I was raised by my grandparents. Growing up they had essentially 14 meals that they rotated and maybe if roast or seafood or something was on sale at a really good price, on Sundays we may have had something special/different. When my Pa retired, he helped my grandmother with shopping and became the the king of sales cycles , loss leaders and coupons. Nobody ever complained. And we knew what dinner would be because it was only usually one meal or another based on the day of the week. They fed all 5 of their kids and 3 of their grandkids and lots of neighborhood kids that way. It works! Come up with 15-20 meals you all like and depending on sales for the week or your schedule, switch off. I have 4 kids now myself and don’t do it exactly that way, we do a few staple meals weekly, but I’m thinking I should start. Simple is best. I’m tired. Lol.
I did the same except it was 14 meals with one special meal when a sale happened, usually 2-3 times a month. Did a fall/winter menu and a late spring./summer menu.
I have 5 kids myself and we always have soup and stir fry every single week it’s nice to have those meals to rotate and don’t even need to think about it 😅
For quite a few years, I got name brand pasta free with sales and coupons, but no more 😢. I think portion control is another important savings method. No need for a 6-8oz steak when recommended portion is 4oz.
Buy seasonal for fresh fruits and vegetables. Canned/frozen fruits and vegetables are also economical. Buy in bulk as much as you can for grains, but have a good way to store them at home. Reduced cost meats can be frozen for a long time until you are ready to use them, but you can’t do that for fresh fruits & veggies unless you process and freeze them at home. Stale bread can be made into croutons or used in casseroles. And the most economical is to grow your own when it’s appropriate for your climate/environment/skills. For me, growing herbs is a big cost saver. The price of some fresh herbs is crazy but super easy to grow where I live. My biggest cost savings has been shopping for my groceries online for pickup/delivery. It is so much easier to compare prices (by weight, etc) when you have the leisure to do it at home from your computer and not be distracted by impulse buys.
My favourite way to thicken a (non-pureed) soup is with oatmeal. You don't taste the oatmeal, and it gives the soup a kind of creamy consistency. Works to thicken a vegetarian chilli, too.
The Night Chicago Died - Yes! Yes! Yes! Great song! And REO Speedwagon started in Central Illinois. People remembered seeing them play around these parts before they became famous. So, they were our favored artists in high school because of the hometown connection.
Hi Hope and Larry! Another good video. I have strategically become more frugal with my grocery budget since that thing that shall not be named. Tho prices have skyrocketed, I'm still maintaining that budget by becoming ever more conscious and frugal. Then my auto insurance renewal hit in August- 23% more with no tickets/ accidents/always paid on time. Then, I just got my annual Homeowner's insurance premium notice- 35% increase (no claims/pd on time). I live in Michigan, so not a hurricane, earthquake, nor live in a flood zone. I don't know what to do. I could not be more frustrated and discouraged. Perhaps a topic for a future video.
❤️❤️BARRY MANILOW❤️❤️ IS HEAVENLY! I've attended concerts of more than 100 one hundred successful music acts, and BARRY MANILOW & MICHAEL JACKSON & JT TAYLOR & KOOL AND THE GANG are THE GREATES concert Performers
My food budget changes on the season of the year because I can a lot of of chicken, beef and vegetables from special sales from grocery stores. What you share, your experiences teach me a lot! Hopefully, my vegetable garden will be more successful next year. By the grace of God, my green peppers have been pretty good! Don't remember the last time I purchased peppers from the grocery store! The cucumbers are doing much better now, because it's been cooler temps. It's about time! Thanks again!
I just shared in my group the Arizona Frugal Food group that the store deli has chicken for 10.99 a lb. The store also has chicken breasts for 97¢ a lb. (minimum 10lbs). It would be healthier fresher and cheaper to make your own sandwiches buying the chicken breasts. You get to season it how you like it best. I purchase the ten pounds and slice them thin then freeze. Take out as many as you are going to eat that day. Even buying the sale/cheap brand of frozen pizzas at 1.97 each. Just add additional toppings that you have in the cupboard. As for your grapes, have you tried freezing them? They are so yummy to pop into your mouth frozen ! Yummmmmmm Now tell me about those carrot dogs! Sounds interesting.
In the uk aldi had peppers for 35p each and i did the same as you did. The stuffed peppers were lovely meal. Also picked up 1kg of frozen strawberries for £3.45 instead of £3.99 for fresh, theyre in my freezer.
I entered Fetch at your suggestion. I do not get caught up in the “sales.” I plan to redeem for $$ for a cruise. It will be only $50. However, I am more mindful of what I am spending as I review my receipt. ✌️ love your Channel.
My grandma used to cook enchiladas every special occasion. 4 cheese black olives and onion along with the corn tortillas and enchilada sauce. I add chicken,steak sometimes. Or my favorite beans and vegetables. You would be surprised how many veggies are good with cheese. I also add meat and sautéed veggies in my chili beans.
Here in Canada fresh fruit and veg is way too expensive for me. unless my neighbours put out stuff from the garden. Last week's lost leader was $1.97 a pound for broccoli from Mexico, that just is not going to happen. I have been buying the frozen veg It is marked down for the summer, huge bags for $2.00. Our freezer is getting full but I know we will be eating well this winter.
I use receipts I find on the ground. I also get receipts from.people I know. (Not in a pushy way. Just with my mom or a friend that doesn't use them.) I get at least 25 bucks worth every month or 2
I love using my slow cooker..we also do a lot of left over eating..my son is raised eating left overs..we are on our second night of eating homemade lasagna 😊
I'm that weirdo picking up receipts left in shopping carts or blowing around in the parking lot at Walmart so I can scan them to Fetch. Last week, I found a bag of high end salad in the parking lot and it was still cold. You better believe I picked it up and ate all of it!
I used my low cost rice noodles and garden beans in a few ways this week: one meal of soup. One meal of butter noodles and beans. Two meals of Italian beans and noodles (reuse of left over butter noodles and beans with two cooked tomatoes, basil and Parmesan). I make a list of favourite meals and I rotate because I end up eating leftovers so I eat the same meal a few times in any given week. I also like to cook ingredients and then mix and match any kind of meal I want that night - examples: roasted peppers, cooked mushrooms, chickpeas, rice, roasted onions and sweet potatoes. That can be a Buddha bowl, a stir fry, a wrap, an omelette for those who eat eggs. And even a soup.
I’m single so making big meals is not an option. However one thing that works and lasts all week is a box of tricolor pasta, some cut veggies (whatever’s on sale), and each day I fill a small bowl of it with a different dressing to bring to work. I never ever buy food for lunch at restaurants or fast food. Bringing my lunch saves a ton! I have coworkers who order from grub hub and with tax spends $30 on a sandwich and soda! 😳😵💫 I can’t imagine such a thing!
Another use for leftover vegetarian chili is to make “taco” salad. I like to add fresh onions, black olives and taco sauce to the top. I will use the bottom of the bag of tortilla chips to add crunch to the top if I have some.
Your tip about putting favorite meals on repeat is spot on!! I like to make a list of meals we love for each season, and then rotate them all season. Example - my family loves grilled burgers. So, we ate burgers weekly during the summer. Now that we are moving into fall and (hopefully) cooler temperatures, I'll swap Pot Roast or Beef Stew for burgers. And everyone knows Friday is pizza night!! Pretty sure I'd have a mutiny if I didn't serve some form of pizza on Friday nights!!
Kids like consistency, like Friday pizza night. My niece lets her son eat school lunch on Fridays. It a small private school, so they order from Dominoes or Papa Johns. Keeps him excited about Fridays.
OMG! I was obsessed with that song when I was 4 years old. The following year, The Partridge Family came out, and 5 year old me was totally consumed by their albums. I played them every single day after school over and over and over for 2 or 3 years ... until I moved on to the Osmonds, lol. 😁
@@UndertheMedian I believe you're mistaken. "Sugar Sugar" was not a Partridge song. It was from The Archies cartoon show. The Partridge Family's most famous song was "I Think I Love You".
I keep playing Lowdown by Boz Skaggs...also, great tip to use up veggies...I use zucchini, corn, black beans, onions and peppers sauteed together with some taco seasoning for taco salad, tacos , with rice or noodles etc. Yummy!
When I took a CPR class years ago, we learned to do the compressioms to the rythm of Sayin Alive by the BeeGees. The compressions were to be given 100 compressions per minute, thus the beat of the song. Lorraine
I love to freeze fruit and berries and take them out as needed. I recently tried mango and was hooked, so now I freeze mango chunks too. If stuff tends to stick together, freeze it separately on a cookie sheet and then put it in the freezer bag.
Our supermarket only seems to markdown junk food that was overpriced in the first place. And sweaty already mouldy salad. Dehydrated red pepper developes a lovely flavour,great for stews.
I live in a wealthy area. My grocery stores donate dairy, bakery, fruit and vegetables to the local food pantries, women’s shelter and homeless shelter. So few to no expired foods. Sometimes the heavily processed foods are marked down and meats. My state also has a program for specially licensed hunters to hunt deer outside of deer season to keep the herds manageable. The deer go to DNR to check for diseases, condition and weight . Then it goes to local processor. After processing it goes to food pantries for distribution. It ensures protein to the those in need. Still plenty of deer but they no longer starve or spread diseases. Oh and fewer car accidents with deer.
@@kenyonbissett3512 deer herds are usually on private estates in the u.k. so hunting isnt really a thing here. I couldnt just go into a forest and shoot a deer,or even rabbits without a bunch of permits.
@@pheart2381 same here unless you are a farmer with deer eating your crops. Deer permits for muzzle guns, bow/arrow and gun are at different times for a few weeks each in late fall. The specially licensed hunters have more like 6 months and are individuals that enjoy hunting. They hunt public lands and are invited to private lands. Here in the US we have permits for everything except having children.
Love these frugal food videos. Keeps orienting me to buying my ingredients well and using everything I buy. Zero waste feels so good for so many reasons.
Great video! I would love to see you do a comparison video of your monthly food budget from 2 years ago and the one now and compare how much food you got back then to how much food you are getting now.
Good ideas for the green peppers. We usually buy peppers on sale at Aldi and get a few packages. We save about three for snacks. The rest are chopped and flashfrozen on trays and then ziploc bagged into the freezer for dishes later. Same with celery, carrots and onions. Easier to have it already chopped to put in a dish or tuna sandwich. Love stuffed peppers or the same thing in a casserole dish with chopped peppers. Sounds so good. Do you have a good recipe for salmon? We need to include it in our diet because it healthy, but it taste bitter to me. Good for thyroid health though.
my local IGA is less than a mile from my house has great mark downs I have been dehydrating all the vegetables and fruit, tomatoes, peppers, mushrooms, bananas apples plus more
Thanks for the dinner inspiration : ). Minestrone soup and a side of leftover Fried rice patties. All ingredients in the refrigerator at the moment! Thanks for all your videos. We enjoy the variety and the all the content!
Hi Larry and hope! Fetch is the way to go!! I use all those tips! But I would have bought more of f those peppers!! I never loose a pepper! I always take some of the peppers and onions chop them up and freeze them and it saves me time later they are already chopped and I didn’t spend extra money on the bags of pre chopped medley! There really are so many ways to save on groceries you just have to Think! If you look all those frozen meals etc. then you can prepare it yourself! I take leftovers and also make the meals and freeze them. Only if I have not used everything. So really this day and time you have to pay attention and you have to substitute with meats and you can come out cheaper! Treat it like a game to make it more interesting.
I love fetch. Even if I have more than one receipt (grocery store, CVS, tractor supply, etc.) I only use 1 per day to get the spinning wheel bonus every time I enter receipts. I earn a lot of points that way.
We love leftovers here! Tonight we had 3 different leftovers from our freezer reheated & just added some pineapple to freshen it up. It was delicious having a variety of food on 1 plate! It always feels like free meals for our family. 🥰Blessings from South Australia💕🐨
Wow, such a good video!!! I'm all for volume food, lots if vegetables, rice, potatoes, legumes! It's healthy and frugal. 99c per pepper is a lot of money 😮 I buy them for approx 2€per kilo , that's about 1$/1lb
Red peppers in my area can range from $1.80 to even $5 sometimes just for two. It is insane, so I’ve tried to grow them instead. Sadly the last two years my garden hasn’t been that great for the peppers.
I saw you commenting on living on a dime. I subscribed to you a long time ago, but for some reason I was unsubsribed. Guess I should make a list of my favorites to my planner.
The favorite meal in my home, while my kids were growing up was Chili, Chips & cheese. We would put some chili on a plate, top it with cheese and add a dollop of sour cream if we had any. Then we would scoop it up, usually with Fritos Scoop chips. It was always a hit and both kids, now adults, still eat it in their home (much to the chagrin of my C.I.A. Certified chef daughter-in-law!). I had many favorite albums in my teen years…Soundtracks to Stay’in Alive, Footloose & Grease…but my most favorite album was Bat Out of Hell…and I will always remember being able to meet not only Meat Loaf but also Jim Steinman, the composer of the album. Still remains my No. 1 album of all time.
In winter, we did the chili exactly how you described it chili, chili Mac and then chili on hotdogs. My family loved chili week. We did it once a month. For meat eaters think chicken thighs at 89 cents a lb or less. Make it Italian, Chinese, Mexican, Greek, and soups. Do the same with hamburger; Italian, Mexican, plain, and soups. Doing it this way you can feed a family of 4 for under $4 a dinner. Some will be less and others a little bit higher. Price out alternatives. Stretch ingredients. In place of sour cream I use yogurt if cheaper. Buy whole milk and add some water to taste.
Love the fetch app! When they say any receipt they mean it! I’ve done receipts from my credit card payments, utility bills, even a car related ticket 🤭
You might remind people because I thought I was subscribed to your channel and somehow I got unsubscribed and I’ve been missing your videos, so I’m glad it popped up again, and I subscribed again❤❤❤❤
I’m vegan so I love your videos about meals and food. I know I’m not going to see recipes containing animals or animal products (which I find unappetizing)
favorite music I played on repeat in 6th/7 th grade was REO Speedwagon and anything from Chicago, or Air supply..Def leppard crept in during highschool and of course Journey.
Hey! I love the Bee Gee's!! But my album that was on repeat was Tears for Fears-Songs from the Big Chair. Our go to every week meal is homemade hamburgers and tacos. We also alternate different pasta dishes
I buy fruit when cheaper in season and freeze it for out of season cheap fruit. Defrost and heat top with coconut yoghurt. Delicious. The cheapest way is if you're blessed with fruit and vegie gardens. I'm blessed with a fig tree . Free fruit for summer and winter.
I strain the liquid from leftover chili and fill enchiladas and use the liquid for sauce to top it! I am vegan as well. potato carrot or oatmeal cheese makes an awesome drizzle before baking like regular enchiladas :). if you don't have enough chili to fill a batch of enchiladas you can mix it with some cooked rice or sautéed veg before filling!
Please share more about "carrot dogs" I don't eat beef or pork, and rarely eat chicken or fish. Love making soups but have to freeze it in portions, maybe enough for 3 night per container.
Good visual on the rice & beans! Inventory the fresh items to use them up - hadn't thought of that. I have been throwing out items when I clean out the frig on Sunday afternoon. Seems I throw out the same items every week, so I'll stop buying them.
