I have been driving a Plug-In car that gets over 100mpg for the past year, I use just 4kwh (60 cents) of Clean Domestic Wind Energy to offset the amount of Dirty Foreign Oil I have to buy. It is not the cost of gas that is the problem; it is the amount of gas you have to buy that is the problem. By saving over $500.00 vs. driving my Yukon, I am able to balance my food budget. Now I’m helping others do the same.

The best tip I can give is to pay the $50 for the Costco membership. Their meat prices are SO MUCH cheaper that you will save the $50 on the first trip. Sliced Butterball Turkey is $2.19 a pound as opposed to about $6 a pound in the Wal-Mart Deli. Top quality ground beed 92% lean is about $2 a pound as opposed to $3.59 and up, center cut pork chops can be had for $2.19 a pound and block cheese is half the supermarket price. The single best deal is the 4 pound Cheesecake Factory cheesecake is about $10 which is less than $2.50 a pound and it’s pre-sliced to make it so much easier to serve–and it’s delicious–it’s my standard to bring to a party!

On my food blog, I have started a series of posts challenging readers to save money on groceries by cooking more. The first two challenges are to Never Buy Salad Dressing Again and Never Buy Fresh Herbs Again (with tips on how to grow herbs in pots). More to come …

Cutting back on meat is an easy way to reduce the grocery bill. Beans and rice are still fairly cheap, and they are filling and nutritious–and delicious if prepared right. I like to make up a big pot of rice over the weekend, so that one part of dinner is ready at least some nights, because that makes it easier to cook at home rather than buying expensive prepared foods.

Shop & Save has $10 off your $50 purchase on Thrusday nights. This is a great savings for my family, plus I get to save my weekends for fun instead of grocery shopping. Check out your local Shop & Save to see if your store has the same program. It’s great!

I started shopping at Aldi’s about 2 years ago. I buy all of the cooking and baking staples there…eggs, butter, flour, sugar, oil, rice, can goods, etc. Their frozen food selection is pretty great too and I also get great prices on cereals and cheese. If you haven’t been there I encourage you to give it a try!

ALDI! I just went grocery shopping last night. I can still get a full cart of groceries there for about $100. I went across the street to Schnucks for a couple things I couldn’t get at Aldi…1/4 cart…$50. If it wasn’t for Aldi we’d be eating ramen noodles every night

With a bread machine, you can bake your own fresh, high-quality bread with little effort. Put a bread in to bake overnight, and you wake to the best aroma you can imagine.
Avoid prepackage bread mixes - they are expensive and you can’t control the ingreients. Pay a little more for top-quality flour - King Arthur, Hodgson Mills or Bob’s Red Mill. Flour’s gone way up, but you can save a ton by buying yeast at Sam’s or Costco at about $3 for 2 pounds(!), versus $7-8 for a 4 oz jar at supermarkets (or even insanely more when you buy the tiny pre-measured packets). Buy the yeast at Sam’s and refrigerate it in jars - it’ll keep a couple years. Even better, give some away to entice friends into baking their own bread.
If you go gonzo over baking your own bread and are into serious health, you can buy your own electric flour mill. Whole foods sells organic wheat berries at $0.69 pr pound, and you can grind your own whole wheat flour! The freshness makes it much better than store bought! Grind some flax seeds in with the wheat, and you’ll lower your cholesterol! Experiment with adding seeds and nuts for an extra treat - sunflower seeds, millet, flax, sesame, walnuts. You’ll be amazed!
For feeding a family of 4 for under $10, use the bread machine to make your own pizza dough and make a scratch pizza. Talk about amazing quality and economy! Serve it with salad and you’re there!
Enjoy!

We look for the Shop N Save flier every week to see if it’s “$10 off $50 Thursday.” We take that opportunity to buy certain brand-names that we are particular to, such as coffee, dog and cat food (for the pets of course, we are not having to eat THAT yet), juices, etc. I do a fair amount of shopping at Save A Lot since one is really close to our house (gas savings!). I like their frozen selection, fresh produce and canned items are usually a little cheaper than at the “brand name” groceries and as an added bonus it is a small store which makes it easy to shop quickly. I have to follow a gluten-free diet and have found that Dierbergs has better prices on g.f. baking mixes, cereals, and pastas than Whole Foods. If you have a breadmaker, it is much cheaper - and tastier - to make the Gluten-Free Pantry brand Favorite Bread Mix than it is to purchase frozen pre-made g.f. breads. I save at least $2 per loaf by doing this. I have stopped buying as many g.f. pre-made junk foods because they are so expensive and have learned to adapt old recipes into g.f. versions that I can make at home.

Invest in a free-standing freezer. About once a month hamburger goes on sale for under 2 dollars and I buy as much as allowed. I have a Foodsaver system, so I freeze it and just plan meals around it.

Thankfully I dont really eat much meat anyway other then hamburger so I am having no trouble doing without the pricey stuff. Soups are always good and you can spread it out to a few days.

Just not buying soda and junk food has cut my food costs in half.

I shop Aldi’s for basic food staple items. I watch the other stores ads–Schnucks, Shop ‘n Save and Dierbergs for their specials and I don’t buy
more than I need. I especially like their 10 items for $10 and I also
clip and use coupons. Since I live in an apartment without a balcony or patio I have no way to grow any fresh produce so I take advantage of the
farmer’s markets. The produce is reasonably priced and it’s fresher so it
tastes better and lasts longer.

I like to buy cheap in-season produce at local farmers markets. I make a big batch of soup, eat what I want and freeze the rest. Minstrone soup is especially good for this!

There is a good basic way to approach things in the St. Louis area: 1. Go to Aldi to get your basic foodstuffs like milk, eggs, bread, etc. 2. Go to Shop ‘N Save to get the other things you can’t get at Aldi like certain brand name goods you really want over the generics. Check for the $10 off $50 or more purchases at Shop N Save on certain Thursdays to make your $ go farther. Shop N Save just released it’s own organic food line called “wild harvest,” so this may be a good solution for the healthy or organic food purchaser instead of Whole Foods.
Save-A-Lot is like a combination of Aldi and Shop N Save where you have a limited choice of generic and brand name goods at reasonable prices, but no real organic items, whereas Aldi has over 95% generic brand content.
Also, Trader Joe’s is much cheaper than Whole Foods Market for healthy items, but doesn’t have as much selection.

Another recommendation is to rotate your purchases each weekend. One weekend, go to Aldi and the next, go to Shop N Save or Save-A-Lot. The reason is that you usually need to go at least once a week to replace spoilable foods, and this way you get to get whatever you need each week.

I just found out about a program called Angel Food Ministry that I am going to try next month (too late for this month). You pick up the food on one designated Saturday morning per month. They have a menu which lists exactly what you will get for only $30 (lots of meats, veggies, milk, eggs, etc.). It appears to be enough food to get quite a few meals out of it, plus they offer add ons. For June, it is 6.5 pounds of meat perfect for grilling (steaks, ribs, brats) for $20 (you have to buy the basic package first). There are various locations in the St. Louis area and you can search by zip code. Check out their website at http://www.angelfoodministry.com.

There are some great suggestions here. I’ll second the Costco recommendation.

We shop Costco maybe twice a month to stock the pantry or when we want something special like seafood. We go to Save A Lot and Shop n Save for weekly trips. We always make a menu for each week and stick to it. I would be willing to bet dinner for myself, my wife, an 8-year old and two toddlers isn’t much over $10-$15. We also stay away from junk food, sodas, and alcohol. If you really look at it, you can easily do without 80% of the stuff in a typical supermarket and still eat healthy and well. What doesn’t get eaten at dinner becomes lunch the next day.

And don’t forget that gardening season is upon us. Anyone can grow tomatoes, beans, and herbs with very little effort. I’ve known people who garden on the roof of their apartment building!

Now that Wall Street, the globalist corporations, the illegal and facist Federal Government and privately owned and run Federal Reserve system, have cheated American’s out of Trillions (that’s with a T) of dollars, we all have to tighten our belts so that Wall Street and the others can do to us all over again? That’s basically what this blog is all about isn’t it? The prices are due to speculation not shortages, so playing the game and tighten our belts is rewarding them for their behaviour when in fact we should be grabbing ropes and torches and hanging ALL politicos and corporatists from the most convenient lamppost.

To Lisa:

Listen up you piece of filth! The angelfoodministry program is for those hard hit. Not for losers like you that are trying to save a buck so they can keep up the payments on the Denali and the Lexus and the McManion. Get a life loser and quit stealing from the poor!

Find the Angel Food Ministry near you. You get a lot of food for a low price. They also have meat and chicken packages so you can stock up. My family hardly buys any meat at the store anymore. We just use Angel Food Ministries for most of the meat we buy.

Angle Food Ministries is for anyone. It does not matter how much you make. They do not have people checking how much money you have. I just hope that I do not get told off like Lisa did. In this time of everything costing more, we all need to cut corners. Do not judge people because of what you think they may have. By the way, my family and I have made $10,000 or less the last two years.

To Lotsie:

I forgive you for your judgment of me. If you would have checked the Angel Food Ministry website before being so mean-spirited, you would see that it is for anyone, regardless of income. You know nothing about me. I am basically the head of a one income household. My husband is disabled and I am his caregiver. I go to work everyday in fear that he will have a seizure by himself at home and die because no one is there to roll him over on his side so he doesn’t choke. We cannot afford a home healthcare provider to watch him. I do not drive a Denali, Lexus or a McManion (whatever that is). My car is not a luxury car by any means. The home we own is a mobile home because that is all we could afford. We live in a mobile home park because we cannot afford our own land. We live paycheck to paycheck and have huge medical bills because of my husband’s health problems and my own health problems. Although my employer “provides” health insurance, I have to pay a huge monthly premium with a huge yearly deductible. My income has to pay the mortgage, pad rent, insurance, utilities, gasoline, and provide food to put on the table.

You are in my prayers and I sincerely hope that God will bless you and give you the desires of your heart.

Lisa

I just want to let you know that Dierberg’s will honor the $10.00 Shop n Save coupon. All you need to do is bring the add to the store and they will honor it the same Thursdays as Shop n Save.