Do you do anything special to stretch your food dollar?

[DeBora4BobbyL]

Do you do anything special to stretch your food dollar? We'd love to know what methods you use to stretch your dollar so your family will eat better for less!

[Audrey]

Sometimes just watching for meats and poultry to be on sale can make a huge difference.

My daughter reads the grocery store ads every single week. If it's an item we use, we'll sometimes buy a few extra, so we save there.

[barbszy]

I do as much as I can to stretch our grocery dollars.

1. Watch for sales & shop ahead. I buy meat on sale. I try not to pay more than $2 a pound for meat. That doesn't work with fish, but it works for beef, pork and poultry. When I get the groceries home, I portion the meat and freeze in those portions.

2. Menu plans. I keep a running menu plan of meals I can make based on what's in the freezer.

3. Stack the coupons. Use your coupons when things are on sale for best savings.

4. Share coupons. My neighbor and I trade our coupon inserts once we're done cutting. This way sometimes we can get extra.

5. Plan ahead for no waste. Figure out a way to use or freeze everything you buy before it goes bad.

6. Try just one. Don't spend a lot of money on many of the same item until you know your family likes it. Even if it's a great deal, it's a waste if no one likes it. Just buy one. If it gets a thumbs-up, then go back for more.

[cau]

I also only buy meats on sale, I check for when they mark down their meat.

I'll pick up steaks one or two at a time,only when marked down. I save until I have enough and then serve them.

I 'll cook up 5 lbs of burger meat adding onion, peppers and celery them divide it into 6 containers for a quick & cheap meal.

I always have something on hand for the days their is just no time maybe a frosen lasanga or pizza.

I make a lot of homemade soups for lunches.

I'm back to baking for linches and snacks

[Audrey]

Do you all buy the "family size" meat packages? I can sometimes buy 6 steaks for a fraction of the cost of what it would cost me to buy all 6 individually. I'll also buy a large package of chicken breasts if on sale. Meat and poultry both freeze quite well for me.

[barbszy]

When I find meat on sale at a good price I get the biggest package I can :) Then I wrap and freeze in portions my family will eat in one meal.

Unfortunately with a teen boy in the house, those portions have been getting BIG lately :eek:

[Audrey]

I know the topic is "frugal" however in keeping with the line of conversation and teens....is your house the house that all teens hang out in? Do you find yourself feeding many teens at once? How do you stretch your food budget when you've got teens wanting snacks, meals etc?

I have two girls. They just don't eat like boys do. Girls can make a cake mix (that I've paid $1 for) and be happy.

[pag36]

Good morning all. I too use coupons, buy not just meats but other things when on sale (when possible). I make large batches of soup chili sketti sauce meat loaves and freeze parts for more meals.
My teen g-son leaves today for boot camp so my BIG eater will be gone :( but still have his friends that pop in now and then to eat lol.

[barbszy]

Audrey, yes, we do get some teen boys visiting. Generally they're not here for meals. I have found that spaghetti & meatballs "works" and is easy to do in large quantities :D

In fact, Big DS called during his lunch period today to ask if he could bring some friends home after school. I tossed a batch of cookies into the oven. I think I'll have to make some cookie dough and freeze it for these situations :D

I figure that this is a price I am willing to pay to have DS and his friends come here. I know who he's with and what he's doing. His friends are polite, and good kids, if a little loud :rolleyes: so to me it is worth it.

Patti, best of luck to Adam at boot camp. I'll keep him in special prayers. God bless him for his service to our country, and may he keep safe.

[DeBora4BobbyL]

Barb, I like your idea of making cookie dough and freezing it for later. I can do that between semesters and bake with the GKs when things are busy, but I want to do something special with them.

[barbszy]

DeBora, it saves a LOT of time. Just freeze the "dough balls" on a wax paper lined cookie sheet for an hour, then transfer to containers or zip bags. You can bake from frozen, adding about a minute to the total bake time.

[DeBora4BobbyL]

I have made bread dough, and I have used cookie dough frozen from the store, but never thought to make it myself. I guess I get so busy with school that I forget to be creative.

[lorrij7]

I buy everything I can on sale and use coupons. We aren't buying all the junk food anymore either.

[RobertaD]

I watch the sales, matching coupons and buy meat when it is on sale for $2.50 or less. For "special meals" I will buy steak from the clearance bin and cook that night or freeze.

I use a lot of store brand and generic products as well.

I slice potatoes super thin and deep fry our own potatoe chips for pennies. I also slice & deep fry french fries instead of buying them frozen.

I will bake 2-3 kinds of cookies and freeze them for quick desserts and (DH) forgotten about pot luck dinners.

When making a rice/pasta dish I will add an extra 1/4-1/3 cup of rice/pasta to stretch the meal.

I reduce the amount of meat called for in a casserole to cut the cost.

I brew my own tea for iced tea bring 3 tea bags to a boil with a dash of baking soda and let steep for 30 min. then add to a gallon jug of water.

Roberta

[cat lover]

We go meatless quite a bit using rice and beans in its place. Mostly that started from DH's restrictive no fat diet, but it works wonders on the food budget also. When I do but protein I ony buy what is on sale and mostly do that with all my groceries. I almost refuse to pay regular price for things. I use coupons when the itmes are on sale and that works wonders! I have a BIL that is now saving me his inserts after he is done with them. I used several $1.00 and $1.50 coupons last week and ended up paying around $10.00 for $20.00 worth of food. I but store brands a lot, but the national brands are sometimes cheaper when they are on sale and I have a coupon for it. I buy day old bread as well as bake most of our bread, check the overstock meat counter, and we grow our vegetables in the summer and eat out of the garden for almost all our fresh vegetables that time of year. Kale grows year round in my garden and I used to grow root vegetables and cover them with straw and have them al year also. Since we moved several years ago the garden area here is getting almost good enough to do that again maybe this year.

The fruit is starting to come in also as the trees are finally getting big enough to start producing. We have peach, apple, pear, cherry, persimmon and black walnut and plum trees. Blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, and strawberries are doing very well. We eat what is in season of course doing it this way, but it keeps the cost down.

[Bilby]

I don't know that it's special but I do, do a lot of home cooking and look out for specials then buy in bulk.
If I have a flop in a cake it becomes a dessert or ..... the kids always say it doesn't matter, mum will make it into something else for dinner tomorrow LOL
Food doesn't get wasted

[VicRae]

I usually buy in quanity when things are on sale. I also cook from scratch most of the time. Then with the boxes of side noodle dishes or Betty crocker dinners, I will add extra noodles (about half of the amount of noodles that come in the box) that way you are making more servings and paying less.

We also go out to the farmer's fields and buy onions and potatoes. Sometimes if you pick them up yourselves they will charge less money.

Somtimes I will plant a garden, but usually I don't have much luck with stuff getting big enough to use. So, it saves me money and time by not planting one.

I also go to the Dollar store or Big Lots and will buy seasoning, spices and candy decorations for less than the grocery stores sell them for.

[Barb]

We have 2 stores in our area, I will look at the ad's to see what I will buy at which store.

I buy when meat is on sale and look at the stuff on the dollar shelf as well as the mark down stuff. Like yesterday they had ham lunch meat marked down to 1.29 due to it will expire on May 22. Well by then it will not even be in the ice box. LOL it will be gone.

I also use rice to extra noodles when I use a hamburger helper or something along this line pre package stuff.

I will try to use left overs as much as I can and turn it into something else,
and if not then I will use old bread crumbs and mix it into and give it to the outdoor cats that way I'm saving on cat food.

I've have added rice to a can of soup and do up my own casserole meal.

make my own tea buy using teabags and sugar. The baking soda is new for me.
so curious to know what that is far.

buy store brand stuff.

we use alot of one pot meals instead of cooking alot of things for supper.

I make my own nachos with chips or cook my torillas, and use beans that are left over, and then add cheese and presto have nachoes, the same thing with burroes.

I also have use the package one side dish of pasta and add a little bit of hamburger meat to it and have a meal, for the pasta comes for an dollar, and I will add extra noodles into it and it makes a nice meal.

[RobertaD]

Barb, the baking soda in the boiling water helps open the tea leaves and brews a stronger tea so you can use less tea bags. Since using baking soda in the boiling water I've gotten down to 3 tea bags for a gallon of tea when I had been using 8 bags. With the price of tea bags that is quite a savings for a dash of baking soda.

Roberta

[Bilby]

I use loose leaf tea and pop that in a little wire ball bag thingy. It has a little chain and acts like a normal tea bag for one, can wash and re use many hundreds of times. Loose leaf tea is the cheapest.
You can also use a coffee plunger for loose leaf tea as it strains as it pours.
Making for more and I make a tea pot.

[searching4]

I make breakfast for dinner to save money. We will have veggie omelettes and toast or I'll make a breakfast skillet (scrambled eggs, homemade fried potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, tomatoes and cheese)...my family loves this!

I also save a bit of ground beef when I use it in recipes, that way I can use it to make quesadillas or taco salad for school lunches.

[barbszy]

Searching4, I would love to do that with the ground beef, but I already practically have to guard it with my body to prevent my 17-year-old carnivore son from eating it all before I finish cooking dinner! Do you have any secrets on how you keep your teens out of it so you can put some aside?