Prudent and Practical

I woke up and had my daily tea this morning while reading the news headlines on Yahoo.  I clicked on a video labeled “Grandma’s Great Depression tricks to save in the kitchen.”  Intrigued, the celebrity-chef Emeril tried her recipes.

His verdict… they work and are tasty!  It’s very interesting to see all the different ways you can use cheap and basic staples such as potatoes and pasta.  So, now I’m getting addicted and I just can’t stop watching the videos!  Check out Depression Cooking with Clara.  She’s also on YouTube.

1. Stop eating out and you could save $300-$600 per month!
2. If you decide to eat out, use coupons.  Fazoli’s website offers a buy one get one free offer every week.  I also just received a coupon for a free sandwich from Arby’s last week.  Coupons can be found online, through Val-Pak, Hot Coupons, the 2009 Entertainment book, through the weekly Shopper/PennySaver, and through your city’s Sunday newspaper.
3. Another way to save when eating out is to share a meal.  Meal portion sizes have increased exponentially over the past few decades.  My mother in law’s favorite thing to do when visiting Texas Roadhouse is this: one person orders a meal and the second person orders the veggie platter for $8 – they eat more nutritiously and save a little money by sharing.  Otherwise, order one meal and split it.
4. This tip requires a little work… eat less!  By eating less (and hopefully working out), you’ll save money on groceries.  You’ll also save money by not purchasing pre-made foods, because you’ll want to eat more fresh foods.
5. Avoid (potentially) expensive, un-nutritious highly processed foods.
6. Stick to the basics: make a grocery list and don’t stray from it, only buy items that you need, don’t buy items just because they’re cheap or on sale if you don’t need them, make a budget and stick to it – my mom does this by taking a set amount of cash to buy groceries, compare prices at different grocery stores.  Sometimes grocery stores will honor other store’s ad prices and coupons.
7. Check out my list of birthday freebies.  Many of those restaurants also send you offers throughout the year.
8. You may be able to find some of your favorite food items at discount stores such as Dollar General, Big Lots, and bakery outlet stores.  Also check out surplus stores, including army surplus.  I’ve been to a few that sell almost expired canned goods and other non-perishables, such as powdered mixes, cookies, and gummy snacks at deep discounts.
9. Buy in bulk through stores such as Costco and Sam’s Club.  BulkFoods carries obviously foods in bulk – the downside is that you have to pay shipping.  I’ve purchased items cheaper than BulkFoods prices at a local Mennonite grocery store, so be sure to check out local bulk food stores too.  eBay also carries food products.
10. Buying in bulk allows you to make more of a meal so that you can reuse the ingredients.  For example, if you make a turkey, use the leftovers to make turkey soup or a turkey pie.
11. When thinking of shopping locally, consider farmer’s markets and family farms or co-ops.  Local Harvest has an extensive listing.
12. If you eat a lot of natural foods, consider “living off the grid” or being “self sufficient.”  There are some great books out there for this.  Chickens are extremely cost efficient – they don’t eat much, and you can get both meat and eggs from them.  Check out your local ordinance as they are allowed in many residential areas (even Chicago).  Check out Backyard Chickens for more information.
13. Store brands are often much cheaper than more well known name brands, and usually taste the same.
14. Do a little research to figure out when your local grocer marks down meat and baked goods.  In our town, the meat is marked down first thing in the morning and baked goods in the evening.
15. Eat cheap foods such as sardines, brown rice, old fashioned oatmeal, whole grain pasta, legumes/beans, and nuts and peanut butter, cabbage, kale, apples, cheaper cuts of beef shanks, protein powder is a cheap alternative to protein from meat, whole chicken, eggs are also a cheaper version of protein, broccoli, watermelon, squash, spinach

Some excellent websites:

• Hillbilly Housewife
• Great Depression Cooking with Clara