Most of us are taught the most economical way (I’ll call this ” Plan A”) to plan our meals is to make menu, then a list and get the items you need for the week in one trip to the grocery store. Eat before you shop so you don’t impulse buy and only purchase the items on your list. Also limit your shopping trips to once a week b/c studies have shown that the more trips you make, the more impulse items you purchase. Sound familiar???
I no longer buy into this school of thought. We’re not victims and we can enter the grocery store and leave without impulse items. Time to grow up. “But I have my kids and they’ll want this or that.” Again, they are not victims and maybe it is time for them to learn shopping self-discipline. It will bode well for them later in life. Now that we’ve worked past that… here’s a post and detailed example of how I grocery clearance shop and plan a menu around these items.
Disclaimer: Plan A is probably the most time efficient. If you find Plan A works best for you, then power to you. If time is scarce for you, then this may be the best plan. When I was working full-time with little kids, it was the best plan. However, many women who have the time, claim they don’t. They are just putting their extra time in different places. The different place may be better, or it may need to be reevaluated. For example, if you have credit card debt and use your extra time to browse sales at Marshalls, TJ Max, Target, Old Navy, Ross, etc; then maybe you should examine if browsing grocery stores (and cooking) instead would be a better use of your family’s resources. Would your family prefer that marked down pillow from TJ Max or a nice homemade pot of spaghetti / meat sauce? That is a decision for you and your husband. I’m just providing a different perspective for you to consider. Get a cup of coffee, sit back and enjoy… this is a wordy post.
Rather than make my plan and get the items, I shop clearance items and then develop a plan. I probably plan my menu using this method at least 50% of the time. Other times I prepare food from my freezer, coupon related items or warehouse items. Since my pantry is stocked (I coupon and warehouse shop for pantry items) and I’ve learned to improvise, I can make most dishes if I have the basic fresh ingredients. For example, if I have meat – I’m always ready to make gumbo, pasta casseroles, soups, enchiladas, meat loaf, chinese fried rice, etc. Before I go into how to make a menu from items you randomly bring home, let me explain how I shop for clearance items.
First of all, I know my local grocery stores very well. I shop each for specific categories of clearance items. If I’m near a certain store and have an extra five minutes, I’ll swing in and check for loss leaders and clearance items. Your local stores will be different, but if you know their “personality” you can modify your shopping to maximize savings. My favorite clearance / loss leader stores are:
- Randall’s for meat and dairy. I usually shop Randall’s on Saturday mid-morning, so the butcher has had time to set out any reduced price meat. When I enter the store, my first stop is the meat section. I only purchase meat if it is less than $2 a pound. At Randall’s I’m able to get premium meats for this price. They key is that they have to be cooked quickly – more on that below. My second stop is dairy. I usually find a gallon of organic milk 50% off. The expiration date is typically one to two days out. But it rarely is bad at this date and usually lasts an extra day or so; which is plenty of time for our family to finish a gallon. I also get sour cream and cheese 50% off.
- Kroger’s for produce. My Kroger marks down bags of potatoes to 99 cents. It is amazing how many bags I’ve gotten for almost nothing. I can also negotiate with the produce manager if I’m there when they are cleaning out fruit. If they have a box of bruised apples, I’ll ask to purchase them by the bag for 99 cents. I’ve had many apple pies with these jewels. Once I got a ton of lemons and we had delicious homemade lemonade for pennies. I also check Kroger’s clearance table. I’ve found really cheap gourmet salad dressing, flashlights, organic jasmine rice… the list goes on. My local Kroger’s has better prices on table clearance items than Randall’s. Not sure why, but my Randall’s has lousy prices on the table clearance items, and they don’t offer their damaged produce at clearance prices. I have not seen dairy marked down at my Kroger’s. They do mark down meat, but don’t get near as low as Randall’s meat markdowns. Kroger’s has great deals on clearance breads, but I avoid these since we make our own.
- HEB. I live near a small, dirty, local HEB Pantry. This small store carries many of the Central Market products, but does not have the customer base that buys Central Market overpriced gourmet junk. I love to buy gourmet junk for pennies:). Since these products sit too long on their shelves, they put them in the mark down buggy. I’ve purchased Italian gourmet coffee, organic almonds, organic brown sugar, and the list goes on. If I bought these full price at Central Market, it would have cost a fortune, but I paid a small fraction of these prices. My HEB also has organic milk marked down to $1 on a regular basis; again they don’t have the customer base demanding $6 gallons of milk.
When I’m shopping meats, I think about my day. Do I have time to prepare these right away? Will we be home this week to eat pre-prepared dishes? Do I have room in my freezer? Do I have ingredients to make ___ out of an item?
If my afternoon is clear and there’s a few great finds, I’ll come home and start cooking. If I find whole chicken roasters, they are easy to pop in the oven and serve for lunch that day. Then any leftover chicken can be transformed into other dishes within the next couple of days. If I find great deals on ground beef, I’m make preformed patties and individually freeze on a cookie sheet, then place in a freezer baggie for later. Or I’ll make a meatloaf, chili, meat pasta sauce or meatballs. If it is steak, I’ll remove meat from the bone, and boil the bones for broth. Then I’ll slice the meat into strips; season and dredge in cornstarch and brown in a thin layer of oil. You can make southern dishes (steak fingers with gravy), Italian steak soup or chinese (Mongolian beef) with this simple prepared meat that is waiting in your fridge.
Yesterday I went to Randalls and my receipt indicated I saved 60%. I didn’t use any manufacturer coupons. I spent $25.79 which was my week’s grocery expense. Last weekend Dave hit Costco and spent $160, so we averaged less than $100 for both weeks using no coupons. BTW, the $160 also included a couple of non-grocery items. My Randall’s trip was productive:
- 2 racks preseasoned baby back pork ribs
- 3 ribeye steaks
- 3 round sirloin steaks
- 4 chicken breasts stuffed with cheese and asparagus
- bleach
- 18 eggs
- 1 gallon o organic milk (50% off quick sale)
- red bell pepper
- zucchini
- green onions
- frozen pie shells
I knew I was getting eggs, b/c Randall’s had a 99 cent coupon for 18 eggs. I already had about 2 dozen in my fridge, so I needed to plan a dish for to use a few of these quickly. I decided to make Quiche. In my fridge, I know I had 1/2 and 1/2, a pound of bacon from Costco and 4 pounds of cheese (2 weeks ago Randall’s had cheese as a loss leader). All I needed for the Quiche was a pie shell and green onions. I also noticed that zucchini was on sale at Randall’s for 99 cents a pound. Zucchini bread goes great with Quiche, so I got a few of these.
I knew I could come up with something for the remainder of the meat, so I picked up the kids and started cooking.
First was the ribs. They are a stand-alone dish. These were already seasoned so I put them in a shallow dish, covered with foil and popped in the oven. Since I had the aluminum foil out and the oven on, I wrapped a few potatoes and put in the oven with the ribs.
Then I cooked the chicken. These were stuffed chicken breasts from Randall’s butcher counter – regularly $4.99 a pound. I got these for about $1.50 a pound. I baked these in the oven with the ribs. But I’m not a fan of baked chicken breasts, so I did a search on the internet for chicken and asparagus and found this: http://www.ifood.tv/network/quick_easy_chicken_asparagus_soup_rice/recipes. It is a really good recipe for Asparagus chicken creamy pasta casserole. I didn’t have the amount of asparagus called for in the recipe, so I just used the amount stuffed into the chicken and it worked fine. It made enough for two dishes. I froze one and cooked one for lunch. It was very very good.
After I finished the chicken, I put in a sheet of bacon into the oven. I also barely cooked the pie shells.
My next step was the steaks. I decided to make two dishes. One soup and one Mongolian beef. I cut the meat from the bones and started boiling the bones for the soup. Then I cut some of the meat in strips for the Mongolian beef and the rest in small cubes for the soup. I browned all this in a thin layer of oil. I put the strips in the fridge for later. Next I strained the broth; seasoned, added dried onions, garlic and carrots; and added the meat. I have the base for a really good soup. I removed some of the broth and froze the mixture in two bags. I plan to make beef barley soup. When I prepare, I’ll cook the barley first in the extra broth, then add the meat and veggie mixture.
My next step was the potatoes. I love having leftover baked potatoes in the fridge. In the morning I can make hash browns in an instant. Or in the evening I can place in a skillet with olive oil, onions and garlic and have a wonderful side. For these, I opted to make potato boats, or also called twice baked potatoes. I had the extra bacon and was grating cheese for the pasta casserole and Quiche, so making these didn’t mess up more dishes. You slice the potato in half and scoop out the flesh. I seasoned with butter, salt, pepper and 1/2 & 1/2 cream (I was out of sour cream). I topped the potatoes with bacon and cheese. These went into a freezer baggie and are in my freezer. I can take out as many as I need for a great side dish later this week.
Next I made the Quiche. While that finished baking, I made the zucchini bread with a new recipe. This recipe is very moist. I used more zucchini than called for. Next time I’ll cut back on the sugar b/c it is too sweet for me. The texture and moisture is great and I’ll be making this again soon.
In half a day I have the base for at least 9 meals for under $40:
- 2 bacon Quiche
- 2 loaves of zucchini bread
- 1 large pot of beef / barley soup
- base meat for Mongolian beef
- frozen chicken casserole
- chicken casserole in fridge
- frozen potato boats with cheese and bacon
- pork baby back ribs ready to be reheated
So the point of the story you may be wondering???? You can cook on a budget and be creative if you are willing to try new things and keep a stocked pantry. I got the base for 9 dishes for a family of 5 (soup would probably feed my family twice so this is really is probably 10 meals) for under $5 a meal. If you were budget conscious, you could finish each of these and have several nice meals for under $5 a meal. For example, a can of green beans (50 cents on sale) with the chicken pasta would be a meal. Or cornbread (jiffy mix prepared is less than $1) with soup would be a complete meal. (my numbers do not include electricity or natural gas costs)
I hope this inspires those of you who are not in the kitchen. You can do it! Even if you don’t need to now b/c you’re financially secure, any day any of our situations could change. It is better to have this skills before we need them than to learn during a harder time. And it will help prepare your children to manage a home on a budget. And it makes your house more of a home. Take out is not the same as a really good cooked meal by mom. This week my family gave me the ultimate gift. Check out my new Life is Good t-shirt:
For other great ideas on saving money, join Life as Mom for Frugal Fridays.
Posted by Kris 
Posted by Kris 
Posted by Kris 
