Subtitle: Shopping on a Tight Budget
The foods people buy when the economy is tight:
Spam
Pancake mix
Instant potatoes
Vitamins
Beer
Rice
Beans
Mac and cheese
Jell-O
Kool-Aid
Velveeta
Except for the rice and beans, none of this is really all that good for you. Instead of fixating on “cheap” food, consider instead a collection of shopping and food habits that can lead to cheaper, better eating. None of these needs to be complicated or take a lot of time. In fact, adjusting your shopping and food habits from cheap fast food to good food can be cheaper and faster once you get used to the new routines.
First of all, inventory what you already have, foodwise. There are websites and programs that will let you enter what ingredients you have and will then tell you what meals you can cook with them. Do that and see just how many meals you already have on hand.
Next, compile a list of all your favorite foods and meals. Those same programs, when you enter in a dish or meal, will break it down into a shopping list for you. Compare that shopping list with your food inventory. If you’re not stocking the ingredients for the dishes and meals you eat, you’ll discover it here. Stop buying food you don’t eat.
Keep a running tally of the ingredients and prepared dishes you keep in your refrigerator and freezer. A whitebaord and erasable markers works, or type up a list with check boxes and check the box when you run out. Date each column of check boxes on the dates you shop. Replenish what you eat. Plus, you’ll know if you still have any of that great lasagna your Aunt Mildred gave you in the freezer so you can eat it before it goes bad. Use this to plan meals and to create your shopping lists. Sarabeth's diary on Food: Store What Your Family Will Actually Eat is helpful for this, too.
Shop as rarely as possible. The less time you spend at a store, the more time you have for other things, like watching TV, doing volunteer work, napping, writing the Great American Novel, visiting friends and family, or even earning more money. Bring a list and cash with you so you don't forget anything and don't go over budget. Shop for non-perishables once a month - or less, if you can. Shop for perishables no more often than once a week.
Clip coupons, but only for those items you actually eat or use. In some stores, if the first 4 numbers of the UPC code on the coupon matches the first 4 numbers of the UPC code of an item made by the same manufacturer, when it gets scanned, you’ll still get the cents off, even if the coupon is for something else than what you bought. For example, if your coupon is for diapers, and you need paper towels, find paper towels made by the same company that made the diapers, and when the coupon is scanned, you’ll get the discount. Not all stores do this, so ask before you try it.
Stock up on staples when they are on sale. Pay attention to the unit price (per ounce or per pound) because sometimes, it’s cheaper to buy generic or store brands than a name brand on sale – unless the name brand is demonstrably superior in flavor or quality. Also stock up on your favorites when they are on sale.
Shop fruits and vegetables in season. Oranges and bananas are winter fruits, strawberries and tomatoes are a summer fruit, asparagus and crookneck squashes are summer vegetables, pumpkins and turnips are winter vegetables. Learn the ripening seasons for your favorites and stock up on them in season.
Shop at ethnic stores – fish is always fresher and cheaper at Asian stores, and so are duck and chicken. Beef is cheaper at Mexican stores, so are tomatoes, tomatillos, jalapenos, and real tortillas without preservatives and artificial fillers. Rice is cheaper at Asian and Middle Eastern stores. Spices and teas are cheaper at all of them.
Make a price book: a notebook where you write your shopping list, then columns for the stores in your area. Write in the sale prices from flyers and ads you receive for the things you buy. When you're in the store, write down the regular prices for your items. This way, you'll know where to buy the cheapest items, and can plan your shopping route to save gasoline or bus fare. You’ll also know when a “sale” price is actually a bargain, and when the stores will have their best sales.
Bring only your budgeted amount of cash with you, and leave credit cards, bank cards and check books at home. That way you can only spend what you have. Bring a calculator, or pencil and paper, to tally up the cost of your purchases before you reach the register. Don't forget to account for tax if you live in a state that taxes groceries (I do, my sister doesn't).
Grow your own salads. Lettuce and tomatoes can grow year round with minimal effort in a small amount of space and you can have fresh salad every day. A window box provides enough fresh salad greens for one person year round, just sow fresh seed every 2 - 3 weeks, fertilize with compost, and water.
Consider hunting, or bartering with a hunter, for some of your meat.
Learn to preserve bulk foods: freezing, canning, drying, smoking.
We have a 6 part series up on canning:
How To Can, Part 1: Using A Water Bath Canner
How to Can, Part 1A: The Half Pint Canner
How To Can, Part 2: Pie Fillings, Fruit Sauces and Butters, And Fruit Juice
How To Can, Part 3: Making Jellies, Jams, And Preserves
How To Can, Part 4: Using A Pressure Canner
How to Can, Part 5: Meats, Broth, and Stock
When you cook a meal, cook extras and package them up as meals to freeze for later. You can not only eat these later, you can trade these meals with other people doing the same thing, and you can use them to barter for the hunter’s extra meat.
Wildcraft some of your food – even in the city you can probably find sweet acorns and cattails. If a neighbor has a nut or fruit tree, offer to harvest the nuts or fruits for a share of the harvest.
If you have garden space, grow more of your food. You can grow a lot in the small children’s plastic wading pools, or in window boxes. If you're physically able, consider sprouts. Square inch gardening is as important for indoor and container gardening as square foot gardening is for outdoors.
You don’t have to rely on those foods in the list at the top of this diary, and can eat quite well on a limited and tight budget. You can eat fresh salads, fresh fish, fruits, vegetables, and grains fairly cheaply if you shop smart, shop in season, cook your own meals (which actually takes far less time and is much easier than you’ve been taught to expect), and learn to preserve the bounty.