How do you save money in the kitchen?

[FutbolMom]

Several Aldi stores have opened up in our area and they have some great deals. Milk is the biggest $2.69 a gallon which is almost a dollar saving. They have great prices on produce, here they get new produce on Thursday so try to buy it then. Here they have a lot of Fit & Active products and they are good. Everything I've tried has been good.
I don't throw any left over food away. I keep containers in my freezer, if I have a leftover piece of chicken, pork, etc., I chop it up and put it in the approprate container. When it's full, I make something that calls for cooked meat, etc. If I have a banana going bad, I mash it and put it in a container. Then make banana bread, etc. Same with vegetables for soup.
I make a weeks menu using things I have on hand in the freezer. Then go through the sale flyers and buy meat, etc that is on sale then use those items for next weeks menu.

 

[luvs]

coupons! i posted elsewhere that i saved $22 on items & they were only $1.58.

i've a coupon here fer $3, another fer $2. so i'll get my stuff free.

i love coupons.

 

[chilichip]

I buy in bulk , divide and freeze the meat ,buy only on sale use coupons, for gas shop once week, plan deals arounds sale. we eat leftovers now. which is a good thing.

 

[sattie]

Well, I'm down to one roll of paper towels every three weeks! Gonna try and stretch it for a month next time around!

The best ways I have found to save money is make more of my own stuff.... and that goes for just about anything. From food to cleaners. Watching some of the commercials on TV.. it is amazing the stuff they try to make you think you need!

 

[seans_potato_business]

I think there are loads of ways a person can save money, but it depends on what they're already doing. You can cut most meat out for an easy start since you can get much better value from most vegetables. You can also avoid wasting gas/electricity by only heating the water that you need (e.g. a bit more than the vegetables will absorb or, just enough to cover them with a little left over for losses by evaporation). This forum is awash with resource-uneconomic recipes and ideas; there are too many to mention. I think "common sense" would be the best way to sum up all my ideas! Some people might need to lower their standards.

 

[luvs]

"Some people might need to lower their standards."

sean,

i disagree; i save plenty without dropping my standards. i dine on plenty of high-class lunches & dinners without compromising standards when i'm hungry fer them.
i don't mind fast food or stuff like that, though.

 

[faye_arv]

Not taking my wife grocery shopping with me easily cuts the bill in half.

You sound like my husband!! The only thing is...when he gets back from the super market, he has a whole bunch of junk with him that wasn't on the list, like potato chips etc. Do you do that to?

 

[In the Kitchen]

The EDGE! Some of you have stated to freeze most things. I had been doing this for most of my life. Until my electric went out three different times in a two year period did I give up. Was it a great heartache to throw out the contents due to fact that electric was out for more than 7 days. How can someone try to salvage any of it? You could not believe the odor. My cans were loaded with things I had tried so very hard to buy on sale. Could someone tell me what kind of lesson I was to learn from this? Only if we had generator could things have been different, not to mention A/C and heat that was unbelievable. Keeping the windows open with neighbors who were fortunate to have generators was something to remember. I personally, don't know how they themselves slept with all the racket going on. Trying to buy generator seems to be at the bottom of my list for things we need.

Only can recall one advice I read states, 'don't worry about tomorrow, it has enough of its own to worry about'. My freezer is surely not full these days. One reason prices of things are getting out of control.

 

[seans_potato_business]

"Some people might need to lower their standards."

sean,

i disagree; i save plenty without dropping my standards. i dine on plenty of high-class lunches & dinners without compromising standards when i'm hungry fer them.
i don't mind fast food or stuff like that, though.

I guess it really depends on the person and their situation. I did only say "some people" and "might", and what they "need" to do really depends on their respective situations.

The EDGE! Some of you have stated to freeze most things. I had been doing this for most of my life. Until my electric went out three different times in a two year period did I give up. Was it a great heartache to throw out the contents due to fact that electric was out for more than 7 days. How can someone try to salvage any of it? You could not believe the odor. My cans were loaded with things I had tried so very hard to buy on sale. Could someone tell me what kind of lesson I was to learn from this? Only if we had generator could things have been different, not to mention A/C and heat that was unbelievable. Keeping the windows open with neighbors who were fortunate to have generators was something to remember. I personally, don't know how they themselves slept with all the racket going on. Trying to buy generator seems to be at the bottom of my list for things we need.

Only can recall one advice I read states, 'don't worry about tomorrow, it has enough of its own to worry about'. My freezer is surely not full these days. One reason prices of things are getting out of control.

The only thing that I freeze is bread, but that can just as well be refrigerated. It's pretty unusual for an electric outage where I live(d) in the UK and the Netherlands. I've never even heard of one lasting days. With proper planning though, it might be possible to do away with the freezer entirely. I manage, but I'm just a lone student. Since you say that your freezer is mostly empty, depending on the design, you should consider filling it with empty boxes, so when you open it the cold air doesn't rush out so easily (which costs money). Same goes for the refrigerator.

You might try to foster a relationship with your neighbours so that you could store some things in their fridge/freezers in the event of a long-term blackout. I don't know how feasible that is for you.

 

[attie]

Not taking my wife grocery shopping with me easily cuts the bill in half.

LOL, I'm the culprit there but I have learnt to never go shopping when you are hungry.

Several Aldi stores have opened up in our area and they have some great deals. Milk is the biggest $2.69 a gallon which is almost a dollar saving.

We have a few Aldi stores in our major centers but our two main players are Woolworths [not related to the US name] and Coles who control 80% of the market, and don't they play on it.
Crikey, $2.69 a gallon for milk is cheap, the best we can buy it for is about US$6.50 a gallon

 

[GB]

I am not one who subscribes to the don't go food shopping when you are hungry newsletter. I am the opposite. I went shopping tonight when I was hungry. Because I was hungry my mind was on food and what I could make. I bought meals for the week and was able to plan out different meals as opposed to when I usually go shopping and just get what is on my list which generally is for one or two meals at a time.

 

[BreezyCooking]

We had an Aldi open up here in Culpeper last year, & all I can say is that I'd have to be homeless & living out of a cardboard box on the sidewalk before I'd shop there.

We went in shortly after they opened & were absolutely disgusted. After hearing glorious reviews from folks in other areas around the country that had Aldis, we re-visited last month & were just as disgusted.

Aisle upon aisle of off-brand junk food & two aisles of overly warm produce piled on the floor in cardboard boxes just swarming with fruit flies. Yum.

Regardless of how one feels about WalMart's politics, there's one right across the street from this Aldi slime-fest, & I can only hope it puts Aldi out of business. Folks on a budget shouldn't be subjected to this kind of stuff.

Oh, & I've heard that other Aldis aren't like this one, so if you have one that's decent, all the more power to you.

 

[attie]

I am not one who subscribes to the don't go food shopping when you are hungry newsletter. I am the opposite. I went shopping tonight when I was hungry. Because I was hungry my mind was on food and what I could make. I bought meals for the week and was able to plan out different meals as opposed to when I usually go shopping and just get what is on my list which generally is for one or two meals at a time.

I'm the opposite, we shop once a fortnight and just top up with bread and milk in between, before we moved to town we shopped once a month and if I'm hungry I keep adding to the list .

 

[luvs]

I am not one who subscribes to the don't go food shopping when you are hungry newsletter. I am the opposite. I went shopping tonight when I was hungry. Because I was hungry my mind was on food and what I could make. I bought meals for the week and was able to plan out different meals as opposed to when I usually go shopping and just get what is on my list which generally is for one or two meals at a time.

that's an easy way to save cash, geebs, & i agree. if i'm not hungry i buy stuff i really don't want & throw that food out, whereas if i'm hungry, i'll gobble my selections.
some days i get too hungry, & then i'm stuck with overflowing shelves, !
oh, well, balance is key, they say.

 

[GB]

You should get yourself organised GB, we shop once a fortnight and just top up with bread and milk in between, before we moved to town we shopped once a month.

I happen to be a very organized person thank you. I like to shop in frequent trips instead of once a month as we do not have space for all that food and I also like to get my food as fresh as possible. If I am buying veggies I buy them the day I use them. Same with meat.

My staples I always have on hand, but veggies and meats and fish get bought that day usually. I live 5 minutes from the market so it is not a big deal to go there when we need.

 

[attie]

Sorry GB, I changed that post but you were to quick, I didn't mean to infer you weren't organised but we didn't have the luxury of being close to the shops so it was a necessity to plan well ahead

 

[GB]

Not a problem Attie. Thanks.

 

[PattY1]

I usually shop Big. Buy on sale items and stock up. I like the feeling of knowing that what I feel like cooking, the ingredients are in the house. I made Lasagna yesterday and did not have any ricotta cheese. I processed some cottage cheese in the food processor. No body could tell the difference and I have some left over to eat with my pineapple(no waste).

 

[blissful]

This past year we had a flood, don't ask me how long the freezer floated while running, I replaced it soon after and no loss of food (thank God).
I canned pickles--cucumbers, veggies, peppers and make jams, picked up a pressure canner too and have canned meats and poultry. I'll be doing green beans later this week. I doubled the garden and doubled the herb garden too (to dry and store for fresh dried herbs). I will probably dehydrate tomatoes--easier and less processing time, less cost than canned. I collect canning jars from friends and rummage sales.
My son and some friends of mine built a pantry for the basement so I could store my canned goods, and those canned goods they give me at work (we make cans at work).
I made some different things, like high bush cranberry ketchup which is really spicy and sweet, I like it. Corn relish like my mom used to make when I was growing up. Peach blue berry and lavender jam.
I have fruit trees too and if all else fails, I'll buy bulk at the road side stands, we have them everywhere and I'll put those veggies up. There is even a farmer that used to work where I work, and he stops in on Thursdays at noon to see if anyone wants to buy his veggies.
I give some of my canned stuff away to relatives for christmas and some to my starving 20 something year old sons--poor things, ha.
I didn't grow corn but there is lots of corn at the road side stands so I may be pressure cooking that too for the winter. I also can dried beans to make preparation faster when I want to eat them.
In my mind I see myself canning 3 or 4 nights a week with some preparation, so 7 qts x 3 = 21 quarts a week for a month or so, maybe 2 months. (prewashing jars, preheating in oven, prepping veggies) I should have 100-200 more cans of canned food done before deer hunting season. My favorite for cold salads is pressure canned turkey when turkey goes on sale then I cook it and pressure can it, I mix it with grapes cut in half, celery, mayo, white pepper, sugar and serve between two slices of real whole wheat bread. Yum!
I do shop one stores loss leaders, and I buy in bulk, only what we eat. I don't have time for coupons and usually buy generic if I need to buy something that isn't just meat, fish, poultry, veggies, fruit, milk, dairy products. I make my own soap, and laundry soap too.
I seem to have more time to cook meals (week-ends mostly) in the winter to get us through the week.
We are in bean season now, yay, beans! Dilly beans and pressure cooked beans.
~Bliss

 

[babetoo]

my goodness you are a busy bee. that is a lot of work , does anyone help you. good for you though, better food and certainly less expensive.

babe