With talks of a looming recession on every major news broadcast in the country, consumers are finding themselves having to cut corners on every necessity, especially the grocery bill.
But even though you probably will flinch at how much gas will cost to make it to the grocery store, you don’t necessarily have to break the bank to feed your stomach.
Thomas Wild, executive chef at Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital, knows all too well about making things stretch around the kitchen. And though most people aren’t feeding 2,800 people a day on a $1.2 million budget, Wild said even the simplest changes can make a big difference for a food budget.
“Food service is nothing but organized chaos,” Wild said. “The planning is the most important thing.”
Wild — who said he and his staff have all of the meals they will be serving for the next six months already planned — said having a plan for what to buy helps eliminate unnecessary purchases and unused food.
“We try to use cost effective material and utilize everything we can to watch what we waste,” he said.
Other budgeting gurus agree that having a set plan is the first step in saving on a grocery bill, like Stephanie Nelson, owner, founder and editor of www.couponmom.com, a Web site that offers coupons and sale updates for major grocery store chains and tips on how to cut back on food costs.
“The most important thing is to have a plan before you go to the store. That means sitting down with the store ad and planning your meals around what’s on sale,” Nelson said.
Another problem most consumers face when trying to lower their monthly food bill, Nelson said, is learning how and when to shop and save.
“People need to understand how their store’s savings programs work and use those,” she said. “When you understand the answers you can start using coupons with the sales.
“I really believe people have to subscribe to the Sunday paper,” she added. “What better way to compare deals and coupons. But only cut out what you need to buy and use coupons with the sale items. You could end up saving up to 75 to 80 percent on that item.”
Both Nelson and Wild agreed that wasting food is the most common and easily avoidable mistake when trying to save on groceries.
“The most expensive food you buy is the food you throw away,” Nelson said. “At least 10 percent of our food is thrown away when you can simply freeze it or have a leftover night,” she added.
Another important rule for saving money at the grocery store is to really look at how much you are paying for an item. Wild said a name brand item isn’t necessarily of better quality or value.
“If you look at the prices on the things you buy, you may be getting volume but that doesn’t always mean quality. Stick to somewhere in the middle,” he said.
Nelson said monitoring the price of items you buy frequently can also help you determine if it would be better for your budget to just buy in bulk.
“Know the prices of the items you buy most frequently,” Nelson said. “If you know what the prices are for your top 10 to 20 items, keep track of them. When your item hits its low price, you buy a week’s worth of them. Buy things at their lowest price, not necessarily when you run out of them.”
But it isn’t a good idea to buy some items in bulk, Wild said, like spices.
“They will be no good in six months,” he said. “Fresh is always best with spices.”
Where you shop is just as important as what you buy. Being “store loyal,” or shopping only at a particular store because it is closest to your house or for whatever other reason can prevent your food budget from being its lowest.
The willingness to shop around at a variety of stores like club stores, farmer’s markets and even dollar stores increases sale shopping and the chances of finding an item that you use frequently at a lower price.
Nelson said drug store shopping is one of the places people can shop to find unexpected savings.
“Drug stores are a good place to get freebies and not only personal care products but also a few groceries,” she said.
Wild said though sticking to a budget when food shopping is very time consuming, it definitely helps and even the most thoroughly planned menu can have its loopholes.
“Sometimes you have to shoot from the hip,” he said. “And there’s always chicken.”
WAYS TO SAVE FOOD MONEY
• Stop eating out — This one is a no-brainer and doesn’t really need an explanation. Dinners you prepare at home are significantly less expensive than meals you pay someone else to prepare.
• Don’t buy frozen meals — If you empty the contents of a frozen dinner onto a plate you will quickly realize that you are getting very little food for what you are paying. Do you realize you are paying $300 a pound for that tiny bit of veggies on the side? If you lead a busy lifestyle, set aside a weekend afternoon to make your own frozen dinners and meals prepared from scratch.
• Don’t buy pre-cut meats — You are paying a premium for the supermarket to cut up your meat and chicken for you. Doing the cutting yourself will save you about $1 per pound or $223 per year for the average family of four.
• Compare supermarkets — Don’t shop at the closest supermarket just because it’s more convenient. Driving a mile or two down the road can save you as much as $50 per week on groceries. You might find that products you routinely buy at one supermarket are priced as much as $1 or $2 less than they are at another supermarket.
• Buy generic — Generic and store brand products are often processed at the same plants as name brand products, but they are much cheaper because they aren’t advertised. A significant portion of the price you pay for a name brand product is to cover the high cost of advertising it in the various media. That is why name brand breakfast cereals cost $1 or $2 more than the generic brand and why Tylenol or Bayer pain relievers cost $3 or $4 more than the generic brand that isn’t advertised. Stop paying for all those television commercials and print ads and you will save more than $500 per year.
• Buy day-old bread — The bread at the day-old bakery is almost as good as the bread in the supermarket, yet it is half the price of fresh. Visit a day-old bakery and stock up on bread and other products you can freeze and use later. How much you can save depends on how much bread you consume.
• Buy in season — There are times when the supermarket is practically giving away fruits and vegetables and other times when they cost a fortune. Buy fruits and vegetables in season and only if they are reasonably priced. Learn to enjoy fruits and vegetables that are available year-round at a low cost, such as bananas and carrots. If you have the time, you can buy when produce is cheap and prepare and freeze it for later use.
• Use more nonfat dry milk — Nonfat dry milk is cheaper than regular milk. Use it in place of or combine it with regular milk to reduce the cost of your overall milk consumption. Your savings will be significant if your family consumes a lot of milk each week.
• Pick your own fruits and vegetables — Find out if there is a food co-op in your area at www.localharvest.org and pick your own fruits and vegetables, which can be purchased at a fraction of what you pay at the supermarket.
• Don’t eat meat every night — Fixing vegetarian casseroles and such several times a week can save the typical family of four about $3 per meal or $15 per week or about $800 a year. Vegetarian-based casseroles, stews, rice dishes and omelets are good substitutes for meat-based meals.
• Brown bag it at work — This is one of the easiest ways to save money, as brown bagging it is about one-third the cost of eating lunch at an inexpensive restaurant.
• Don’t buy what you don’t really need — There are many products we buy because we love them, but don’t really need them. Good examples are soft drinks, sugary snacks and other sweets. Giving them up will improve your health, reduce your medical and dental-related expenses and fatten your wallet.
• Avoid vending machines and bring your own snacks/drinks to work — You pay significantly less for the candy bars and soda pop you buy at the grocery store than from a vending machine.
• Use coupons — Coupons can save you money, but too many people buy products they don’t really need or use just because they have a coupon. You might be able to find coupons for products you do use online by visiting Yahoo.com and typing coupons online is that you must register and disclose your name and contact information in order to get the coupon and free sample.
• Leave the kids at home — Caving in to pressure from crying children begging for certain cereals, snacks and toys adds on average $6 to $20 to the weekly grocery bill. Leave them at home and buy only what your family needs.
Source: www.bcsalliance.com
Federal Web site offers budget recipes
Epicurious.com this is not.
But if you want to save a few bucks on food, check the federal governmnent’s recipe offerings.
Run by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Recipe Finder site of the Food Stamp Nutrition Connection is intended for food stamp and other nutrition educators. But you don’t need to be on assistance to appreciate these healthy recipes.
The site offers hundreds of recipes that can be sorted according to cuisine, equipment, speed and healthy eating themes, such as eating more whole grains or cutting saturated fat.
But perhaps the snazziest feature is the ability to search recipes by cost, either per serving or per recipe.
For example, the site offers 116 recipes that cost less than 25 cents per serving, including Italian bean croquettes, melon salsa and a pineapple zucchini cake. The recipes are easy to follow and have complete nutrition data.
— The Associated Press
BUTTERNUT SQUASH WITH BLACK BEANS
Butternut squash and black beans are filling, healthy and inexpensive. They also are delicious. To add more punch to this recipe, stir in a bit of jarred salsa at the same time as the beans.
Made as directed, this recipe costs just $3.09 per recipe, or 52 cents per serving, according to the federal Food Stamp Nutrition Connection.
Start to finish: 30 minutes
Servings: 6
INGREDIENTS:
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1 small onion, diced
1 small butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into 1/2-inch chunks
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup water
Two 16-ounce cans black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
DIRECTIONS:
In a large saucepan or Dutch oven, heat the oil over medium. Add the onion, squash and garlic powder. Saut{‘e} for 5 minutes, or until the onion becomes tender.
Add the vinegar and water, then cover and cook 10 minutes. Check the squash; if it is not tender when pierced with a fork, continue cooking, adding water if necessary.
When the squash is tender, stir in the beans and oregano, then cook until heated through.
Recipe adapted from the Recipe Finder site of the Food Stamp Nutrition Connection
EASY CHICKEN AND DUMPLINGS
This comforting, affordable dish is easy to enhance with vegetables. Stir in frozen peas, shredded carrots and a diced onion at the same time as the chicken.
Made as directed, this recipe costs just $1.35 per recipe, or 67 cents per serving, according to the federal Food Stamp Nutrition Connection.
Start to finish: 30 minutes
Servings: 2
INGREDIENTS:
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons water
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup cooked chicken, diced
1/4 teaspoon salt
Dash freshly ground black pepper
For the dumplings:
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
Dash freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup milk
DIRECTIONS:
In a medium skillet, whisk together the water and flour until smooth. Slowly stir in the broth, then heat over medium, stirring constantly until thickened. Add the chicken, salt and pepper. Cover and reduce heat to low.
Meanwhile, make the dumplings. In a small bowl combine the flour, baking powder, salt and pepper. Stir in the milk until the mixture forms a thick batter.
Drop the batter on top of the chicken a tablespoon at a time. Cover and cook on low for 15 minutes, or until the dumplings are cooked, about 5-7 minutes.
Recipe adapted from the Recipe Finder site of the Food Stamp Nutrition Connection