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Grocery Shopping and Cooking
I have three very good tips for saving money on your groceries 1) buy in bulk, 2) buy in bulk, 3) buy in bulk. Look for sales (especially for meats and other high dollar items) and buy ahead. Buy the family packs of meat and divide them into smaller portions (enough for one meal) and freeze. Most meats will keep well in the freezer for 6-8 months without freezer burn. For longer storage a vacuum sealer is the way to go. Foods sealed in heavy plastic, in the absence of air will keep for 2-3 years in the freezer! If you don't have a vacuum sealer (get one! FoodSaver Vac1050 Vacuum Sealing Kit by...) you can use gallon size plastic bags. Then wrap the package in freezer paper (I've used newspaper in a pinch). Make certain you label the package so you don't have to guess what's in it.
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The best way I've found to save money on my groceries is to shop at discount
stores rather than national grocery chains. In my area there are two very good
stores that I use; Save-A-Lot and Aldi's. If you don't have either of these,
I'm sure there are similar ones in your area. I have found that I save almost
50% by shopping at these stores first and then going to the bigger national
chain stores to pick up whatever I can't find at the discount stores. Here's an example; this week I purchased a dozen large eggs at a major grocery chain at a price of $1.99. Yesterday, I found that the Aldi's store had a dozen large eggs for $0.68. Big difference in price...no difference in the eggs!
Coupons are a great way to save money but ONLY if you have a coupon for something that you were planning on buying anyway. I know ladies that brag about saving $20-$30 on their grocery bill, but if you examine their purchases, they've bought stuff with coupons that was either over priced to begin with, or that they will never use.
You can however, get tons of FREE
coupons on the internet. Check out these sites: $1000 Saver Book Detailed Information
Prepared foods always cost more. For example; a box of dried potatoes (like scalloped potatoes) is going to cost you about four times more than if you buy a 10 lb. bag of potatoes and fix them yourself. A good rule of thumb is that if they are doing the work (peeling, drying, and packaging the potatoes), you are paying for that work. Another example is macaroni and cheese. You can buy the boxes that have the macaroni and the cheese all included. Or, you can spend about ¼ the price and buy a large bag of macaroni, and a box of cheese (like Velveeta), and mix your own. Over time, these steps will save money and that money soon adds up.
Name brand items are great. But, you can often find off brand items that are just as good as the name brand. Whenever possible, buy the un-brand items.
Have you noticed how expensive boxed cereals are getting? Try substituting rice or oatmeal for cold cereal. Instead of buying the packages of instant oatmeal, buy a box of Quick Oats and add your own fruit, cinnamon, milk, and sugar. (For easy recipes see my Recipes page.) Want to get the "Mother of the Year" award from your kids? Make them pancakes once or twice a week instead of boxed cereal. Pancakes only take a minute or two to make, the kids absolutely love them, they are far less expensive than boxed cereal. Don't buy the boxed pancake mixes. They are much more expensive than simply mixing your own and if you try out the pancake recipe on my recipe page, you will find that it's super easy. (Recipes) These breakfast alternatives not only save you money, but your kids will love them. Additionally, you will feel better about sending them off with a homemade breakfast instead of something dry from a box that's full of sugar.
My kids hate the heals on bread. That means two slices of bread from every loaf goes to waste. Instead of throwing them out, I save them in the freezer and use them to make Bread Pudding, Sausage Casserole, or Stuffing (click to see recipes).
Plan your meals with leftovers in mind. Here's an example; have pot roast one day (Recipes) and use the leftovers the next day to make beef stew. Here's another example; meat loaf on day one, and use leftover meat loaf on day two to make spaghetti sauce or chili. Have baked chicken on day one, chicken and noodles on day two.
Keep a supply of plastic divided disposable plates on hand for leftovers. Place a serving of each dish in each of the divided sections of the plate, enclose in a gallon size plastic bag and freeze. Ta Da! instant TV dinners for a fraction of the cost. This is a great way to save money because you would probably throw out those leftovers otherwise. Microwave the plate on the high setting for 6-8 minutes and you have an instant meal for when you are in a hurry. For a better seal and longer storage in the freeze, use a vacuum sealer to seal the bag. FoodSaver Vac1050 Vacuum Sealing Kit by...
If you have little portions of vegetables left over from a meal, try saving them in a plastic container in your freezer. Add a spoonful of corn here, a little bit of green beans there. When the container gets full. Make vegetable soup.
Hard boiled eggs often crack while being boiled in water. This results in misshaped eggs. That's fine if you are making egg salad, but it's not fine for deviled eggs. Instead of boiling the eggs in water, I use a vegetable steamer. Very rarely do I get a cracked egg using this method. I steam the eggs for 25 minutes and they all come out perfect.
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