Lowering food costs

[larsonmcl]

@clavdivs Came here to say that making your own coffee is def. a huge money saver. I've started buying ground coffee and using reusable k-cups vs. buying the pre-made kcups and that's cut down a huge portion of my spending because I was making 2-3 cups a day at work/home.

 

[clh72481]

@clavdivs I love all of this. Someone else suggested a Sodastream lately and I'm interested in this idea. We really don't drink pop and thank goodness the kids haven't caught on, but we do love flavored water. My oldest turns down things like pop or chocolate milk or even juice. He says he just wants water or regular milk. We aren't hardcore anti sugar, but I guess that's just his taste! And since we didn't introduce it young, he doesn't like it now. I'm scared for the little one though. That kid is a garbage disposal and will try anything, and you can tell he's more into sweets. The only thing I've ever seen him spit out is a chunk of bleu cheese. haha

The realistic meal planning is something we really need to weigh. I think we're still under-planning for just how *incredibly much* we are at home. lol I mean each week is 84 meal portions at home between us all. And 56 snacks. That's way more than what we're buying for on the weekend. I really need to start thinking in portions per week and not estimating meals because that's bringing me in short.

 

[clavdivs]

And I second the Instapot suggestion, everyone should have one.

 

[intuitive]

@clh72481 Not advice but a question, is rice getting super expensive in your country too? Here in brazil it is getting absurdly expensive, and we produce a huuge amount of rice

 

[clh72481]

@intuitive I haven't seen the price go up, but I haven't really been paying attention either. Eggs have gone down in price. They are so so cheap now. Locally we can get them for 60 cents per dozen, so 5 cents per egg. To put that in perspective for me, uuuhh, I could buy about 600 eggs for one hour's worth of work after my taxes are taken out. lol

 

[intuitive]

@clh72481 Also, America?

 

[intuitive]

@clh72481 Holy duck, that's A LOT of eggs

 

[andrewwright]

@clh72481 you are not alone! i’m trying to save money by meal planning. first, i choose less expensive cuts of meat (chicken drumsticks, thighs, ground turkey, sausage or hot dogs, etc). i’m also making a point of buying, cooking, and eating 3 different kinds of vegetables and 3 different kinds of fruit every week. i have to be very diligent about making sure we are eating our fruit/veg! cooking double or triple what your family eats at a meal and freezing the leftovers is very cost and time efficient! i’ve saved a lot of money by looking at what i have already, and then planning a grocery list and meals based on that to reduce waste. i do plan for 2 easy ‘heat and eat’ meals each week as well that i can do if i don’t want to cook and there aren’t leftovers, which prevents us from eating fast food or take out.

 

[laken22]

@andrewwright Care to share any of your go to recipes? I'm trying to get veg in our diet more too

 

[andrewwright]

@laken22 i recently made chili with a lot of veggies and froze half of it.

chop carrots, celery, green peppers, and onion and cook on stovetop until softened

brown ground beef or ground turkey (i used 80/20 beef)

add to crockpot the vegetables, meat, 3 cans of rinsed beans (i used pinto, red kidney, and black beans), 1 large can of crushed tomatoes, 1 small can of tomato paste, drained diced tomatoes, and 1.5 cups water.

season with chili powder, cumin, paprika, cayenne, garlic powder, salt, and pepper.

cook in the crockpot on high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours.

i also put vegetables in rice and pasta. for example i’ll put diced carrots and onion in our rice and cook diced zucchini and stir that into pasta. another idea is to serve salad as a side with meals. i made cucumber salad this week with peeled and sliced cucumber, salt, pepper, lemon juice, and sour cream. if you don’t want to make fresh salad, roast your favorite vegetables in the oven with olive oil, salt, and pepper and serve with any main dishes you make throughout the week.

 

[clh72481]

@andrewwright No judgment, I'm all about that easy button! lol We do usually do like a frozen pizza night each week and get the huge $5 Aldi pizzas that are actually really good.

One fun thing that I do to get the kids eating a better variety is to have them "eat the rainbow" and I have my son pick out one fruit/veg for each color of the rainbow. I don't bring him grocery shopping much anymore, but I will still have him make me a list. It's not cheap because then I end up buying things out of season like blueberries, but I can always get them cheaper frozen and make smoothies. It definitely makes them eat things other than just apples and red peppers, which are his go-to fresh foods.

 

[itsthethreeonesix]

@clh72481 A big savings for us has been getting an instant pot and eating a lot more dried beans, chickpeas, lentils and rice. I make a monthly meal plan, and repeat it. Fridays we plan to order in, Saturdays I leave blank and pick something different each week when I do groceries. We've also found some bulk places to buy some stuff that helps save a lot too.

 

[clh72481]

@itsthethreeonesix I know some people who have bought an instant pot and love it and others who said they lost interest and quit using it, so I think I'd need to make sure I know how I'd use it if I bought one. I tried to make beans from dry before and I honestly couldn't get them to soften. lol Maybe I am not that smart. lol But dry beans are soooo cheap, and lentils are really healthy. If I could find like a lentil chili recipe or something I bet my fam would love that.

 

[itsthethreeonesix]

@clh72481 I've found a fail proof way to cook any beans or chickpeas:
Add beans.
Add water until it is 2 inches above the beans.
Cook on manual, high pressure for 38 minutes.
Let it naturally release.
Drain.
Takes a little less than an hour start to finish.

 

[jro116]

@clh72481 My kids love applesauce and yogurt, it’s much cheaper to make yogurt in the instapot than buying it and it is apple season right now, we make large batches of that in the instapot as well. We also eat a lot of brown rice and it only takes 15 minutes to cook in the instapot compared to over an hour in the stove. Aldi pork loin and jarred sauerkraut is another great meal made in the instapot. If your tastes are similar to ours it will get use everyday.

 

[berta]

@clh72481 I hate hate hate one trick devices that take a lot of space, but Instant Pot gets used probably every other day for us. But we don't eat meat so rice, beans, etc - things that you used to have to plan ahead due to long cook times, are now doable at the last minute.

 

[gameover1010101]

@clh72481 I'm more of a fan of the classic slow cooker than Instant Pot, it's incredibly versatile and works better with our schedules than the Instant Pot would

 

[%C3%98r%C3%A6p%C3%A5]

@clh72481 Thank you for sharing new subs . Food cost is a hard for us because two of my kids have sensory issues around food. So I’m always cooking 3 different meals for lunch and dinner.
Most of our budget goes to food and it’s such a big stress . Meal plan is hard but goal to get an additional freezer

 

[clh72481]

@%C3%98r%C3%A6p%C3%A5 Sounds like you're doing a lot of work! I'm sure they appreciate it.

Chest freezers have been out of stock around here, but thankfully I just saw a 5 cu ft one on sale locally and they had them in stock so I snapped one up. I can't wait!

 

[richie1027]

@clh72481 I’m on the extreme end, but I have a family of 7 and spend $400 a month. We eat really well. Here’s our routine:

1. Take advantage of local agriculture. We know local farmers, so we get produce and stuff really cheaply or free.
2. Learn to preserve/can/pickle/ferment, because when it rains it pours.
3. Invest in a good freezer.
4. Bake bread from scratch. I do 4 loaves at a time so it’s only 1x/week. It freezes really well.
5. Use legumes once a day. Cook from dry.
6. Do three vegetarian days a week. Use heavy legumes and eggs those days to balance nutrition. Eggs in purgatory, veggie green curry, breakfast for dinner are staples here.
7. Eat primarily Whole Foods. I’m serious, cooking from non-processed foods is cheaper.

So every week, we buy beans, veggies, about 10-15 pounds of various meats, fruits, oils and fats (butter, olive oil), seasonings, and sometimes some $1 cake mixes as a treat. Something from scratch doesn’t necessarily mean long and time consuming. For example, breakfast is 20 min, curry is 20 (only because of the rice cooker.) Burritos and veggies is 10-20 minutes depending on if you make the tortillas.

Edit to add: I make my own cheese, and am so excited a friend just got dairy goats! So we are adding goat cheese to the menu soon. Exciting!