I need help managing my grocery bill!! Can you help?!
My fiance and I don't eat expensive food!.!.!.so we think!. But somehow our bill is always around $150 for two weeks!. I see those people online who feed a family of four for $20/week, and I cannot for the life of me figure out what I'm doing wrong!.
We clip coupons, we only buy what we need!.!.!.I'm talking a few pounds of ground beef, maybe sandwich meat (NOT from the deli), hot dogs, a couple 2 liters of Coke, bread, coffee, canned veggies, and then frozen food for work!. I know we could probably cut back if we were to pack our lunches for work, but we work wild hours (I work 12 hour nights at the hospital), and it's just impossible to cook!.!.!.actually we're lucky if we get a meal together during the week!.
I buy off brands too!.!.!.I buy whole chickens and cut them myself!.!.!.I need some tricks that aren't wildly known!
Thanks for reading, and thanks in advance!.!.Www@FoodAQ@Com
We clip coupons, we only buy what we need!.!.!.I'm talking a few pounds of ground beef, maybe sandwich meat (NOT from the deli), hot dogs, a couple 2 liters of Coke, bread, coffee, canned veggies, and then frozen food for work!. I know we could probably cut back if we were to pack our lunches for work, but we work wild hours (I work 12 hour nights at the hospital), and it's just impossible to cook!.!.!.actually we're lucky if we get a meal together during the week!.
I buy off brands too!.!.!.I buy whole chickens and cut them myself!.!.!.I need some tricks that aren't wildly known!
Thanks for reading, and thanks in advance!.!.Www@FoodAQ@Com
Answers:
stock up on rice and pasta!. these two foods are both provide nutrition and are inexpensive!. check the prices for the pasta and rice, and stock up when the price is cheap!. sometimes you can get 20lbs of rice for $10!.99 and a pound of pasta for $!.060 when on sale!. stock up as much as will fit in your pantry, store carefully in sealed containers if possible!.
some very inexpensive recipes that make lots and lots are:
spaghetti & meatsauce
fettucine alfredo (substitute real milk for the cream and use flour to thicken the sauce, carefully season it, you can add cooked chicken if you want chicken alfredo)
pasta primavera (pasta mixed with frozen or fresh cooked veggies all tossed together)
lo mein (thin spaghetti seasoned with soy sauce and other seasonings stir fried with small amounts of chicken and lots of fresh or frozen veggies)!. the seasoning is the key here!.
bean soup (cook this in your slow cooker, it's one of the cheapest healthiest meals out there)
fried rice
chicken with yellow rice (you add tumeric to get it yellow, season as you like)
chicken soup with your left over chicken bones and so forth from your "whole chicken"
i would invest $10 or so on a large variety of spices from your local discount store, if you season things properly you have the desired outcome without a lot of fancy ingredients!.
frozen veggies are alot more appealing than canned, and you can choose exactly how much to put in the recipe without wasting the rest of the can!.
get some ingredients like tomato sauce, fresh ground garlic (grind it yourself if you have a small chopper, or do it by hand) and hot sauce or whatever ingredients you like that are liquidy!. whatever isn't "liquidy" (like the garlic), add a little water!. then you put the stuff in ice cube trays, freeze and empty into a plastic bag!. that way you toss in a cube or two into your recipe as you need it, or defrost ahead of time!.!.!.!. this way you can save literally anything in small portions, no waste, no mess!.
any leftovers that you have, put them in the freezer!. you can always combine some of the smaller portions and make a soup out of them by adding broth!.
buy a small shaker bottle or just use a plastic mayo jar and remember this ratio: 1/4 cup of flour, 2 cups of liquid (milk, broth, water, whatever) and then you mix throughoughly (really shake it up) and heat in a small pan, it will make either gravy or a white sauce or whatever!. this will be the base of your sauces!. there is nothing much as cheap as flour and water, or flour and milk!. make your own broth and freeze it into icecubes if you like!.
marinate every single meat you cook, even if it means throwing it into a ziplock bag with some spices and then tossing it into the freezer!.
by the way, you are not excessively spending for the 2 of you, things are more expensvie, but i think you can get it down to $90 or so if you go for the more inexpensive ingredients and start from "scratch" on some of your meals (ie, using homemade broth and flour to make a gravy)!.
get a bottle of browning sauce, it adds important color to your gravys and sauces, it is called gravy master or something like that!. use boullion (chicken and beef) that is sold in large packages for seasoning purposes, much cheaper than canned broth!.
good luck!.
make a menu plan for every day of the week before you go to the store!. look at what you already have on hand as you plan your menu!. leftovers are a huge source of saving money as it's just as easy to microwave leftover spaghetti as it is a frozen meal, plus it's likely healthier!. the coupons are not a big whup!. you are better off stocking up on the cheap staples (rice, pasta and sales on beef or chicken or fish)!. remember you can make a decent sandwich with chopped leftover fish (any kind) or a nice chicken salad with those old dried out looking leftovers!.!.!.!.!.
freeze anything before it has a chance to spoil!. if it doesn't freeze well, then you throw it out!. but at least you tried to avoid throwing something away (and thus wasting money)
good luck!.Www@FoodAQ@Com
some very inexpensive recipes that make lots and lots are:
spaghetti & meatsauce
fettucine alfredo (substitute real milk for the cream and use flour to thicken the sauce, carefully season it, you can add cooked chicken if you want chicken alfredo)
pasta primavera (pasta mixed with frozen or fresh cooked veggies all tossed together)
lo mein (thin spaghetti seasoned with soy sauce and other seasonings stir fried with small amounts of chicken and lots of fresh or frozen veggies)!. the seasoning is the key here!.
bean soup (cook this in your slow cooker, it's one of the cheapest healthiest meals out there)
fried rice
chicken with yellow rice (you add tumeric to get it yellow, season as you like)
chicken soup with your left over chicken bones and so forth from your "whole chicken"
i would invest $10 or so on a large variety of spices from your local discount store, if you season things properly you have the desired outcome without a lot of fancy ingredients!.
frozen veggies are alot more appealing than canned, and you can choose exactly how much to put in the recipe without wasting the rest of the can!.
get some ingredients like tomato sauce, fresh ground garlic (grind it yourself if you have a small chopper, or do it by hand) and hot sauce or whatever ingredients you like that are liquidy!. whatever isn't "liquidy" (like the garlic), add a little water!. then you put the stuff in ice cube trays, freeze and empty into a plastic bag!. that way you toss in a cube or two into your recipe as you need it, or defrost ahead of time!.!.!.!. this way you can save literally anything in small portions, no waste, no mess!.
any leftovers that you have, put them in the freezer!. you can always combine some of the smaller portions and make a soup out of them by adding broth!.
buy a small shaker bottle or just use a plastic mayo jar and remember this ratio: 1/4 cup of flour, 2 cups of liquid (milk, broth, water, whatever) and then you mix throughoughly (really shake it up) and heat in a small pan, it will make either gravy or a white sauce or whatever!. this will be the base of your sauces!. there is nothing much as cheap as flour and water, or flour and milk!. make your own broth and freeze it into icecubes if you like!.
marinate every single meat you cook, even if it means throwing it into a ziplock bag with some spices and then tossing it into the freezer!.
by the way, you are not excessively spending for the 2 of you, things are more expensvie, but i think you can get it down to $90 or so if you go for the more inexpensive ingredients and start from "scratch" on some of your meals (ie, using homemade broth and flour to make a gravy)!.
get a bottle of browning sauce, it adds important color to your gravys and sauces, it is called gravy master or something like that!. use boullion (chicken and beef) that is sold in large packages for seasoning purposes, much cheaper than canned broth!.
good luck!.
make a menu plan for every day of the week before you go to the store!. look at what you already have on hand as you plan your menu!. leftovers are a huge source of saving money as it's just as easy to microwave leftover spaghetti as it is a frozen meal, plus it's likely healthier!. the coupons are not a big whup!. you are better off stocking up on the cheap staples (rice, pasta and sales on beef or chicken or fish)!. remember you can make a decent sandwich with chopped leftover fish (any kind) or a nice chicken salad with those old dried out looking leftovers!.!.!.!.!.
freeze anything before it has a chance to spoil!. if it doesn't freeze well, then you throw it out!. but at least you tried to avoid throwing something away (and thus wasting money)
good luck!.Www@FoodAQ@Com
I'm not sure that coupons are always giving you the best price - they are an incentive by the manufacturer to get you to buy their product!. Just take a few minutes longer to do the maths - check whether there is another brand that is actually cheaper!. Buy what is seasonal and fresh - it is usually cheaper - look for offers on fresh veges!. I know yousaid you were working way too hard but I'm afraid it is probably the frozen meals that are killing your budget - maybe you could make a huge pot of something on your day off then freeze up some portions for the weekdays - doesn't really take that long!.Www@FoodAQ@Com