Organizing your meals a week at a time and buying produce in season can help you spend less on groceries
Post-Standard, Leslie Cole
Published May 19, 2008
Milk, eggs, meat and produce prices have reached a 17-year high. Meanwhile, gas and heating oil are gobbling up more of our available cash, leaving us less to spend on food. Planning, effort and a little restraint can help rein in the costs of providing family meals. Here are some tips:
Get savvy about chicken Buy a whole chicken, which can be as low as 69 cents per pound on sale, instead of boneless, skinless breasts at $3-plus per pound. Roast it whole (DASH) good for at least two meals (DASH) or trim off legs, wings and breast meat for other dishes and use the rest to make chicken stock. If you're not keen on carcasses, try buying a cheaper cut than boneless breast meat. Choose bone-in breasts, boneless thighs or, cheapest of all, drumsticks.
Cut back on meat; scout for deals
Find the meat department's "reduced for quick sale" section. Most supermarkets have them, and though you won't find a deal every week, occasionally you score. Gotta use it quickly, though, or it's no deal. Build filling meals around cheap protein: Dried beans are a good bet. Pair them with ginger and curry powder or other zippy flavors, and simmer with inexpensive veggies like cabbage and carrots. Buy bacon by the slice at the meat counter. You only need a little to add flavor to pasta dishes and other one-pot meals. Buy ground meats, or get by on less of the more costly cuts. Choose recipes that stretch meat, such as stir-fries, fajitas, pasta dishes or frittatas.
Get organized
Make a weekly menu plan and shopping list, and stick to it. Set aside an hour each week to get organized. Pull recipes and jot down what you'll make for dinner, check cupboards for ingredients on hand, and write a grocery list. Grocery shop only once a week at a store that has the best combination of deals and products for you. If you run out of a single ingredient, send a family member who can resist impulse buying.
Eat in season, or save it for later
Eat mostly or only seasonal fruits and vegetables. Cook more root vegetables in the winter; eat more grapes, tomatoes and zucchini in the summer. Use your freezer, especially for out-of-season fruit. In late spring and summer freeze rhubarb, peeled and sweetened peaches, and summer berries to use year-round. Freeze black bananas to use in muffins or bread. When fresh basil is cheap and abundant, make and freeze pesto or puree the leaves with olive oil and nuts. Freeze in small amounts (DASH) an ice-cube tray works great (DASH) and pull it out any time you need a quick topping for pizza or pasta.
Enforce your spending goals
Switch to a cash-only budget. Set spending amounts for groceries, eating out and miscellaneous household purchases. Allot yourself a small amount of fun money for coffee dates, etc. Then put cash in separate envelopes for each category. When it's gone for the week, it's gone. When you visit the farmers market, know what you can afford to spend, take cash and leave when it's gone. Shop online. Even with a $5 to $10 delivery fee, you'll often come out ahead by buying only what you need for your week's worth of meals.
Go green
Plant an herb garden. Perennials like rosemary, thyme and sage need little care. Or buy fresh herbs in bulk at a store where you can purchase as little as a sprig or two. Buy your supermarket's frozen or canned house brands or vegetables. Sign up for a Community Supported Agriculture share with a local organic farm. If the share costs $500 for the season, that's $23 per week for enough fresh, organic vegetables for a family of four.
Start a soup night
Make soup once a week. It's filling, cheap and delicious. Think potato-leek, Cuban black bean, butternut squash, corn chowder, split pea, mushroom barley, curry vegetable. If you like meat or the flavor of it, find recipes that use small amounts or inexpensive cuts, like ham hocks. Make your own dessert
When your sweet tooth calls, bake instead of buy. Especially economical are chocolate cakes or cookies that call for cocoa powder and homemade berry shortcake.
Be a smart shopper
Buy what you need, and don't stock up without a purpose. Shop in big-box membership stores only if you know you can use large quantities or split portions with another household. Find hidden deals at the supermarket: two liters of store-brand sparkling water sell for less than a buck; the family-size packs of corn tortillas are the best value, and you can freeze them in meal-size portions. Cut down on junk food, which are pricey and full of empty calories. Curb the bottled-water habit and drink from the tap; invest in a filter if you don't like the taste. Rethink your idea of a snack: peanut butter toast, a bowl of oatmeal or homemade hummus and veggies are healthful and affordable choices. Use supermarket membership cards. Check weekly ads and clip coupons. Look in newspaper inserts and online. For a list of free coupon Web sites, go to
http://couponing.about.com/cs/aboutcouponing/a/lowerbillpt2.htm. Make sure to read a shelf tag's cost per ounce or pound when comparison shopping. Smaller sizes aren't always cheaper. Buy spices and grains in bulk, but only after checking what you already have in your cabinet. Don't buy more than you can use in a year. Prioritize your dollars when buying organic produce. Fruits and vegetables testing highest for pesticide residues, according to the Environmental Working Group, are peaches, apples, sweet bell peppers, celery, nectarines, strawberries, cherries, lettuce, imported grapes and pears. It makes sense to spend more and get organic for those items. For a complete list, go to
www.foodnews.org. Leslie Cole is a staff writer for The Oregonian of Portland, Ore. She can be contacted at
lesliecole@news.oregonian.com
