Are you tired of seeing grocery prices going up every time you visit a supermarket ? So am I and it makes you wonder whether the prices will go back down again when petrol prices go down and transport / supply chain issues are resolved. Probably not.
We need to be prepared that these high prices might be here to stay. So you have two options. You can absorb the extra cost into your household budget, or change the way you shop. If you're like me you don't want to absorb the extra costs. The reality is, my budget can't fit in higher grocery costs, higher petrol prices and higher utility costs.
The grocery budget is the most flexible area of the household budget. You can pick and choose what to buy, the brand to buy and to a certain extent, how much you pay for each item.
Here are another 10 tips and tricks I use all the time to keep our grocery budget down to $100 a month for 2 adults and one cat.
* Expensive meals are no longer on our menu plan. Roast beef, legs of lamb, lamb chops, lamb kebabs and casseroles that require more than 400 grams of meat are a thing of the past.
* TVP is used to stretch beef mince in lasagne, spag bol, chop suey and pasta bakes. We don't notice a difference in taste or texture in these meals.
* Dinner leftovers are NOT eaten for lunch the next day unless it's too small to freeze for a single dinner serve. Cooked lunches ( leftovers ) are more expensive than a sandwich or bowl of homemade soup.
* All dinner leftovers are portioned out after we have finished eating. They go into takeaway containers then placed in the fridge. As soon as the food cools, the containers are labelled with the meal name, date and how many serves.
* We are not precious about leftover meals that come from the freezer. It's food, it tastes great, it certainly doesn't taste like the freezer and the consistency is the same or very close to a freshly made meal. It's all in the defrosting and reheating method. Defrost the food in the fridge overnight if possible then add a touch of water to the dish when reheating in the microwave. The water is important for stews, casseroles and pasta dishes and prevents drying out. We had previous friends tell us they didn't like leftovers or meals from the freezer. Little did they know that they sat down to a lunch of soup and sausage rolls from the freezer and the chicken in the sandwiches also came from the freezer. They loved the food and all five of them gobbled it up.
* I don't wander the supermarket aisles just to have a look while grocery shopping. I go down the soft drink aisle once a year at Christmas time to buy apple cider. I never go down fresh refrigerated meal aisle. Mostly I start shopping in aisle 7 which is the flour and sugar aisle.
* We grow most of the fruit and veg we eat. We don't have a big veggie garden but we make the most of the space we have. Some of our fruit trees are dwarf ones so they don't take up too much space. The veggies we grow are the ones we eat the most like potatoes, tomatoes, broccoli, beans, corn and silverbeet.
* I rarely look at junk mail from the supermarkets. There is too much rubbish food in the catalogues and it costs too much. Sure, there are 1/2 prices sales but you'll rarely see it on basic items like generic flour, sugar, milk, butter, cheese meat and fruit and veg. Junk mail is there to lure you in to the shops to buy things you don't need.
* We eat and buy seasonal. I don't look for strawberries in Winter and I don't look for citrus fruit in Summer. We also don't eat salads in Winter.
* I buy and use dried herbs. Fresh ones are far too dear and tend to wilt before using it all.
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| Eating seasonal |
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| Our version of freezer meals |
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| Darren digging in our veggie garden. |
You always post great tips, Wendy. Thank you
ReplyDeleteWith fresh herbs being expensive do you grow any in your garden? You can grow and dry your own?
ReplyDeleteWe grow rosemary and use it fresh or dry. I use dried herbs bought in bulk all the time.
DeleteThere are often leftovers from our meals which, like you, I pop into the freezer once cold. I well remember an ex-friend who I had invited to dinner. The meal required the day befores cold corned beef. She was most disgusted that I served her leftovers. I have seen friends throw out perfectly good leftovers. Obviously, they never struggled with money or have huge credit card debt.
ReplyDeleteWe live in an entitled society Gwen. Our ex friends would entertain with takeaway pizzas and never keep the leftovers. They gave them out because it was beneath their standards.
DeleteThanks Wendy. As much as I can, I am reducing our portions and putting a loaf of bread (home made when I can) on the table.
ReplyDeleteAny ideas from yourself or readers on how to recue pumpkins that are not ready for harvesting yet are rotting away to slop with all the wet weather? It is completly heartbreaking.
Vicky
I have heard of hanging the pumpkins up in string bags so they don't rot.
DeleteMy dad would but something under them, such as un upside down pot, a large brick, an upside down crate. Anything to get them off the floor. Good luck.
DeleteBit tricky as they're growing along the grown, up the side of the house, being the aviary and over the fence to the neighbours yard. 😁
DeleteVicky
I haven't personally been shopping inside a supermarket for over 3 years. I order online so I'm not tempted to buy so called specials. It costs me nothing for soap powder for the laundry as I do online surveys and I use the rewards to purchase the powder so all it takes is my time to do the surveys.
ReplyDeleteYes the prices in the stores are skyrocketing. When i cook i have to have alternate meals in mind. I bought some stew meat at a reduced price i cooked it made stew and 1 for the freezer, i made gravy mix added enough filling to make two meat pies then i added apple and sultanas and made a curry out of the left over meat. So with vegies added in all up i spent $15 for 4 nights tea. I try and budget $4 per meal for 2 people.
ReplyDeleteBuying seasonal fruit to make juices hels me. When i can get good prices like recently i paid 89 cents a kilo for apples and pears. After i juiced the apples i turned the pulp into apple and sultana muffins, made an apple cake dehyrated some pulp and made apple sugar to go on our porridge. I added the pear pulp to a chutney recipe i was making.
I bought a heavily discounted bag of coleslaw mix and we had baked potatoes for dinner and the leftover slaw was turned into spring rolls.
Mum wanted an apple turnover went to coles and they were up to $4.75 for one bought 2 packs of poff pastry and some cream which had been marked down. Used up several tired vegies from the crisper made vegie pastie and some meat and vegie pasties. Made 3 apple turnovers from apple out the freezer and 6 cream horns. Had 2 frozen sausages so 2 sausage rolls and with the scrap pastry made parmesan puffs.
You really need to think outside the box with what meals you can make with what you have and what you can buy reduced. I really dont think prices will ever come down again. Be thankful for what we have and think of those overseas who have nothing.
Take care stay BLlessed. Leanne
I use TVP, too, but I dislike the smell when cooking it, so I cook a large batch and then freeze in small portions. It helps the taste when I cook the dried TVP in water with a cheap stock cube; and then I fry it with the ground meat or marinated chicken I use in the pasta sauce or Indonesian rice dish. I'm not too keen on the taste, but used just a little, and hiding it in sauces with a strong taste, I can manage. My family haven't caught on, they even seem to gobble it up faster!
ReplyDeleteI have started hiding sweets and biscuits. DDs (13 and 10) have a small sweets bowl that I fill with about 12 sweets every Saturday, to last throughout the week. I have plain biscuits within easy reach, the nicer ones are hidden inside an old cornflakes box in my pantry. DD1, especially, is a sugar addict, and will finish a whole pack of biscuits in an hour, and then refuse to eat bread. We're working on it :)
Dear siebrie, did you know sugar is a acquired taste ? Corn flakes, bread, sweets, biscuits, and jar sauces are full of sugar ? If you want to get dd1 off sugar , then resort to fruit only. No packaged foods. As someone who is trying to lose weight, (and it's ok everything!!!) I've been educated to stop all these foods. Carbohydrates are essentially sugar. And we aren't born to like it. Now I've stopped all packaged foods, when I have a piece of fruit it's so sweet ! Try this method and see if dd1, improves ! It will also save you money ! Regards, Sonia
DeleteHi Wendy, can you please look at your cooking section and think of ideas that will not only be tasty but cheap ?
DeleteChicken is more than $10 a kg here now, mince more than $20 a kg, I don't eat lamb. I'm trying out more veg meals. Come winter I love nothing more than a big pot of vege soup. But it's not really enough to have a bowl of soup for dinner unless you have something else with it like a toastie etc. I like to have eggs , and other things too that don't cost much. I filled my car up today with petrol at a place that was $189 a litre. Expensive but the cheapest in Sydney right now. Most places are over $2.30 a litre. Sonia
Sonia, I still cook most of the meals in the recipe section but add TVP to the mince ones. Are you checked the price of mince in Coles. As far as I know it's $13 a kilo.
DeleteThe soup I make is very chunky so sometimes that's all we have. We do have toast or bread to go with it as well.
Stretch the dollar has to be a game for me. I haven't found good meat bargains for quite a few weeks. So I am stretching the stocks I have to had. I don't like TVP or Quorn ( and that one is expensive too) so I use lentils and similar products to make it all go further. I do have one worry as my mother is constantly anaemic and sadly I am heading that way too. Personally I don't want to have iron infusions in a hurry ever again. This means I have to be very smart with our meals. Sadly I have food allergies as well so simple foods like egg yolk are not for me.
ReplyDeleteI tend to buy generic and when I find things on sale I stock up but my food spend is much more than yours. Generally 250 to 300 g of meat makes four serves now. I am becoming so much better at making soup from bones. Also I like to make from scratch as then I can keep the foods I cannot have out of our diet. Last week I had a very comprehensive list. By planning well I can go to all four majors and cherry pick what I want.
Keep up the good work everyone.
Soup is a wonderfully cheap meal Suzan.
DeleteI agree about using TVP to stretch meat in a meal but have you also tried oats ? They work in exactly the same way and aren't noticeable. They are also better value. Your blog is very interesting and your give realistic tips x Thank you. Jane
ReplyDeleteHi Jane. I did try oats years ago but the family didn't like how the spag bol became a little creamy.
DeleteI use chickpeas in a veg curry and add lentils to bulk up bolognese sauce. I do check catalogues and will look for specials on things we use regularly like peanut butter.
ReplyDeleteMeg