Feeding Our Families with Love, Frugally

Coffee Talk Thursday

Cooking and baking for my guys is one of the most tangible ways I can show them how much I love them. While I enjoy preparing healthy, delicious, and attractive looking meals, as a one-income family, I do have to watch my grocery spending. We love lots of fresh produce, but it adds up fast. I budget $100/week for groceries (this includes paper products, cleaning products, and diapers). Fortunately, the last few weeks have been a little under, since I am now only buying diapers for one and not two.

Today, for Coffee Talk Thursday, I thought it would be fun to talk about some of the ways we save money at the store.

Here are some things I do:

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  Pay attention to the sales ads. By familiarizing myself with prices, I know when a sale is lackluster, and when it's a "cart-buster." I stock up when something is at a rock-bottom price.
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  I buy store-brand items, for the most part. But sometimes, the brand is on sale for less than the store-brand. When you're familiar with usual prices, sale prices, and the best-ever sale prices, you'll know when to buy a bunch at the best price.

image courtesy Karin Dalziel

• 
  
  One of my friends taught me a tip of buying produce that's on sale for .99/lb. or less. Since sales change week-by-week, you will get variety this way. I aim to shop for produce this way as much as possible. At the same time, fruits and vegetables are some of the best foods for my family; so buying them is kind of like an investment in their health. It's still hard for me, in my frugal nature, to spend $4 for a bag of spinach or $6 for a box of clementines, but I'm thinking I should realize it's ok to pay a bit more for the right foods for my family.
• 
  
  A beans and rice night is great once-a-week, or every few weeks. You can use it as a filling in tortillas with cheese, lettuce, tomato, avocado, sour cream (like tacos). There are many great recipes out there, so beans and rice does not have to be boring or bland.
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  A bag of flour costs about the same as one box of cereal. Yet from it, you can make oodles of breakfasts: muffins, scones, coffee cakes, pancakes, waffles, crepes. You can make your own snacks: cookies, quick breads, and more.
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  Quaker oats sometimes go on sale for $1 or $1.50 for the big canister. I bought seven canisters, I think, the last time it was on sale at that price. I bought a 5-gallon bucket at the Walmart bakery, and I store the oats in it.
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  I use some coupons. Our newspaper is fairly small, and the coupon inserts do not have the same coupons as a metro paper includes. I go online to coupons.com and print a few to use when the store has cereal and granola bars on sale. I like diaper coupons; there have been some good ones lately.
• 
  
  I try to find ways to creatively use leftovers and make new meals out of them.

image from ilovemypit

So I'm monopolizing the conversation. :) I want to hear what you do, and how you look at grocery
shopping--especially buying produce. Do you think we should just pay the going price for the produce we want, since it is an investment in our family's health; or do you sometimes grimace at some of the prices too?

(By the way, Friday will be the Mad Hungry: Feeding Men and Boys review and giveaway.)

Let's talk!

(linked to Frugal Friday)