1. Instead of spending $250
to $500 a year on baby food, learn how to
make your own. Your own baby food can
improve the nutrional value, eliminate
the additives and chemicals you were used
to getting. improve freshness and cut
your costs by 75 percent, There are
plenty of web pages written on the topic
that you can find by using a search
engine. Search terms: how to make
baby food.
2. Build your meals
around low cost food such as: Potatos,
Pasta and Rice.
3. If you put cookies in
a cookie bin, make sure you put a slice
of bread in there with them. The bread
will make the cookies soft and chewy, and
keep them fresh longer.
4. Buy recipe books that
focus on cheap foods or only a few
ingredients. Search online bookstores or
search engines with the search terms: low
cost food recipes, or 4
ingredient recipes, or 5
ingredient recipes.
5. Never, ever bring your
children to the grocery store with you.
Besides the usual begging for toys and
junk food, the temper tantrums and other
problems they will create, they will test
your patience and stress level so that
you are in a hurry to get your items and
get out of the store. But this will cut
into your concentration and need to take
more time to find the best bargains. In
short, instead of shopping smarter,
bringing your kids along will force you
to shop faster - which is always more
expensive.
6. Shop at food
warehouses, coops and farmer's markets.
The food at those places is always
cheaper.
7. Always keep your on
the price per unit or price per ounce
which should be displayed with the food.
8. Buy generic and store
brand groceries. This market has improved
and grown since it was first introduced
and manufacturers have answered the need
for higher quality. You can often get the
same taste for less cost.
9. Create a grocery
budget and stick to it. This will be
helped if you preplan meals or have easy
to apply back up plans for meals when
time is short. If you budget $150 a week
for your family, then stick to it
rigoursly. Don't let guests or whiny
family members break your budget plan. Go
shopping with your list and how much you
can budget for each item on that list.
10. Always remember to
take a calculator with you when you go
shopping. Most people don't have any idea
what the sum total of the food in their
grocery cart will be buy the time they
wheel it up to the check out lane.
Without a calculator, most people are
lost and will go over their budget, so
always remember to take a calculator with
you.
11. Coupons are a good
way to save money - but not on items you
don't eat or hardly ever use. And most
coupons are for expensive name brand
items that even with the coupon, might be
more expensive then store brands or
generics.
12. Keep in mind that
much of your excess food costs come in
food being wasted. That's why you have to
plan your meals and budget carefully.
Don't buy food on sale that your family
won't eat - then you are not saving
money, just wasting it. If you do end up
with leftover food you can't get rid of,
or recook into more palatable leftovers,
give it your animals. If you don't have
animals to feed, or they won't even eat
it, feed it to your garden where it can
be used as fertilizer. Either way, you
should never let food go to complete
waste. Dogs will drink sour milk, eat bad
meat and your garden will use all of it
as fertilizer. A CNN article drew
attention to this problem which is
highlighted in this quote: Today
households on average toss 14 percent of
the food they buy, about double what we
threw out 20 years ago. Compare this with
our parents' and grandparents'
generations, when time was spent each
week planning menus so that every last
item that was bought was used. - money.cnn.com
- Jan 9, 2006
13. If you have a
freezer, make use of it buy buying pork
or beef in bulk. Investing in a quarter
piece of pork or beef (1/4 of the entire
butchered pig or cow) can save you 30 to
40 percent on your meat bill. You can
have your choice of having that quarter
piece cut in several different selections
of hamburger, steaks, pork chops, etc.
14. Grocery stores are
centers of psychological study in human
shopping behavior. Chances are, the store
knows more about how you shop then you do
- and they lay out of the store is set up
to maximize this knowledge and squeeze
more money out of you. Remember that the
name brand expensive items are are always
at eye level, and the generics, store
brands and other discount items are up
high or down low. You can count on the
fact that the instore bakery or deli will
be blowing the smell of fresh cooked
donuts, bread or chicken sandwiches into
the store - so stay strong and focused on
your list (and the calculator you
remembered to bring). And on your way
out, resist the impulse buy items in the
check out lane. That copy of the National
Enquirer or Cosmopolitan magazine are not
going to change your life. Besides, you
can read them at the library.
15. Stock up on food
staples when they are on sale: If you can
get 10 pounds of hamburger for $18, go
for it! You can always divide that 10
pounds into 1 pound bags that you can
freeze and save for later.
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