Not Scrimping Enough! Couple Feels Crunch at the Grocery Store.
I just read a story REUTERS published about how tough it is right now in our declining economy to keep food on the table. According to the story they sent reporters to Wal-Mart this week (Tuesday and Wednesday) in order to get a feel for how shoppers are being impacted by things like rising gas prices. According to the story, one family they talked to is really being hit hard by their don’t-know-how-to-shop, bad case of consumerism budget and cash-flow problem now that they’re in a spending crunch.
With money tight and food prices rising, Norris can no longer afford to buy beef and chicken on a regular basis. “We buy meat only for special occasions. Like for Easter, we had a ham,” she said after a shopping trip at her local Wal-Mart in Romeoville, a mixed blue- and white-collar suburb of Chicago.Norris must purchase only what is on her shopping list, to avoid spending more than she can afford.
“Sometimes I cry,” she said, when she passes items on store shelves she can no longer buy.
CRY? She CRIES? Okay now reading something like this really gets me upset and even more motivated to hurry with my Series “Intelligent Shopping”. But first I’d just like to say that if you’re CRYING because you can’t afford something, I’m not sure a course in shopping intelligently is going to help all that much? Maybe it will. I don’t know. I know that it’s hard to adjust to change. This “Change” has been a long time coming, though - gas prices have been rising since last year - so why aren’t more people prepared? Maybe you’re starting to prepare, and that’s why you’re here? Good for you.
On not being able to afford Chicken / Beef:
If your budget is really so tight that you can’t afford to eat like you’re used to, you need to adjust how you’re eating. It’s an adjustment, like anything else, but learning to eat more vegetable-based meals IS healthier, isn’t it? You’ll need to master new cooking skills - and really stretch the food. Learn where to shop for WHAT - for example - buying your bread at your local “bread store” vs. the supermarket can save you 50% or more on bead. Don’t go hog wild and buy 20 loaves when you see the fantastic prices - that’s not saving when you only have a little bit of cash to get you through the week! I prefer to buy my bread every couple days - it’s fresher that way, anyway. It’s not “on sale” anyway - those prices stay that way.
Here are some more tips to manage a major spending crunch, ( as in oh my gawd, we have, like $50, what can we buy with $50?) — but still eat well:
- Decide What your budget is. Seriously. Is there 4 of you and you have $60? If so, you’re doing pretty good, so don’t be scared! Deep breath.
- Take total inventory of your pantry and your refrigerator and write in a notebook some possible meals you can create. If you don’t have a kitchen notebook, start one. Or a piece of paper to someday be part of a notebook. Or the back of a paper sack. In order to feed your family frugally you need to start and keep a kitchen notebook. More on that later. Here’s what to do: Make notes of what ingredients you might need in order to stretch what you have into actual meals. To help you think - write down in a list what you have in the pantry and fridge. Four. Salt. Baking Soda. Eggs. Milk. (Wow! Pancake night!) See how it works? If you need help, email me, I’ll help you. People are often amazed with what I can come up with when it looks like there’s “no food”.
- Get ORGANIZED - Check sale fliers to all local supermarkets. Circle items you need. Then check to see if you have any coupons to match. Write your shopping list. Expect to spend more than an hour on this part. With what you save, it’s like paying yourself for the time you need to plan. You might have to go to more than one supermarket in order to take advantage of sales and stretch your money - don’t make a big case of it, though, if going to more storesinvolves lots of driving, and keeping gas in your car is a problem. ** Try to fill in missing ingredients to create meals with what you’ve already got - and try to do that with “loss leaders” - the sale items from the grocery stores.
- Look on a recipes web site like recipezaar.com to find inexpensive / simple recipes and meals made from what you have + what’s on sale. The site has an ingredient search where you can find recipes that contain one or more ingredients. Milk is going on sale here at $2.50 / gallon so I spent some time at RecipeZaar.Com and came up with a way to use 16 cups (a gallon) of milk in a variety of recipes (sauces, etc.) that I can throw in the freezer. I might go crazy and do 2 gallons prepared.
- Next in the notebook, list out what convenience foods you normally buy. Because you’re not going to buy them, you’re going to make them, homemade. Convenience foods are usually prepackaged foods like Macaroni & Cheese, Frozen pizza rolls, frozen burritos, frozen hash browns, instant breakfast, instant oatmeal, cereal bars, and whatnot. Items and products that you are used to buying and making “fast” that are already prepared for are convenience foods - and they’re expensive. You are paying for the convenience not only in cost but in your health - they’re either FULL of preservatives or the vitamins are stripped in processing so they cook faster. Why pay MORE for LESS? You can’t afford those items anymore - but you can still enjoy these foods by taking a day, or an hour or two over the course of a couple days and making these foods yourself! And why not feed yourself and your family something that’s good? So make a list, then find recipes, and figure what your shopping list is in order to have some of those convenience foods.
- ELIMINATE the purchase of all cleaning products and laundry items. Yes, you heard me right. I don’t care if you have a coupon. Click HERE to learn how to make EVERY cleaning product you need, yourself, for about $20 give or take. $20 will buy you some chicken, ground beef, fresh veggies, and whatnot - you need your money now to feed your family, not “clean” your home with over-priced chemicals that are bad for you and for the environment. NOTE: I will allow you to buy toilet paper and liquid dish soap (the cheap kind) if you absolutely must. If you have a surplus of paper coffee filters, however, forget the toilet paper! Put a stack of filters in the bathroom, hey it works, and it might get you to your next paycheck. Think I’m kidding? I’ve had to do that. Coffee filters are so useful. (This is a whole different post, altogether!) -
- Do NOT buy Paper Towels, scented candle refills, air freshener spray, napkins, and what-have-yous. See my link to cleaning supplies recipes and tips, instead. You’re going to be making some freezer-foods so do, instead, make sure you have plastic wrap and aluminum foil, at a minimum. The CHEAP brands. Wear a pretty dress, put on some lipstick. No one will notice the “cheap” brands.
- What to Eat, Cheap?? Try some ethnic foods. Asian food is delicious, easy to make homemade with cheap ingredients and FUN! Also asian food is beautiful! I recommend Thai food. It’s yummy delicious, and preparing it isn’t difficult - the flavors of Thai food are salty, sweet, sour and hot. You simply start with onion / garlic, add veggies and a sauce, then meat. Or forget the meat. The base of a Thai meal is the rice. Did you know, if you had an Asian Market in your city, you can purchase a 25-pound bag of Jasmine Rice for about $14? That’s 400 servings of rice. You do the math - (Price divided by number of servings = Price Per Unit) NOTE: Rice is a LOT more expensive in the grocery store - find an Asian Market - they have LOTS of wonderful ingredients you might normally buy (garlic cloves, sauces, rice, noodles, vegetables…) for a LOT cheaper! (I get 4 very large cloves of garlic at my Asian Market for $1.00!). Start eating rice with every meal - it’s cheap, good for you, and delicious. Spaghetti. Tuna Noodle casserole. You get the idea.
- Forget “Meat and Potatoes” - if you’re having a veggie meal, don’t worry - it can be really tasty and good just be sure to spice it up and use a variety of colors (foods) on the plate. Make it pretty. You can even make some amazing vegetarian meals out of beans and lentils. (Lentil Loaf is yummy!) Dry beans and lentil are really cheap - and very delicious prepared homemade!
- If you’re addicted to soda, like I was, I know how difficult it is to “go without” - I depended on my Pepsi and Mountain Dew. Don’t go cold-turkey. Do make sweet tea. Do make flavored water. Discover how refreshing ice cold, cheap sweet tea is to drink. I’m down to about 6 ounces of Pepsi a day now. Pretty amazing, since I used to could down a 12-pack of soda in a day and I’m NOT kidding. How did I do it? Easy - I lost my job last March - and one day I realized (painfully) I didn’t have money for Pepsi. One thing my husband did was eliminate his daily soda while at work. He was spending $1.25 sometimes twice a day for a soda out of the machine at work. I went to Wal-Mart and bought a CUBE - and then we budgeted 10 sodas a week - 10 sodas in 7 days. Now he’s down to probably 3 sodas a week, bless his pointed little head, what a sweetheart! (I’m never without my coffee!) (I just don’t go to Starbucks anymore!) Again, do the math to figure out the Price Per Unit on a cube of soda (about $7.00) - then calculate 10-a-week and compare to the $1.25 to $2.50 per DAY we were spending. Besides, soda rots your teeth. Just sayin.
- When it’s time to go shopping be sure you’re NOT HUNGRY or thirsty and you’re not tired or fatigued. Would you go to work hungry / tired / fatigued? Well I’m sure you would if you HAD to, but come on. This is serious business - being mentally and physically alert will really make a difference. Bring a bottle of water with you. Maybe a snack - an apple or something.
- A word about product prices. It’s NOT always the best buy to get the larger package (they used to call them “economy size” - think again). Instead, compare the Price-Per-Unit on different sized packages to make sure to get the REAL “economy size”. Stay away from items promoted for what looks like a good price in store aisle end-caps. (Those are the displays at the end of aisles). Instead, go to the product aisle itself - you’re bound to discover a major difference in price-per-unit. This was the case recently with Cheez-Its at my local supermarket. They ALMOST got me, too! Also consider how much do you really need? If you’re waiting on the next paycheck, which is in say, a week, why do you want to buy 20 cans of tomato sauce just because they’re on SALE? Forget it, you don’t need it. (Frugal Tough Love, here) Get one or two cans, just get through this first week or two and save your cash for meat, dairy, milk, oil, spices, vegetables, pantry items. Or, put some gas in your car. You can’t fuel your car with tomato sauce!
- When you’re planning your meals, plan for more than ONE meal if you can. Plan this way: with this chuck roast we’ll have roast, mashed potatoes and carrots…then in two days I’ll use the leftovers to make BBQ beef sandwiches with fried potatoes (leftover mashed potatoes are delicious this way). I’ll save the carrots in the freezer to use in a stew later in the week or next week. See? Your leftovers are not your snacks anymore, they’re ingredients for the next meal. But do figure out what “snacks” will be! Everyone needs snacks. Try oatmeal cookies (homemade, of course!), tortillas with butter & cinnamon, carrot & celery sticks, apple slices dipped in peanut butter, leftover noodles with butter & garlic.
- Adjust your recipes. If a recipe calls for tomato sauce, and you don’t have any, but you have a tomato in the fridge - don’ t be afraid to chop it up and use that instead. It will change it some but food is food and flavors are flavors, and it won’t kill you. Chili without the meat is still yummy chili. Same with spaghetti. And so on. Get flexible in the kitchen with recipes. Write your findings in your kitchen notebook. You just might discover a “better” way to do something - all because you’re forced to.
I have fed 2 people good meals and snacks for TWO WEEKS on less than $30. I fed my five kids and my husband and I on less than $300 / month. They will never know how hard I worked to make that happen.
It’s not easy or fun when money is tight and you have so many conflicting priorities - gas for the car, insurance, diapers, Starbucks, manicure, baby formula, Febreeze, dry-cleaning, food - but you are going to survive! And, you’ll be proud of your hard work. Heck, you might not ever go back to convenience foods and expensive cleaning products - I didn’t. I found that it was no problem to work in the extra time it takes to make those things myself and I also found that my product was superior in health, taste and effectiveness. It’s such a wonderful thing to serve your family in this way.
Now, no more crying in Wal-Mart. Smile and go on, you’re doing a great job for your family!
