While food is one of the “necessities” of life, it is also one of the quickest places to trim the fat out of your budget. While few families ever consult guidelines as to just how much they ought to be spending on food, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics keeps a running tab. They estimate that about 12.5 percent of your budget is spent on food. The Department of Agriculture places that figure a bit lower, 9.8 percent. Furthermore, the USDA breaks down family food spending into three categories: thrifty, low-cost, moderate, and liberal.
For a family of four, the government estimates that spending ranges from the “thrifty” $524 per month to the very “liberal” $1,014 a month. (see “How much should you spend on groceries?” Associated Press, March 15, 2009, www.msnbc.msn.com ) One thing is certain, the average family saw their grocery prices spike dramatically in the last year and with so many families out of work, even more dramatic changes have to be made in the arena of food spending. What can you do?
Maintain a well-stocked pantry . For decades church leaders have urged us to build up a year's supply of food. Though that advice has not changed, of recent we have been urged to begin with a three month supply and gradually increase it. That is attainable, even in these troubled days. Begin with the basics: grains, salt, sugar or honey, dry milk, and oils. You can consult www.providentliving.org, a church designed website to help you plan your basic food storage needs.
In addition to the five basic food storage categories add to your pantry staples—those products which have multiple uses in home cooking. I speak of potatoes, pasta, onions, carrots, canned vegetables (especially tomatoes), canned fruits (especially applesauce which can be substituted for oil when necessary), canned soups, tuna and/or other canned meats. Oh, and don't forget the peanut butter. From this food store can come a variety of meals with but a few additions of sale-priced meats and fresh produce.
Check the sale ads. The key to keeping the food budget down is to buy only that which you can buy at rock-bottom prices. This is especially true for those basic items you are going to place into your food storage. Each week scour the ads for sales and particularly look for “loss leaders,” those items which the store sells at below cost prices in an effort to lure you in. If you live in a metropolitan area, within close proximity to a variety of stores, you have the luxury of shopping more than one grocery store for the very lowest prices. If you live in a rural area, even the sales at your local market, when shopped properly, can reap big savings.
When a product is on sale, buy enough to last you until it goes on sale again, particularly if it is something you use quite regularly. We have found a system that works well. Before you move your purchases from the bags to the shelf, take a moment to write the day's date on each can, box, or package with a marking pen. When the product is used up record that in your notebook or on your clipboard.
Have a plan. Plan a week's menus from the items on sale. A menu and a detailed list allows you to make less frequent trips to the grocery store or market. If you can shop less frequently, say once a week or every ten days, you will save lots of money. The more often you walk into a store, the more often you will be tempted to buy things you don't really need.
As you build your menu plan, include a day or two of low-cost meals or planned-overs. Pancakes, soups, stews, bread and milk, johnny-cake with maple syrup, beanie-weenie casserole and creamed tuna over toast–these are low cost meals designed to stretch your food dollar.
A friend has taken all her family's favorite recipes, written them on 3 x 5 cards and written a shopping list of ingredients on the flipped side. On every shopping trip, she flips through her rolled stack of cards and voila ! She has her shopping list.
Become more familiar with what is in your fridge and freezer. Before finalizing your list, go to your refrigerator, freezer, and pantry. Do you know the expiration dates of everything you stored? Use things up before they spoil or go stale. Particularly check dates on meats, fish, and “ready” meals. If they can't be eaten before the expiration date, freeze them immediately.
Move things most close to the expiration date to the front of your refrigerator and keep the newer products to the back.
Think up uses for small portions or stick leftover food into bags and freeze for later meals. Odd bits of cheese can be grated with dried bread crumbs or crusts to use as toppings to casseroles or potatoes. Yogurt can be blended into smoothies or spooned on top of breakfast cereal for a treat.
Does your bread box contain bits of bread crusts? Try freezing them so that later they can be cubed for stuffing or perhaps homemade croutons. Stale bread was often used by our grandmothers in a delicious, steamed bread pudding. Cake and cookies can be crumbled and sprinkled atop deserts or used as pudding toppings.
Buy house brands. “The Private Label Manufacturers Association said a basket of 40 average store-brand products runs about 30 percent to 35 percent less than a basket of comparable national brands.” (“ Wal-Mart tries to cash in on store-brand boom ,” Associated Press, March 16, 2009, www.msnbc.msn.com ) In the past house brands were moved to shelves either above or below eye level so that the shopper had to keep her eyes moving to even spot them. Today they are being placed right up front. The profit margins on house brands is appreciably lower than on name brands because in the past, retailers hoped to push you into the pricier products. All that has changed. Wal-Mart has recently introduced 100 new products into their Great Value line. Costco said their private label sales hit record highs in the most recent quarter. House brands are as well regulated as are the name brands and though there may often be slight variations in taste and size, the quality should be comparable. In tough times, your family will not be likely to notice a difference but your pocket-book will.
Be loyal only to price. Forget the brand and forget the store, when it comes to grocery shopping make price the king.
If you know a store that price-matches, bring all your weekly ads and head for that particular market. Be sure to highlight or circle the items you are most interested in. Buy what is on sale at every supermarket and when you head for the check-out, be sure to tell your clerk that you desire a price match. Pull out your ads and let her see the sale prices you expect to pay.
Use coupons. Some shoppers have become master's at coupon shopping. Nickels do add up to dimes and dimes to dollars. Keeping an organized file and if you enjoy coupons, consider joining coupon co-op to swap them.
Some stores carry coupons for their house brands. You'll find these coupons in their weekly ad or located somewhere in their store.
Coupons are available in newspapers, mailings, and online. You can find online coupons through www.smartsource.com or www.coupons.com or www.couponmom.com, www.grocerycouponguide.com, or on your local market's website.
You don't have to use coupons. This may seem contradictory, but Elizabeth Gibbons a Stroudsburg, Pa. Resident does not clip coupons yet she frugally keeps her food spending down to 4 or 5 percent of her family budget. She feels that coupons usually provide only discounts for processed foods which she does not use. Instead of coupons she prefers to shop discount stores and she focuses on fresh fruits and vegetables which are more healthy.
Michelle Jones of Atlanta who runs BetterBudgeting.com also maintains a second site devoted to grocery savings called GrocerySavingTips.com. She agrees with Gibbons about coupons. She feels coupons are not necessary but they can help if they are used on sale items. Gary Foreman, a former financial planner who now runs a website called The Dollar Stretcher likewise agrees. His number one recommendation for the frugal is that they keep a price book to track the cost of regularly used items. ( See “How much should you spend on groceries?” op. cit )
Food auctions . In recent months food auctions have become a great resource for deep discounts. Auctions are springing up all over the country. Bidders vie for dry goods and frozen foods which might be either overstocks, slightly damaged, or just beyond their expiration date. The products come from supermarkets, distribution centers, or restaurant suppliers. Where once, savvy shoppers would have avoided such products, the tough economy has turned many of these same shoppers into tightwads. (“Thrifty shoppers ‘Sold' on grocery auctions,” Associated Press, March 24, 2009, www.msnbc.com )
Shop on Wednesdays. Researchers have found that Wednesdays are the lowest shopping days of the week and since the ads for the week usually begin on Wednesdays, the stores are better stocked on that particular day.
Stretch your food. You probably know most of these tricks, but we'll give them to you again. Almost all of us have used them to stretch our food budget. Frosted corn flakes can be mixed with regular corn flakes to eliminate half the sugar content. More expensive chocolate milk can be diluted with half white milk without your children detecting much of a difference. 2% milk can be mixed with instant, non-fat powdered, and you will have 1% milk. Generic brand cereal can be placed back into store brand boxes so your children won't know the difference. Ground meat can be mixed with legumes or ground turkey to make it stretch further. Spaghetti sauce can be enriched with onions, peppers, celery, zucchini, spinach, or other vegetables. Orange juice can be mixed with lemonade, which is less expensive, and it will make a delicious drink.
Take care of the produce. Citrus fruit can be squeezed and frozen before it goes bad. Green peppers can be chopped and frozen. Then same goes for spinach, asparagus, and broccoli. If you see that your produce is reaching its peak, don't wait for it to spoil, freeze it first.
For better storage of produce keep artichokes, asparagus (with ends cut and placed in water), beets, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celery, chilies, cucumbers, eggplant, lettuce, green beans, mushrooms, and zucchini in the humidified crisper unit of your fridge.
Near the front of your shelves where the temperature is warmer, store berries, citrus, corn on the cob, melons and peas.
Apples, cherries, and grapes can go anywhere provided they don't freeze.
Leave apricots, avocados, bananas, kiwis, mangos, nectarines, papayas, peaches, pears, plums, and tomatoes on the counter where they are less likely to become subject to chill injury.
In a cool room store garlic, onions, potatoes, and winter squash. ( Valerie Phillips, Deseret News, “ Spoiled Rotten,” page C8, Feb 25, 2009.)
Look through the leftovers. Do you have enough for a second meal? Can you take what is left to make a soup, a stew, a stroganoff, or a pasta dish. Do you have enough to make into a casserole?
Only a generation ago, our mothers and grandmothers purposefully cooked a large roast, ham, chicken, or turkey and planned an entire week's meals around the leftovers. Every crumb from Sunday dinner was utilized. Today Sunday chicken can become chicken tacos or chicken quesadillas, chicken salad, chicken and noodle casserole, and by the end of the week, the chicken carcass can be turned into chicken stock.
It is easy to make chicken stock. Take the remaining bones, skin, and fat and place it in a large pot. Add a few carrots, a couple sticks of celery, and an onion. Salt and pepper and add a few spices, oregano and thyme work well, and bring to a boil and simmer for 4-6 hours (all day in a crock pot). Strain the stock when you are finished and use it right away or freeze it for later use.
One family we know made a habit of cooking up a turkey every month or two. Turkey is very inexpensive when purchased on sale. They ate their turkey for a meal or two and then carefully sliced what remained for turkey sandwiches in their brown-bag lunches. If there was any turkey remaining a day or so later, they froze it for turkey soup or turkey casserole sometime later. Roast beef works the same way.
Bring a calculator, don't use credit cards, and pay in cash if you have trouble staying in budget . Never use a credit card to pay for food unless you are willing to pay as much as five times or more the price of that food by the time you add on interest. Do use a debit card if you are careful with it. Debit cards are just like a plastic check. Keep track of debit purchases in your check register or download your checking transactions on line weekly to keep up to date with debit purchases.
Some families have found that the best way to stick to their budget is to withdraw their designated amount in cash and leave the checkbook and the credit card at home. Whatever you do, do something! Food is a great place to begin to trim the fat out of your household budget.
