Five (not so popular) Tips For Cutting the Grocery Budget

33 Comments

1. Great list! You are right – cheap meat is soooo tempting. Recently we were down to NO grass fed meat in the freezer and I found myself thinking about running to the store for some ground beef or something. I held out and we were able to get some weekend at the farmers market.

   One thing you didn’t mention was fermented foods. It cost me nothing to bring home some of my farmers market veggies, chop, salt, add a whey and put in a jar to ferment. That almost instantly makes them more nutritious and preserves them. Same thing for kefir (water and milk) and kombucha. Once you have the cultures, it just costs pennies to make healthy drinks and probiotics.

2. Hi Shannon –
   An excellent list! We’ve basically cut out fruit purchases as well – we grow apples, berries, peaches, plums, apricots… Really, what more do you need? 🙂

   My husband asked if we could consider cutting our food budget (essentially) in half… and eliminate grains at the same time. I have to admit, I laughed. Part of the trouble is that he doesn’t like leftovers. Or soup. 🙂 So it really would be a challenge. 🙂 But we’ll have to see if we can compromise somehow… Do you think it would be possible to see a “cost-breakdown” of your budget?

   1. “Part of the trouble is that he doesn’t like leftovers. Or soup.”

      LOL We have the same problem. Soup and leftovers are a no-go in this house. I can make a tomato soup and the grown-ups like it but not the kids. I often get stuck eating all the leftovers in the house just so it doesn’t go to waste!

3. Yes to the boys with bottomless pits for appetites! We’ve got three of those. We are mostly paleo. I miss those inexpensive grains and legumes! I find our best cost savings is eating lots of fat at every meal. While good fats might be expensive, we only need to eat small quantities, and then we aren’t left craving more, more, more. A spoonfull of coconut oil seems to assuage a hunger that seems ceaseless nicely.

   And eggs! Oh how we eat eggs.

4. It’s so tough! I’m committed to healthier food and less waste…I’m learning to buy in bulk even through Amazon and we are almost completely off of processed foods. The biggest budget drain is the high quality dairy and meats but I’d rather eat it less than eat yucky stuff. I also found a local family that raises chickens so I am getting amazing eggs for 3.00 a dozen versus 5.00 at the Farmers Market-it all adds up.
   Jana

5. One thing I’ve done recently when going shopping (any kind really, not just food shopping), is to pray that I won’t covet things before I go in the door.

   One tip on fruit – if you can find an orchard that sells B grade apples, you can save a ton of money. I’ve gotten 22 pounds of apples for $7 on a regular basis. The orchard is IPM, so I feel pretty good about the quality too.

6. Many years ago, when I was very young, alone and with 2 boys to feed, I picked crops on the shares (a bushel of green beans for me and one for the farmer). Then my life changed and money was not such a big factor. Now that we (I acquired a very nice husband) are just the 2 of us and MUCH older, I am not so restricted but the economy has us worried. We have agreed that we will stick to organic. My husband is balking at the grass fed organic meat saying it is too tough, but I am trying to learn new tricks to be a better preparer. The best thing I have done to help our food budget is to buy a share in a CSA. Last summer our share was $400 for 20 weeks worth of food. That is only $20 a week for a huge batch of fresh organic produce. The winter shares were the same price and it was all the root veggies that are good “keepers” and are good for fermenting. I realized later that I had not gone to the grocery store during that time except to buy bananas. I learned how to dehydrate most everything. I froze 2 cup portions of cooked veggies when I had an over abundance. And, the best part was learning to ferment veggies. We only bought 2 heads of organic lettuce this winter because the rest of the time we were using the many gallons of fermented veggies I had put up. We eat about 1/2 cup of something fermented at lunch and dinner. Sometimes as a crunchy addition to sandwiches instead of expensive winter tomatoes and lettuce. We have saved by buying 1/8 of an organic grass fed cow but I am still learning better ways of cooking it. We just purchased a big load of organic grains, legumes and beans. I am a celiac and am also dairy intolerant, but can eat all other types of grains, legumes and beans. We drink water, coffee, tea and NO pop or other nonnutritional money grabbers. Oh, except for one nice glass of red wine before dinner. You can’t take everything away from us senior citizens. LOL I gave up on making or buying gluten free baked products. They are very expensive, most times rather tasteless and I sure don’t need the extra calories. I use thin puffed corn cakes or rice cakes as a bread substitute. I concentrate on what I can have, not what I can’t have and enjoy what is there for me.

   1. Faith – Yes, I love fermented veggies as well. So nutrient dense per serving so you really get a lot of bang for your buck.

   2. @Faith,
      I’m new to this site and I’m completely fascinated. I live in Ireland where food costs multiples of what you all pay, also a great proportion of our food is imported from warmer countries, namely Eastern and Southern Europe. Idid however see asparagus from Peru in my local supermarket yesterday! I am very interested in fermenting vegetables also with dehydrating. Can anyone enlighten me? Also some of your ingredients are unknown here.

      1. @Gaye, Gaye, so glad you asked about fermenting. Any veggie can be fermented. My favorite books are – “Wild Fermentation” by Sandor Ellix Katz, and, “Nourishing Traditions” by Sally Fallon. Nourishing Traditions is a very large book with info about many ways to preserve foods of all types. It is full of wonderful info. I use two methods of preparing my veggies. I like to take combinations, like beets, carrots, kohlrabi and daikon radishes and shred them. Next sprinkle on SEA SALT (do NOT use regular table salt) and pound the veggies with a wooden mallot until they release their juices. Pack very tightly in a 2 quart (or 2 liter) glass jar to within about 2 inches from the top. Be sure they are covered with their juice. Put on tight fitting lid, place on kitchen counter and wait 7-10 days. It will start to bubble and the jar may leak. After it stops bubbling (7-10 days), clean off jar and lid and place in refrigerator for 6-8 weeks. Then eat. Must be kept cold in the frig or a root cellar, etc., don’t let it freeze. It is hard to wait that long to try it, but it needs to age and mellow. Oh, you can add any spice, garlic, onion, herbs, etc. that you would like as you are packing the jar.

         The second way is my favorite. Sort of like KimChi. Slice a mixture of veggies, like carrot, kohlrabi, cabbage, greens, onion, hot chilies, etc. and place it all in a big plastic or glass bowl. Make up a strong solution of SEA SALT and DISTILLED WATER and cover the veggies and let them sit over night. The next day mix the veggies up with your clean hands and then pack tightly into a crock or large glass jars. Add in some of the salty water until it is about 2 inches from the top. Cover with crock lid or tight fitting lid and put on kitchen counter. Wait 7-10 days. Clean jar and lid if necessary and store in frig for 6-8 weeks.

         This is very basic information. Most books will tell you to use whey as a starter, but I am dairy intolerant and cannot eat any dairy at all. I use 3-5 tablespoons of SEA SALT in a 2 quart amount of shreded veggies and 4-6 tablespoons of SEA SALT in about 2 quarts of DISTILLED water for the KimChi type of ferment. I have never yet had a failure of any kind.

         People have been fermenting veggies for hundreds and hundreds of years. You can’t go wrong. If you do have a failure, feed it to farm animals and start over. Keep this reply around and if you need help, write to me. I’ll be glad to help. By the way, I capitalized SEA SALT and DISTILLED water because there is chlorine in regular salt and regular water and that will prevent the veggies from ever fermenting. Be sure to use the best veggies you can find. Organic if at all possible. Try to find an organic farmer that will sell to you. By the way, when I get to the bottom of a jar, there is always juice left over. I save this juice in the frig and add it to the next batch of veggies I shred or slice up because it is a good starter. Just gives the new batch a big boost. Good Luck. Hope you enjoy this adventure. Faith

7. I loved this post. And I agree with the liver tip! It seems so crazy to some, but liver is so nutrient dense, you get a lot more nutrition for your dollar.

   1. Kimi – I know. We cooked 1 lb. chicken livers last night with vegetables and there was enough to get two meals for 3-4 people out of it.

8. We’ve been able to eat grains again in the last few months, so we’ve been using those. Lots of soup (luckily husband loves it), lots of kombucha, NO junk food (for cost AND health, we need to eat less when we eat only truly healthy food), lots of raw cheese. I’ve stocked up on fruit at rock-bottom prices (peaches $1/lb, apples $0.50/lb., etc.) and have canned it. The kids LOVE applesauce so that plus some raw cheese makes a great snack. I’ve split packages of chicken into smaller quantities and paired extra veggies (covered in fat) with it. We’ve added beans and rice to most everything. We’re buying 1/2 a pastured pig (it’s at the butcher right now) for only $1.75/lb plus processing. We found a farmer to supply all our meat and eggs and raw milk who is not certified organic but raises only pastured animals and his prices are a LOT cheaper! Raw milk is only $21/month for one share (1 gal/week). I buy VAT-pasteurized local grass-fed cream and make my own butter, and use the resulting buttermilk in cooking/baking.

   I know there’s more I could do, and this winter we’ll use MORE beans, more soups, and also be eating from our freezer and pantry a lot. I’ve canned 30-some jars of tomato sauce, 37 jars of applesauce, 12 jars of peaches, 8 – 9 of pears, and still planning some apple pie filling, apple butter, and some other stuff. I stocked up on kale (for soups), green beans, green peppers, etc. through our CSA and low prices at farmer’s markets (got green peppers for $0.17/each instead of the $0.70 or so I’d pay in the winter!). I can’t wait to see what that does to our food budget this winter! 🙂

9. I have done fermenting before using Sally Fallon’s methods. I do have one question though. How long do they last in storage? I was under the assumption that they were only good for 2-3 months in the fridge. Am I incorrect? I would love to make in bigger batches, but I always do smaller because I am afraid they will go bad before we can eat it all.

   1. Michelle – I have kept them for up to six months with no problems. The ones we have in the fridge right now are getting close to that point and we’re still eating through them and they’re fine. I think as long as you’re mindful of keeping the veggies under the brine they should be good.

10. While not a solution for children, I have taken to fasting a bit. Not primarily for saving money, but for more mental clarity. I have found when I pursue this for a day, it is helpful and inexpensive. Of course, your own energy needs dictate, but as a current grid-slave, I find that much of my eating is conditioned by stimuli other than hunger. The occasional fast has helped me to better understand some of the more unGodly aspects of our food culture, at least in my own life.

11. This is certainly a timely post and I am doing most of the suggestions already. One problem I have is snacks. I buy raw nuts when I can to soak and dry. Then try to use sparingly in recipes. They are expensive and I feel like I go through them too fast. I don’t buy them at my grocery store – too expensive for too little. When I can get to a Trader Joes’ I stock up. #1 son is coming home from college soon. He is not on a real food diet and it is always challenging to stick to my principles and keep him happy and satisfied.

    I have decided to get a dehydrator. I don’t know what kind to get. I can’t afford that expensive one everyone raves about, but I am afraid to get a cheap one. Once I get it I will make my own beef jerky. Everywhere I look it has msg and nitrates in it. Even at a local bison farm. I have found it at Whole Foods without that stuff but it’s too expensive to buy regularly. I think I just have to make it. Sorry I can’t add suggestions to help, but there are a lot of good ideas above.

    1. Hi Linda,

       I notice the same thing about raw nuts – just so expensive. I used to buy a lb. per week for snacks, but now I either buy raw sunflower seeds – less than $2/lb. or none at all. I try to encourage our boys to eat plenty of vegetables, beans, meat, and fat at meals so that snacks aren’t too much of an issue. That doesn’t always work though since it seems like every day after naps they ask for one :).

12. We’ve actually gone the opposite direction over here-a year ago my grocery budget, for my family of five, was $50 a week. Today it’s $100 a week. We upped it because we’re transitioning to a whole foods/organic diet and we’re also starting to buy our meat, eggs, and cheese from a local farm. We’re eating so much better than we were a year ago, now knowing what I know about food and nutrition I could not go back to shopping/eating the way we used to. We follow Dave Ramsey’s all cash/envelope system so our finances are on track now, but if for some reason we had to make cuts I would cut out my daughter’s pre-school, or our internet connection before I’d cut our grocery budget. $100 a week is really the lowest I can go to provide the foods I think are necessary for my family 🙂

    1. Hi Sara,

       I think this is pretty common. We started our marriage at less than $50/week for food and after two babies and a desire to be more mindful about our eating (not to mention inflation) we are at more than double that now. I think if we could produce our own animal products we would be at a fraction of what we are now :).

13. I’ve begun to eat more ‘simply’. I’m on full GAPS right now and so is my 15 month old. I basically eat meat, fat, veggies, fruit, eggs and nuts, plus a few other odds and ends. I just bought 1/2 cow which comes out to about $6/lb. I got organs, bones, ribs, steaks, roasts – it’s awesome! I don’t eat much dairy so I buy the good stuff for DH and my 6.5 YO. I’m cutting down on snacks and processed food BIG TIME. DH buys his own once in a while – otherwise we just don’t have that stuff in the house. I’m trying to get my 6.5 YO to drink homemade kefir (loves store bought stuff – but it’s all lowfat and full of sugar) and I’m going to mix his own yogurt (plain Seven Acres Farm, sweetened with honey or maple syrup plus fruit, sprinkle with chocolate chips if needed). I think I will give up baking with GF grains for good – except maybe for special occassions. I have some flours that a friend gave me so I can use those up. I’m going to stick with nut flours and coconut flour. I’m buying local honey by the gallon (best deal) and using my local market more. I work during the day so I can’t do CSA but I do get raw milk (only my 6.5 YO drinks that) and local eggs/cheese when I can. But honestly I just simplified cooking: no more elaborate recipes, no more exotic ingredients, etc. Awesome ideas everyone!!

14. The dairy and meat parts do not apply to us since we eat neither, but we have really cut costs over the winter by sticking even more to “if it isn’t as local as it could be, we’re not buying it”.

    That means we’ve subsided in large part on root vegetables, but it has been anything but boring since we have challenged ourselves to try them all and find dozens of new ways to serve them. Big sacks of brown rice have also been a cheap winter staple, and the large bags of dry beans have been a cheap protein godsend. We’ve also made a lot more of our own wheat protein. With flour at approximately $0.35/lb it’s pretty cheap since 1lb of flour makes enough for a supper for me and the husband.

15. I love this post! Yes, it’s important to prioritize and clarify what your own family’s non-negotiables are. Our list is pretty much exactly like yours – we just won’t skimp on good quality meat and dairy, and cod liver oil is a must. Luckily we have a lot of good-quality fats around the house and don’t need to buy them often.

    Tara, I love your suggestion for fermented foods! It’s definitely a great way to enhance the nutrient content of your food supply, for little to no money.

    One of my favorite “extras” is my future in-laws’ lemon and orange trees. We are blessed with delicious winter/spring fruit, for free. Even if we didn’t have that, our city has tons of orange trees growing on public land, and I bet we could forage for free. 🙂

16. This is a just in time post. Our grocery budget, which is already tight, just got reduced $100 a month. This is just when we started trying to eat organic and grass fed. It is VERY tempting to use less nutritious foods, but not what we want to do. I’m going to try Liver. My husband was raised on liver, bacon and onions. I’ve had it a few times. The flavor is good, but the texture is hard for me to get over. I find it easiest to eat with potatoes. Could you share some of your liver recipes? I work full time so I’m going to try soaking the liver in acidic water, pat dry and then freeze it since I don’t have a couple hours before I make dinner.

17. Unfortunately/Fortunately I know lots of unpopular ways to save money. For the past few months we’ve had to live on $25 a week for groceries and household expenses. One way we cut costs is by not eating meat (beans and lentils are great replacements), eating homemade oatmeal or pancakes for breakfast, batch cooking dinner so we eat the same meal twice and have leftovers for lunch, skipping a traditional hot dinner in favor of bread and jam or baked potatoes, and umm…using cloth wipes to save on TP. We eat a lot of bean burritos/quesadillas/enchiladas. I also really appreciate the way a shredded cabbage doubles in volume for fellowship meals.

    We manage to still eat a mostly whole foods diet so I hope this will encourage others that it can be done. On that note, I would say some whole foods are cheaper and so we use them more often. For instance coconut oil instead of butter. Lard is cheap but not available here organically. Since chemicals bio-accumulate in fat (and higher up the food chain), this is one of the most important areas not to compromise.This is why it’s also a bad idea to purchase low-quality meat. Hope this helps.

18. Like others, I’ve also found that eating a good amount of fat during breakfast and lunch preempts the cravings I usually have around 8PM. I’ve come into a habit of having a block of raw cheese instead of bread with a meal, a practice that allows me to cut down to the meat/veggies that I need.

    Another tip I recommend is making a large batch of half-organ half-meat ground beef patties, spiced liberally. These are great snacks to eat with burger fixings, with eggs for breakfast, reheated with lots of cheese on top, or even on salads. I can’t believe how much this simple move has helped our household feel in control of diet.

19. In order to save money, I joined co-ops. We home educate so we have a built-in group of people who believe the same things about health as we do. We buy our personal products at wholesale prices from Frontier Naturals. We buy organic grocery products through Azure Standard in Oregon. Once a month a truck drives down to bring us our groceries. I now buy wheat berries and grains and grind them myself in my Vitamix. I make my own pancake/waffle mixes and LOADS of power muffins, which has become our go-to breakfast on-the-go or snack. I tried using my raw milk to make mozzarella but it made too little to be viable. We have a dairy around here that makes non-ultra-pasturized organic milk that I will buy next time. We actually steal from other parts of our budget for food now. So instead of plays, carnivals or fairs, we put that money towards our food budget. We are in the process of doubling our garden. I am organizing a group buy of grass-fed beef. There are just so many ways to save money. I won’t scrimp on fruit because we love smoothies in the Vitamix, even green ones. As part of my new garden, I bought organic, heirloom seeds and I’m planting tons of extras to sell as starts.

20. Can you explain what cheap meat and cheap milk is?

    I’m working towards incorporating more whole foods into my family’s diet because I want to avoid preservatives/additives when possible and consume more nutrient dense foods. I’m also starting to prepare foods like grains, beans, and vegetables properly to aid in digestion and preserve nutrients.

    But I’m struggling with this thought-There are billions of people around the world who will go hungry tonight. Why should I spend the money on more expensive organic, free-range, grass-fed, aka “better” foods when a starving child will gladly eat a food item that doesn’t fit that description-and will receive nourishment by it no less? I could give the money I save on those expensive foods to those who are hungry.

    I’m struggling to see some of the aspects of eating the “whole food” way beneficial rather than just a fad. That being said, I KNOW there are benefits, but I can’t help but think that we are being a bit picky/snobby with our food choices, when like I said, a hungry person would die to eat a non-organic apple, some canned green beans, or cheap meat.

    In no way am I criticizing you or targeting you, I’m just really trying to get the big picture of this whole food way of eating. I ask you because I respect you very much. Any thoughts you can offer would be appreciated! Thank you!

    -Kaylin

    1. Kaylin – When I say cheap meat and milk I mean conventionally raised in factory farms. I appreciate your thoughts on this and I think you echo a lot of my own questions. In my mind we are looking at two different issues.

       I don’t believe it is right stewardship to raise animals that way and the only reason it is done is for money. I don’t believe the answer is to shop at Whole Foods and buy all organic, that’s just a half-step. The answer is to get back to an agrarian society in which we all have a connection to our food and where it comes from. It is not an elitist thing. My grandparents were fairly “poor” farmers, but my dad said that he ate steak so frequently from their own cows that he almost grew tired of it. And it was home-raised, good meat.

       Factory farming (for meat, eggs, and dairy) also is incredibly destructive to the soil and health of humans and animals. If we want to be able to feed people then we’d better be willing to either do the work necessary to raise the food or pay for more sustainable animal products.

       In regard to the other issue… I don’t claim to know enough. It is my understanding that much of the hunger issues in the world are due to several factors, a big one being political and governmental corruption. Many third world countries have leaders who take food supplies directly from farmers and sell them for their own greed. So instead of hungry children being fed, powerful and dangerous men get rich. That is wrong.

       So in both cases I think there are wrongs. You supporting a local farmer or raising chickens yourself is a way to get to a point where we can have such a connection to our food that we can help feed our neighbors if need be.

       Thank you for your comment.

21. How we got our budget under control? Spelt! Spelt! Spelt!

    We borrowed a magic mill and started grinding our own spelt flour. It adds a lot of whole bulk that even our most picky autism kids like. Spelt flour is a couple of dollars per pound and cheaper from co-ops.

    At one point, in order to force ourselves to get a mill of our own, we returned the borrowed mill and lived on store-bought spelt flour. It worked. Store bought whole spelt flour is so rancid even I can taste it. We had to live on the white stuff for awhile. But we got our own mill pretty quickly.

    1. Darrin – I hear you on the rancidity. Ick – smell it right out of the bag. Freshly ground grains are sooo much better.

22. I have read that having your own garden is a great way to save money. It’s all over the place- everyone echoes that sentiment. So, when we finally bought our own house 6 months ago, my first plan was to put in a garden. We’re quite broke for the next year, as my dh finishes school.
    Well, I realize I very easily may be doing it wrong, but I have spent SO MUCH on this stupid garden. We have a long growing season in San Antonio, so I planted in early February, and have yet to harvest a single thing. I thought, for thrift’s sake, that gardening truly could be as easy as planting seeds, watering, and making sure they have enough sunshine. Ha! Nooo… I have spent so much money on soil amendments (my entire 2-year’s-worth of compost that I made before I even had a garden is already used up), trying to coax these plants into growing. For what I have spent so far, I could have had a subscription to a CSA for the entire year. Even if everything I’ve planted survives (a big “if”) I won’t get that kind of harvest.
    I have *not* read extensively on gardening, so maybe I’ve missed something, but I’m a busy mama, making almost everything from scratch… I don’t have time for homework.

23. I checked out the website that you have listed in your resources, Shannon, and i have NO idea how in the world i am going to fit grains in their whole form, into our budget. this is the last thing that i have yet to change about our diet. We are driving 45 min. to a farm for eggs and milk, have as big a garden i can have in the “city”. To make up for what i cant grow for now, we have a CSA share for fruit and veggies 20/25 wks during the season. I make our butter, yogurt, kombucha, etc… we ferment, and can and freeze! we are on the right track, ECCEPT FOR our bread, which i make weekly. however, due to budget and not having a mill yet, i have been “stuck” with store bought flour!! 🙁 i am needing some great suggestions on buying low cost, but high quality grains in bulk so that we can continue to fill out bodies w/ wholesome, God given foods!! HELP!!!! 🙂 also, how often to you incorporate bread into your menu. we have decreased how often we eat it, b/c of quality and time, but i am trying to justify that cost of time and $ and calculate how much i would actually b spending/wk if i buy the higher quality.

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