Make the Most of Your Meals (Part 7)

Well, I've decided to spare you the rundown this week on my grocery purchases and menu, largely because of some family matters that made for helter-skelter meals. I'm not sure I have the mental clarity to recall what all we ate.

I've been waiting to talk about couponing. I've been so tempted to reference it in previous posts, but have restrained myself. There is so much talk about extreme couponing and the drugstore game (just Google those if you need more info; you'll be overwhelmed), and then there are just a bunch of plain Janes like me who clip coupons to save a few bucks here and there.

As an aside, I saw the aftermath of a little extreme couponing gone wrong this spring. I was out at yard sales and saw at least 30 cans of air freshener on one table. Really? I can get on my soapbox and rant about non-chemical ways to conceal unpleasant smells, but perhaps we should just move along.

So, here's how couponing works for me.
(Disclaimer: It may not work for you. It may infuriate you. I am not you. It's okay.)


Using only "free" coupons. This means coupons that arrive in my mailbox, or those which can be printed online. I've chosen to cancel my newspaper subscription because as much as I love the idea of sprawling on the bed or couch and reading the paper, it's not my stage of life. And while I love the funny pages, magazine and coupons, I'm not saving as much as I am paying for the Sunday edition.

Clipping/printing coupons just for things I already use AND know I'll be purchasing again soon. This is really important when it comes to keeping costs down. There is a reason companies issue coupons: they want you to buy their product. They want you to be brand loyal. Okay, that's all well and good, but just because I use an item doesn't mean I must clip every coupon for it. So, even if I save $1.00 on each jar, I simply don't need to buy a jar of mayonnaise each month.

Resist the temptation to use every coupon clipped. Why is this so hard for me to do? I look at that pile of coupons like a "to-do" list. Must. Redeem. Every. Coupon. Not a good choice. That food item must fit into a menu or realistically be usable within a few months.

Stack the savings. If, like me, you buy a lot of groceries at Target, you need to stack coupons by matching Target coupons and manufacturer's coupons. I'm sure other stores do this as well. (Do tell, if you know about it.)

Abandoning the coupon when the house brand is cheaper. It always pays to do the math. So often, the generic brand is cheaper than the name brand even with a double coupon.

Consider what you are buying. There just aren't many coupons for produce, fresh meat or nutritious cereals. There are, however, a LOT of coupons for junk food, personal care products and other "non-necessities." Just consider that a deal isn't really a deal unless you will use and benefit from the product, in addition to saving money.

So, there you have it. My musings on how to cut the grocery bill in seven installments.

On a personal note, let me say that this experiment has made me more accountable and conscious of my food purchasing and disposing. At the same time, it's not worth stressing yourself out as you strive to pinch every penny. Life must go on and it's okay to have takeout or buy a frozen pizza at full price every now and again. Time is money, too.

Have a great week!

Make the Most of Your Meals (Part 5)

We're more than halfway through this series on meal planning. Is anyone doing this along with me, or are you enjoying watching me suffer?!?


One very positive aspect of this project is that I'm not running to the store for just one or two ingredients. Plus, I can start working on dinner any time during the day that I have a few minutes to thaw, chop, or mix.

On the other hand, it's becoming tough to find the line between stocking up because of good deals, keeping the spending down, and having a manageable level of food in the house, so none is wasted. I am feeling very humbled looking at the bottom line each week.

On that note, I spent $89.71 on groceries at Target this week. I think this is where I've been having some trouble, because while I get a lot of food at Target, it's also mixed in with other household items like diapers, health and beauty items and other legitimate stuff. I had to open up a spreadsheet to figure out what exactly I spent on food items.My purchases included multiple packages of the following: peanut butter, snacks for the kids, cereal, and coffee, plus OJ, eggs, and frozen salmon filets. My hubby also stocked up on frozen lunches and crackers for the office, for when he's not taking in leftovers for lunch or being treated by vendors.

At the grocery store, I spent $50.22. What you see pictured here is from the first trip; we returned the same day for the absolutely necessary bread, butter, sugar, and $1.88 bottle of Hershey's syrup that didn't make it the first time. I was distracted...big time, but I did stick to the list for the second trip.

The refrigerated biscuits were on sale for $1 apiece and the krimpets were on sale, too, and just had to come home with me :)

The menu this week


Monday: A "hash" of sausage, pepper, onion, tomato and pasta with side salad.
Tuesday: BLT sandwiches and zucchini-corn fritters (you really must try these) to use up more produce and most of a carton of buttermilk
Wednesday: Texas Roadhouse!
Thursday: Salad with chicken
Friday: Homemade pizza and salad
Saturday: Dinner with friends
Sunday: Panini and hand-cut fries

So, let's talk a little bit about freezing. I am still learning this, because it seems that as soon as I have room in there, it gets filled back up. Sometimes we can't find things without a little "discussion" between me and the freezer, or between me and my wonderful hubby.

[Again, not my real house, but fun to dream!]

Here are some items I typically keep on hand:

• A variety of meats: ground beef, chicken breasts/tenders, venison, hamburgers, bacon, pulled pork, salmon filets, often salmon burgers, fish filets or fish sticks
• Boxed lunches (e.g. Lean Cuisine) for my husband
• Bags of shredded cheese purchased on sale
• Breads: I stock up during buy-one-get-one sales and freeze bread inside a zip-top bag in its original package. I also freeze hamburger buns and hot dog rolls, sometimes bagels and English muffins purchased on sale.
• Baked goods like banana bread or zucchini bread. It's much easier to make several loaves at once and pull them out of the freezer as needed.
• Frozen vegetables, including green beans from the garden (ours or my in-laws)
• Herbs like basil and parsley
• Yeast purchased in bulk
• Applesauce that we make each October
• Ice cream, sometimes popsicles, and dessert ingredients like cool whip, pie crust or puff pastry.

As I'm typing this list, I see a lot of non-essential things, but I also see a lot of common ingredients that are nice to have around. Except for prepped food like the baked goods, I can buy anything at the store anytime, though not necessarily at the best price.

I think this is where I need to focus: buying only at the best price and preferably with coupons. Also, it seems that I need to start treating my freezer a bit more like my counter top and organize it regularly. Part of the problem comes from quickly throwing in groceries after a shopping trip without finding a place for the items. (This usually has something to do with hungry or tired kids, but that's a whole other post.)

I think I'll revise my cleaning schedule to include a regular freezer "straightening" session.

Am I the only one with things falling out of my freezer?

Next week: Leftovers

Make the Most of Your Meals (Part 3)

Mission: Reduce My Grocery Budget

I looked back through my expenses thus far during 2012, and we've been spending an average of $100-150 a week. Less than $100 per week at the grocery store, the rest is mostly from Target. That means some is non-food, like cleaning supplies and toiletries. I definitely can reduce those numbers. 

I'm pretty pleased with week number one of trying to pare down my grocery expenses and reduce food waste. My grocery expenditures this week came in under $30.


The orange pepper and green grapes were not on my list, but when my three-year-old asks for produce, it's really hard to turn him down!

My menu revolved around using up food that was already on hand. We were fortunate to have two very special nights with no cooking :)

Mon: Leftover pork from last week, leftover rice and veggies from a birthday dinner on Saturday
Tue: Mini meatloaves with tater tots (beef, tots and sauce were hanging out in freezer) and green beans
Wed: Salmon from the freezer, more leftover rice, and broccoli that badly needed to be used
Thur: Enchiladas from the freezer, salad
Fri: My Dad brought Dominos!
Sat: Date night at Red Lobster, using a coupon
Sun: Burgers and rolls from the freezer, leftover vegetables

You might wonder why I am working so hard to use up my freezer food.

Well, this is what my freezer looked like about two months ago. Aside from some wiping and an attempt to straighten up the stuff in there, it hasn't looked much different since. We had some frosting issues because there was so much stuff that the drawer couldn't close properly. Not to mention the full chest freezer in the basement...

Incorporating things on hand will help bring costs down for the meantime. And, more freezer space will give me the option of stocking up when food goes on sale. I bought the two blocks of cheese today (2/$4) to experiment and see if I can make my own snack size pieces of cheese for cheap and with less packaging.

I've posted before about some of the pitfalls of grocery shopping and why it's not necessarily bad to be loyal to a specific store.

A few things that I'd like to reinforce:

Plan your trip
Look at the weekly circular and see if there are any bargains. Consider planning your meals around meats or produce that is on sale in a given week. Review any paper coupons that you have before you get to the store, and/or look for online coupons that correspond to needed items and sales.

Make a list and stick to it
If possible, take the time to make the list in the order that you travel through the store. Buy only what you knew you needed at home. It's healthier if you stick to the perimeter of the store.

Don't shop at five different stores
Not only do I view this as a huge hassle and time-waster, I think it becomes a financial mistake. If you frequent one or two stores, you know exactly where to find things. You'll browse less, and you'll remember prices for sake of comparison. How much money do you really save by making a special trip for that really good deal on blueberries?

Don't be ashamed to buy the "house brand"
I find myself doing this all the time recently. Over and over, the price of the store brand comes in lower than the sale price for the name brand. There are so many things that you can buy without the name brand price--crisp rice cereal for those marshmallow treats, frozen spinach, macaroni, baking soda, vegetable oil, salt, etc. Plus, those are things you rarely see coupons for. Take the extra 5-10 seconds to find the house brand instead of grabbing the trademarked packaging that you instantly recognize (because that seems to be the only reason for the higher price).

Try to know your prices, at least on the bigger stuff
I know not everyone is a stay at home mom like me, and time is often more important than money. If you have the luxury of doing some price-comparison shopping, do it. I love shopping at Target and have found that I can get a lot of my dry goods there for a lot less (sugar, coffee, cereal, granola bars). It's very, very rare that I can get a better deal on cereal at the supermarket.

Next week, we'll talk about building a good pantry stash without going overboard.

Let's Clear Something Up...

I think it's time for me to clear up a common misconception. It's one that seems to be perpetuated by home magazines and pretty much EVERY publication in January (trying to capitalize on New Year's resolutions). It's also one that "they" don't want me to tell you:

YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BUY A TON OF BINS, BINDERS, FILE FOLDERS OR A LABEL MAKER TO "GET ORGANIZED."

I've been questioned about this by several friends and/or customers and what makes me crazy about this philosophy is that it just leaves you with more stuff to manage and find a place for. It's a very good marketing program, selling you a promise of organization, no clutter, and a perfect home if you just buy the products. (Look what I just saw an ad for!)


Okay, so maybe you do want to color code stuff for each of your kids to keep it straight, or you need a basket to corral shoes in the foyer. There is nothing wrong with that. Go shopping with a list, or better, repurpose something you have around the house. You could also pick up a pretty container at a yard sale or thrift store. A hundred pretty boxes and magazine files only encourage you to accumulate clutter rather than sort and use it. I promise! There's room for cute things, but function has to trump design.

Just remember to let YOUR home, lifestyle, and personal habits dictate what you buy.  Don't work to maintain a system; let the system work for you.

Found Money

This is my second full week working as a Domestic Engineer (stay-at-home-mom) and I'm enjoying it quite a bit more than I might have anticipated. As one of my friends has commented, it does tend to make you a bit more OCD about the house!

As you might imagine, I like making lists. I've developed a full-page list of things that I'd like to do before baby #2 arrives November 4. This includes making meals ahead and freezing them, deep cleaning most of the rooms in the house, and prepping the nursery. I hope I can get it all done, considering the number of naps I seem to need right now.

Since we are operating on one income, there's a renewed frugality in me. I'm finding myself interested in evaluating the house to find items I don't use much and can sell. I have a few items up on eBay and was thrilled to find a new consignment shop with adult clothing just opened up a few miles from my house. I'm already planning to rent a table at a Mother's Mart when we're ready to pass on some of the larger baby items.

Flipping through the channels last night, I found a show with people trying to do the same exact thing, only the items are much bigger ticket. It's called Buried Treasure and it's sort of like door-to-door Antiques Roadshow. Very cool, though I kidded my husband that I don't keep anything around long enough to let it become an antique!

Have you found a particularly effective way to recoup some value from items that you are no longer using? I'd love to hear it!

Supermarket Loyalty Cards

I stumbled across this article a few weeks ago. It seems to fly in the face of everything that hard-core bargain hunting coupon ladies are all about. It tells you not to sign up for customer loyalty cards.

In a very roundabout way, the article suggests you don't rely on that card to get you all the deals you need. But you knew that already. Just like you knew many of the tips from my previous post on grocery shopping. Loyalty cards and coupons are sticky wickets when you are a brand-loyal consumer. I'll admit that I only want Heinz ketchup and I don't care if the other brand is a dollar less because it tastes weird. So, I choose to wait to stock up on Heinz when it goes on sale ('cause I've never seen a coupon for Heinz ketchup). However it's no surprise that when I buy one brand of pasta at the store, I'll get a coupon for a competing brand.

Once again, I have to compliment my favorite store, Target, for their wonderful checkout coupons for the stuff I actually buy. I will more than gladly take that $1.50 coupon for the coffee I buy every few weeks. Even better that I can combine the store coupon with the manufacturer's coupon. Target has the best price on it anyway. Not to mention their awesome credit card that automatically gives you 5% off your purchase.

Anyway, I can't say that loyalty cards, checkout coupons and store credit cards are all bad. You just have to know how to work them in your favor, and be glad to put more than a few in the recycling.

What do you think? How many stores do you visit in an average week to get the best savings, and do you have their card?

Leftovers

I've observed something about women and men: They use the refrigerator differently.

I hear from so many women that their husbands can't find anything in the fridge that isn't exactly at eye level or in the very front. Imagine my surprise that there is actually a technical term for this "condition." It's called Refrigerator Blindness, or RB. (For more, read this fascinating study. I still can't fully decide if it's serious or one of the most sarcastic things ever written.)

Making a List and Checking It Twice

Key idea: Make holiday shopping simpler by tracking your purchases in one place.

I love buying presents. I love watching people open their gift. I don't like stressing about gift buying.

Lots of people set a holiday budget, either based on amount per family member or a grand total. I don't have a firm budget. However, for the past four years, I've been tracking my holiday purchases in a basic spreadsheet. Each year my total spending is about the same.

Here is a sample of what the sheet looks like:

Who	Item	Store	Amount
Mom	Sewing Book	Amazon	$    20.00
Suzie	Spa Socks	Ulta	$     6.00
Jim	Gift Card	Best Buy	$    25.00

Why I like this system:

• I can sort by name and see who I purchased gifts for last year. That way I don't forget someone.
• I can see how much I spent in previous years.
• It's easy to input ideas for next years' gifts. (Or remind yourself of what you bought ahead and stashed away.)
• Rather than having a huge stack of receipts, I enter gift info as I make purchases. I still save the receipts for the less decisive family members.
• The spreadsheet is a quick reference to what I have. I don't need to visit the hiding spot or sort through wrapped gifts and try to remember what's in them. (I tend to wrap immediately in order to prevent peeking.)
• I can sort by store and see where I've been most successful with finding gifts. That saves me time in future years.
• A quick scan shows me who still needs something or what else I wanted to buy.

I hope this helps you as you gift buy in the future. This tip comes with a caveat: I am the annoying one who emails family on October 1 asking what everyone wants. This allows me to spend another month politely hounding them for their list. My Mom and I usually go out on Black Friday to finish up our lists. So, when my shopping is done by early December, I can kick back, decorate, bake,  put on the music and think about the real Reason for the season.

Here's hoping that your holiday isn't too stressful. Of course, if you have any tips for gift buying, please share them!