There are so many ways to cut the cost of your grocery bill. I ABSOLUTELY use all these tips I've been sharing over the last few weeks. Yes our grocery bill ( including toiletries and basic cleaning ingredients ) is still $100 a month for 2 adults and a cat even with rising prices. We've had to cut our shopping list to the bare basics but we still eat and the food is tasty and filling
Here are another 10 tips to help you save money -
* I buy dried herbs, spices, nuts, grains, seeds, wholemeal flour, yeast, corn flour, icing sugar, cocoa powder and dried fruit from an Indian wholesaler. They are FAR, FAR cheaper than any supermarket. If you live in metro Melbourne then Hindustan Imports is your place to shop. You can shop online and get free delivery if you spend over $90 ( which is easy to do with such a great variety available ). Hindustan Imports offers a variety of packet sizes to suit your budget and usage.
* We don't waste anything. We scrape out jars, add a little water to get every last drop out and turn bottles up side down. When I'm baking I scrap out the mixing bowl with a silicon spatula.
* We portion control our meals. Just because there are leftovers in the pot doesn't mean we have to finish it. Leftovers are put into containers then into the fridge. Potato chips, chocolate, biscuits and other snacks are portioned onto a small plate and the remaining in the packet is put way. We don't mindlessly eat straight from a packet.
* I bake as much as I can from scratch and freeze excess. This includes pita chips ( instead of buying dry biscuits ), muffins, sweet biscuits, cakes, slices, and scones. There are very few biscuits I buy that I can't bake. We don't like store bought cakes and other bakery items and never buy a packet mix. Sorry, but we don't like their artificial taste and they cost too much. A packet mix takes just as much time to mix and bake as it does from scratch.
* We buy the largest packet, bottle, tube or tin of anything providing it works out cheaper. This includes toiletries, disinfectant, flour, sugar, bags of fruit, sauces and meats.
* We eat homemade soup for dinner ( sometimes twice a week in cooler weather ). My soup is chunky, tasty, filling and SUPER CHEAP at approximately 20 cents a serve. Here's the recipe to the one we eat the most Chunky chicken and veggie soup
* I don't buy cleaning products ( or at least rarely bought once every few years ). I use diluted dishwashing liquid in a spray bottle to clean just about everything around our home. I do use disinfectant when I've cut up raw meat. I only use bleach in the shower once every few months and cream cleanser when the dish liquid doesn't work on stains. I've been a domestic cleaner ( as a paid job ) for 24 years and have used just about every product on the supermarket shelf. They cost too much, they smell too much and dishwashing liquid does the same job. Even a bar of soap will clean your home. Please don't be fooled by the ads on tv.
* I use containers instead of cling wrap, plastic bags and foil for lunches, leftovers, snacks and freezing.
* I use unit pricing to get the best deal on everything.
* I buy 1 kilo blocks of generic brand tasty cheese instead of slices, grated or sticks. I grate the cheese myself and freeze most of it to use later and to prevent spoilage. By adding a little corn flour to the grated cheese, it doesn't stick together.
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| Growing our own |
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| Baking from scratch |
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| Homemade soup for dinner. 20 cents a serve. |
I am in absolute awe that you are maintaining such a small spend.
ReplyDeleteI have looked through the catalogues to see if ai can buy what is needed to fill the gaps in my pantry. My mother remains very anaemic so I try to serve meat most days. Even eye fillet steak is not edible according to her. So I am at complete loss how to deal with this. Any suggestions would be gratefully accepted.
God bless.
Hi Suzan, with a background in medicine I can suggest you try mince with your mum. Elderly people love mince like a shepherd's pie. I also suggest a liquid iron supplement from the pharmacy called "spatone" it doesn't constipate like other tablets and this is super common in the elderly. Also look at vegetables that contain iron like spinach and ailverbeet. And remember the body can't absorb iron unless there is vitamin C taken with it. (like Vegemite in the morning with a glass of orange juice). Beans and other legumes also have iron. Hope that helps ! Sonia
DeleteHi Suzan,
DeleteI sympathise wholeheartedly with how difficult iron deficiency can be as my son relies on a liquid iron supplement & Vit C tablets to maintain a healthy iron level. My advice is to talk to GP and an accredited dietician. Vit C is crucial in helping body absorb iron. I also keep iron rich foods away from dairy as GP told me the calcium in dairy products can interfere with iron absorption, e.g. I leave a 2hr gap between any large serve of dairy and iron supplement. Would your mum eat a serve of baked beans and wholemeal toast with orange juice at breakfast time?
Meg
Thanks ladies. I am aware of the iron/ vitamin c connection etc. I do cook a lot of meals from mince and I truly hate them. I was an iron and I worked a lot with the elderly and mum is right up there with the truly difficult.
DeleteA funny from Sunday. Mum decided she wanted meatloaf and she pulled out a recipe. I followed it and ended up with hard mince strings and none of the proteins had set even though there was egg etc in it. It was truly dire. Even the cat turned up his nose at it.
Hi Wendy, as I read your post here on the Sydney news prices in supermarkets are due to rise by more than 4 percent especially more so for fruit and vegetables and meat due to our floods. I admire your effort to feed your family for $100 but have to say that would be near impossible here in Sydney. You wrote that mince in Coles is around $13 a kg. Not so here. Even the cheapest is much more than that. And that's the full fat version not good for the heart or cholesterol. The lean beef is $15 a tray now. However you can get pork (which I don't eat) from aldi for around $7 a tray. Turkey mince is also cheaper and chicken too but I don't eat either. I do eat a lot of fish. The rents for shops , the floods, and other factors make Sydney groceries more expensive. It's said most people spend half their wage on rent the rest on groceries.
ReplyDeleteSuzan, do you have a horse-butcher nearby? My Mum used to serve me horse-steak when I was aenemic, it was cheaper than beef-steak and worked a treat. I don't absorb iron from veg well, so the district nurse advised steak.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful tips, Wendy...Thanks for the series! Many of these tips I use, too, but it's always nice to be reminded and your story is very inspirational...very encouraging to the rest of us! Love seeing the photos of what you've been up to each week.
ReplyDeletexx Jen in NS
This is a great post! I think soup is heavily underrated by so many people as a great meal that's both filling and cheap. You can throw whatever you have in there (including leftovers!), round it out with bread or a sandwich or a salad, it freezes well, it's often better the second day... I'm a huge soup fan and make it quite often.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on the packets of baking mix. I've never been a fan and find it so much simpler, cheaper, and tastier to spend five minutes whipping up a batch of homemade cookies (which I'm about to go do now!). :)
Your soup looks so yummy Wendy and I love these tips and the reminder to be grateful:).
ReplyDelete