Making Our Groceries Go Further - Eating Less

 

One of the ways we manage on a very low monthly grocery budget is that we are not huge eaters.  I think we can all agree that in America it is really easy to overeat.  Supersize portions have been the "normal" way of eating for a long time and most Americans are overweight and over half of us are in or near the obese category.  Put quite simply, we eat too much.

 

I've never been a breakfast eater, which we've been told  for eons is "the most important meal of the day".  My mother used to get so frustrated with me because of this too, but I just wasn't ready for food first thing and I'm still very much that way.  So are my children.  We do not eat food in the morning.  Quite often we don't each until lunchtime.  Turns out we've been intermittent fasting long before I even knew that was a thing.

 

A Sunday brunch

I always start my day with black coffee and then about mid morning around 10:00 a.m. I will fix myself a large flavored coffee with cream in it, no sugar or sweetener.  By noon I'm hungry and ready to eat and so are my kiddos so we'll usually have lunch, which is typically leftovers from the night before or I'll make a breakfast or we'll have sandwiches.  Then later in the evening we'll have dinner.  I'm only preparing two meals a day and that is plenty of food for us.

 

Our meals tend to be rather simple

Along those lines we eat a regular serving size and seldom go back for seconds.  Serving sizes have grown a lot over time, but if you actually look at what a true serving size of meat or pasta is you'd probably be surprised to find it is much smaller than what is typically consumed.  We stick to true serving sizes and bulk up on vegetables.  I make a lot of fresh salads and we eat a lot of vegetables.  When I do have seconds it is usually the salad I want more of.

 

By limiting our portion sizes on meats and starches, the two most expensive items on the grocery list we not only save money, but it helps us maintain a healthy weight as well.  By focusing on more veggies we are adding better nutrition to our diet and feel satisfied after a meal. Overall, we eat less often and we eat less food.

 

Budgeting My Way To Retirement - Week 10

 

It boggles the mind that we have just completed ten weeks of 2022.  I'll be honest, I have mixed emotions about it so far.  On a personal level I'm feeling pretty darn good, but on the grander scale, the state of the world has me more than a little concerned.  This past week I found myself struggling a bit with the weight of things.  The reality however is that there is very little I can do about most of it so worrying and fretting isn't going to do anyone any good, especially me.  So, I decided not to get too worked up over it and focus on the things I can do.  I know that I am doing my best and doing all I can right now and that is all any of us really can do.  And I pray.  A lot.

 

After my big shopping excursion with my two beautiful daughters the week prior I spent the past week being super thrifty.  I just went to work and came home each day and tried not to look at the signs at the gas stations on my way to and from.  I'm not sure what I was doing in my sleep at night, but while I was sleeping gas prices crept up quite a bit several times.  Anyone else have that same problem?  Needless to say, I won't be doing a whole lot of extra driving.  It's nuts!

 

I made some good meals and we made sure to eat our leftovers and not waste any food.  We've been extra mindful not to waste anything for that matter.  I washed out three Ziploc bags to reuse and cut open a tube of moisturizing cream to make sure I scoop out every last bit before I toss it.  I am composting tea bags, coffee grounds and egg shells right now and collecting veggie scraps in a bag in our freezer for our next batch of stock.

 

No signs of life yet, but I'm hopeful

I used some toilet paper rolls I've been collecting to make seed pots and then filled them with potting soil.  I started tomatoes, peppers, pumpkins and cantaloupe seeds.  As I acquire more rolls I'll start more seeds in the coming month.  In the meantime I'm making garden plans.

 

Delicious leftovers

I hope everyone had a great week.  Let me know what you've been up to.

 

Shoes, Socks & Underwear

 

There are a lot of things to consider when prepping.  My first concerns were to cover my basic needs - food, water and shelter.  Once I was comfortable with what I had done in that area I moved on to household items, first aid and medications.  Then pet food.  Next on my list was to prep shoes, socks and underwear.  These three items fall into the category of things I prefer to purchase new as opposed to second hand.  They also fall into the category of difficult to make so most of us will need to purchase them.  Where you live and your particular climate will determine exactly what you will need.

I had picked these up in January on clearance, with a coupon + rewards $$

I live in an area with four distinct season of winter, spring, summer and fall.  We get snow and rain and very cold winters as well as hot and dry summers so I wanted to make sure I had adequate footwear for all of the seasons.  First on my list is a pair of water resistant insulated winter boots to navigate the cold wet snowy winters.  Since I already had a good pair of boots that was an easy one to cross of my list.  Next was an extra pair of daily wear shoes.  I purchased a pair of good quality sneakers, on clearance and with coupons so it was affordable.  The last item on my list is to invest in a pair of good quality sandals which I am planning to get next week.  I have a pair in mind and a $10 store coupon plus a $5 store reward to use on that purchase. 

We buy a lot of our shoes at DSW and we are signed up with their store rewards program

With kids shoes, a lot of times they'll 0utgrow something before they outwear it so I've often found good shoes at thrift stores, especially winter boots or dress shoes that aren't worn as often.  I always bought them new good quality sneakers for daily wear as they got older and started school.  As long as you are choosy with thrifted footwear you can find some good stuff, but if you prefer to purchase new items like I do check the clearance racks and shop at stores that offer coupons or rewards points for extra savings.

 

Our latest acquisition was 10 pair of socks for $6.99 - I split this with my daughter

Good socks are another thing I want to make sure I have.  Periodically I will inspect my socks for holes or wear and replace them.  I decided to add some extra pairs in various styles including warm fuzzy socks for cold weather days.  I do the same with underwear and replace them as needed with a few extra pairs too.  Fortunately I do know how to make underwear and I have the materials on hand should I choose to make some. Outlet stores, clearance racks and sales are the way to go to save when purchasing socks and underwear.

 

I also added two new bras to my underwear drawer - 50% OFF the pink price tags!

I have always been one to think ahead and have a planned replacement routine in place for these items, not just for myself but my children as well.  I used to buy ahead with larger sizes for them to grow into and pass gently worn items from the oldest to the youngest whenever possible.  Right now I think it is a really good idea to make sure we have a good supply of these items on hand.

 

 

What I Did With All That Meat

 

After a recent shopping trip I came home with some bacon, beef and chicken to put up for our prepper pantry.  I wanted to add more home pressure canned meats to our long term storage.  I have commercially canned meat products, but I really wanted some home canned meats because I know exactly what is in that jar and I can put more for far less money than what store bought canned meats are going for.  I think having both options is a good thing.

 

On day one I cut up all of roasts and chicken breasts into large chunks.  I put the bones and beef trimmings into a large pot to brown.  Then I divided them up into my slow cookers along with a bag of veggies scraps I've been collecting in my freezer for a while to make beef stock.  I deglazed the pan with some water so I'd have all that wonderful flavor in that stock.  After adding some more veggies and water I let those slow cookers simmer all day long.  Our house smelled really good.  The bacon and steaks went right into the freezer.

 

I pan seared the bones & trimmings to enhance flavor

Simmering beef broth

The next day I skimmed the fat from the strained beef stock and pulled frozen chicken broth from the freezer and a container from the pantry too.  The parts I had strained off and the fat from the beef broth went out to the chickens so nothing was wasted.  I ended up with over a gallon of delicious flavorful broth.

 

A busy kitchen

Sterile jars waiting their turn

The meat chunks were packed into jars and topped up with broth, then into the pressure canner to process and seal.  The leftover broth went into jars too and was pressured canned as well.  By the time I was done we ended up with eight jars of roast beef and ten jars of chicken breast plus nine jars of broth - one chicken and the rest beef.

 

Roast beef packed in broth

Chicken packed in broth

Each pint jar is enough meat for four meals so one jar will feed four people one meal, two people two meals or one person four meals.  I did the math and compared to what I spend for a 12oz can of commercially processed roast beef and my own home canned 16oz jar of roast beef I saved 10¢ per ounce, but most importantly I was able to select the quality of the meat I processed and control the ingredients I put into it.  Plus, I ended up with all of that broth.  The home canned chicken was an even better deal at 7¢ an ounce compared to 19¢ an ounce for the store bought cans.

 

I used the leftover money after purchasing the meat to get a new case of jars

Beef broth

I feel it was well worth my time and trouble even considering the cost of lids (recently purchased for $1.99 a box) and electricity used to process my jars.  And there was a lot of prep work and clean up.  It did take a lot of my time because I devoted the better part of an entire weekend to this job, including the shopping trip.  But I do very much enjoy home canning and preserving so for me there was a lot of entertainment value as well.  I am very pleased with my latest home canning venture and I'm looking forward to my next one.  Now to decide, what should I do next?

 

Budgeting My Way To Retirement - Week 9

 

It felt really good to spend some time in my kitchen getting all of that meat I purchased processed and put up for long term storage.  I'll be talking more specifics about that in my next post.  I also went into our chest freezer in the garage and removed some chubs of ground beef and turkey with ideas in mind for those items as well.  I will definitely let you know what I ended up doing with the ground meat.

 

Tuesday I was able to score two more flats of pint jars at the grocery store.  That made me extremely happy and feel a lot better about being able to accomplish a very important goal I've set for myself this year.  With all of the shortages on canning supplies I was wondering if this goal would even be possible.  But I was willing to give it a try and do whatever I could to make it happen before I threw in the towel.

 

The girl and I had a very busy work/school week.  I even put in a little bit of overtime which is more the normal than the exception anymore.  My daughter had an orchestra concert on Thursday and it was really nice.  It was payday on Friday and I got all of the monthly bills paid and topped up the gas tank on my car with some money left over.  I was really happy when the weekend arrived.  I also got a bunch of good coupons in the mail for Fred Meyer and DSW that I plan to use in the near future.

 

Saturday my oldest came home for a visit and we did a little bit of shopping.  My twenty year old coat was in need of replacement.  The zipper had gone out of it a few weeks ago and although I could replace the zipper I felt that after twenty years I should probably just plan on investing in a new one so I was on the hunt for a good deal on a winter coat.  Thankfully I found one on clearance at JC Penney for a really great price, only $44.99.  Lucky me!

 

I hope everyone is doing well.  How was your week?  Did you do anything super thrifty?

 

A $50 Meat Haul

 

Meat prices are staggering right now making me question if one of my goals, to put up more home canned meats, was even going to be attainable.  I have been focusing my shopping dollars on meat I find on sale or on markdown for a really good price.  It has been hit or miss at times, but for the most part I've done pretty well.

 

Two large packages of boneless skinless chicken breast
$1.99 per pound plus and extra 30% OFF the sales price!

Three pot roasts $2.99 per pound

At the end of February Albertson's had some excellent meat sales on pot roasts ($2.99/lb), boneless skinless chicken breast ($1.99/lb) and, of all the wonderful things, bacon!  They had bacon for $2.99 per 12 oz. package so we stocked up.

 

Bacon! 
8 packages at $2.99 each

Steaks on markdown 50% OFF lowest price

I was even more excited when I found two packages of the chicken with markdown stickers on them.  They took an additional 30% OFF the sales price making them ultra affordable.  I found three nice packages of steaks on markdown as well so I scooped those up too.

 

I used a $30 gift card I received from a store promotion they were running last year as well as some money I set aside from my tax refunds.  The total price I spent out of pocket came in at just over $48.  After making this purchase I have no concerns about the rising cost of meat or whether or not I'll be able to afford to buy meat and stay within our grocery budget. Check back on Wednesday to see what I did with all of this meat.  😋

 

Are We Rationing Our Food?

 

In a way, I guess we are kind of rationing our food.  In going into 2022 I wanted to be more mindful of the things I do on a daily basis.  One of those things was to make sure we had very minimal waste, especially with food as prices are on the rise and at any given moment there have been shortages on various items.  For the most part I am able to get the things we need and want as long as I'm willing to shop around at different stores until I find it, which I am.

 

Beginning back in December we made the decision to be more careful with what we are cooking and eating.  The focus has been to prepare delicious, healthy and nutritious meals in a way that allows us to stretch our food and not waste it.  I have been able to stretch our meat, the most expensive item on the list right now, by using less and therefore eating less of it.  Instead, I'm adding in more beans and vegetables into our recipes.

 

I've also incorporated more soups into our diet.  Soups are a great way to use up leftovers, extend what you have and are very budget friendly.  A good soup offers a lot in the way of hydration, nutrition and it fills you up.  We enjoy soup at our house so eating more of it has been rather enjoyable.

 

The changes we are making seem to be working rather well.  We have plenty to eat and all of our dietary needs are being met.  I've managed to offer a nice variety of foods too so we aren't getting bored with what we are eating, but most importantly we haven't felt deprived in any way.  In fact, we were just discussing how nice the meals have been lately.  I think we're on to something.