Thursday, August 20, 2009

How to Save Money on Food

Food is a huge part of frugal life. One's food intake is the most fluid item in their whole budget. So, how do I determine what my family eats?
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#1 What is Cheapest?
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Oatmeal is $0.75 per pound dry. Cooked with water, it's closer to $0.25 per pound. I get whole white wheat flour for $0.63 per pound. Depending on how it is prepared, it will yield a product that costs much less per pound than the original $0.63. Kidney beans can be found for $0.79 per pound dry and plump up to about three times their size when cooked. Canned tomatoes can be found for under $0.50 per pound. Onions are also easily found at under $0.50 per pound. We get potatoes for $0.30 per pound year round but I'm looking forward to lower prices during the upcoming harvest season. Rice is comparable in price and if your family likes it, you should be eating it. Also, carrots are among the cheapest food around.
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#2 What do you like?
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What are your favorite foods? I believe that to achieve a high quality of life, you should frequently enjoy stuff that you love and purge your life of what you don't enjoy as much. I have a repertoire of fourteen meals that my family loves. I use a two week menu rotation. Some may think that this would be a boring menu, but these are our favorite foods! We are not bored. By limiting the basic menu, I can work at perfecting each dish and finding the cheapest ingredients and methods of preparation. It also greatly simplifies shopping. There is also flexibility, since I make the menu, for a dish my husband or I have a craving for or a good looking recipe I come across.
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#3 What do you have time for?
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You may agree that homemade food is delicious, nourishing, and cheap. However, if you work forty hours a week, and have a family, you will want to find some serious shortcuts. I don't work, and I do find satisfaction in rolling and cooking three batches of tortillas in an afternoon. But if I did work, I wouldn't want to spend an hour making dinner.
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Also, even if you do have time and the desire, switching everything to homemade will wear you out fast. You may not find homemade alternatives you like on the first try. Or you may find the work overwhelming. Start with one dish at a time and your skills will grow. I can now mix, roll, cut and boil pasta while the pasta sauce is simmering, so it takes no extra cooking time.
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#4 What are your health priorities?
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I've stripped my family of all sugar. I need a nap whenever I have sugar and it makes my husband grumpy. We've also found that higher protein meals, especially for breakfast and lunch, give us more energy to get more done each day. Food is not just one of life's necessities, but it is also a potent medicine that can determine a lot about your quality of life. Your family will have a unique set of health needs.
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All of these factors will determine which foods you feed your family. It is a formula, unique for each family. I'm going to start posting the meals my family loves, along with the cost per meal.

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