Thursday, 27 December 2007
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Frugal Fridays
It's been a year since we downsized our company and put our house on the market. We've had 3 offers on our house and all three have fallen through. My husband and I have cut nearly every extra expense we can think of to avoid my having to go to work outside the home. So far the Lord has provided beyond what I ever imagined. My food budget is the one area left that I still have some 'wiggle' room.
My long term goal is to cut my grocery bill by $200.00 a month. My goal this month is to spend a minimum of $50.00 less on groceries.. more if possible. I'm also going to take the allotted amount of grocery money out of the bank and put it in an envelope. When the cash is gone then I will not buy any more groceries for the month.
I decided to 'shop at home first' just like Cindy teaches on Cindy's Porch. I spent yesterday making a list of the meat, veggies and bread in my freezers. I then made a list of meals from that list which gave me over 30 meals for the next month. This should drop my grocery bill dramatically if I can stay out of the stores except for milk and fruit.
Next week I hope to make a list for 2-3 weeks of inexpensive recipes. I'm gathering recipes that have a minimal amount of meat. So far my list consists of:
Beans and ham hocks
Beef/ chicken fajitas
Tacos (small amount of hamburger)
Burritos (small amount of meat, homemade tortillas when I run out of the ones that I have in the fridge)
Stew (small amount of beef)
Fried rice (ham, veggies)
Breakfast for dinner (biscuits and gravy)
Chicken and Dumplings (or strip noodles)
Chile Verde over brown rice
Spaghetti
I also changed my dishwashing detergent. A young friend told me to try 1/2 tablespoon of Borax and 1/2 tablespoon of baking soda. It works great! I bought a huge bag of baking soda at Costco for around $3.00. It will last me more than a year and I still have a half a box of Borax from the homemade laundry detergent I make. I do use a 'rinse aid' because our well water is very hard. I've heard you can use vinegar but it doesn't work with the minerals in our water.
Have any of you ladies cut your grocery bill dramatically over this past year? If so, would you mind sharing some ideas with me?
I'm also looking for some good websites on this subject. May we live [coram deo] before the face of God!
Georgene
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Comments (11)
If you have a big enough freezer doing the extra cooking would be a big plus. We eat a lot of soups in the winter time. Very inexpensive and generally lasts a few days.
Blessings,
Paula
Cash is the way to go! I've been using cash for groceries since 1982 and I never want to go back! Although I did use the debit card last week with all the kids and grandkids coming here...I didn't realize how much we had cut back now that all our kids are married!
Soup is one of our favorite meals now that we're heading towards 60...it's a nice light evening meal and we're getting away from always having a big piece of meat for dinner. It's a great way to avoid throwing out vegetables that are on the edge of going bad.
The other way to not spend as much is to make a list of each meal and just stick to it. Not that you must have it on the day it's planned for, but if you put all the meals you have in your house on a mini post-it, and put the post-it on your calandar, if you get to that day and don't feel like having that for dinner, just swithch it with another day and change the post-it!
We have Aldi stores in our area which also can help me save a bundle! It's a discount grocery store. And I've found a few hispanic grocery stores that have much lower prices...and more veggies to choose from!
http://www.thegrocerygame.com/discount-groceries/index.html
http://www.aldimeals.com/ this is a great site, they help you plan the meals, even give the contents of the meal, salt/sugar, etc., then tell you where in the store you will find the ingredients!
Georgene,
I do admire you! Making a list of recipes and then check the Sunday paper and check which of the recipes had the most discounted items in the grocery. I used to plan my menu on the sale items. I made a lot of adjustments to my recipes.
Happy New Year to you and your family! May the Lord bless you and give you wisdom in everything.
Rebekah
Good luck with your endeavor. I made a choice to reduce our budget by about $200/month in September, after our son left home. I managed to cut it down $190/month, which is certainly close enough to $200 for me.
Shopping with cash was the biggest help. My budget is still fairly 'big' compared to some who grow a lot of their own vegetables, but we do skip fast food purchases (except for $1/Jr. Whoppers after church on Wednesday nights) and seldom buy prepared mixes.
Now that time will soon be my own once more (or will it?) I hope to begin shopping weekly as opposed to bi-weekly, thereby taking greater advantage of sales/coupon combos to really stock up. We'll see how well that goes when the New Year arrives.
terri aka PennyAnnPoundwise
I do a combination of things that are quite helpful. I am fortunate to have a dh who is happy with pretty much anything. We do soups also - I find if you make a good-sized batch of it that it's filling enough. You could also add inexpensive bread/rolls or cornbread on the side.
It is helpful also to shop for mostly ingredients - staying away from ready-made items cuts my budget a huge amount. Right now I am trying to spend about $30/week for 2 and that is my continued goal for the New Year. I shop reduced produce (still good but marked down) & look for things like reduced meat. I use coupons when warranted & purchase generic items also.
God bless you & your family.
HI...thanks for visiting my site :)
I got very convicted reading your endeavor to be more frugal!!
I surely need to follow your example!