The price of food is going up, but there are lots of things you can do to keep your costs low. Here are some of my favorite ways to keep my food bill in check and at the same time eat good, healthy food. You don't have to follow all of these suggestions; some may apply to you, others may not.
- Go vegan. Meat and dairy are expensive; Legumes, grains and in season vegetables are not. The obvious bonus here is health and weight loss. When I went vegan, I lost fifteen pounds in two weeks. Your results may not be as dramatic, but I guarantee you will feel better. A great book on the subject is Diet For a New America by John Robbins. In this eye-opening book, Robbins goes into great detail about the nutritional, environmental, humanitarian and monetary benefits of giving up meat, eggs and dairy.
- Buy generics over name brands. They are almost always less expensive, and as I mentioned in a previous post, they are identical to the name brand.
- Keep a small notebook with you and jot down prices of things you normally buy at different stores. This way you will have a reference point when you find a good deal.
- Buy in bulk. It's almost always cheaper due to the lack of packaging and advertising involved.
- Check out stores like Big Lots for great deals on closeouts. I recently found organic canned pumpkin for fifty cents a can, so I bought a case. Libby canned pumpkin is $1.14 at Wal-Mart, Kroger has its store brand at 80¢ and neither is organic. It will keep more or less indefinitely and I often add it to soups as a thickener. Which leads me to my next point...
- Stock up when something is on sale, especially if you have storage space. Don't overlook the storage space under the bed as a possible alternative to a traditional pantry.
- For very basic items, Aldi is the cheapest supermarket I have ever seen. It's got a cool European vibe to it, there's usually only one type of each product and all the stuff I've bought there has been perfectly fine. Aldi cuts costs by only offering store brands (no advertising,) not giving out free shopping bags (you have to bring your own or you have to buy them!) and a system of having their customers deposit a quarter for their shopping cart, much the same way you do at the airport with the Smart Cart. You deposit your quarter into the cart, which unlocks it, and you get it back when you return your cart! This ingenious method insures that no one leaves their cart in the parking lot, saving the store the man hours required for people to collect carts.
- International grocery stores are often cheaper than mainstream stores. They also offer exotic items that would be sold as "gourmet" in a regular store. As an example, the exact same brand and size jar of tahini (sesame paste essential for making chumus) costs $3.99 at Kroger and $2.99 at K&S World Market, which is about a block away.
- Buy ingredients rather than prepared food. Ingredients are: oatmeal, peppers, dried beans, flour, etc. Prepared foods are Dippin' Chikkin Pizza Ranch Fingers, Poppin' Mini Taco Pockets, etc. If you are in doubt, check the list of ingredients on the package. If there is more than one, it's a prepared food! Prepared food almost always costs more than the ingredients used to make it. An exception to this rule might be something like peanut butter, which usually costs less than the peanuts it would require to make the product. Prepared food usually has a lot of preservatives and artificial stuff, too, so you'll be healthier if you make your own.
- When you cook, cook a lot. I make a huge pot of soup at least once a week and it makes several lunches and light dinners. You can also freeze some of it and eat it later. Much cheaper, tastier and better for you than canned soup.
- Eat less. Saves money and calories. Duh.
- Use coupons. Even though most coupons are for expensive prepared foods or for name brands that cost more with the coupon than the store brand, there are still deals to be found. Check out The Coupon Mom for an internet database and couponing system that will save money as well as time figuring out the deals yourself.
- Grow a garden. We have four tomato plants this year, each of which cost about $2.00. One plant already has 21 tomatoes on it! We put in herbs last year and most of them are perennials and came back again this year. Even the basil, which is not perennial, was a savings. The plant cost $2.00; a package of fresh basil at Kroger costs about $3.99! Even if you don't have a yard, plants can grow well in containers on the patio or even on the window sill.
- Use what you have on hand. Most of us have a pantry full of pasta, or a jar of gourmet olives from that holiday gift basket that's just sitting there waiting to be used up. Use it! Be creative and see what kind of meal you can come up with using some of that stuff.
