On my work days, I like to eat lunch with my teammates. It's one thing I miss about not working full time... adult conversation. Last week we were talking about money and how expensive it is to eat healthy foods. I was sharing a few money-saving tips I've discovered along the way and Rachel (a rock-star teacher friend!) said I should put them on my blog. I liked the idea of helping others save money... so here we are! Who doesn't like to save money, right?
Meal Planning and List-Making
One major key to saving money and eating healthy is planning ahead. We've done the whole 'stop on the way home from work' type of shopping before and it stinks, big time! We spend more and eat out more often when we shop that way.
I plan our meals on Sunday nights, after Gracie has gone to bed. While Ryan and I watch TV, we throw out dinner ideas based on what we have in the freezer, what needs to be used up, or simply what sounds good. I have a pad of paper with the days of the week where I record our dinner ideas, nights for leftovers, and out-to-eat nights. I also plan lunch for the kids on my stay-at-home days, as well as lunches for Ryan and I to take to work. I have a second pad of paper for making the grocery list. This paper usually has a short list already because I add items to it as we run out of them.
One area where I've really saved money this year is on lunch for Ryan and me. Last year, I made 10 lunches (5 for him and 5 for me) every Sunday night. I'd make 10 salads or steam 10 cups of veggies. We'd buy tortillas and meat enough for 10 wraps or 10 sandwiches. Lunches were almost as expensive as dinners. But this year, I've gotten smarter! I plan our lunches based on having leftovers from dinner. In the past, I can't really remember what we did with our leftovers, in fact, I think our portions were so out of control that we didn't really have leftovers. I'm not sure. But anyway, this year, we use our leftovers as lunches, and we eat smaller portions at lunch and dinner, so food obviously goes further. We have soup about once a week, which always yields 3-4 lunches. And if we don't have leftovers to take, then I'll make a small batch of salsa chicken in the crock pot for wraps, or Ryan will grill an extra chicken breast to get us through a day or two. Basically, the savings comes because I'm not buying as much "lunch food", we just use lunch as a way to eat leftover food before it spoils.
Once I've made the list, it's important that I stick to it when I'm shopping. I really try to avoid the impulse buys at the store. When Gracie or Kia (my Monday morning shopping buddies) ask for something extra, we just check to see if it's on the list. And if it is, we buy it. And if it's not, we don't. Right now, that seems to work out okay. Sometimes a tear or two is shed, but I understand... sometimes I feel like crying when I can't get my extra goodies, too!
Price Matching and Aldi's
In the past, I was an avid price matching shopper. Both Walmart and Target offer this option. I found that it saved me quite a bit of money each week. The basic premise is to use the ads (that come in the mail on Wednesdays) to make your meal plan. Plan meals using the items that are on sale and try never to pay full price for things, which means stocking up on items that don't go on sale often. Price matching was effective for me, saving us at least $20 each week.
When I went part-time though, I needed to cut our grocery budget even more. I had shopped at Aldi's off and on for our entire marriage, but had never really made it my main grocery store. With our decreased income, I got back into the Aldi's habit, but this time, I made it my main grocery store each week, sometimes even eliminating Walmart or Price Chopper altogether. Several months later, I have become a HUGE proponent of Aldi's. Their prices are so much cheaper than anywhere else, even with price matching. As a family, we prefer many of their products to competing brands. Some examples include shredded and brick cheeses, greek yogurt, milk, baked chips. Nearly everything else we buy there is exactly the same flavor as what I'd buy elsewhere, so we don't consider it a sacrifice to shop there.
Aldi's carries almost everything I need on a regular basis, including dried fruit, flour, sugar, honey, nuts, oatmeal, off brand Cheerios, crackers, milk, eggs, yogurt, cheese, pasta, canned and jarred tomato products, broccoli, celery, carrots, mushrooms, zucchini, spinach, lettuce, potatoes, apples, blueberries, oranges, pears, strawberries, and grapes, hummus, ice cream, soups of all kinds, frozen berries, biscuits, crescent rolls, cream cheese, and ground turkey. There are, however, a few things I can't get at Aldi's like turkey sausage, whole wheat flour, brown rice, and Diet Coke (although Ryan is trying to kick that habit).
When I tell people how much money I spend on groceries each week, they can't believe it. I used to budget $600 per month on groceries when I price matched at Walmart. I shopped for 2 weeks at a time and spent around $200 each trip. Then we had random trips to the store throughout the week and also our quarterly (ish) Sam's Club run was over $300. All this averaged to a big chunk of change. And with gas prices and the changes to the economy, even Walmart's prices were getting ridiculously out of hand. Now, I am pretty comfortable at spending $400 per month for groceries. Sometimes I am slightly over budget, but I like to think that only happens when Ryan has overspent on trying new beer. He's kind of a beer-snob (another post, another time!). But now the breakdown looks something like this... $40 - $50 per week at Aldi's. Every other week around $50 at Walmart or another store. And a monthly Sam's Club run for chicken, diapers, and dried fruit for about $90.
Now I know Aldi's has a stigma of being for poor people with large families who only eat processed foods. Many people think the store is dirty and the food is sub-par. But here's the real story on Aldi's. It's a total money-saver. The store is small, only 4 aisles. I like that because I do my weekly shopping in about 20 minutes, including checking out. You save money, time, and waste by bringing your own shopping bags to bag your own groceries. You'll need a quarter to borrow a shopping cart, but you get that back when you return it to the cart caddy. The shopping crowd is diverse... people who are broke-as-a-joke shop there, smart rich people, and everything in between. Their food is not expired or sub-quality, but you do need to check the produce before purchasing. On occasion, I have gotten fruit home and had bad strawberries or something in the bunch. They accept cash and debit, no credit cards. For a girl like me, who likes avoid heavily processed foods, a lot of what Aldi's carries, I don't buy. They've got snack foods like nobody's business, also frozen pizza, chicken nuggets, ice cream sandwiches, etc. Some people load their carts with packages of ramen noodles and spaghettios, but I fill mine with fresh fruits and veggies, eggs, cheese, hummus, and greek yogurt. Those are typical snack food for Gracie. So you don't have to be unhealthy to shop Aldi's. I know I'm kind of a nut about Aldi's, but seriously people, when I think of all the money I've wasted at regular grocery stores, it makes me mad! Aldi eggs: $1.29. Walmart eggs: $1.98. Aldi greek yogurt: $.89 (and so, so good!) Walmart greek yogurt: $1. The list goes on and on and all those pennies add up quickly.
Buying Meat/Produce in Advance
Another way Ryan and I have cut our grocery cost is by purchasing a quarter of a cow and a whole hog about once a year. We have friends in Lincoln, NE who sell hogs and a connection through our brother-in-law for beef. It has saved us quite a bit of money to buy our meat in advance. It's also insanely convenient to have a bunch of frozen meat downstairs. We take inventory every so often so that we know what items we need to plan meals around. Ryan is a gifted meat smoker, so several times throughout the year he smokes beef roasts, hog roasts, chickens, and turkeys for us to freeze. I use these shredded meats in soups and other recipes to make quick meals all the time.
It would be difficult to give exact prices for what we spend on the cow and hog each year. It really varies on how big the animal ends up being. We paid around $500 for our last quarter cow and $400 for our last whole hog. I think we pay around $2.50 per pound for beef and $3.00 per pound for pork. If you consider $2.50 per pound for hamburger, then we are getting ripped off. But if you consider $2.50 per pound for steaks, well then we're getting a steal. So it's all relative to what type of meat you get. Either way, we've found that having all the meat encourages us to eat at home more often and saves us on our weekly grocery bill.
Another example of buying in advance is through our CSA. We support Missouri agriculture through Danjo Farms out of Moberly, Missouri. If you're interested you can check out there
website, but basically every Saturday we go to the City Market to pick up our share of fruits and vegetables for the week. We have purchased 5 lbs of veggies and half share of fruit (weight varies depending on the item) each week. The CSA runs from the end of May through the beginning of November (24 weeks) and the produce is grown naturally. We paid one lump sum in advance and saved 15%, costing us $390. Up front, that is a lot of money, but I tell you what, I'll save around $20 per week on groceries when our CSA starts up. Last year was our first year doing this and 5 lbs of veggies was enough for 4 dinners of vegetable side dishes for us and fruit for breakfast (side dish) and snacks all week. I still have to buy additional fruit at the store and some raw veggies for snacking, but the CSA covers almost all of the rest of our produce consumption. We choose what fruit and veggie we'd like based on what they have. You can get all tomatoes or all zucchini or peppers or whatever. Or you can do as we do and get a hodge-podge to add some variety. It's only locally grown though, so they never have pineapples or mangoes to buy. But absolutely nothing beats the taste of fresh, in season produce! I'll probably never buy tomatoes at the store again.
Along the line of the CSA, I have looked into Bountiful Baskets, which has a pickup location in Smithville. I've heard great things about this organization on some of the blogs I follow. It's a money-saver, too, but I haven't tried it yet. You may want to visit their
website to learn more.
Making Homemade
Now that I'm home more often, I have more time to enjoy getting creative in the kitchen.
Pinterest has been a huge resource for me as I've tried to clean up our diets by making more homemade foods. My goal in making homemade is not just to save money, although that is a major benefit, but it is mostly to gain more control over what my loved ones put into their bodies. I've read quite a bit about clean eating and continue to make changes toward that style of living, but even so, we're not anywhere close to 'there' yet. I've started small, trying to eliminate ingredients that I've never heard of or couldn't buy in the store. I try to reduce sugar and salt content to fuel our bodies in a healthier way. I've posted about our favorite
granola bars and
sandwich bread, both recipes I've adapted from Pinterest finds. Both the bread and granola bars are a great money saver and taste better than store bought anyway. I've also tried my hand at hamburger buns, biscuits, pizza crust, soups, and ready-made rice (in the freezer).
The pennies just keep adding up when you can eliminate store bought items from your weekly shopping. Take pizza crust for example. It costs between $.75 and $2.00 depending on how you buy it. But a simple recipe of flour, yeast, sugar, water, and oil that you already have on hand costs less than a few dimes. Similarly, an entire month's supply of bread costs less than $1.50 when you make homemade. It's also really gratifying to serve your family something you created with your own hands.
So, in a nutshell (a really big nutshell), those are a few practices I've gotten accustomed to in an effort to save our family roughly $200 a month. To me, saving money is a thrill. I openly enjoy the challenge of sticking to the grocery budget. There's just something about doing more with less that makes me feel like "Haha! I win!"
