Grocery Shrink

Are you excited about making better buying choices, but afraid what your family will say if you do?

One mother wrote me repentant that she had allowed her children to be accustomed to meals of pop tarts, fruit loops, chicken nuggets, and chips.  She was afraid that making the right choices financially and healthfully would create mutiny among her tiny charges.  What should she do?

I think taking the gentle but firm approach is appropriate.  I would sit them down and first apologize like this, “Children, I have something I need to say sorry for.  I love you very much and would never do something to hurt you on purpose.  But I recently learned that I have been feeding you foods that won’t help you grow as strong and healthy as you should.  Can you forgive me for buying unhealthy foods? pause for response The good news is that healthy foods will cost us less money so that we can provide better for you in other areas.  We also get to start a new adventure trying out new healthy foods!  I have made a snack for us to try that will help you grow big and strong.  Let’s go try it together!”

If your children are very young, you might start a small “I tried a new food” chart.  If they take a bite of something new (or something they didn’t used to like) at dinner or for a snack, they can put a sticker on the chart.  Studies have shown that children need to be offered a food 12 times before tasting it on their own.  Usually the first response is an aversion to the the fact that the food is new, not the food itself.

Some kid friendly snacks are:  apples and peanut butter; fresh bread and jam; whole wheat cheese quesadillas (these are literally just 1/4 cup of shredded cheese inside a folded tortilla and microwaved for 20-30 seconds); frozen berry and yogurt smoothies; and unsweetened round cereal (like cherrios) on a string (we use dental floss and make necklaces or bracelets for a snack to go.) 

What about our husbands?  No matter how old we get, we still have a some of our child-likeness left.  And if our husbands are used to certain “treats” around it might not go over well if they disappear over night.  My husband loves things like Nutter-Butters, Pop-Tarts, Captain Crunch, Pizza Rolls, and Ice Cream.  But we sat down together as 2 adults and talked about what our family would have to sacrifice to afford these items on a regular basis.  He agreed it wasn’t worth it.  When our budget allows he gets a small “food allowance” for his treats.  He keeps them at work or in his car just for him.  They aren’t around to tempt the kids, but he still gets his occasional treat.  We are both happy.

What you decide to buy and not buy is a very personal decision.  It’s great to have family dialogue about it and work together to find healthy solutions for your snack and quick meal needs.  Tomorrow’s post will help with more quick but helathy food ideas!

It makes me feel powerless when I see families trapped in poverty by poor choices.  I have a good friend living in poverty with no vehicle, minimal furniture, and no bank account.  He has a steady job, but is living a life by the feel good moment.  He spends his cash on cigarettes, fast food, and convenience store treats and then has nothing when a real need comes along.  I want to tell him, “Set aside your cash for necessities in labeled envelopes, then if money is left over, you can buy a treat.”  But he doesn’t see a need for change. 

I know another family, living a cleaner life.  They don’t buy cigarettes or alcohol, but spend little bits here and there, because they “needed a treat.”  Or “it takes too long to get a book from the library.”  Or “it was a decent price for this time of year.” At the end of the month they aren’t sure how to pay their looming bills.  All their extra indulgences adds up to hundreds a month–thousands a year, yet they don’t quite see where the money has gone. 

If you have to justifiy the purchase, then there’s a good chance you shouldn’t buy it.

Don’t think that I walk around juding everyone’s choices in their shopping carts!  I want you to have lots of good things. And I want you to have them when having them brings only good things to you.

When you are building a budget, plan for necessities first.  This means basic food, necessary clothing, shelter, utilities, basic phone, and gasoline.  If there’s money left over you can apply it to things that make your quality of life better.

Within the basic categories, think again about necessities first.  This applies especially to the food and clothing areas.  Next month, we’ll talk about clothing, so for now let’s focus on groceries.  Spend your money on nutritionally dense, life giving foods first.  This would exclude soda, gum, candy, pop tarts (sorry dear), crackers, cookies, chips, and dips.  I’m not saying that you can’t ever have these items, I just saying, wait.  After you have purchased what is necessary to live a healthy life, and you have money left over, buy a treat if that’s what you want to do.

Sometimes healthy foods are these treats that I’m talking about.  Strawberries are out of season right now.  They range in price from $5 to $2.50 a lb (on sale)  in my area.  They just don’t make the list for my basic foods at this price.  If I wait until April, I can buy berries for $1 a lb.  It would be silly to spend my limited money on expensive berries now and then not be able to afford enough basic food to make it within the budget to the end of the month.  But after i have purchased all our necessary foods and I have enough left over for fresh berries, then why not?

Making this shift requires us to stop acting like a “princess” and start acting like a daughter of the King of Kings. 

And sometimes this means bringing our family along for the journey.  Tune in tomorrow for ideas to switching the family to a healthy frugal lifestyle. 

When I see a really good deal, my heart starts beating faster.  My palms get sweaty, and my brain gets a little foggy.  I think thoughts like:  “How many should I buy?  Should I pick some up for a friend?  How many can I get without making people stare?  Maybe I should grab a second shopping cart.  Ooh, do they come in all flavors, sizes and colors? 

This is how I can waste a bunch of money, getting a ton a great deals that we don’t need, won’t use, and can’t store.

Instead I should ask myself:  Is it healthful?  Do I love it?  Do I need it?  Can I use it?  Will it require maintenance (like ironing)?  Will it help me reach my goals?  Will I have to store it?  How long will it keep?  Do I have anything to wear with it (or cook with it)?  Should I leave it for someone who needs it more?

Last week, for example, CVS had a double coupon opportunity that would allow me to get many bags of bite size butterfingers for free!  Yep, free.  I have to work hard at keeping my weight normal and sugar makes the entire family feel horrible after we indulge.  It would have been a waste of time and gas for me to even try to snag a bag or two.  It was not healthful or necessary.

Stores are full of “good deals” that we don’t need to take advantage of.  Lunchables often go on sale for half price.  I pass them by, because I can throw a more healthful and filling lunch together for much less than that.  Frozen hash brown potatoes go on sale for $1 a lb occasionally.  This is a really great price for them, but I pass them by.  I can get 10 lbs of potatoes for $1 on sale.  That’s 10% of the best price for frozen hash brown potatoes.  They are more healthy, can be shredded to use as hashbrowns plus have a limitless number of other possibilties.

I once found a clearance rack full of girl’s pastelle cotton blouses full of adorable ruffles for just $3 each, brand new with tags!  I bought one in every color and in sizes to wear now and grow into.  They wore them once (then decided knit tops were more comfortable) and after washing, each blouse was a wrinkled mess.  All those ruffles made ironing tedious.  I was more than happy to put them in the next garage sale, but the great bargain turned out to be a waste of money and time.

I’m speaking to myself as much as anyone here, but a great bargain is no time to panic or to spend more than you should.  Think it over carefully, leave some for someone else, and if you totally miss it, another one will come along.

Sale flyers can be deceiving.  One of our local stores stamps a low price guarantee on some of their items in their sale flyer.  This means that on this day in this area of the country, you shouldn’t be able to find a lower price.  But the week before or two weeks after, the price could be significantly lower.  So how do you know if a sale is really a good deal?

Keep a price book.

This is usually a temporary project.  After you write down prices and look them up a few times, you will begin to memorize what a good deal is and no longer need to keep the notebook.  If you feel like inflation is creeping in, you can start a new price book to get your barings on what sale prices are again.

The easiest way to keep a price book is to save your grocery receipts.  Write in a notebook the items you frequently buy and their prices from the receipt.  Then watch the ads to see what the prices do.  When you find a lower price, write it down next to the old price.  You might want to note the store you saw the price in too.

Pretty soon, you’ll be looking through the ads and see a low price guarantee and laugh–or you might find a super great sale (like 10 lbs of potatoes for $1, whole chickens for $.59 a lb, or boneless skinless chicken breasts for $.99 a lb and run out and stock up!) 

Image source: recordinglibrary.org

When reading an ad, the best values are usually on the front and back of the ad.  They’ll sneak some special sales on the inside, but most of them aren’t great deals there.  Knowing what prices are normal and which ones are amazing, will help you shrink your grocery bills. 

It’s my goal to buy enough of the items we use most when they are at their lowest price ever, that I don’t have to buy them again until they are priced that low again.  Imagine a pantry full of healthy low cost foods that you can built a limitless variety of meals from.  I have one, and you can too!

I’ve always been a bargain shopper, but my grocery bill used to be double what it is today.  Tomorrow I’ll tell you how to know which deals to grab and which deals to turn away no matter how great a value they are.

I’d like to introduce you to my friend Lori Viets from BreadClass.com.  She makes a light and tasty 100% whole grain loaf of bread and isn’t afraid to share her secrets!  I asked Lori to write about the cost effectiveness of baking bread at home to help me keep up with my blog and she readily agreed.  Here’s Lori: 

Does Homemade Bread Really Save Money?  The answer for me is a resounding “Yes!” but it all depends on your goals and the prices you’re comparing.

Is it more important for you to get the rock-bottom price for bread, regardless of taste or nutrition value?  If so, the deals at the bread thrift store are hard to beat!  Just keep in mind the money you save now could cost you more in medical bills later, if your overall health is compromised.   (Angela’s note:  I buy my 100% whole grain bread at our day old bakery and the cheapest I can get it is $1 a loaf.  This is defnintely a luxury item for us since I could bake it at home much cheaper–see Lori’s cost break down later in the recipe.  I plan to start baking again as soon as we get back from all our business travel!)

Money savings aside, baking at home gives you quality control.  There’s peace of mind knowing you’re eating “real” food, instead of laboratory-created chemicals.  Do I even have to mention how much better homemade bread tastes and smells?  To compete in this category, you’d have to buy premium bread made at a farmer’s market or a fancy bakery at $4-$6 a loaf.

How much bread do you buy in a typical week?  Count one “loaf” for each:  sandwich bread, hamburger/hot dog buns, sweet rolls, doughnuts, pizza crust, dinner rolls, breadsticks, etc.  Assign an average dollar amount for these, and write it down on the worksheet from the link below. Once you’ve mastered basic bread dough, it’s easy to replace all of these breads with homemade versions.

Now I’ll tell you about my bread.  I make 100% whole grain, 100% yummy bread that my husband and kids love to eat more than any I can buy at the store.  I grind my own flour from wheat kernels (but you don’t have to!) and I make a 6-loaf batch once every 7-10 days.  The whole process takes 90 minutes from wheat to eat, and most of that is rising/baking. 

Bread made my way costs $.64 per loaf* for ingredients bought in bulk, but I could spend even less if I wanted to.  This price includes some “luxuries” such as organics, fresh flour, gluten, and natural dough enhancer.  To make a 1-loaf batch of my recipe with only non-specialty, mostly generic ingredients in common sizes, the cost is $.90** per loaf.  My “luxurious” loaf costs less overall!

4 Tips for Keeping Bread Costs Low

1.   Buy in bulk – especially flour, yeast, and vital wheat gluten (if you use it).  A 5# bag of whole wheat flour costs  $.40 per loaf** but a 50# bag costs $.22*.  Bulk prices can fluctuate dramatically in a short time, so stock up when the price seems lowest.

                        A good rule of thumb is 1# wheat = 1# flour = 1 loaf bread.  At 1 loaf per week, a 50# bag is a year’s supply.  But consider all the “loaves” you listed in your weekly purchase above and it may go faster than you think.  Also figure ½#  flour for each                                                   batch of pancakes or muffins.

2.  Use sugar instead of honey.  Honey loses most of its nutrition benefits during cooking, so I use it only as a topping. Per loaf, my less-refined sugar costs $.03* while basic white sugar is $.02** and honey is $.12*

3.  Spend a little more for better taste, if necessary.  You can’t save money if your family won’t eat your bread!  Until I learned the simple steps for making consistently great bread, I threw away too many whole brick-loaves and half-eaten cardboard-loaves. 

                        This could mean increasing sweeteners or natural conditioners to suit your family’s taste.  I’m an advocate of adding gluten to whole grain breads.  For the non-allergic, gluten is a miracle worker that makes bread softer.  I use 1 T. per loaf at a cost of $.06*.  The addition of rolled oats or oat flour will noticeably lighten the texture of your bread, too.  My recipe includes 25-30% oats as part of the flour for $.05* or $.10** a loaf. 

                        A bag of wheat kernels for grinding can sometimes cost more than the same amount of bulk flour, but it will never taste bitter or unpleasant, the way stale or rancid flour can.  Wheat kernels can be stored for many years  and lose none of their quality or nutrition, while flour has a shorter shelf life.  Some stores provide a grain mill you can use if you buy your grain there. This time wheat cost me $.37/loaf* instead of $.22*  for bulk flour.  A few weeks ago I was paying $.28, but the price went up. 

4.  Make larger batches of dough.  You’ll use less yeast, because you don’t need as much proportionally.  Yeast runs $.08* to $.34** for a 1-loaf batch, but only $.05* each for a 6-loaf batch.

                        Form the dough into fewer and/or larger shapes, e.g. larger instead of smaller dinner rolls.  You can fit more into the oven in a single bake cycle and save energy.  My oven costs 15 cents an hour to run, so the more it holds, the less it costs.

There are an infinite number of variables depending on your recipe, ingredient choices, and local prices, so print this worksheet to calculate the cost of bread made your way.  If you decide to sell some of it, you can easily see how much profit you’d make.

 I added these to my chart, since they weren’t listed:

 Yeast:  .25 pkg = 2 ¼ tsp.,  4 oz. jar = 12 T, 1# pkg. = 48 T.

Vital Wheat Gluten: 1# = 45 T.

Blue Chip dough enhancer (optional) 1# = 74 T.

 To learn more about making your best bread ever, whether by hand or machine, click on Angela’s link,  “Got Bricks?” to head over to my website.

 Happy Baking!

Lori Viets 

*based on bulk prices at Trails End Bulk Foods 

**based on lowest generic unit price at Wal-mart

Both as of 1/18/11 in Cameron, MO

You can view the Grocery Shrink excerpt here:

Meal Planning is one of the most important keys to our money saving plan.  One of the highest costs of food is eating out or buying convenience foods.  We spend more for these types of food when we are overwhelmed or can’t think of what to cook. When you have a meal plan, there’s no panic thought of, “It’s almost dinner time and I have no idea what to fix!” 

I meal plan for a month at a time. This may sound overwhelming, but it’s really better than shorter planning periods.  One hour towards the end of the month can have you prepared with meals for the next month.    Meal planning based on the common foods you already have in your pantry allow you to cook even when you don’ t have time to run to the store.

Click here to download and print the 2011 Menu Calendars

When you meal plan for a month you can choose a type of meal for each day of the week and fill it in straight down the column.  For example, we love homemade pizza on Fridays.  Wednesday I like to plan soup and homemade bread.  We also have a Mexican food night and an Italian food night.  Within those categories I can plan a variety of different foods without repeating a dish over the month, but having some guidelines helps me think of ideas.

You can plan your meals around your schedule.  If it’s a busy day plan a slow-cooker meal.  Is there a night that would be perfect for cooking together as a family?  Plan a meal for that night that a child can help prepare.  Is there a birthday or other occasion?  You’ll know ahead to plan something extra special.

When you have your monthly meal plan ready before you head to the store with cash, you will know if there are a few extra things that aren’t in your pantry that you will need to pick up. 

I wrote a detailed article on meal planning last June and it’s hard to beat.  Here’s the link to keep reading for the step by step guide for planning fantastic meals.

This is a very personal question and no one else can answer it for you.  I know it is possible to feed a family good healthy foods for $50 per person per month.  But it doesn’t have to be that low.  If you can afford more and want to spend more, that’s okay.  You don’t need to feel guilty about that.   You can still use my shopping method if you are committed to organics or have special restrictions such as gluten free, but you should set your minimum budget to $60-$70 per person per month to cover the added expenses.

If you are in financial crisis and it feels like your world is crumbling down around you, then start your budget at this basic level.  If you aren’t in a financial crisis but would like to start whittling at your budget to be able to save more or pay off debt faster, then take what you normally spend on groceries and subtract 20%.

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Example:  Let’s pretend that you normally spend $600 a month on groceries for your family of 4. 

Multiply $600 by .20 and reduce your budget by that amount. 

Your new budget will be $600-$120 or $480. 

Take $200 of those dollars to buy food that you will consume this month and use the other $280 to buy foods to put in your pantry.  These should be healthy, whole foods, that you stock up on when you find a great price for them.  Items in my pantry include:  brown rice (dry beans and other whole grains), canned fruit in juice, spaghetti sauce, canned green beans, whole wheat flour, sugar, salt, spices, condiments, frozen meats, frozen vegetables, frozen cheese, and whole grain pastas.  These are ingredients that you can combine in different ways to make an endless variety of meals.

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The next month reduce your budget by another 20%.  Again use $200 for food to consume right away and the rest to build your pantry.  Continue reducing yoru budget each month until it’s at the level you want it to be.  At this point, you will be eating half from your pantry and buying about half of your food fresh and using the rest of the money to restock your pantry. 

Remember:  You are restocking your pantry when you find foods at their lowest price. 

More important than how much you should spend is that you have committed to a certain amount.  Take that amount out in CASH each month.  Keep this cash in a separate envelope labeled “food” and only spend it on food. 

I like to do the bulk of my grocery shopping the first week of the month, saving back $50-$75 for replenishing our fresh foods and taking part in good deals later in the month.  I’m a busy mama, so I like to keep my grocery shopping to a minimum.  After that first week, I’ll slip into a store to buy just a few of the best bargains when I’m on my way home from another errend–and that is never more than once a week.

Be sure to check in tomorrow for the next step on saving money.  I’ll show you how you to know that your $200 will cover all your food needs!