In these economic times, how many people do not want to spend less money when feeding a family?
Here are the cost breakdowns of some recipes that I made recently. I selected these particular ones because I know how much what I used cost 🙂
Soup Beans and Dumplings:
Left Over Ham Bone: Free, it was left over from eating the ham
Soup Beans: $ .69
Milk: $.10
Onion, Flour, Salt, Pepper, are from kitchen staple supplies.
Cost = $.79 without staples Total Cost: Under $1.00
Yield = Dinner and Lunch for 2 Adults and 1 Child
Pepperoni Casserole:
Macaroni: $.80 (with coupon and sale)
Pasta Sauce: $ 1.32 (with coupon and sale)
Cheese: $1.50 (with coupon and sale)
Total Cost: $3.72, or $ 5.22 for double cheese
Yield: 2 Dinners for 2 Adults and 1 Child
Vegetable Beef Stew:
Beef: $3.50 (We buy our beef in bulk and paid $3.10 per pound no matter what the cut)
Parsnips: $.50
Vegetable Stock: $3.10
Celery: $ .10
Organic Canned Tomatoes: $.97(with coupon and sale)
Frozen Vegetables: $1.00(sale)
Potatoes: .40
Sugar, Salt, Pepper are from kitchen staple supplies.
Cost: $9.57 without staples Total Cost: Under $10
Yield: 1 Dinner and 2 Lunches for 2 Adults and 1 Child
Baked Oatmeal:
Oat Meal: $ .75 (with coupon and sale)
Raisins: $ .66 (sale)
Brown Sugar: $.15
Eggs: $.73
Milk: $.40
Butter: $1.28 (with coupon and sale)
Salt, Cinnamon, and Baking Powder are from kitchen staple supplies.
Cost: $3.97 without staples Total Cost: Just over $4
Yield: 4 Breakfasts for 2 Adults and 1 Child
I calculated the costs using what I actually paid for many of the ingredients and estimating the remainder from my kitchen staples.
What are kitchen staples?
Basically, kitchen staples are foods you try to always try to have on hand.
Although, I always try to have eggs, milk, bread, oats, brown sugar and butter on hand, I did cost them out separately.
My staples include spices, sugar, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and bread crumbs, vegetable oil, nonstick spray, olive oil, vinegars, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, honey,rice, pasta, and molasses.
To save money, try to buy staples on sale with coupons or in bulk. Try stock up when you find a good deal. Actually, I stock up on almost everything when I find a really good deal.
How do you know if it is a good deal?
Keep a journal of what you buy and how much it cost so you can see what prices were good for your area and to look for the sales trend (typically every 6-8 weeks in most places).Eventually, you learn the prices and stop relying on the journal. I do keep track every few months as prices tend to increase.
How do I save more?
Well, I know I have mentioned it before, but I use coupons with sale items at stores that double many coupon values.
Cut coupons from the newspaper, All You Magazine, other magazines and the Internet. Sign up at manufacture websites and print coupons from sites including coupons.com.
Spices are great to buy in bulk. Local honey is also cheaper in bulk. I used to buy many of my dry goods in bulk when I lived closer to the Amish Country in Ohio. They had good quality and good prices.
What about the quality of your groceries?
Well, I do not buy much that is not name brand. I get it cheaper than buying store brands when I combine coupons and sales.
I even buy a lot of organic items, especially dairy. Many manufactures of organic items have coupons and they go on sale as well.
I also buy produce at the farmers markets and try and raise some of my own to can and freeze.
How do you stock up on perishables?
Most vegetables and fruits can be frozen, canned or dried.
Peppers and onions freeze well with hardly any effort.
Blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, and peaches are freeze extremely well with hardly any effort.
Bread, flour, pie crusts, and even pies freeze well.
Milk freezes but it has to be used up fairly quickly when thawed. I think it is best suited for freezing in smaller portions and using for cooking.
Meat can be frozen and refrozen after cooking.
Finally, we eat left overs. You may have noticed that from my cost breakdown. I don’t even think I knew that there were people who did not eat leftovers when I was growing up. I don’t think my daughter realizes it either.
Although you may not see a great amount of savings in your first few weeks, it can add up over the long haul.