Tuesday, October 21, 2008 12:12 PM
Tips for stretching a food budget?
A year ago, I never thought twice about buying spendy, gourmet goods, but the glory days of the $9 sliver of cheese are over in our house. Cash is tight. Food prices are high—and rising. I’m trying to get more nosh for our buck, and this is how we’re doing it. (Add your food budget tips, too!)
MacGyver your leftovers. You'd be amazed what you can do with
a can of beans, leftover rice and the random stuff in your 'fridge. (Shout-out to my mom, the queen of "Must-Go Pie"--a
motley assortment of whatever meat and veggies we had, chopped up,
sauteed, and baked under a layer of cornbread.)
Buy in bulk. Nothing eats up foodie dollars faster than buying like you’re cooking for two. Buy like you’re cooking for a small army, then seal and freeze or dry store whatever you don’t use right away. Bulk items are almost always less expensive than small-box, single-serving. (One caveat: if you’re an avid couponer, you may save more with coupons if you buy smaller sizes.)
Read the price fine print. Compare the price per ounce/unit on different package sizes and your usual brand against generics or low-end brands. A 2-pound bag of rice is 6 cents per ounce, and a 5-pound bag is 4 cents per ounce. Or maybe the generic brand of black beans is half the price per ounce of your favorite brand. The savings add up.
Spend money to save money. Investing in a FoodSaver was one of the smartest moves we made to optimize bulk-buying and food storage shelf-life. Initially, I liked it because it's a cool gadget, but it has saved us plenty of dough. We buy more in bulk, and food stays fresh longer, so there’s less waste. The slick, new vertical FoodSaver (pictured) takes up less counter space. Older models are now as low as $80 online.
Get into big-batch cooking. Think: Vats of soup, stew or chili. Big casseroles broken into individual servings. Even if you grill a
24-pack of chicken breasts to freeze, you’re batch cooking. With a fully-stocked freezer, you make fewer trips to the market, and won’t be as tempted to order in or go out to eat. I thought I had the art of batch cooking down—I make gargantuan pots of gumbo and Bolognese—but I look at Joelen’s When It Snows…Cook!, and I'm humbled.
Put your slow-cooker to work. Braising (a.k.a. slow-cooking in liquid) turns big, tough inexpensive roasts cut from the chuck (shoulder) and round (leg) into tender gold.
Avoid processed foods. Ready-made, packaged meals and frozen dinners tend to be more expensive, and they’re loaded with salt and preservatives.
Save your scraps. Freeze bones, shells and veggie skins or ends and make your own stock.
Get serious about coupons. This is my weak spot. I’m just not in the habit of clipping and shopping with coupons. But it’s also where you can save the most money. I’m trying to get better by learning from the masters—like the Grocery Coupon Guide (the Couponing Basics tutorial is a great place to start). There are web sites galore with coupons for the taking (list your favorites in comments!), and I like this handy list of grocery stores that double coupons (by state).
Happy $aving...
Post your tips for stretching a food budget and recipes that make the most of what you've got.