Grocery Mama

Reusabe Grocery bag from a skirt

Ok, here is my first attempt at making my own reusable grocery bag. I used a skirt I got from goodwill. I lined it with a cream linen. On the front I sewed a felt flower. The handles are from the linen, which I braided and sewed on.

I will see tomorrow how it holds up. I did keep the pockets from the skirt on the bag, so I can stick other bags down them. I have two more skirts to try out and see how they turn out.

I'm using skirts because they are already made. It still takes energy from factories to make all of the reusable totes. Let's actually re use what we have!

A bigger pict:

View this photo 

Think outside the one night plan

If you take the time to plan a weekly outline of your meals and shop for all the ingrediants, it's easy to make more than one meal a night. If I'm cooking ground beef for my meal that night, if I'm having ground beef another night that week, I throw in another pound to cook. After, I divide the meat in half and use some for the nightly meal and the rest goes in the fridge.

Sometimes, I'll make the whole meal and place in the freezer. I always keep the aluminum 9x13 pans on hand so I can make a freezer meal for next week or even next month.

The tip is, cook double whenever you can. If you are making potatoes one night, boil the whole bag and make mashed potatoes out of half. This speeds up future meals and saves time.

Step by Step how I save money on Groceries

Probably the biggest and most controllable item in a family’s budget is the grocery bill. When money wasn't as issue for us, I just threw anything into the cart. I can't imagine the amount of money I wasted by not doing some simple planning.

I do spend about 1-2 hours a week doing my grocery list. And while that may seem like a lot of time - I can save over $50 a trip. The way I see it, I just made $25 an hour. This is more than I make at my job. Remember, we are working to save money.

Step 1: The Wednesday Paper
If you don't subscribe to your local newspaper - start! The savings you find inside for out weight the nominal cost.

Each Wednesday the grocery stores put out their weekly savings. I sit down and start to make a list of each item I could use. I plan my menus around what is on sale.

Once I have a rough drat, I match up the coupons.

Step 2: Coupon Matching
Yes, I clip coupons. If you match a coupon with a weekly store saving, many times you can get items for free or pennies on a dollar. If you don't have the time, let you kids help you. Separate the coupons into categories and place them into marked envelopes.

If you wait until Sunday to do your grocery shopping . . . a very helpful service I use is the The Grocery Game. For a small fee, I can log in and see the coupons matched with the store savings and how much I would save on each item.

If you would like to look for individual coupons you might want to try out The Coupon Master. Here you can look for coupons and buy them at a fraction of the savings you will have.

Step 3: Pre Shop
Both King Soopers/ City Market and Safeway offer an at home delivery service that allows you to shop online. I use this to virtually shop through the store. The site calculates a running total and allows me to choose how many items of each I want.

When I'm all done, I view my cart and make any adjustments I need to fit my budget and print the list. This has the brand names included so I can breeze right through the store.

If you want to get really organized, go through your list and itemize it by aisle. This way, you don't miss anything and have to retrace your steps increasing your chances of an impulse buy.

Now the website doesn't show the weekly savings. So you can do one of two things. Either shop within your budget or come out below budget. Or do a loose calculation of the savings and go over your total of that amount.

Step 4: Go Shopping
On my shopping list I mark which item I have a coupon for. All my coupons for that trip are in an envelope. I also attach a paperclip to my list. As I place the item into the cart, I take out the coupon and clip it to the list so I don't forget to give it to the cashier.

I only shop for what is on my list. I will make an adjustment if I have a name brand item with coupon and the generic item is still cheaper and a better buy. I won't compromise on everything generic though. Some name brand items simply taste better. But that is up to your taste buds.

If I realize I forgot an item, I ask myself do I need it this week. If I can go without it another week, I usually don't buy. If it's an item that is part of a meal for the week, I'll try to get the best value.

Like I said in the beginning, this may seem long but once you get the hang of it, it starts to go fast. And watch out, it's also addicting. You like to see how much you save each week and if you can beat it the next. I try to make it a goal to save between 30-40% of my bill each week.

Remember, you are working to save money and it is well worth the effort.

One Chicken - Two Meals

When whole chickens go on sale - buy 'em up. You can get a few meals out of each of them. A great price is $0.89 a pound. These freeze well, just give them time to defrost before you cook them.

This week, King Soopers has whole chickens on sale for $0.99 lb. So I thought I'd post two recipies you can use them in. Both of these recipies can be frozen for later meals or made for that day.

I'm also a huge fan of boiling a whole chicken. It's easier to get all the meat off and you have some chicken broth left over. If I am going to do a roast, I don't plan on too many leftovers. When you roast the chicken, it can become a tad dry. So when I'm going to use it to make meals - boiling is the way to go.

Chicken Taco Casserole

Ingrediants:

2	cups cooked rice
2	cups cooked chicken, shredded
1 - 14.5	ounce can tomato sauce
1  - 1.25	ounce envelope taco seasoning (or make your own)
1	can refried beans
To Serve: 1	cup cheese, grated (reserve in it's own baggie)
1	cup tomatoes, chopped (optional)
1	cup guacamole (optional)
1/2	cup sour cream (optional)
5	cups tortilla chips (optional)

Place cooked rice in bottom of 9x13in aluminum pan (the disposable kind).

Mix taco seasoning with tomato sauce. Mix in chicken. Place chicken mixture on top of rice. Top with 1-2 cans of efried beans. Cover with aluminum foil and freeze.

To Make:

Defrost. Cover with grated cheese. Bake uncovered for 30 to 45 minutes at 350F. Or until hot and cheese is bubbly. Top with your favorite yummy toppings. Enjoy.

Black Bean and Salsa Dump Chicken

Ingredients:

1/2 cooked whole chicken, shredded

2 cans corn, drained

1 can black beans, rinsed and drained

2 cups salsa.

Dump all ingredients into a freezer bag. Freeze.

To make:

Take frozen contents and place into a crockpot and cook on low for 8 hours. You can also place into oven to heat up at 350 for about an hour or until heated all the way through. Top with chedder or cream cheese. Serve over rice. Enjoy.

If you got it - Use it

Many clients that I visit have items in thier pantries that they are not even aware of. Cans of cream soups in the corners, 3 or 4 open rice bags and unfinished bags of noodles. Here is a huge tip: If you have it - Use it before you buy more.

Find dinner items with those ingrediants in them. Make it a scaverger hunt so to speak. And until you use all the excess items - Don't buy any more.

One of my clients had around 11 cans of beans. I asked her, "what do you use these all for? And why do you have so many?" She wan't sure, she just always bought a can of beans. If you buy it, use it. Or you are just wasting money!

Reusable Grocery Bags

I love the idea of reusable grocery bags. I also want to try my hand at making them. I think it would be a fun thing to do with the kids.

Below is the link of the pattern I'm going to try (looks simple enough). The site recommends using old rain coats - I'm going to make a trip to the good will and see what I can find.

But if you don't want to make one yourself, they will make one for you. Just send in your rain coat.

I will put up pictures of the bags I made. If you try any, please send me a picture. And I"ll post it up!

http://www.citybagtrade.com/makeabag.html

Red Beet Emergency Mentality

The first step in saving money on grocery shopping is to take some time a take into account what you actually have lurking in your pantry. We waste time and money buying what we already have.

I asked a client to do this, and she mentioned that she needs a stock of food for an emergency. I said, Ok, what do you have for your emergency?

When it gets down to it, the so called “emergency stock” is a can of red beets, some peas and a box of evaporated potatoes.

We get a sense of comfort when our pantry is full and “well stocked”. But really, what do we have in there. And if we need the food for an emergency, then what do we have to fall back on.

The government offers some ideas here: http://sema.dps.mo.gov/06EmergencyFood.pdf.

I also recommend putting true emergency stock someplace other than your pantry, or in a specific box. That way, you know it’s there and what it’s for.

Now, there is specific food and a specific spot for your emergency stash. The rest of the pantry is fair game. Know what is in there, and what you are going to use it for.

If you won’t use it, give it to a food bank. If it’s a bag of chips that have been open too long – throw them out. Getting your pantry in order is step one to grocery savings.

Man cannot live on Shampoo alone

Being active in saving money on groceries, I read a lot of forums and message boards. I always see the posts that list all the items a person bought for under a $1. The bounty normally includes something like 20 boxes of cereal, 10 bottles of shampoo and a variety of other items.

Yes, buying all of this for under a $ is a steal, (and I hope they give some away as well). But honestly, what did they buy for dinner. To me, the fine art of grocery shopping has to do with buying healthy ingredients for quick and affordable meals for my family.

I have certain standards I like to adhere to when shopping for food. I do not believe in buying process products. Such as hot pockets, tostinos pizza rolls and so forth. Just because I can get them for $0.50 doesn’t mean I have to buy them. If I keep that 50 cents and put it towards the pork loin that’s on sale, I’ll still save money AND have a much healthier meal for dinner.

It’s all about your grocery shopping goals. If your goal is to get as much as you can for as cheap as you can. And health concerns are no issue for you, than that is your prerogative. For me, I happen to believe that affordable and healthy meals and snacks are my ultimate grocery goal.

My Services

Need help getting that spending under control? That's where I come in. I look at your current spending habits and amount. Your spending and health goals. All your current cooking styles and pantry organization. From there we can put together a game plan for you - that will not only save you money. But put you more at ease each time dinner time rolls around.

Ready to make a change? Email me at grocerymama@comcast.net.