Cutting your Grocery Budget - In Home Tips (part 1)
Apr 05 '00
This is the 11th of several epinions that are focused "getting the most out of your grocery budget". Please take the time to read them all. You may not be able to utilize every tip, but I am sure you will find some tricks and learn some things you didn't know. THERE ARE OVER 150 TIPS ALTOGETHER. I welcome you to attach a comment to this epinion after reading it. You can also reach me at my email if you have specific questions or comments.
IN HOME TIPS (I decided to divide this section into several epinions to make it easier to read. I just think 30 or 40 tips in one epinion is a little overwhelming)
84) SET A MEALTIME: My husband is an electrician, which means he doesn't work 8 to 5. Although he generally goes to work at 8, he may get off work anywhere from 5 pm to 9 pm. It's hard to have a meal ready and waiting for him because he never knows what time he will be home. This is an area that we are still working on, because it's hard for me, but I really believe it's important.
Set a mealtime, something that is convenient for the whole family. Once you've determined a mealtime, do your best to serve supper at that time on a consistent basis. For starters, it's healthy, because your body can develop a more regular schedule as well. Serve the meal to whomever is home at that time. If hubby comes in late, then he (or you) can warm his meal in the microwave. There is no reason to fix a meal and have the entire family wait, sometimes for hours for everyone to get home.
85) LET THE FAMILY HELP: Set up a schedule and allow the family to cook a meal now and then. Because their cooking skills will differ from yours, you will have a variety of meals this way, plus a great opportunity to save money and time. Young kids will serve things like sandwiches or hot dogs, both of which is inexpensive meals.
86) TEACH THE FAMILY HOW TO SHOP: When I was about 10 years old, my Mom decided to teach my sister and I a valuable lesson. I don't know if she knew at the time how valuable it was really going to be. I guess my mom was spending about $200 a month on groceries, because I remember she told us that we each got 1/4 of the grocery budget and I remember my share was $12.50 per week. We were allowed to buy any and everything we could with our $12.50 BUT there were some conditions that went along with that. Whatever we bought, had to feed us ALLLLL week. And once a week, we had to fix the full meal for the family.
Well, the first week, I thought my Mom had lost it. Can you imagine, she gave a 10 year old $12.50 and turned me loose in the store. Well, I remember clearly that I bought bologna and bread with a very small portion, and spent the rest.... yes the rest, on ice cream cake. You know, the kind that are rolled up and frozen. Needless to say, "my night" to serve dinner wasn't very exciting... and before long, neither were the rest of my nights. My sister bought candy bars and cokes the best I remember.
I imagine my Mom thought she had created a monster. But her plan worked great. It only took us a week to figure out we were going to have to make some changes and by the time summer was over, we had a whole new respect for grocery shopping and eating. It's a tip I'm going to use with my kids.... SOON!!
87) TEACH THE FAMILY HOW TO COOK: Generally it's either the husband or the wife that does the majority of the cooking which is fine. But the other spouse and the children need to know how to cook. What happens when the primary "chef" gets sick or goes out of town, the family either goes out to eat, orders delivery or buys TV dinners. It's important that other members of the family know how to cook so they can take over when the primary "chef" is unavailable for whatever reason.
88) CONSERVING WHAT YOU HAVE: This is the problem I have with buying in bulk. If I buy a case of canned corn, then I get a false sense of "having plenty". I will open 2 cans instead of one and then either my husband forces himself to eat all of it or I don't get the leftovers put up soon enough and I end up wasting part of a can of corn. Don't cook 2 cans if 1 can is enough. Even though the family might eat part of the second can, ask yourself, "can we do without the second can?" most likely, yes you can. That saves the second can for another night.
89) CREATE A MEAL: Look in the cabinet, frig or freezer and see what you have, then design a meal around it. Using the supplies you have on hand, keeps you out of the grocery store and ultimately saves you money. And you just might discover a new found family favorite, just by throwing unlikely ingredients together.
90) SCRAPE THE JAR: Don't throw out a jar of peanut butter or mayonnaise until you scrape the jar. Generally there will be enough for 2 more sandwiches in either. It might not seem like much, but someday when you run out and need "just a little more" you will regret throwing out the jar without cleaning it thoroughly. Besides, you are basically wasting 1 jar out of every 10 by not scraping the jar.
91) EMPTY THE CONTAINER BEFORE OPENING A NEW ONE: Oh, I am world's worst at this. I buy a new bottle of ketchup, and open it. Then I discover that there was still ½ inch of ketchup in the bottle in the frig, but I just keep using the new bottle and pushing the old bottle to the side. Eventually, I end up throwing the old bottle out, which wastes the portion that was still in the bottle. I'm learning not to open a new bottle until the old one is completely empty.
92) DON'T BE A SHORT-ORDER COOK: Plan your meals and let your family eat it or suffer (to put it mildly). You're working hard to stay on a budget and get the most out of your groceries, the last thing you need to hassle with is fixing 4 different meals for picky eaters. It is understandable that once in a while you may fix a meal that someone doesn't like, so for cases like that, decide on an inexpensive alternative to the meal. Something like cereal or a sandwich or frozen leftovers.
93) EAT LESS BY TAKING LESS and COOKING LESS: I love cooking and my husband loves eating, so we make a perfect match, but not necessarily a healthy match. Because he loves to eat, I used to fix HUGE meals. But he would eat until all of the food was gone! He just likes to eat. But that gets expensive, not to mention the extra weight he put on. So, I've started cooking less, that way there is less of a temptation for him. He has started taking less so that he can still fill his plate 3 or 4... or 5 times. Occasionally, I will even start putting the leftovers up before he is finished as an added precaution to temptation.
94) DON'T FORCE YOURSELF TO EAT IT ALL: A bad habit we have all had at one time or another is taking more food than we can eat. A worse habit is forcing yourself (or worse, your children) to finish something you're too full to eat. No, I don't agree that you should allow everyone at the table to dump half a plate of food in the trash. Teach them to take less, but in cases when that doesn't work, allow the dog to eat it! Forcing yourself to eat AFTER you're full is very unhealthy. It stretches your stomach so eventually you won't be full until you've overeaten. It can also cause terrible stomach or intestinal problems including blockage or ruptured lining. Not to mention the discomfort of a stuffed stomach and the possibility of nausea resulting in the total loss of everything that was consumed. Teach a more valuable lesson of taking less, not eating more.
95) USE THOSE EXPENSIVE APPLIANCES YOU HAD TO HAVE: I am an electric appliance nut. I just love all kinds of kitchen gadgets and appliances. But I'm pretty faithful to use them too. Those appliances are manufactured to make your kitchen time easier and more efficient, but they can also help with your grocery budget. Use your blender and make homemade ice cream shakes, use that fancy sandwich maker for grilled cheese, use your food processor to make the absolute best and least expensive hot sauce you ever tasted (recipe listed separately). Either get those appliances out and use them, or get rid of them.
Hopefully these tips will give you a few new tricks to try at home. Thanks and good luck in your efforts to strengthen your grocery budget.
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