Boot Camp Graduation: KP Duty

Of all the areas where I strive to save money, the grocery category is always the one I focus on hardest.  I focus here because for us, it is the highest spending category for us.  Yes, it is, despite years of cutting costs!  It's not that we eat loads of high priced foods but my grocery budget includes: foods, personal care, pet foods, paper products and cleaning products.  I can say day and night that it oughtn't to include any of those things but it does, and it will until the  end of my days...Which leads to my first cost cutting method:

Determine once and for all, how much I shall allot to each grocery category of food, cleaning, personal care, paper and pet foods.  And keep those other things strictly separate from my food budget!  I find it reasonable to suggest at present that I allot $10/ a month to pet foods.   This will purchase a large bag of food for Maddie (16 pounds) or for the cat (10 pounds).  I will set aside $10 for paper products (paper plates, napkins, paper towels and toilet paper) and $10 for personal care items.  I will set aside $5 for cleaning products.  I think an envelope system would work best for these amounts.

Now what follows are random thoughts, written out just as I captured them when I was brainstorming: 

I've yet to decide what my target for groceries shall be.  I'm waiting to make that decision a little bit later due to the fact that John received a small raise.  It remains to be seen if this will lower our income (in case we are in a new tax bracket) or actually be a help.  I can't determine that until John has received a couple of pay checks.

I don't want to give up the purchase of that good quality beef we like...but I am going to price and see if the one market that has weekly sale prices on good ground beef isn't the best market for that item.  John has also asked me to check prices at The Fresh Market on the other cuts of beef we normally would buy.  If it is the same price, the savings in gasoline alone makes it worthwhile to shop there instead.  It is another 'wait and see, check it out' thing, but it possibly will save us a little.  Not buying such a large quantity at once also will save.  Now that I've just the one freezer, I do need to decrease my stocking up to the space available.

I think we'll be cutting down on other cuts of beef and living mostly on chicken and ground meat.  It's one way I can trim costs.  Though I really like the chicken breasts from The Fresh Market, the best buy still is whole chickens from the market in the next town.  They've been $.88 a pound for the whole birds, but recently were just $.75 a pound which is a fairly big drop in price.  That will definitely be the bulk of my chicken purchases since I am very adept at cutting a whole bird into parts.

We've relied heavily on Publix to make up for what we can't buy at Aldi.  I can do better in this area.  I will be more careful to watch sales ads for those few items we cannot get at Aldi and on those items that are considered 'seasonal' purchases, I'll be sure to stock up while they are available at Aldi.

While Aldi is certainly my main shopping for grocery items, I have occasionally found items at far less than Aldi...so again, watching sales to buy items we'd normally purchase at the very lowest prices.

John has encouraged me to buy the individual packaged items for his lunches, but the truth is, buying and preparing myself and then packing into serving sized containers will save more money.  I sort of drove this point home to him the other day when he made one of his microwave cups of mac and cheese for supper here at home.  It's only about 1/2 cup serving.  If I made a boxed mix I could serve him 1 cup three times for something like $.45.  That's a savings of nearly $2 over the microwaveable cups.  And here's the kicker:  he can still heat in the microwave!  Ditto on gelatin and pudding and cottage cheese.  About the only place I can't get a decent savings at the moment is on the cups of blue berry yogurt.  But I'll keep looking until I find a source that has tubs of blueberry and package those up for him.

I've debated how best to keep this cost saving and obviously saved glass jars are the very best overall.  The next best option is to purchase canning jars in 4- and 8-ounce sizes.   Then they might be used in a very all purpose way here in the home.

Do you know I'd never eaten granola until Bess bought a bag and offered me some one morning?  I was smitten.  It was good! But the price is crazy high for what you get.  I've noted that Brandy at Prudent Homemaker has a nice low cost recipe.  I have most all of the ingredients she suggests on hand at all times.  So I'm going to start making granola and granola bars for us.  Granola bars, even the least expensive ones are costly compared to what it costs to make your own.  While Aldi has many no high fructose corn syrup options, I'm pretty sure my homemade ones must be  less expensive.

I want to continue to phase out zippered plastic bags.  I've been saving bread sacks and cereal/cracker box liners.  Granted zippered bags are convenient but they seem to be an unnecessary expense overall.  Even though I buy the freezer bags for their sturdiness they do tend to breakdown after awhile.  Either the zipper breaks or seams burst.  We make ample bread purchases and often the breads are double bagged.  I think this will be easy enough to start doing.  If I can get it down to one purchase of a box of the two main sizes  it will be a huge savings to our budget, even with me washing and reusing.  And again this leads me back to John's lunch.  You can buy some rather neat sturdy plastic sandwich boxes.

Stop waste.  It's not just that I sometimes throw food stuffs away, but I'm throwing away things that can be made into soup or compost.  I love soup.  And compost is good garden material.  Free good garden material that I've been putting in the trash.  No more!

Aldi's coffee is really good, but the decaf coffee upsets my system.  I buy various brands of decaf .  I'll do a price check between several sources and then purchase at the best price rather than just grabbing the lowest priced at Publix.  The truth is that while I've enjoyed having my shopping cut to two stores, there are many opportunities to save by comparison shopping amongst stores.  And certainly if I do nothing more than compare prices in sales ads (all to found online) I will most certainly know what the best price is when I need to buy this (or any other) item. 

Also...what's FREE?  Kroger has their Friday download item that is absolutely free, no minimal purchase required.  I go by a Kroger store at least once every two weeks.  I've left my FREE opportunity on their store shelves.  Why?  What other items might I be getting free with a coupon/sales combination?  Even if it's not something we'd normally use, I can gift it to others who DO use those items.  It's costing me nothing to go into that store for that free item!

And this leads me back to CVS shopping with ECBs rewards.  A sale/coupon/ECB item often is free or so very nearly as to be ridiculous.  I can use this to my advantage to purchase needed household and personal care items, vitamins, etc.  at the very lowest price point. An Extra Cash Back essentially is a cash refund on the purchase of an item.  It can often be used on the next purchase of ANY item.  It's like free money!  There are blogs and sites that have these deals all laid out...I need to sign up for one or three of those sites as well, as noted in my earlier Pinterest troll for boot camp.

What is my base line or targeted price for items?  Toilet paper, paper towels, toothpaste, razors, laundry detergent should all have a target price.  Determine what it is...that way I can make sure to catch those great bargains.

Do I want to 'put by'?  Mama is willing to purchase shelled butter beans and peas at farm markets to put up.  It's delicious and definitely almost always the best quality but how much is it?  If I'm not going to grow it then what price is a good price per pound?  How much does it save to do some of the work myself i.e. shelling?  I most certainly OUGHT TO put by those things given to us for free. as I did when John's partner gifted us that three dozen ears of corn.  Not too long ago I came across a book on small batch canning.  I'll look for that once more so that I might take advantage of these windfall, foraged or gift items.  I will need to purchase a canner but I'll shop around for one.

I have a number of servants in my home that are really under utilized: pressure cooker, electric frying pan, waffle iron, ice cream maker.  How can I make them work for me?  I especially would like to make that ice cream maker into a real household helper because all ice cream these days seems to have carrageenan in it.  I am sure I can find economical recipes I can make.  I have plenty of tubs from yogurts and cottage cheese that I've saved and could use to pack ice cream into.  I want to learn to use and make the very most of these appliances...or sell them and let someone else store them! 

I've used my crockpot in the past to make yogurt.  That is a savings area for me.  John doesn't care for homemade yogurt but I do like it and will eat it. 

Keep asking myself these questions over and over and over: 

Is this item on my list? 
Why am I considering buying it?

Can I make it myself?  

Will it be better? 
Less expensive? 

What are my future needs for this item?  I
s it  something we use often, occasionally, just every once in a blue moon?

Is it feasible to make this myself? 
What sort of time investment is required? 
Do I have the time to tend to this?
Do I have the necessary equipment?

If it is an item I typically buy as a brand name could a store brand be substituted? 
Have I tried other brands? 

What can I do without? 

Is it something that John wants? 
Have I a good alternative to offer him? 

Is this purchase just a habit I've formed?  Then choose to change.
What am I doing right at the moment?  Make a list and KEEP DOING IT!!!

Some grocery items are just splurges.  They are not necessary but they are nice to have.  What if I used a small portion, a set amount of a windfall to purchase those 'nice to have but not necessary' items to stock the pantry?  I could keep a running list of those things I'd like to have.

Portions are so important as I've learned with my diet requirements.  Cost per serving is also necessary.  I can seldom tell you how much an item prepared at home costs per serving.  It's easy enough with snacks, etc. that are purchased but what about at home?  How much does a serving of cookies cost, or how much does a completed meal cost?  I need to learn to figure this out.  I think setting a 'cost per day' for foodstuffs would be a good thing, too.  Then if some days were under consistently I'd know when we could afford the splurge meal. 

Powdered milk vs. fresh: powdered certainly has a longer shelf life, often is lower fat.  What is the cost difference?  Is it feasible to mix my own 2% milk?  Make my own buttermilk?  Certainly to use skim milk when cooking would be a savings. 

How long can I keep it fresh?  I've learned to keep lettuce and berries and even lemons and limes fairly fresh for a long time period.  But what about cabbage?  Celery?  Bread?  What's the proven method for keeping it fresh and long lasting?  Research and try until I find the method that works best for our home.

Build up a sandwich, salad, and snack recipe repertoire that we actually will eat and enjoy.

I know we like turkey breast.  Per pound a whole turkey breast is usually around $1.69 compared to the frozen uncooked turkey breast roast at $3.50 per pound.  How much does a fresh whole turkey cost?  I can't get a butcher to cut a frozen turkey into pieces but I can cut up a fresh turkey myself.  Whole frozen turkeys are generally around $.89 a pound in our area.

Give up saving the dibs and dabs in the freezer for eons.  Either purpose it right away or compost it.  Space is precious.  Remember Tamar Adler's weekly soup to use up canned food liquids, broths, bones, dibs and dabs. Make a pot of soup every week.  It doesn't have to be a cauldron of soup, just a small batch.  USE it or compost it or feed it to the pets.

Build up a six to twelve months pantry of every day items, including personal care, cleaning, pet, etc.

It's worthwhile to purchase that Sunday paper every week instead of just a couple of times a month.  However, NEVER print off a coupon unless I am going right to the store with it for that item because too often I've wasted my  printer ink on coupons I haven't used.

Buy at very best prices in bulk.

What am I doing right at the moment?  Make a list and KEEP DOING IT!!!

And that winds up this series.  I am so glad that you all enjoyed it.  As I said I think a few CEUs sprinkled here and there over the coming year will keep us pushing to learn new skills and increase our knowledge but they will not be anywhere nearly intense as this seven week session was.  Now bear with me as I rest a little bit!