Cutting Your Family's Grocery Bill - Part 5

Yes, there are a few more things you can do.

Take advantage of rewards programs
I believe judicious application of rewards programs is the best course. With a bit of thought, you can decide if the rewards program is worth it or not. Usually incentives are introduced regularly to help you earn more rewards, however that usually means you must make certain purchases. Do not purchase items you will not use before they expire. Do not purchase items that are priced higher than elsewhere (unless the reward earned would justify the added expense). Do not purchase items you do not use. Some stores have built-in rewards that include sale prices and earned bonuses for nothing more than showing the card when you check out. I strongly advise that you apply all other principles before delving into rewards programs.

Purchase large quantities of low-priced items you regularly use
When the meats your family uses most frequently go on sale, purchase up to a 3-month supply. You will need storage for these and deep freezers are a good investment. Our family eats mostly chicken breast for meat however the price in Canada is steep. On a regular basis, chicken breast starts at $6.00 a pound. When it's available for $1.99 a pound, I purchase several month's worth and store them in my deep freezer.

Any other grocery staples that you regularly use can be purchased in large quantities to take advantage of sales. Milk can be frozen. Dry goods generally do not present a problem stored properly.

Check the unit price
If you're accustomed to buying convenience foods or convenience sizes, you'll find greater savings in purchasing family-sized items in their stead. Check the shelf tags as these will show how much you're paying per ounce, pound, or 100-grams. Quite often you're paying 100% more for a single-serve than you will for a family sized item. You can store extras in the fridge or freezer if it's more than you can use at once.

Purchase reduced items and freeze or use immediately
Fruit, vegetables, breads, and even meats are reduced for clearance near their best-by date. These dates often give some lee-way for home use and are still good even by their sell-by date. If you cannot immediately use the produce, clean, chop and freeze it. Breads and meats can go directly into the freezer.

Coupons
If coupons are available for your regularly purchased items, use them! Try to combine the coupon with a sale for greater savings. Consider whether the coupon for the name-brand product will offer greater savings than the store-brand product available. I haven't found many store-brands that I didn't like and often they are a much better value than the name brand is even with a coupon. For coupons to really work for you, you need to be judicious in their use. Do not purchase items you normally wouldn't simply because you have a coupon. That is not a savings for you. Full-value coupons or free offer coupons afford you the opportunity to try out a new product without having to purchase it. When it comes to items you would not normally purchase, only use a full-value coupon.

Purchase a deep freezer
In order to stock up on sale items, you need to have the storage. Deep freezers are a very economical way to stretch your grocery dollar. They are often available in the classifieds, on kijiji or craigslist, and I've often seen them on freecycle.

In my final posting on this topic, I'll review all the tips I've posted.

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Cutting Your Family's Grocery Bill Part 4

Reduce!

That's right, I said it. Reduce. Well, that's what we're talking about already, isn't it? Yes indeed. We've done our inventories, we've done our menus, we've done our fliers and lists and shopping. If your bill is still too high, let's look at reducing it even further.

We're going to reduce a lot of things which will reduce your expenditure on groceries.

1. Reduce waste! Use your leftovers. If you've just started doing menus, you've probably found yourself preparing more food than you usually do. This means more leftovers. Use them! Incorporate a leftovers day into your menu. Cooked beef lasts 4 days in the fridge before you need to throw it out. Cooked poultry or fish, 3 days. Cooked ham, 5 days. Hard boiled eggs, 1 week. Cooked sausage, 1 week. Use your leftovers for lunches. Add main dish meats to salads. Reduce future dinner entrees and use your leftover meats. Make casseroles. Freeze whole portions for quick heat & eat dinners in the future. I've started using leftover vegetables in "freezer soup." I keep a bowl in my freezer and fill it with the small amounts of leftover vegetables from our dinners. When the bowl is full, I thaw out some home made stock, add the vegetables from the freezer bowl and cook. Voila! Easy soup, and very cheap!
2. Reduce dependency on convenience items. Learn to make your own. Make your own mixes. Make your own stuffing. Make your own mac & cheese. Start with one dish that you fix frequently using convenience packages, find a recipe and try it out. I think you'll find that flavours are a bit more subtle, preservatives are eliminated, salt is dramatically reduced, nutrition is increased and, best of all, it usually takes NO MORE TIME than the convenience stuff. Take a look at my easy bread dressing recipe. This takes 15 minutes. That's how long the boxed stuff takes. This is SO MUCH BETTER! There are numerous free recipe sources online. Take a look at www.recipeczar.com or recipesource.com and see what's available. Recipe sites that have ratings are especially valuable when you're trying out a new recipe. Choose ones with the highest ratings. You can even search by ingredients to find a recipe for an odd assortment of items you'd like to use.
   
3. Reduce spoilage. Use fresh tender fruit and vegetables early in your shopping cycle and keep the longer-storing fruits and vegetables for later in the shopping cycle. So eat grapes before apples. Use lettuce and cucumbers before celery and carrots. Learn the storage time for items. Here is an excellent reference for storing fresh, cooked, and frozen foods in your home.
   
4. Further reduce spoilage waste by freezing fresh fruit and vegetables before they rot. If your celery is getting wilty, chop it up and freeze it to use in stir-fries, soups, and casseroles. It works just fine! I've been doing it for years. Apples gone mealy? Peel and slice them and put them in freezer bags in the freezer along with some cinnamon for quick home made applesauce one day. Dice peppers and onions and lay them out on cookie sheets. Once frozen, place the pieces into baggies to add to omelets, soups, casseroles, recipes. If you freeze them on cookie sheets they'll freeze individually instead of in clumps so that you can remove as many as you need at a time and not have to use the whole bag at once. I freeze whole tomatoes and add them to my chili. Once they begin to cook the skins come right off.
   

Once you get started using leftovers and produce that might otherwise be waste, you'll be amazed at how much your food bill is reduced. I think it's safe to say that 25% of my groceries ended up as waste due to spoilage or mismanagement of leftovers. Once I started managing them, my bills were reduced a great deal. Salvaging celery by freezing it has saved many extra purchases of celery over the years. Doing this also speeds up meal preparation. If I'm making chicken noodle soup and I already have sliced celery and carrots in the freezer, my meal prep has just been eliminated.

I have two more posts upcoming in this topic.

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Cutting Your Family's Grocery Bill Part 3

Grocery Shopping

Now we're getting down to the good stuff, hmmmm? Before you go to the store, you've got to do a few things at home. If you haven't already done your inventory, you need to go ahead and take care of that. (Remember to note it on your inventory when you use items. I keep them posted in my pantry cupboard, top of my deep freeze, basement fridge and main refrigerator.) Inventory sheets in hand, let's head off somewhere quiet and work on that grocery list.

Gather up your store fliers. Around here they show up on Friday, maybe. Sometimes they mosey into my driveway on Saturday evening, along with Friday's paper. It might be Sunday or Friday or Monday in your neighborhood. Here I do my lists on Friday. Or I do them on Saturday. I might just not get around to it until Sunday. Whatever day works for you, peruse your store fliers and make a note of the big ticket items that you will need (like meats) that are on sale.

You know what your family needs on a regular basis. You know just how much they use of those items, too. Go ahead and list those regular purchase items. You'll have your milk, cereal, bread, peanut butter (it's a staple in my house), baby food, formula, etc.

Using your inventory and your menu, flesh out a menu for the coming week(s). How long your menu is depends on your shopping cycle. If you shop every two weeks, do a two-week menu. Remember, your menu does not have to be written in stone. You simply need enough meals to cover your entire grocery cycle.

Until you get accustomed to purchasing enough in one shopping cycle to sustain your family through the entire shopping cycle without additional trips to the store, continue writing out the breakfast & lunch menus. This will probably just include a whole lot of ditto marks -- or if you do it on the computer like me -- a lot of copying and pasting.

Why are we avoiding additional trips to the store? Because they are expensive. Because if you're a gatherer like me, the $5 you plan to spend on milk will quickly become $30 for milk and spaghetti sauce and marked down pasta and a candy bar because you deserve it just because you had to go to the store again and a bag of cookies for the kids lunches because you feel guilty over the candy bar you will not be sharing with the kids, etc. Every trip to the store is just more money out of your pocket. (My tip for inbetween shopping trips that absolutely cannot be avoided: go with exactly enough cash to cover your intended purchase and leave the debit cards, credit cards, and check books at home.)

So we've got menus, inventory, fliers and the beginnings of our shopping list. Where are we shopping?

Everywhere I've lived has a no-frills type of store --- it's a bag-your-own, discount-price type of store. If you haven't been shopping at your own local no-frills type grocery stores, now is the time to try them out. I am very pleased with my overall savings and the quality of the food at our own local no-frills type store. My store happens to be called No Frills, but in your neighborhood it might be Aldi (gosh I miss Aldi) or Save-a-Lot, or Food Basics. Whatever it is, you need to be shopping there. Bring your own bags!

Now then, complete your shopping list based on the big ticket items that are available on sale to fill in the holes in your menu.

You are not going to go to multiple stores for your groceries. Chasing sales just costs you more in gas, in added unplanned purchases, and in peace of mind. If your big ticket items are on sale at one store and you're doing the bulk of your shopping at a different, discount store --- go to the discount store first. Why? Because they may have carry-over sale items from previous sales that are no longer advertised. They may have unadvertised items that are a better deal than those at the full-service grocers. You may be able to eliminate that other stop.

Here's how to get in that store, get what you need, and get out without spending more money than necessary.

• You must go with list in hand.
  
• Go alone, or at least without the kids (I know this isn't always possible)
• Do not be hungry when you go
• Stick to the list
• Get out of the store in 30 minutes or less (I can do it- shopping for five for two weeks!)
• Choose store brands over name brands
• Choose local, in-season produce whenever it's available

The big thing is getting out of the store as fast as you can. Sounds daunting. While you're getting used to this method of shopping you might not make it under 30 minutes. Just stick to your list. That's the point. I manage this and I'm not running through the aisles, knocking down the elderly. I just stick to my list, maintain my focus, and leave that store the minute I've checked off my final item and gotten through the checkout. I do not stop and ponder sales. I do not stop and wonder whether I've forgotten to put something on my list. I just stick to the list and get the heck out of there.

As for store brands vs. name brands --- come on, you're not really believing all that hype are you? Do you really think that the name brand is coming from a different factory than the store brand? tsk tsk tsk. All you have to do is try. If you're that averse to using store brand items, try them. Try one brand and if it doesn't meet your standards, try the next store brand. There are usually a few non-name brand choices. Try them all.

What about the kids? Can't leave them behind? Can't leave them with a grandparent or sitter for your 45 minute absence? That's okay, I understand. Your kids must not be hungry if they're going with you. Give them a snack before you head out the door. If the kids have a tendency to demand, beg, plead, etc., offer them up something that is free as a reward for good behaviour in the store. Take them to the park after you've put the groceries away. Play their favourite game with them. Whatever -- let it be free, and let it be a reward for their good behaviour in the store. If one child is well-behaved and another is not, make sure that child gets his reward. The other kids will see this and will want it to. Remember, you're going to be speed shopping so remind the kids that you MUST hurry. The speed factor alone may be enough to get you all through the store without a toddler meltdown over marshmallows or a first grader's begging for play dough. Stick to the list and get through the store as fast as you can.

Oh, did I forget to mention coupons?

Nope, I didn't. If you're already using coupons, then good for you. I hope you've found a method that works for you. If you're not using coupons, don't worry about it. You're not missing much. You need to focus on the bottom line right now and coupons will not necessarily get you to a lower bottom line. I will talk about coupons in a future post.

Now, if after all this, your grocery bill is still too high, we'll look at other ways I've cut mine down further in my next post.

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Cutting Your Family's Grocery Bill Part 2

Menu and Meal Planning
Now that you have everything inventoried, you're going to sit down and figure out what to do with it. Grab some paper and a pen, and maybe have your most often used cook book at your side as well.

Most families tend to eat the same 10 meals over and over again. This makes meal planning very easy. That's right, I said meal planning. Yes, those of you who know me well know that I have a tendency to buck any rigid systems....and that's why I have a very light and easy way of meal planning.

First: list your family's regular meals. By all means, include lunches and breakfasts as this will only help you with cutting that grocery bill and eliminating unnecessary spending.

In our home we regularly have the following for dinner (you might call it supper): pasta, several casseroles, salads of every kind, chili, chicken breasts, pork chops, roasts, tacos, burgers, hot dogs, pizza. There are ten items there. But if you look closely, you can easily see how those ten items could be 20-30 different things depending upon how you prepare them. Lunches consist of sandwiches or salads or soup, fruit and/or veggies. Breakfasts are generally cereal, oats, pancakes, french toast, bagels, english muffins, eggs, and the occasional (read rare) home fries, mush (you might call it polenta), sausages, or bacon.

Now look at your inventory and see how many meals you can make from what you already have at home. Fill in a rough menu plan.

I used to plan each week carefully including breakfasts and lunches and follow the daily menu. But because my body, mind, and spirit have a deep and abiding aversion to strict structure, I bucked that system and simply plan meals. I don't have to have them on any set day unless they are meals that are dependant on left-overs from another meal, and that gives me the freedom to be somewhat spontaneous in my meal choices. For instance I have burgers, steak, chicken, taco salad, chicken quesedillas on the menu for next week. I won't have red meats two days in a row so I know we'll be having some variation of hamburgers, then chicken, hotdogs, then chicken, taco salad, then chicken....etc. How I prepare them will be decided, but when I do it is up to the wind. It's my organized-but-not-too-strict menu planning system. It works for us.

I always make sure that our dinner meals contain a protein source, two vegetables or fruits, and maybe a grain. A grain is never mandatory in our dinners as the kids eat cereal for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch (or half sandwiches for snacks), and get quite their daily fill of grains. Desserts are only a bonus, never a given. They also happen to be fairly rare.

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$160 in FOF -- But A & P has met their freshness standards!

It seems frightening to me that A & P is reporting they've met their freshness standards and are ending the Fresh or Free program effective September 4, 2008.

Let's see what was not fresh yesterday:
It was a $38 spiral-sliced honey ham that was not fresh which I replaced with this bone-in ham shoulder. I'm seeing lots of soups this fall :) And ham and fried cabbage. The puddings were a replacement for refrigerated strawberry shortcake cups. For crying out loud, the egg beaters expired in July! More axe deodorant. My son will never stink!

Juice, fruit salads and a chicken salad, english muffins, So good tetra (the out of date ones were from 2007!! They apparently just reshelve the darned things. They keep re-appearing.) Caramel dairy things. I like the chocolate but the chocolate was all out of date. The steaks were a replacement for a $20 box of chicken wings from the deli. (ewwwwww.) I was going to buy the steaks anyway as they're a pretty good deal and nice quality. Oh, that's right, I did buy some more!


The milk was a replacement for a 4L bag of Goat's milk which expired August 1. The yogurt tub was a replacement for a small Astro 4-pack of plain yogurts. I'd rather have the small ones but all of them were out of date. I use plain yogurt in place of sour cream all the time. In my cooking the small ones work perfectly so I can pop them in the freezer and pull them out as needed. More juice, Silk soy milk, Bertolli olive oil. Woohoo. I wish I'd subbed an extra virgin olive oil but there were fresh replacements of the same kind. Orange juice. There were three varieties of this juice out of date. We're not much for juice in this house, but with the heat I don't mind the kids getting a bit of vitamins with their hydration. Also, Roy works 12-hour shifts out in the elements. He needs all the hydration and nutrition he can get.

Speaking of Roy he had a nice little lunch today with the FOFed fruit salad, FOFed juice, and some of that lovely road-side jam we purchased this weekend during out fruit stand tour. I'll tell you later how to know if a fruit stand is worth stopping at or not.

So, A & P, now that you've met your freshness standard, how do you explain the $160 FOF above? Not to mention all the expires we left in the store! I see a hiring wave of stock persons and intensive stock rotation training for them. Hopefully along the way they figure out how to remove expired items from the shelves and have them NOT turn back up on the shelves!

A & P won't have any more of my business after September 4. Not only are their prices exorbitant, but their staff are surly and inhospitable most of the time. Even when I haven't FOFed, the staff are less than pleasant at best. That makes a difference for me.

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