Ouch. That is how the grocery bill makes me feel these days. But if I am feeling it, you are feeling it. Large family moms have to be frugal grocery ninjas all the time. Few things in life give such pleasure as a slashed grocery bill. Well, not really, but it is a nice feeling. I have compiled a list of tips I have picked up over the years in the hopes that you can glean something.
Much of what we pay for in the grocery store is time. The time it took for someone else to make what we could in our own kitchens. For many items, you need to consider if you want to save time or money. Different seasons in life may have different requirements. But, if you can put in some time, and teach your kids to do more in the kitchen, you can reduce your grocery bill by a ton. Many kitchen skills don’t actually take that much time, you just need to build the skill and habits. Plus, if you make things yourself, it tastes awesome and doesn’t have the preservatives that go into prepared food. Many things are surprisingly easy to make.
Tip #1 Buy chicken with bones. Here is why.
Soups and sauces are amazingly cheap and super nutritious when you make your own broth. I make chicken broth at least once a week. Buying chicken thighs or quarters is far cheaper than breasts. Just throw a pack of chicken, a tablespoon of kosher salt, an optional few carrots or other vegetable scraps and fill with water to cover everything, into a crockpot either in the morning to cook all day, or in the evening to cook all night. The broth just cooks itself!
Once the chicken is fall off the bone tender and your broth looks nice and yellow, it is done. I use tongs to take out the chicken, let it cool for awhile as the broth cools down, then debone it. I set a mason jar on a plate in the sink, add a jar funnel, then drain the broth into the jar, and the next jar, and so on. I love the plastic Ball jar lids that can be reused forever and don’t rust. I usually get about 3 quart sized jars of broth. It will gel up beautifully in the fridge and the fat will separate to the top. Notice that store bought broths do not gel up. They don’t have the same nutritional value or collagen.
But, wait! Don’t throw those bones out! Stick them back in the crockpot, add carrots, an onion, or other vegetables, and simmer for another at least 8 hours. You can even add chicken feet, which look really gross, but add great nutritional value for cheap. You will now have about 7 quarts of broth, for free. Free, if you normally throw away your bones, or buy boneless. It is the best thing!
Tip #2 What to do with all that shredded chicken: Stretch your meats.
Most of our classic home comfort foods were made by mothers feeding large families in years gone by. Any meal that stretches meat, incorporates broth, or can easily be made in a large batch tends to be a frugal meal. Double the frugal effect when you add filling starches. Think of an Italian Mama setting up her bolognese sauce in the morning with broth simmering on the stove all day. Incorporating meat into a sauce and pouring it all over a starch, the pasta, is not only smart, it is delicious and has built enduring family cultures through the ages. Mama Mia! It is the same with cuisines around the world: comfort food made by mom trying to feed the family, and building unique civilizations at the same time. Shredded chicken can easily be used in:
Chicken and dumplings. Use that delicious broth. My kids LOVE dumplings! I make an extra pan of dumplings just so we don’t run out. Dumplings are as cheap as a bit of flour and milk.
Chicken Pot Pie, again using that yummy broth, thickening it and adding veggies. Mine is more like a galette. I make a sheet pan pie crust, pour the filling in, and then fold the edges of the crust over the sides. I find it much faster than all the smaller regular sized pies I would need to make.
Multiple chicken pastas: a chicken spaghetti sauce, same sauce but add cream and bacon, same sauce but add cream cheese and peas and bacon, Alfredo sauce over fettuccini. Bonus cheapness if you use your broth, cook it down bit (or not) and add tomato paste. Plus it is so flavorful!
Chicken noodle soup. Homemade egg noodles are simple and delicious to make as an alternative to dumplings. But they do take a bit more time, so throwing a box of orzo pasta or alphabet pasta is also fun, served alongside some homemade bread.
Chicken-Potato Soup. My grandmother was a farmer’s wife with six children. They lived off of 50 lb. bags of potatoes that she bought from a neighbor farm down the road. My dad still loves potatoes!
Any Chicken Soup. Add barley. Add whatever veggies you have. Add a can of tomatoes. Add peppers and Mexican seasonings. Add curry and rice. Add pumpkin and cream!
Really, you can do anything with shredded chicken. Yes, you could do tacos, but it is hard to stretch chicken for tacos. My family loves tacos and we rarely miss Taco Tuesday, which brings me to:
Tip #3 Stretch your meats: Beef.
I can only speak to ground beef here. With it being less than $3 a pound when purchased at Walmart in a 10 lb roll, we stick to ground. Chop the roll right up. There are even helpful white lines on the bottom of the packaging that mark the pounds out. Then double wrap your sections and stick them in the freezer. I am slightly embarrassed to admit I didn’t know those lines were there until after I had been chopping these logs for like, 10 years. We lived. We thrived anyway.
When you want to defrost a beef section, I have no problem with the sink, but otherwise, place in a large bowl in the fridge so nothing drains onto your shelves. You can even defrost in the microwave in a pinch, but watch out for the end sections that have a little metal clip on the ends. You will need to snip that off. Metal and microwaves don’t mix. But try to plan a little bit ahead, we are trying to be frugal and the fridge space is free, but the microwave is using kilowatts.
Meals to stretch ground beef:
Anytime you add beans, you are introducing some more nutrition and stretching your meat. The most delicious beef and bean combos are tacos and chili.
For super frugal tacos: purchase pinto beans in bulk (an 8 lb bag at Walmart is the lowest price per ounce in my area). The night before, place beans in a bowl and cover with about an inch or so of water. Add some kosher salt (they do not toughen the beans). Cover with a cloth. In the morning, drain the beans. I just block the beans with my hand and let the water pour out. I might lose one or two, but I don’t want to get out and wash the strainer. That is not lazy, it’s smart! Dump them in the crockpot. Add a pinch or a few of kosher salt. Fill with water to just about an inch above the beans. Cook on low all day. At supper time, add the beans to the cooked ground beef along with extra taco seasoning. Another way to stretch your tacos is to add rice. Moe’s does, why can’t you? One of my favorite recipes is an imitation of Chipotle’s Cilantro Lime Rice. Also, using chicken broth to cook your rice and some turmeric, is a delicious nutrition and color boost. Don’t forget kosher salt, even if you are doing plain white rice. Frugal does not mean flavorless.
Meatloaf and mashed potatoes. Meatloaf is just what one brilliant mother did to add starches to beef and still slice it up. I like to use homemade bread (or store-bought sliced in a pinch), letting it soak in the milk for meatballs or meatloaf rather than always store bought bread crumbs. I find it is more filling. Here is a clue: more filling equals more food stretching happening. Mashed potatoes: again, cheap and delicious. Add salt, warm milk (not cold, so it does not get gummy) and a pinch of white pepper. A delicious sauce that doubles as gravy is easily made by mixing up a can of tomato sauce with a cup of wine (hey, a cheap wine is still frugal. We can still have some fun!) and pouring it over top of your meatloaf before baking. Those delicious meat juices, wine and tomatoes will mix to make a lovely gravy.
Spaghetti and meatballs, with garlic bread. Italian Mamas found such beautiful ways to stretch meat. This is the same idea as meatloaf. Try adding rolled oats to your meatballs. Oats are so cheap and they really make a nice hearty meatball. I modify Pioneer Women’s meatball recipe (the one that her neighbor brought her when she was ravenously-new-mom-nursing hungry) with Italian spices. Add garlic bread on the side for another delicious filler. Salad goes well, too.
Other ideas: Chili with beans and cornbread. Sorry, devoted no-bean chili heads. Cincinnati chili over pasta is also absolutely delicious.
Tip #4 A note about vegetables.
With some of the meals that I mentioned you can easily add vegetables within the sauce or soup. All of them can have vegetables along side. Look for the big frozen bags. Frozen vegetables can be cheaper than fresh, and they don’t go bad. But compare prices, there are many fresh vegetables that are usually inexpensive: whole bagged carrots, celery, onions, green peppers, cabbage, romaine lettuce, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, beets can be decent, winter squashes, and vegetables in season. I have found Aldi has the cheapest produce prices. Quite frankly, Aldi is almost the cheapest in everything. Salads make a delicious and nutritious side for most meals. Sweet potatoes are cheap, nutritiously dense and great for toddlers and nursing mamas especially.
Tip #5 Make your doughs.
It has been a wonderful turning point around here now that my daughter can also make bread. Homemade bread is delicious and hearty. We typically use a mix of unbleached white along with whole wheat. Foaccia is a quick bread that only rises once. We also enjoy Challah with its pretty braid. If you have a bread machine, this can be super easy. We do not, but we use the dough hook on our mixer. Our food processor makes super quick and easy pizza dough, as well as pie crust, and even puff pastry. All are items that suddenly drop in price when you make it at home.
Tip #6 Plan your meals. Stock your pantry.
I don’t like to spend a lot of time planning meals. But the idea of rotating meals makes every feeling revolt, too. Then I realized that a rotating meal habit is super flexible, and it eliminates decision fatigue. Having an easy way to make plans, makes it happen more. Tacos on Tuesday can also be enchiladas. Pizza on Fridays can be an Alfredo pizza or a cheddar Mac n cheese pizza, or it can be just pizza. Monday can be any zillion of pastas. Saturday is something special. And any of it can go right out the window, if creativity strikes and I want something else. If you know the basics of the meals that you are going to make, it is easy to keep your pantry stocked and grocery shop no more than once a week.
Tip #7 You stretched your meat, now stretch your meals.
Use your leftovers. Taco filling from one night can become taco salad the next day, or a sheet pan full of enchiladas of beans, meat, rice and cheese, slathered in sauce. Spaghetti sauce on Monday can become a Baked Ziti on Wednesday. Or add it to a soup. Or save it for pizza. Not quite enough sauce? Just sauté minced fresh garlic in olive oil, add tomato sauce, a pinch of salt and red pepper flakes, then add your leftover sauce. You just made sauce great again! Use the extra sauce for pizza crust dipping. Shredded pork moves from tacos to soup to sauce easily. I once did this for almost a week, when I was postpartum and too tired to cook, and a friend gave me a cooked batch of pork. Once you get the hang of stretching your meals and using your leftovers, why, you will start doing it on purpose! As I have told my husband, it is not leftovers: It is my very own fancy prepackaged, premade food right in my fridge, without all the preservatives. People pay good money for that! You are now saving money AND time. Ninja.
Tip #8 Keep it tasty. Read cookbooks.
Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat is a great cookbook to read because it explains the techniques and practices that make food taste good. Check if your library has a copy. Most deliciousness comes from cooking knowledge, which once you have that, is free! Know when to add salt, and what kind. Learn to simmer your broths down over low heat, and you will have beautiful sauces every time. Grow some fresh easy herbs in some pots. Fresh herbs on top of pizza make it taste gourmet! Add to your knowledge, and add some splashes of beauty and joy. Add some candles to the table. Add some little treats down the middle for a Sabbath dinner game. Arrange your food on a platter in a pretty way. Saving money does not mean dower. Joyfulness in all things, and let it come out your fingertips.
Tip #9 Track your budget. Ask questions.
I really like the app from Dave Ramsey: Every Dollar. We also use only one credit card so that we can see all of our purchases in one place and calculate what we are spending. If you don’t know where the money is going, well, you don’t know where the money is going. Don’t beat yourself up, but ask if there is anything you might replace by making it yourself or searching for a cheaper price. Maybe even making less trips to the store or investing in extra freezer space would free up more assets. Could you use dried beans instead of canned? But do try to leave some freedom in your budget and leave some room for fun. Having some knowledge of where you are at in your spending can give you some freedom to relax, rather than worrying without facts.
Tip #10 A smorgasbord of bunches of things.
Use eggs. Definitely for breakfast. It is cheap, delicious, nutritious protein. Eggs are also easy for kids to make. All of my kids have started cooking with scrambled eggs, toad in a hole, French toast, etc. Easy and not just for breakfast: lunch, too! Keep hard boiled eggs for snacks in the fridge. Use dried beans instead of canned. Eliminate prepackaged foods as much as possible: cereals, chips, junk food, frozen foods, etc.. Make a big batch of muffins with a sheet pan. It is faster. Square muffins! Great for snacks or easy breakfasts. Use oats. More cheap nutrition. Oatmeal with some maple syrup and frozen fruit. Oatmeal cookies: only with chocolate chips and never raisins at our house! Add some nutritious yeast flakes and ground flax seed: even better. Make sheet pan sized pancakes. Leftovers: freeze the slices for later. Homemade yogurt is worth learning and quite easy. My toddlers and kids love yogurt. Cottage cheese and cheese sticks are loved by our kids and keep my littles happy. Goat cheese costs more but Aldi has the best price, and Trader Joe’s is decent. Compare costs of grains and get more options by using Azure Standard.
I hope that helps, or at least satisfies the curiosity of how we feed our large family.
Keep it lovely!
Melissa