Nine Ideas to Save Money on Food

Posted on Monday, 8th March 2010 by jkibler

Nine Ideas to Save Money on Food By S. L. Simmons

With the economy currently in a slump, many families are cutting back on
luxury items. Groceries remain a budget necessity, but with careful
planning there are still ways to spend less money on food each week.
Listed below are nine tips to help keep your food budget under control.

1. Buy less tender cuts of meat and slow cook them in a crock pot. I like
to brown meat on the stove first so that it gets heated up quickly. Once
the meat has been cooked through thoroughly, I add the meat to the crock
pot with some kind of sauce, juice, canned soup or gravy and let it
tenderize and slow cook for hours. I try to do this in the morning, so
that when my kids get home from school they can help themselves to a
healthy crock pot meal instead of filling up on snack foods. On days that
I’m organized and have some free morning time, I’ll have a couple of
different crock pots going with two different entrees, usually a roast and
a hearty soup or stew. One recent favorite dish at our house is pork chops
slow cooked with orange juice, and topped with orange marmalade before
serving.

2. Use your leftovers to make soup. Every couple of days I’ll go through
the fridge and chop up any leftovers and wilted vegetables, mix with
chicken stock and make a truly unique soup of the day in the crock pot. If
you don’t have enough leftovers to make a crock pot full of soup, you can
use what leftovers you do have and then add other easy soup ingredients
such as frozen mixed vegetables, a chicken breast or a can of beans.

3. Save your vegetable and meat scraps to make soup stock. I just put
water on high in the crock pot, and once it is hot I toss in all of my
saved up scraps – carrot peels, chicken bones, onion peels, zucchini ends,
etc. After any meat scraps have been cooked through thoroughly, I turn the
temperature to low and let the stock simmer for an hour to let the flavors
meld.

4. Keep a price book so you know the cost of everything you regularly buy.
Many retail store sale prices may not even be as low as the Costco or
Sam’s Clubs’ regular prices.

5. Shop at Costco or Sam’s Club. A local consumer magazine in our area
found the prices at these warehouse stores to be almost 40% lower than
comparable items at retail supermarkets.

6. Use coupons selectively. Only use coupons for products you regularly
use or know your family will enjoy eating, otherwise you are just wasting
your time and money. Combining coupons with items already on sale can be a
real money saver.

7. Stockpile frozen or nonperishable products when they are on sale. You
can get a 100% rate of return on your money by buying necessities in
advance at 2 for 1 sales.

8. If you pay your charge cards off every month, consider paying for your
groceries with a cash back credit card. Currently some cards offer as much
as 2% back off every day purchases.

9. Have a list of quick meals for busy nights that you can make from
pantry or freezer ingredients you always keep on hand. That way you won’t
be tempted to resort to getting fast food on nights when you are busy or
haven’t had time to plan a full evening meal. One of my quick meals is
chili fries made with frozen French fries topped with canned chili. I
serve it with a green salad and some fruit for a complete meal that only
takes a few minutes of preparation time.

S. L. Simmons is a thrifty mom of two and the editor of Always Frugal.
Visit her web site site at www.alwaysfrugal.com more ways to save money on food.

This article may be freely reprinted as long as the author’s box is
included and the links remain active in any online publications.

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