Budgeting for groceries

[DrakeMaiden]

I'm just in one of them moods today. Don't mind me! I've been reading a book by a hard-core Mainiac that lived in the way, way back-woods for years. I guess some of her spirit rubbed off.

 

[poppycat]

I'm just in one of them moods today. Don't mind me! I've been reading a book by a hard-core Mainiac that lived in the way, way back-woods for years. I guess some of her spirit rubbed off.

Oh I don't mind at all!

 

[DrakeMaiden]

OK, back to the regularly scheduled programming. Carry on then!

 

[SandraMort]

Most of us here are trying to find ways to get away from the industrial food chain, because it is a complex behemoth that could some day potentially fail all those who depend upon it's just-in-time delivery of life-sustaining calories.

I'm sure many are here for that reason. Personally, I am thinking less of doom and gloom end of the world as we know it and more about potential disability or unemployment.

While I agree that fresh fruit is healthier in general, I must offer for your consideration the prospect that the day may come when it is unaffordable or unavailable in some seasons. Most of us here will either make do without it or fall back on preserved fruits. Generations before us survived, and somehow thrived well enough to produce us as their progeny, without having fresh fruits in three out of four seasons every year of their lives.

Of course. I appreciate that you have much greater information about how to live off of minimal resources during times of social devastation, but that wasn't my question. Should that become my question (and I'd LIKE to have that as an eventual goal, if that's any comfort), I am confident that this group of experienced people will be an invaluable resource.

However, in the meantime, I'm asking about ways to improve my grocery budget right now in a society where fresh produce IS available. It doesn't seem sensible to toss away everything we know about now just because three hundred years ago people managed to survive enough to breed without year round access to fresh produce and we potentially might have to revert back to it someday.

Just to reiterate -- I appreciate all of these suggestions. Many of them will be helpful for the spring and summer when the local planting seasons start. I was just hoping for some ideas to help get me through the next few months until then.

 

[keljonma]

She's glad to let me garden and have animals. But the house is up for sale and I'm hesitating to have yet one MORE garden end up wasted when I've moved after planting.

The part about "in exchange for some of the rent" I don't understand, though.

1st this could be: You buy the seeds/plants, you do the work, divide harvest with landlord in fair exchange for a portion of the montly rent amount you normally pay. Maybe you agree that $25/ or $50/month of the garden produce goes to the landlord.

2nd option: You purchase plants that will add value to the home's property (asparagus, rhubarb, horseradish, fruit trees and/or bushes. These can be planted separately or integrated with landscaping and all have a long life span.

In our first home (decades ago, so pricing won't help... we planted
asparagus, apple trees, and made strawberry beds. The landlord deducted our costs and minimum wage for labor for the purchases, planted and care of said plants. After we moved to our own first home, they were able to sell the home for more because we helped improved the land.

Not food related, but in this instance we also removed carpeting, sanded and refinished oak floors, and replaced a couple windows. The landlord always deducted these costs from our monthly rent.

 

[patandchickens]

Also you can puree it into a thick juice/shake type thing, doesn't have to be a smoothie can be just fruit if you prefer.

Frozen fruit makes great "ice cream" when put through the champion, too... but who eats ice cream or drinks smoothies in a blizzard? LOL

Uh, we do. In fact that's the only time we DO regularly eat homemade icecream, in our house, cuz otherwise we'd have to use the freezer to make the ice!

And anyhow. I was talking about making JUICE, a thick 'nectar' type thing. Not frozen or cold. I was not aware that juice was offlimits for winter. Pureed down from real fruit it has pretty much all the nutritional benefits of fresh fruit 'off the shelf' except that it came outta freezer storage.

One of the things about trying to pare down a budget is that it's usually necessary to eat less of what you'd prefer and learn new tastes

Absolutely. But why would I want to encourage my family to eat something that's not as good for them? Budgeting is all well and good, but eating canned fruit or desserts that use frozen isn't as good for you as just eating plain fresh fruit.

Um, look, I (and others) are TRYING to HELP here. Might it not be useful to suppose for a minute that there's actually something to what we suggest?

I was not suggesting you start shoving eclairs into your kids' faces.

I was suggesting that frozen fruit can be used for many things SOME OF WHICH ARE PRETTY GOOD FOR YOU. Some kinds of frozen fruit are actually pretty good just popped into your mouth and eaten directly, like half-thawed blueberries or raspberries (obviously you would have to freeze them in the summer not now, but, you know).

As far as cobblers etc, my main use of my canned apples (canned in water with just a touch of sugar, btw, and the liquid from the can is drunk as juice) is to make what we call "that apple thing". You put the chunks of apple in a casserole; then you mix up a bunch of whole oats with just a little bit of oil and brown sugar, probably less than you eat in other foods, and any nuts or dried fruits that you want to add, you can also add a beaten egg if you like, and spread it atop the apple chunks. Bake at 400ish F for as long as it takes to cook, usually about 25 minutes, preferably when the oven is already hot from something else. You can do this with LOTS of other frozen or home-canned fruits besides apples, too.

If you insist on buying exactly what you are buying now, in exactly the same way as you are, then what are you asking US for? If you keep doing the same thing you'll keep getting the same (budgetary and credit score) result.

To change it, you will have to face the fact that it is possible to eat AT LEAST as healthily as you are now, while spending less, by changing your shopping, storing and eating habits.

I'm asking about ways to improve my grocery budget right now in a society where fresh produce IS available.

Yes. And we're giving you a whole buncha ways to do it. Buy yer produce when it is quite cheap (in bulk and/or in season) then save it for later by drying, canning, or in the short term just putting it in a cool place in the home. It's just seeming a whole lot like you're more interested in arguing than in finding out what might work.

It is fine to choose not to *take* advice or suggestions, but it is kind of annoying to keep insisting they are foolish, impossible, or harmful to you.

Plus you have already recieved comprehensive advice on your grocery budget as a *whole*, i.e. see what you're spending and then try to spend less in whatever ways you're comfortable with.

It doesn't seem sensible to toss away everything we know about now just because three hundred years ago people managed to survive enough to breed without year round access to fresh produce and we potentially might have to revert back to it someday.

Um, "everything we know about now" does NOT include having to buy jet-fresh imported produce to eat every day out of the fridge. "We" (food and nutrition science, plus experience, plus looking at what actually keeps people healthy) know that some foods keep pretty well in storage, so with no-to-modest facilities you can store them at home in reasonable quantity. "We" know that freezing preserves virtually all of fruit's nutrition, canning most of it, and drying a good proportion as well. "We" know that you do not actually have to eat different fruits every day of the week all year round in order to be healthy. "We" (again, I don't mean this board, I mean the same thing as your "we know about now") also know that fresh vegetables are at least (most people who know anythinga bout nutrition would say "significantly more") as big a contributor to your health as fruit.

And really. Making snide comments about people just surviving enough to breed without year-round access to fresh produce are kind of, pardon my french, ignorant. (I mean this in the sense of simply not knowing what you are talking about). Having a restricted menu of produce to choose from, some of the year, DOES NOT compromise peoples' health, assuming they are EATING it of course and not turning up their noses at it because it's not raspberries. Just look around you. Plus which NOBODY here was suggesting you forego fresh produce anyhow; just limit your selection to more budget-friendly and easily-stored types

I'm done with this thread.

Have fun with your 'budget', good luck with your credit,

Pat

 

[me&thegals]

If you ask for help, you need to at least consider the suggestions being given and not shoot nearly every single one down. If you are not willing to make any changes in the way you buy or eat food, then I guess you will not be able to change your food budget.

The 2 comments I am noticing the most are your kids' unwillingness to eat anything different than what they have always eaten. Sounds like the complaint of many parents. I have found kids amazingly able to adapt where there is no other option. My kids would love for me to buy clementines, pomegranates and winter watermelon. But, it's amazing how they will eat bulk citrus, applesauce, frozen berries or whatever they actually have to eat. I've never seen a child self-starve because their favorite food was not available. Besides, who's the boss? And, it is really insulting to suggest that using canned or frozen food indicates a low-quality diet. My kids are smart, healthy and doing great. I guarantee you their frozen-Swiss chard quiche is healthier than "fresh," week-old lettuce salad from the store.

Second, frozen food. The internet is a great way to find endless ways to use frozen food. Here are some of the ways our family does. I understand you are looking for ways to save money now, and for that, look to many of the other great suggestions above. If you plan ahead next summer and freeze fresh, cheap, local food, here are just a few ways to use them:

Frozen berries: Smoothies, sorbet or ice cream, stirred into canned or frozen applesauce, coffee cakes and other treats (you can dial down the sugar if you want), mixed into waffle and pancake batter.

When fresh, use the berries to make frozen sauces and jams for use all winter.

Corn: By itself, in soup, stirred into cornbread or corn pudding, fritters.

Greens (chard, kale, spinach): Quiches, omelets, stirred last minute into a creamy potato or other type of soup, lasagna.

Tomatoes: Soup, chili, salsa. Or can a pile into the same things and save freezer space. Cooked tomatoes have more nutrients available than fresh.

Carrots, peppers, sweet potatoes, pumpkin: Chop or dice, freeze on cookie sheets and then dump into freezer containers. Use in soups and casseroles.

Pumpkin: I mix 1 cup into my pancake mix (whole grain), use about 1/3 cup in smoothies all winter (yes, in WI winter!), stir in about 1 Table into cups of hot cocoa, use for bread, muffins, waffles, angelfood cake, etc.

So, there are TONS of ways to save money. But, like most things SS, you have to be willing to make some changes.

 

[mom'sfolly]

I lived in that area for several years...so here goes.

Frozen fruit is great, we eat it at many meals as a dessert/salad. Just thaw the fruit, add a small amount of sweetner and some yogurt. Kids love it and they begin to think of fruit as dessert, and don't expect cake.

Kingston has a vegetable market or did when I lived there, lots of good local produce. In the summer, there are many pick your own farms in the area. You can pick blueberries, cherries, apples, peaches, strawberries, aparagus and pears. You might pay slightly more or less than the grocery store, but you know exactly what you are getting. Freeze, can, dry all this stuff. I know that doesn't help now, but spring is around the corner. I remember all kinds of veggie stands in that area, especially on the east side of the Hudson.

Milk: try using 1/2 powdered and 1/2 regular
Veggies: try new veggies, eat root veggies, squash and cabbage, they are generally cheaper than others. Many don't need to be refrigerated. Cook a large pot of greens, and eat them over several days.
Fruit: buy in season and on sale. Now it it citrus season, but apples are good too.
Cheese: buy in bulk, its cheaper, and cheese keeps well.
Bacon, and lebanon bolagna: buy ends and peices and use them for cooking. Tastes the same, costs less.

Use coupons and store cards for discounts. I aim for 10 % off of each grocery run. I don't always make it, but it is a fun game to play. Don't be brand loyal, buy what is cheapest as long as it doesn't comprimise quality. Check prices when you buy in bulk; the largest isn't always a cheapest per serving.

 

[shareneh]

Sandra,

I understand that your family has a special diet. If you need specialties like milk products you could go right to the source and see if they dairy company is willing to sell to you direct.

Investing in a larger refrigerator might be the key to your dilemma. If you have more space then you will be more relaxed buying what you need and keeping it longer.

I watch Jon and Kate Plus 8 and Kate cooks totally organic meals for her kids. She averages about $150 per week for ten people. That's $1.50 per person. She and Jon won't let the kids decide what they want to eat, if they don't eat, they don't eat. Kate plans her meals and uses coupons for things that she normally buys. She freezes the excess and makes soups that will last her for months by freezing it.

Keep trying different things, don't feel like you have to be so strict with your meals and you will find that you are travelling to the grocery less and less.

Once you get going on the budget you will find it's fun, like a game. The kids will get used to it and you will feel like the champion mommy that you are.

 

[Big Daddy]

Be sure to eat before you go to the grocery store. If you take your hubby be sure he eats.