expatgirl
Master Chef
my hubby is in the oil industry, Stuart.........so you go with the flow........
Where do you save $$$
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I save money by planning and I save Sweden farmers too, by only buying Swedish meat even if it is more expensive. I dont mind paying extra for one of Europe's better animal husbandry laws and I make sure my eggs are free range from the local area, these a free range indoors.
I save but make sure the farmers get the enough money to get food on their table too, so yeah it is a balance but I prefer to do it this way.
I save but make sure the farmers get the enough money to get food on their table too, so yeah it is a balance but I prefer to do it this way.
StuartCooks
Cook
lol go with the flow indeed Expat!
CakePoet, that is awesome of you
CakePoet, that is awesome of you
Good thinking.
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expatgirl
Master Chef
you know..........`i grew up with my German grandmother's free range chickens....only `i didn't know that's what they were called at the time.....she's let them out of the henhouse (for lack of a better word) early in the morning and they would roam throughout the day........even by the side of the dirt road and none of them ever got hurt of run over.......and to this day `i could imitate them to a T hunting for stuff to eat.......the way they would tilt their heads, give a sidelong glance.....look at you,,,,,,,,,look again .......then stare at you........and then tilt their heads........hilarious.........and then my sisters and `i would fight over who was going to augment their diet of grasshoppers, etc., with chickenfeed (mostly corn).....finally our Grandmother solved it by giving us days of the week to feed them......you would have thought we were feeding the pope......oh, my those were the good days.......and to think that was what a `'free range chicken was`'......hahaha
expatgirl
Master Chef
and yes, she would grab up one of those free range chickens ever so often for a Sunday dinner......that's how she saved money.......the feathers were plucked for pillows,too.......man, she didn't waste anything!.....
GotGarlic
Chef Extraordinaire
My mother told me she remembers her grandmother swinging the chicken's head around till it sheared off and flew into the cornfield 
Talk about wringing its neck. So glad I don't have to do that.
Talk about wringing its neck. So glad I don't have to do that.
expatgirl
Master Chef
me either!
expatgirl
Master Chef
the worse things we ever did to the chickens was to give 2 of them a bath.......my sister in crime and `i grabbed 2 of them and brought them into Granma's house to give them a bath......poop, feathers, and squawking everywhere.......to the day she died (she was born in 1900) she would laugh until she cried recounting that story.....she wasn't laughing, however, at the time........
Addie
Chef Extraordinaire
Being diabetic cuts down on a lot of junk foods and prepared snacks. No sweets in this house. I do occasionally bake a bread product. Cinnamon rolls, small loaf of bread, etc. I will make a small saucepan of a pasta sauce from fresh tomatoes. Even though they cost more, I always buy them on the vine. Because they tend to be high in natural sugars, I buy about four or five pieces of fresh fruit each month. Meats? Manager's Specials are the first item to go into my basket. Then I hunt the sales. There are some meats I don't care for too much. Pork is one of them. I will buy a really thick one to stuff. I look for the cheapest cut of beef I can find and will grind it to make my own burger meat. That cheap cut of beef often cost less per pound than already ground burger meat. And sometime so are the Manager Specials. I do like liver. Fortunately for me because I am constantly anemic. All leftovers to into the freezer. Usually just enough for one serving. Perfect for when I don't feel like cooking a meal.
You have to hunt the sales flyers. And coupons can be a great savings. We have 'corner stores' in my neighborhood. Milk can cost $1.49 in the supermarket. That same size can cost as much as $3.00 at the corner store. So I never spend my food money there. For can goods, I usually buy house brand. I don't have many of them though. What I do have is mostly used in baking.
I keep my expenses down by saving on household products. Toilet paper, cleaning items, etc. If they are not of the highest quality, a little elbow grease with a Brillo or SOS pad, always gets the job done.
You have to hunt the sales flyers. And coupons can be a great savings. We have 'corner stores' in my neighborhood. Milk can cost $1.49 in the supermarket. That same size can cost as much as $3.00 at the corner store. So I never spend my food money there. For can goods, I usually buy house brand. I don't have many of them though. What I do have is mostly used in baking.
I keep my expenses down by saving on household products. Toilet paper, cleaning items, etc. If they are not of the highest quality, a little elbow grease with a Brillo or SOS pad, always gets the job done.
In Sweden pork is cheaper then beef, so today on sale and member bonus , I got stew pork for 6 USA dollar per kilo and that is cheap. I also know this store pays extra for Swedish pork then other stores, it goes of their profits and not the customers food bill. So the meat is a fair price and the farmer gets a fair price.
Steve Kroll
Wine Guy
I eat very simple, and I think that saves a lot of money. Most of my meals consist of nothing more than a protein and a vegetable.
Being single, I can eat for a week on very little. My "base" breakfast most days consists of 3 eggs, 2 strips of bacon, and a cup of coffee. I buy eggs in a 30-count carton for $2.29. That 7.5 cents per egg, or $0.23 for breakfast. I buy bacon when it's on sale - which is quite often - and stock up. Last week it was $4/lb at Fresh Thyme. Again, that's 33 cents per slice. Fresh Thyme also had gourmet coffee on sale for $5.99 a pound. We're not talking Folgers, either. It was fresh ground Jamaican Blue Mountain. Awesome coffee for the price.
I don't have lunch every day, but when I do, it's often just a salad with some fatty homemade dressing.
Vegetables I buy at the farmers market. From what I've read here on DC, they can be expensive in some parts of the country. With the exception of a few hoity-toity markets, most here are not expensive at all. Since I don't eat much fruit and stick to mostly greens, it's super cheap. I can spend less than $10 and get more veggies than I can eat in a week.
Meat is about the only thing I splurge on. But if you shop around, buy in bulk, and seek out the "manager's special" packs, it saves a ton. I try to limit fish to no more than once a week. I don't exactly live in fresh fish country, so it's expensive here.
I like a glass of wine most nights. Yes, it's an indulgence. But I make my own for an average cost of $2-5 per bottle. I go through two bottles a week.
Things I don't buy: packaged or convenience foods, mixes, or condiments. Almost everything I eat is fresh or homemade, or at least mostly homemade. I don't raise cattle or anything like that.
Being single, I can eat for a week on very little. My "base" breakfast most days consists of 3 eggs, 2 strips of bacon, and a cup of coffee. I buy eggs in a 30-count carton for $2.29. That 7.5 cents per egg, or $0.23 for breakfast. I buy bacon when it's on sale - which is quite often - and stock up. Last week it was $4/lb at Fresh Thyme. Again, that's 33 cents per slice. Fresh Thyme also had gourmet coffee on sale for $5.99 a pound. We're not talking Folgers, either. It was fresh ground Jamaican Blue Mountain. Awesome coffee for the price.
I don't have lunch every day, but when I do, it's often just a salad with some fatty homemade dressing.
Vegetables I buy at the farmers market. From what I've read here on DC, they can be expensive in some parts of the country. With the exception of a few hoity-toity markets, most here are not expensive at all. Since I don't eat much fruit and stick to mostly greens, it's super cheap. I can spend less than $10 and get more veggies than I can eat in a week.
Meat is about the only thing I splurge on. But if you shop around, buy in bulk, and seek out the "manager's special" packs, it saves a ton. I try to limit fish to no more than once a week. I don't exactly live in fresh fish country, so it's expensive here.
I like a glass of wine most nights. Yes, it's an indulgence. But I make my own for an average cost of $2-5 per bottle. I go through two bottles a week.
Things I don't buy: packaged or convenience foods, mixes, or condiments. Almost everything I eat is fresh or homemade, or at least mostly homemade. I don't raise cattle or anything like that.
Having raised 8 children on a tight income, I became very inventive with ways to save money. I didn't grow up with store-bought snacks so I didn't even bring them into the house when the children were growing up.
Even though both of us had jobs that took us out of the house for easily 8 hours per day, I still prepared "from scratch" meals. The minor exception was the days boxed cereal showed up on the breakfast table.
One of the areas I find most costly is laundry. Laundry detergent is obscenely, in my view, expensive. Wish I had known about DIY laundry detergent when I was doing a zillion loads a week.
I do have to purchase the ingredients for the homemade version of laundry detergent, which means I have to shop the detergent aisle. Omigosh! Even though a number of producers have concentrated their liquid products, we're still paying handsomely for water. Then, look at how many of those plastic containers must go into landfills?! Makes me nuts.
I'm not a greenie or tree-hugger as my children call those devoted folks, but there's got to be some reason to some of this foolishness.
Since I've been making our liquid laundry detergent, not a single bottle has gone to recycling or into the trash. In fact, I wash out and reuse empty gallon Gatorade containers. Don't have any more of those either since I've been mixing the powdered version. Okay, off my soapbox...literally.
As for saving money, I shop sales hard. For example, our Kroger had 4-pound bags of sugar for 99 cents this week. Five went into my cart. I have a huge, and I mean huge, Tupperware barrel (I guess you could call it a barrel.) and all five bags of sugar went into that. Sugar keeps and I have a stash to rely on when holiday baking rolls around. Normally the same size bag us just shy of $2.
Same store had 18-count large eggs for 99 cents, too. They were more like extra-large. Bought three of those. Eggs keep longer than people realize, so we're set for a good while there.
Non-grocery items are something I keep an eye on for sales, coupons, etc. Do my homework via the Internet before I shop. Yesterday we needed something that only Bed, Bath & Beyond carried. All totaled up, the purchase was just under $25. With discounts, sale prices, and coupons, I paid $10.
Buck used to say I could make a penny cry. Glenn comments similarly.
Even though both of us had jobs that took us out of the house for easily 8 hours per day, I still prepared "from scratch" meals. The minor exception was the days boxed cereal showed up on the breakfast table.
One of the areas I find most costly is laundry. Laundry detergent is obscenely, in my view, expensive. Wish I had known about DIY laundry detergent when I was doing a zillion loads a week.
I do have to purchase the ingredients for the homemade version of laundry detergent, which means I have to shop the detergent aisle. Omigosh! Even though a number of producers have concentrated their liquid products, we're still paying handsomely for water. Then, look at how many of those plastic containers must go into landfills?! Makes me nuts.
I'm not a greenie or tree-hugger as my children call those devoted folks, but there's got to be some reason to some of this foolishness.
Since I've been making our liquid laundry detergent, not a single bottle has gone to recycling or into the trash. In fact, I wash out and reuse empty gallon Gatorade containers. Don't have any more of those either since I've been mixing the powdered version. Okay, off my soapbox...literally.
As for saving money, I shop sales hard. For example, our Kroger had 4-pound bags of sugar for 99 cents this week. Five went into my cart. I have a huge, and I mean huge, Tupperware barrel (I guess you could call it a barrel.) and all five bags of sugar went into that. Sugar keeps and I have a stash to rely on when holiday baking rolls around. Normally the same size bag us just shy of $2.
Same store had 18-count large eggs for 99 cents, too. They were more like extra-large. Bought three of those. Eggs keep longer than people realize, so we're set for a good while there.
Non-grocery items are something I keep an eye on for sales, coupons, etc. Do my homework via the Internet before I shop. Yesterday we needed something that only Bed, Bath & Beyond carried. All totaled up, the purchase was just under $25. With discounts, sale prices, and coupons, I paid $10.
Buck used to say I could make a penny cry. Glenn comments similarly.
expatgirl
Master Chef
Wow, `katie.......8 children........you're amazing and `i remember your hubby and how much he helped me.......you are truly a treasure on this site!!!
Well, it was interesting to say the least.
We used to buy milk 4 gallons at a time and eggs in half case boxes (15 dozen). I'd freeze quantities for scrambled eggs and the rest would evaporate.
I clearly remember many a weekend spent making pancakes and waffles for the freezer. I'd shortcut the process and use a whole, large, box of Bisquick for either or. No Eggo in our house.
I'd also fry up pounds and pounds of bacon and sausage links/patties and freeze them which, along with either pancakes or waffles, left no excuse for anyone NOT to have a substantial breakfast. Always had fresh fruit or a juice of some sort to round out breakfast.
Having those breakfasts prepped and handy was extremely helpful during a period of time when Buck and I were having to drive 4 of the children to their old schools while we were between houses. It was quite a juggling act.
Don't even get me started on dinnertime.
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I have 3 and I think that is enough.... and I only have one at home. 8 no way... but then again, I guess you get used to it.
I have a lot of home made stuff in the fridge for quick and easy food, just because I sometimes go off on to my retreat and sleep and well dad cant cook.
I have a lot of home made stuff in the fridge for quick and easy food, just because I sometimes go off on to my retreat and sleep and well dad cant cook.
Yeah, my full blooded Sámi farmor (from a reindeer herding family) "became Swedish". Don't get me started on who counts as Sámi. We aren't supposed to get political here. (I get political on FaceBook and joined a number of Sámi groups.) I look Sámi enough (Asian eyes, dark hair 162 cm tall) that I don't pass for Swedish, even when I spoke fluent Swedish and my accent was good enough that people in Skåne thought I was from Stockholm. I have been called rude things in Sweden.
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