– and still spend less– all without resorting to reconstituted powdered milk or ramen noodles.
As you’ve heard me say before, allow whichever protein– meaning poultry, beef, pork, seafood or fish– is on sale each week to dictate your menu. And, when I talk about planning a weekly menu, I don’t mean that you must know *exactly* what you’re going to make, just that you should know the main ingredient(s) that you’re going to use.
My goal is to keep my dinners for my family of 5 under $10 per dinner– and for that price, we’re able to eat a varied menu that includes everything from steak to seafood and everything in between.
How I do it is to emulate the way that chefs at fine restaurants cook– like them, I buy whatever protein is good and fresh that day and then select some seasonal vegetables and/or fresh herbs that marry up well with that protein. Their pantry and spice cabinet is stocked with most, if not all of the basics that they need to create just about any dish– and your pantry should be too!
If you select whichever fruits and vegetables are in season they not only tend to taste better but they also tend to be less expensive. And many fruits and vegetables can be found for under a dollar or two per pound– healthy and fabuLESSly inexpensive! Once you have all of your ingredients that’s where the fun begins!
Even if you don’t have a lot of cookbooks– consider starting a binder or even a card file of recipes that you gather from friends, family, or cut recipes out of magazines and the newspaper– you can even find TONS of recipes online.
One of my favorite ways to find recipes is what I call Google Cooking– you simply enter the ingredients that you have on hand, say: Chicken, Lemon, and Garlic and then the word RECIPE into any search engine and you’ll find thousands upon thousands of recipes to choose from– I’ve found some of my very favorite recipes this way.
Also, if you have a favorite dish from a restaurant that you’d like to recreate– just do an internet search– you will likely be able to find a replica of the recipe for that exact same dish and you can recreate for a fraction of the cost!
You don’t need fancy equipment to cook– just a few basic kitchen supplies will suffice and any investment you make in pots, pans and cooking utensils will surely pay off in just a few weeks.
Remember, don’t change your lifestyle just change the way that you shop and live fab-u-LE$$
Weekly Roundup – Back In Action Edition
It’s been a couple weeks now since my mom passed away, and I am trying to get back in the swing of things at work, at home, and here at the blog. Fortunately, I’m surrounded by many friends and loved ones at each place, and it has been a big help during this difficult time. I have not had much reading time these last few weeks, and my weekly roundups have suffered for it. My editorial comments in this edition probably won’t win any blogging awards, but hey, it’s a start.
The Frugal Roundup
101 Ways to Take a Bite Out of Your Food Budget. The title says it all – a monster list of money savers to help trim your food budget. (@The Wisdom Journal)
The Art of Letter Writing: The Sympathy Note. After recently losing my mom, we received a number of nice sympathy cards. I also appreciated the many comments here at the blog, emails, etc. It has made me more aware of the need to express sympathy for others when they are dealing with rough times. This post is an excellent how-to from someone who recently experienced a loss. (@ The Art of Manliness)
5 Ways Spending More is Actually Frugal. I liked this post because it focused on a popular topic surrounding frugality: does it make sense to spend more money up front in some cases to get a better value. (@My Dollar Plan)
The Best Times to Buy for Huge Savings on Major Purchases. An excellent run-down of the best time of year to make 14 major purchases, factoring seasonal discounts, inventory issues, etc. (@The Daily Crux)
Accidental Frugality – Can You Live on Half of Your Income? When we reach debt freedom soon, living on half my income is a big goal for our family. I think we can get pretty close, even with the mortgage, but will require a lot of discipline. (@Stop Buying Crap)
How Not To Suck At Blogging.If you are a blogger, aspire to be a blogger, or are interested in any entrepreneurial endeavor, this is a must-read post. One way “not to suck” is to follow Man vs. Debt’s lead – he’s done a phenomenal job in a short time with his blog. (@Man vs. Debt)
Best of the Rest
- Saving For Retirement? Best Move For Your Retirement Plan
- Question of the Day: Are You a Perfectionist?
- Fall Maintenance Tips for Your Home That Can Save You Money and Protect Your Family
- How To Be Married A Decade And Stay Madly In Love
- Teach Your Kids How to Manage Money in 7 Easy Lessons
- 22 Tools You Should Keep in Your Car
- how to poison attitudes towards work in young children
- Smart Living Rule 7 – Pursue Good Opportunities Fearlessly
- Is CreditKarma Useful?
- Car Leasing Tip – Increase Your Security Deposit
Post by Frugal Dad
Household Items: The Silent Budget Killer
I hate going shopping for household items like toiletries, paper goods, health and beauty items. The reason I despise it so much is that I know it will suck up a lot of my monthly grocery budget. Even though I don’t go through it very fast, it still is a downer to know that I need to buy them.
Because of this, I was thinking about ways I could cut back on my non-food budget and found a few ideas that may work for me, some I will have to try out and others I are not for me, though they may be right up your alley.
Hair Products - As you may remember I started using my own home-made shampoo and rinse and after a month I have some results. It works well with some tweaking. My hair is naturally pretty oily so I have stopped using the vinegar rinse and use only the baking soda mix - I have changed the shampoo a bit from 1:3 part baking soda to 1½.
Toilet Paper - The absolute best way to cut down would be to use cloths and have a diaper pail handy to put it in, then toss in the washing machine. However, this is not my thing. I have a mental block on this one. Instead I smoosh down the t.p so it doesn’t spin off the roll as easily. I have also found that bulk buying of t.p is usually the best price per roll. Occasionally coupons and sales will make the grocery store a better deal.
Toothbrush and Toothpaste - I used to go all out with sample toothpaste, but the stuff stacking up and falling over under my sink drove me away from them. Now I find BOGO (buy one get one) coupons/sales that knock the price of the toothpaste down 50-75%
I haven’t bought a toothbrush in a couple years. My dentist is nice to give me a couple each time I visit.
Deodorants - I haven’t picked up on the deodorant stone and have instead found economic satisfaction with coupons for BOGO items and sales, same as the toothpaste.
Feminine Products - A couple ways to cut back is to use either use the Diva cup or Gladrags as an alternative to buying and tossing. This allows you to use, wash and reuse as needed with minimal affect on the budget. Personally I haven’t jumped into these either, but would consider them a possibility.
Paper Towels - I do have a few rolls of paper towels, but one roll easily lasts a month or two in my home. Instead I use cloth towels, rags and washcloths for cleanup and drying. It doesn’t add much to the washer load, I just need space to store them and have them for easy access.
Soaps - For hand soap I use bottles of body soap or ‘designer’ soaps, and I drop them into a liquid soap dispenser for my hands. I seem to accumulate these around the holidays so I haven’t bought much soap.
For dish soap I do purchase soap from the store with coupons or in the bulk section. I am going to be trying to make my own dish soap in the future and will let you know.
As far as washing soap goes, it was tried and disliked by my partner who does most all the clothes washing. At least it was given a try - instead I get coupons where I can. But making your own washing machine soap would impact your grocery budget very quickly as you can mix up gallons of the stuff for less then what you would pay in the store.
Plastic Bags - I don’t wash out plastic sandwich baggies as I don’t use them, I always use plastic containers that I can reuse. The plastic baggies that are used are tossed because they are used for meat and poultry products and I would rather toss than reuse them. Since these are so rarely used I purchase a box 2-3 times a year for my needs.
Coffee filters - I don’t drink coffee a lot, I make a 10 cup container to last for a couple of days and I don’t drink it on the weekends. However, I do have on my list to buy a reusable coffee filter for my coffee maker.
OTC Medicines - I am a store brand groupie all the way when it comes to OTC (over-the-counter) medicines. If you put the store and name brand items side by side, the ingredients look the same and the price difference is a few dollars for each item. Rarely have I found a store brand that is more expensive than a name brand with a coupon even.
Cleaning products - I’m using up my current cleaning products and will be going with some home-made stuff in the future. But really baking soda, salt, vinegar and ammonia are some of the cheapest cleaning products out there and they do just as good a job as others.
The ways I save on household items:
- Store brands over name brands
- Use up the last little bit
- Add water to extend the life
- Buy at dollar stores
- Use rebate offers ( I received free tinfoil and plastic bags this way)
- Make my own
- Buy Bulk (check price breakdown)
- Use coupons, BOGO and sales
- Look for alternative, reusable ways
What ways have you found to cut back on your household items?
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Leftovers: A Recipe For Food Savings
If you have any interest at all in reducing your food budget chances are you often find yourself eating leftovers. We certainly have our share of leftovers in the Frugal household. In fact, I’ve found certain foods are even better a day or two later (spaghetti and meatloaf come to mind). But how long is too long? Do you have to wait for penicillin to start growing on the surface before chunking it?
I posed the question of leftover longevity to Twitter followers last week and received a number of thoughtful responses. One reply from “jessc098“ caught my eye. It referenced a site called StillTasty.com, which allows visitors to search from a list of food choices and receive feedback on how long that particular item will keep refrigerated and frozen. The search results also include a number of tips related to your selection for helping to preserve foods longer.
Here’s an example from StillTasty.com using the previously mentioned meatloaf - a crowd favorite in our house:
Meatloaf - Homemade, Leftovers
Refrigerator: 3-4 days
Freezer: 3-4 monthsTips
- Refrigerate within two hours of cooking
- Refrigerate cooked meatloaf in shallow, airtight containers or wrap tightly with heavy-duty aluminum foil or plastic wrap
- Freeze in covered airtight containers or heavy-duty freezer bags, or wrap tightly with heavy-duty aluminum foil or freezer wrap.
- Freeze time shown is for best quality only - foods kept constantly frozen at zero degrees will keep safe indefinitely.
Shared with permission from StillTasty.com
There are a couple of ways you can use this information to help shave money off your food budget. One idea is to stockpile ingredients for various dishes when they are on sale, make the dish, freeze it and enjoy it later to realize the cost savings. We frequently do this with things that keep for a couple months in the freezer, and it’s great to simply thaw and reheat a dish on nights when the kids have football practice, or you just don’t feel like cooking a big meal after a long day at work.
Another strategy for reducing your food costs by incorporating leftovers is to plan your meals around recipes that naturally produce a lot of leftovers. In our house, we all eat spaghetti the night it is cooked, I eat it for lunch the next day at work, and we all finish it off the next night. That’s nine servings of spaghetti enjoyed at home with salad and garlic bread for a fraction of what you would pay at a place like Olive Garden.
Leftovers can also be combined with new ingredients to produce new meals. My grandfather had a knack for this and frequently used leftover meats to “beef up” new meals. For instance, spicy smoked sausage sliced the next day and added to a pot of red beans and rice, onion, and Tabasco sauce made an excellent semi-cajun dish we could eat for another couple days.
Frugal living is not only about thriftiness, it is also about reducing waste and using resources wisely. I’m convinced reducing food waste is a great way to help your wallet by stretching out the cost of food purchases across a number of meals. Plan your meals, properly store leftovers for safe keeping, and enjoy maximum savings on your food bill.
Post from: Frugal Dad
