Today I’m participating in Being Frugal’s Tightwad Tuesday. Head over there to check out tips and tricks for frugal living.
Adding to all the great ideas over there I’ve got some frugal grocery tips. None of these make much of a difference independently, but when combined, they have made a really big impact on my grocery budget.
1.) Cheese. When 10-oz. bricks of cheese are on sale as well as the 8-oz. bags of shredded cheese I always buy the brick. Yes, it’s annoying to shred, but it’s like getting 25% more free … and don’t you usually fall for that?
2.) Pasta. We eat a lot of pasta, but we eat strange quantities of it. We only use about 2/3-3/4 lb. of pasta in a meal, which always leaves me to toss the rest of it. Now, I don’t even cook it. I already know I’ll only use about 2-1/2 c. dry pasta, so I just don’t cook the rest of it. Maybe I’m the only weird one that used to just dump the whole box into the boiling water? It’s also useful to have some small quantities of dry pasta on hand for making soups.
3.) Ground Beef. My brilliant grocery store usually only packages their ground beef in a-little-over-a-pound increments, like 3.12 lbs. Instead of dividing it up to freeze in (3) 1-ish pound portions, I first pull off the .12 lb (I just guess) and make that into a burger or two and then wrap them in foil to freeze separately. That way, when my hubby says … “I don’t know what to eat” … I can toss a frozen burger at him. (I do the same thing with chicken breasts … no,no, I don’t toss them at my husband. I have no qualms about cutting a breast in half before I freeze it).
4.) Kid Snacks. Check out my Toddler Snack Mix for using up odds and ends of kiddie snacks and cereal before you think of tossing them to buy more.
5.) Apple Tote Bags. Ok, I don’t know if it’s actually ok to do this, but no one has said anything to me yet. Our grocery store always has those tote bags of apples for a decent price, but there’s so many of them. My grocery budget doesn’t usually allow me to spend $8 on apples, so I take a few out. It’s not a bad idea to look through them first too, to make sure there aren’t any bad ones on the bottom. No one wants to pay for an apple they’re just going to throw away.
6.) Coffee. I’m the only coffee drinker in my house so I never just make a pot of coffee. I pretty much know that I’m going to drink 2 cups of coffee in the morning, so that means I need to make 5 cups in my coffeepot. That’s all I make. There are many people that make a whole pot every time and end up throwing out 3 or 4 cups.
7.) Bar Soap. This one was a sacrifice, but I just can’t deny how much longer bar soap lasts and how much less expensive it is. I can buy 6 bars of soap for the price of 1 bottle of body wash. It’s worth it to me.
Here’s a little sampling of my tightwad grocery tips. What are yours?
Why I do what I do ~
Chloe said, “Daddy…”
David said, “What dear?”
Chloe said, “I’m not a deer … I’m a moose.”
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{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }
I have two common ones I use:
* Not buying fruit and veg or meat from the supermarket. We have a fruit & veg market and wholesaler priced butchers nearby, which means we save a good amount compared to the supermarket price (often half the price!)
* Not sticking to one brand. I’ll at least try cheaper brands (which are usually as good as the “name” brands), and happily switch around when things are on special, etc.
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You know what I do with leftover coffee? I add a little water to it and water my plants. They lover black coffee. Also, African violets keep their flowers longer, and bloom more often with black coffee once in a while. All my herbs tend to droop in the apartment that I have in the winter. Black, cold coffee is what I water them with. It is organic, and very good plant food.
These are great tips! Keep them coming
Many deli counters will sell meat and cheese ends for a discounted price. It is what is left over after they slice lunch meat etc. As long as you don’t mind cutting it yourself, it’s a great deal – I’ve been able to get cheese for 99 cents a pound.
These are great tips! I switched to bar soap by all of my sinks. It isn’t as pretty- and it requires a bit of clean up. But, with my kids (7,5,3,1) I was going through the liquid soap way too fast. It is just sooo much fun pumping it out!
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Leftover Coffee – Another good use for leftover coffee ion the summer… freeze it in your icecube trays. Then use later when you make iced coffee. The same idea applies to tea.
Bar Soap – Did you know that bar soap lasts much longer when it is dried out? Lots of bar soaps have moisturizers, lotions and such in them. Just open the package a bit, let it sit like that for at least a couple of weeks, more if you can. I buy several bars of soap on sale and do this. It seems to last forever.
Chicken Noodle Soup – When I make chicken noodle soup I add r veggies to the pot (frozen, leftover, or chop up a few fresh ones like carrots) and about 1/2 cup more water to the broth. The soup goes farther and is more nutritious too!
Mmmm … I love iced coffee, but hate when it gets watered down. Great idea!
There are great tips. I am really looking to scale down our grocery budget so am always on the lookout.
Loved what your daughter said, so precious!
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Such great tips! I never thought of actually shredding the cheese myself. Such an incredibly simple idea that I never thought of…thanks for the tip!
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I love that ground beef idea! And as far as bar soap, it’s supposed to last longer if you take off the wrapper. I like it, too, but I’ll alternate because sometimes I can get the liquid stuff for practically nothing.
I also alternate between shredded and bar cheese, depending on sales. Sometimes, I just want the easy way out, LOL! (Not that shredding cheese is so hard, since I can use my Kitchenaid. But still, to just open a package and dump…that’s a nice thing.)
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I have only been reading your blog one day but just had to comment on the pasta thing. I used to only make half a box and then cook the rest of the box another day. But now, I cook the entire box. I keep it separate from the sauces and things and I store it in the fridge already cooked and plain. Then another night during the week I will heat it up in the microwave and just add butter or a different sauce. I never throw it away! My mom would mix the sauce with it but I get bored of the same thing so that’s why I keep it separate. Also my kids get a choice too. Maybe they just want butter and cheese. maybe they want a red sauce. Or just cheese whatever. Yes it does occasionally stick but if you add a little bit of butter or oil when microwaving it should be just fine.
For cheese usually buy it buy the pound and have a hand gator and put a plastic sandwich bag over the block of cheese and a rubber band around it when done. If you live in a bigger area you might want try to find local soap makers who sell in bulk for relatively cheap. Also, have you tried FoodSupport? They partner with local grocery chains and offer $250 cards for groceries. You can find them at http://www.FoodSupport.org
Pasta: after cooking “too much”, we stick it in a zipper bag and freeze the excess. Goes great in soup at a later date (when dumped into the soup at the end of cooking). Freezes beautifully. We eat a lot of rice, so we make a large (rice cooker) pot, and freeze half. We’ve had excellent results with basmati and jasmine, but certain rices do not freeze well at all, so you might experiment by putting small amounts into the freezer, then trying them. Thank you for your terrific tips, please keep them coming! Love your toddler mix idea, and yes, it is wonderful to have a few burgers hanging out!! Blessings to you and yours – Erin
I too use bar soap, well my husband does, and I make my own body wash from the same bar soap.
Did you know that bar soap lasts longer when left out of the wrapper? I buy large quantities, unwrap them all and leave them out until used. I usually buy enough for about a year but I’ve read that the optimum time for drying is 5 years.
I have noticed that the same bar soap I’ve been buying for years is getting softer and softer when opened. Think the company learned how much faster it gets used up if it’s soft?
BTW found you via Twitter.
@YCSWID – I didn’t know that about drying out the soap. Thanks for the tip!
I’ve never considered the cost of body wash compared to bar soap. I hope I’m not the only one… Bar soap will be added to my list as soon as I finish what body wash I have left. Thanks!