Re: Lowering Grocery bill & still eating healthy

[Guest guest]

This is all well and good, but what about fresh fruits and vegetables?

And bread, bagles, milk, cheese, etc?

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Debra

Down 31.4 pounds

[Guest guest]

<Debra wrote>

>This is all well and good, but what about fresh fruits and vegetables?

And bread, bagles, milk, cheese, etc?

---

Debra

In some parts of the country we can't get very good fresh produce this time

of year, so we live off canned fruits and veggies, " bought lots of cereal,

can goods. " In the summer we eat tons of fresh produce from gardens (I have

gardened in a medium size flower box on my deck). Bread was also mentioned

" also cooked some muffins, breads, and such for breakfast. "

I am sure that Lyn the author of that post gave her family milk, I know that

I tend to freeze milk when I find it on sale and use it through the month.

Store bought bread and bagels are considered unnessasary items in the food

budget when they can be made in a bread machine for such a tiny amount of $.

I don't kn ow about Lyns family but we don't keep cheese on hand here unless

we have a specific recipe for it, as the fat free kind tends to go bad fast.

Moe

[Guest guest]

I am so interested in OAMC. Can you give me a good listserv for it

or a way to get started? Preferrably one that shares meal ideas that

have the points calculated. Am I asking for too much? LOL

Betsy

> I wanted to forward this message on to the group and to those who

asked about lowering grocery bills.

> OAMC stands for Once A Month Cooking

> Moe

[Guest guest]

I have to agree about the OAMC method of saving money. I've done the

full 30 month cooking plan, but I prefer cooking up batches of food

using what's on sale. Or if I go to Costco (a 170 mile round trip)

then I load up on meat and seafood. I supplement with veggies from the

local store, as needed. The last time I went to Costco I spent about

$300 on meat and seafood. The following 4 months have been spent using

up the Costco goodies and I've reduced our monthly grocery bill to

around $200 a month which is being generous. We still have some meat

and chicken left as I write this. We can probably go another couple

weeks without buying much.

I noticed I do a lot less impulse buying because I am able to run into

the grocery store to purchase milk and fresh produce and leave. I stay

away from all the " danger " zones read cookies, crackers, etc. Not only

are these goodies expensive but they are high in calories. I also buy

almost all my household goods such as paper plates, napkins and

cleaning supplies at Wal Mart. Also, Wal Mart has cheaper milk and

eggs so again I save money by buying them there.

Finally, I make almost all our baked goods including bread, muffins,

cookies, etc. I use bread and all-purpose flour purchased at Costco.

The bread flour is around $5 and the all-purpose flour is less than

that. Both are for 25 pounds of flour.

Some of my favorite make-ahead cookbooks are Make-A-Mix, Marnie's

Kitchen Shortcuts, Miserly Meals, 30 Day Gourmet and finally

Once-A-Month-Cooking. I'd stay away from the Frozen Assets books,

because most of the recipes are OK.

If you are interested, please e-mail me about my make-ahead food group

which I manage along with several other neat ladies.

> I wanted to forward this message on to the group and to those who

asked about lowering grocery bills.

> OAMC stands for Once A Month Cooking

> Moe

>

> I am so proud of myself that I just had to brag. And also to show

beginners that cooking for the freezer can make a big difference on

your budget. I had $600 to spend on groceries on November 3. I bought

lots of cereal, can goods, and basic inexpensive meats. Everything

that I cooked for that session was all simple things like spaghetti,

meatloaves, fajitas and such. I also cooked some muffins, breads, and

such for breakfast. My husband was unemployed at the time and we had

no idea how long that would last so we decided to eat as cheap as we

could. Well, since then the only thing I have bought were some chicken

leg quarters ($20.00) since they were on sale. Today I checked and

reinventoried everything and I still have enough cereal, can goods,

and meals in the freezer to last another almost two months. So, my

family of 6 has eaten for 2 months, and will continue eating for about

another two months for $620. That breaks down to about $150 a month to

feed my family of 6. So yes, OAMC cooking is the best way to go if you

want to cut down on your grocery bill, eat home cooked wonderful meals

every night (without hardly any work), and feed your family more

healthy food.

> Lyn

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Moe, thank you for posting about groceries. I've attentively read

through the thread to gather ideas that will work for me. I may have to

resign myself to spending what I do. : /

I'm wondering if any single people out there have tips? I think it's

different shopping and cooking for a family vs yourself.

I shopped today and spent $55. It doesn't include any chicken or turkey

(not even sandwich meat) or soda. I figured I could fall back on my

years of vegetarianism and use more beans instead. I have some recipies

for bean spreads to use in sandwiches. I did find some cheap fish for

$1.99. I also bought 3 or 4 frozen dinners because they were on a

great sale. I also bought a loaf of my favorite bread on sale and froze

it. (All I have is the freezer compartment of my refrigerator, so I

can't buy a lot in advance.) So it was a little better today, but I'd

like to get it down even more.

---

Debra

Down 31.4 pounds

[Guest guest]

I'm wondering if any single people out there have tips? I think it's

different shopping and cooking for a family vs yourself. >>

I shop coupons and sales. I look at the specials online, make a list of

what I need, and go through my coupons. I only buy things that are both on

special and I have a coupon for, unless it's something that I can't go

without.

I also buy coupons in bulk on ebay, so that I can stock up on items when

they go on sale.

I average about $40 a week on groceries, sometimes less, sometimes more. I

don't cook though, so I don't buy fresh meat and most of what I buy is

convenience food.

[Guest guest]

I usually only cook meals that will freeze well. I typically will only buy

the vegetables that will go into the actual meal as they are needed. (Like

one onion, one green pepper... even one or two potatoes.) I also have a

FoodSaver vacuum sealer machine that I use to " seal the meals " that go into

the freezer. Some items require pre-freezing before actually sucking the air

out of the bags. (Liquid items, bread, etc.) When I buy buffalo patties or

even flash frozen chicken in the 3-lb bags, I individually vacuum seal and

freeze each patty or breast so that they remain freezer-burn free.

One thing that I've also done is to cook up a few chicken breasts with lemon

pepper seasoning on the ol' Foreman grill and vacuum-sealed and

frozen each one. So... when I wanted to make a lemon pepper chicken salad,

all I had to do was open a bag of lettuce, nuke a breast and then use the

kitchen shears to cut up the chicken. A matter of minutes for a yummy

salad.

Joanna Lund has some really good cookbooks out there (even at your library).

Most recipes make 4 servings - and she recommends using an 8x8 baking dish

to make it even easier to get the portions right. The recipes that freeze

well are marked with a snowflake. I think that pretty much all of them do

freeze up nicely.

If you spend an afternoon on the weekend making a couple of meals (like

chili in the crockpot and a casserole in the oven), eventually you could

have a LOT of variety in the freezer. Maybe making one additional meal

during the week would add a bit more for choices.

Every once in a while, I like to go through some of the cookbooks just to

see what I might like to make. Then I make the ol' grocery list, buy the

ingredients and make the recipes.

> RE: Lowering Grocery bill & still

> eating healthy

>

>

> I'm wondering if any single people out there have tips? I think it's

> different shopping and cooking for a family vs yourself. >>

>

> I shop coupons and sales. I look at the specials online, make a list of

> what I need, and go through my coupons. I only buy things that

> are both on

> special and I have a coupon for, unless it's something that I can't go

> without.

>

> I also buy coupons in bulk on ebay, so that I can stock up on items when

> they go on sale.

>

> I average about $40 a week on groceries, sometimes less,

> sometimes more. I

> don't cook though, so I don't buy fresh meat and most of what I buy is

> convenience food.

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

I need to use mine more. I want the new one that they have with the bag holder.

But I'll be good. That way I can make something and put it in the freezer.

Even when I go pick up something, it's usually a few minutes before I actually

sit down to eat. So I can just stick it in the microwave and heat it up do what

I normally do to get settled and it'll be warmer and yummier than the FF.

Sandberg wrote:

I also have a FoodSaver vacuum sealer machine that I use to " seal the meals "

that go into the freezer.

Gymmie in Cali °Ü°

The difference between fat and fit is " I "

What you eat between Thanksgiving and Christmas isn't nearly as important as

what you eat between Christmas and Thanksgiving