5 ways I SAVE on my grocery bill

Aug 11, 2010 by pearsonsprogress    6 Comments    Posted under: Blogroll, Canning/Preserving, Gardening, saving money

Some of you who read this blog know that I occasionally go on these, 10euro a week grocery challenges. Now, keep in mind that there are some months when I need to stock up and spend my full grocery allowance per month which is $400 USD a month or at today’s exchange rate in Europe 307€.   I have often been asked the question, “how can you eat so well on so little money each week?” well, it’s almost second nature to me so I really had to stop and think about that one!  Here’s what I’ve come up with:

1. I make a menu plan each week. I usually like to do this on Sunday evening while watching a movie on  our day of rest. This way, I can incorporate any leftovers I have, fruits & veggies I have, food in the pantry and freezer. I’m working on a plan to list all the contents of my pantry and freezer and started this with the help of 2 of our granddaughters, Jasmine and Hannah. ♥ My little garden is producing so many tomatoes, and I prefer to eat as many as I can fresh and then ‘bottle’ the rest or give away the extras. In the summer we usually have gazpacho almost everyday as our ‘first plate’. We also have a number of guests eat with us and all of that has to be planned for. Planning helps me stay sane!
2. When on sale I buy in bulk. For example, when chickens are on sale at the German market for 1,89€ for 1 WHOLE uncut chicken, I stock up. I freeze several whole and then proceed to cut up the others, dividing them by breasts, wings, legs & thighs. The backs I cook right on the spot and when cooked and cooled, I strip all the meat off and make rolled tacos or enchiladas. The broth is used for soup or canned for broth. Wings are frozen for hot wings, breasts are frozen for either company dinners or canned for casseroles.  Legs & thighs are both canned and frozen, depending on the need. Another example of stocking up is when the tomato sauce is on sale, I buy 1 or 2 cases  instead of  just a few. I put the newest cans at the back of the shelf and move the other toward the front to rotate stock.
3. I bake bread, rolls and desserts. As an American woman, or at least as I remember it, we are as a culture, ‘bakers’. I save so much money by baking! In the German store here in Madrid, I discovered these ‘bread machine bread packets’ that are intended for 1 loaf in the automatic bread machine. I neither have nor want one, so I started experimenting the bread flours and have been able with very little effort on my part, turn what was designed for 1 loaf into 4 loaves.  These 1 kilo packages of bread flour cost 1,39€ or on sale for 0,89€. There are a number of bread types such as; rye, bread with seeds, wheat and white. One batch will last a whole week or more. Cookies, rolls, cinnamon rolls and desserts are all made from scratch. If I run out of bread, it’s super easy to whip up a batch of muffins or naan bread with everyday/non fancy ingredients.
4. I gather up the fragments. Years ago, I bought a book called The More with Less Cookbook, written by a Mennonite woman. She used this term… to gather the fragments. For us N. Americans, this has really not been a necessity or a priority, but I think it’s the right thing to do. I want to steward well all that has been given to us. This means, trying to stay on top of all the food, never allowing food to hide in the back of the fridge to spoil and being creative with even scraps of food.  A week ago, I needed a small amount of canned pineapple pieces for the sweet & sour pork I made. I’m only able to buy pineapple in larger sized cans so I needed to look for recipes to use the remainder of the diced pineapple. Last Friday night we had our friends over for pizza and I made four of them. I used ½ of the leftover pineapple for one of the pizzas, producing a ‘Hawaiian Pizza’. The last ¼ cup was used today in a rice & pineapple salad to go with the last 2 pieces of oven fried chicken that I made 2 days ago.
5. I keep a price book. This little book has all the prices that I pay for all the  food and toiletries I buy. I know where I purchased it and I put an asterisk  next to my best price for that item. When I see a ‘good deal’ I know the prices and will stock up accordingly.

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