gabrielbaby
09-07-2002, 11:55 PM
Tips for frugal yet healthy grocery shopping:
the first step is to decide what you will need to have on hand. I like to be well stocked. There are certain items like flour and sugar that you will use a lot of. My pantry always has the following
1. 20 lb bag unbleached flour
2. 10 lb bag whole wheat flour
3. 20 lb bag white rice
4. 10 lb bag brown rice
5. 5 lbs walnuts
6. 2 lbs raisens
7. 2 lbs honey
8. 2lbs dry active yeast
9. 5 lbs baking soda
10. 1/2 gallon maple syrup
11. 6 lb can tom sauce
12. 6 lb can crushed toms
13. 6 lb can vegetable shortning
14. 5 lb bag sugar
15. 5 lb box powdered milk
16. 1 lb wheat germ
17. 1 lb brewers yeast
18. 1 lb sea salt
19. 3 lbs quick oats
20. about 10-20 lbs of various beans
21. a few pounds barley
22. a few pounds millet
23. about 5-10 lbs pasta
24. 5 lbs corn meal
25. 5 lbs masa
26. Gallon sized jar of pickles
27. 1/2 gallon green olives
28. gallon vegetable oil
29. half gallon olive oil
30. countless herbs and spices
I'm sure there is more, but that is what I came up with off the top of my head. When I make a shopping list, I take a mental inventory of what I have and what I need. If I'm getting low on any of these staples, it gets added to the list. It takes a while and some $$ to get your staples in order, but once you do, you will have all the basic ingredients (aside from milk and eggs) to make just about any sort of mix, like cakes, cookies, pancakes, breads, batters, coatings, stuffings fillings, really anything.
The next step is to decide what fruits and veggies your family likes and find the best place to get them. I know a lot of people find organics to be more expensive than conventional produce. It's not always the case tho. I did my shopping today and here is my list. Keep in mind, that we are not a vegetarian family, so the cost would be much lower w/o the meat, but you would likely need to add more veggies or other protein source to you list.
3 lbs red delicious apples, 3.29$ conventional
2 lbs plum tomatoes 1.40$ conventional
2 large green peppers .92 organic
1 bag of celery hearts 1.39 organic (this was .40 cheaper than the conventional)
2 lbs yuca root .46 conventional
2 large plantains .67 conventional
3.5 lbs bananas 1.61 conventional
1 lb button mushrooms 2.99 organic
3 lbs carrots 3.00 organic (conventional was 2.35)
2 limes .34 conventional
2 lbs brussels sprouts 1.81 organic
2 lbs asparagus 1.83 conventional
2 bundles of brocoli 4.78 organic (conventional was 1.90 per bundle)
3 lbs nectarines 2.09 conventional
5 lbs russet potatoes 3.99 organic (the conventional was 3.29)
That's it for the veggies. I didnt buy everything organic obviously, some stuff is price restrictive. Things like carrots, potatoes, onions, anything that grows in the ground, I feel it is important to get organic cause this is where pesticides accumulate. The prices of the things the I bought organic are not much higher than the conventional. This was all purchased at the regular market, Publix.
This next section is meat
8 lbs boneless skinnless chicken breast 16.09
7 lb smoked ham 10.09
1 doz cage free eggs 2.49 (I spluged on these, I need to make mayo)
1 lb seafood mix, (shrimp, octopus, cuttel fish, clams, oysters, squid) to make a Colombian seafood stew for the fam. 3.99
2.5 lb shoulder roast 4.44
TOTAL: 67.67
I should add that I already have some ground beef and salmon filets in the freezer. This food will last up for the next 2-3 weeks. I will have to go out again at some point for more fruit and more veggies. I also will head to costco in a day or so to get the steaks that dh likes. hmm, what else?
Oh! What I do when I get home from the store. First thing is to split everything up into meal sized portions. The chicken gets wrapped in butcher paper in 1 lb packs. The roast gets cut in half and wrapped and frozen. The ham was cut up into slices for sanwiches, and big chunks for soups and small chunks for toppings for pizza and mixing into things like cassaroles.
The veggies get split up and cooked right away. I blanch everything and cool it and freeze it. This way, I dont have to worry about my veggies going bad before we eat them. I even cut up and freeze the green pepper!
Let's see, next are bread and bread like stuff, I buy it all at the Entemenns bakery thrift shop. I get 4-5 loaves of bread, english muffins, bagles, pitas, lots of stuff and I never spend more than 10$ there. I always get enough to last the month. I freeze bread and others til Im ready to use them.
Then there is dairy. now, I'm pretty lucky here, I get WIC and it really does give us enough to make it through the month. So if you dont get WIC and need to buy this stuff with cash, your bill will be higher.
I guess really the key is, if it comes in a box, dont buy it!
the first step is to decide what you will need to have on hand. I like to be well stocked. There are certain items like flour and sugar that you will use a lot of. My pantry always has the following
1. 20 lb bag unbleached flour
2. 10 lb bag whole wheat flour
3. 20 lb bag white rice
4. 10 lb bag brown rice
5. 5 lbs walnuts
6. 2 lbs raisens
7. 2 lbs honey
8. 2lbs dry active yeast
9. 5 lbs baking soda
10. 1/2 gallon maple syrup
11. 6 lb can tom sauce
12. 6 lb can crushed toms
13. 6 lb can vegetable shortning
14. 5 lb bag sugar
15. 5 lb box powdered milk
16. 1 lb wheat germ
17. 1 lb brewers yeast
18. 1 lb sea salt
19. 3 lbs quick oats
20. about 10-20 lbs of various beans
21. a few pounds barley
22. a few pounds millet
23. about 5-10 lbs pasta
24. 5 lbs corn meal
25. 5 lbs masa
26. Gallon sized jar of pickles
27. 1/2 gallon green olives
28. gallon vegetable oil
29. half gallon olive oil
30. countless herbs and spices
I'm sure there is more, but that is what I came up with off the top of my head. When I make a shopping list, I take a mental inventory of what I have and what I need. If I'm getting low on any of these staples, it gets added to the list. It takes a while and some $$ to get your staples in order, but once you do, you will have all the basic ingredients (aside from milk and eggs) to make just about any sort of mix, like cakes, cookies, pancakes, breads, batters, coatings, stuffings fillings, really anything.
The next step is to decide what fruits and veggies your family likes and find the best place to get them. I know a lot of people find organics to be more expensive than conventional produce. It's not always the case tho. I did my shopping today and here is my list. Keep in mind, that we are not a vegetarian family, so the cost would be much lower w/o the meat, but you would likely need to add more veggies or other protein source to you list.
3 lbs red delicious apples, 3.29$ conventional
2 lbs plum tomatoes 1.40$ conventional
2 large green peppers .92 organic
1 bag of celery hearts 1.39 organic (this was .40 cheaper than the conventional)
2 lbs yuca root .46 conventional
2 large plantains .67 conventional
3.5 lbs bananas 1.61 conventional
1 lb button mushrooms 2.99 organic
3 lbs carrots 3.00 organic (conventional was 2.35)
2 limes .34 conventional
2 lbs brussels sprouts 1.81 organic
2 lbs asparagus 1.83 conventional
2 bundles of brocoli 4.78 organic (conventional was 1.90 per bundle)
3 lbs nectarines 2.09 conventional
5 lbs russet potatoes 3.99 organic (the conventional was 3.29)
That's it for the veggies. I didnt buy everything organic obviously, some stuff is price restrictive. Things like carrots, potatoes, onions, anything that grows in the ground, I feel it is important to get organic cause this is where pesticides accumulate. The prices of the things the I bought organic are not much higher than the conventional. This was all purchased at the regular market, Publix.
This next section is meat
8 lbs boneless skinnless chicken breast 16.09
7 lb smoked ham 10.09
1 doz cage free eggs 2.49 (I spluged on these, I need to make mayo)
1 lb seafood mix, (shrimp, octopus, cuttel fish, clams, oysters, squid) to make a Colombian seafood stew for the fam. 3.99
2.5 lb shoulder roast 4.44
TOTAL: 67.67
I should add that I already have some ground beef and salmon filets in the freezer. This food will last up for the next 2-3 weeks. I will have to go out again at some point for more fruit and more veggies. I also will head to costco in a day or so to get the steaks that dh likes. hmm, what else?
Oh! What I do when I get home from the store. First thing is to split everything up into meal sized portions. The chicken gets wrapped in butcher paper in 1 lb packs. The roast gets cut in half and wrapped and frozen. The ham was cut up into slices for sanwiches, and big chunks for soups and small chunks for toppings for pizza and mixing into things like cassaroles.
The veggies get split up and cooked right away. I blanch everything and cool it and freeze it. This way, I dont have to worry about my veggies going bad before we eat them. I even cut up and freeze the green pepper!
Let's see, next are bread and bread like stuff, I buy it all at the Entemenns bakery thrift shop. I get 4-5 loaves of bread, english muffins, bagles, pitas, lots of stuff and I never spend more than 10$ there. I always get enough to last the month. I freeze bread and others til Im ready to use them.
Then there is dairy. now, I'm pretty lucky here, I get WIC and it really does give us enough to make it through the month. So if you dont get WIC and need to buy this stuff with cash, your bill will be higher.
I guess really the key is, if it comes in a box, dont buy it!