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Respected Contributor
Posts: 4,502
Registered: ‎03-15-2021

Re: đź’°Please share your money saving grocery tips.

Plan meals. Don't wing it. One of my favorite lunch places was the best at doing this. They cooked a chicken on top of the stove to make chicken broth. The chicken was removed from the broth. The white meat was used to make chicken salad. The dark meat was used in a King Ranch chicken casserole. (Any chicken casserole could be substituted.) The broth was used to make tortilla soup with just a little of the chicken meat in it. Three meals from one chicken.

 

No waste especially from meat purchases will save a lot. We shop for the week, not daily. Using curbside pickup eliminates impulse buying. Have a list of what you need when starting to place your order. We do buy treats (cookies, ice cream, etc.) as we see them as needs.

Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 5,671
Registered: ‎03-10-2010

Re: đź’°Please share your money saving grocery tips.

I'm 86 and on limited income, so I go to the senior basket food bank once a month.  Not the best, but better than no food.

Very careful of what I buy at the store, just what I really need like coffee and I only have one cup a day.  Bread necessary items the food bank might not give that month. Fruit, because they usually give can goods.  The  fresh veg. are scarced, no meats, or chicken or fish.  My utilities have taken up a lot of my budget money, PGE and water.  Also gas.  It's tough, but we do what we have to do.  I make lots of bean soups and chicken soup.  My son gets me a costco chicken that I can eat on for a week and make soup.  Fortunely, when you get old, you are not that hungry.  I did have a savings, but my electricity went out and that cost a pretty penny, my car broke down and a new roof, so it pretty much wiped out my savings. All this happen in the same month .  It will get better one day.

 

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Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 7,170
Registered: ‎11-15-2011

Re: đź’°Please share your money saving grocery tips.

[ Edited ]

@qvcaddition If you are on Medicare, check with them.  My neighbor just started getting a $75 a month 'free card' for groceries. 

 

You may qualify.  Worth a call.

Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 5,671
Registered: ‎03-10-2010

Re: đź’°Please share your money saving grocery tips.

@Zhills 


@Zhills wrote:

@qvcaddition If you are on Medicare, check with them.  My neighbor just started getting a $75 a month 'free card' for groceries. 

 

You may qualify.  Worth a call.


Thank you will try.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 21,841
Registered: ‎10-03-2011

Re: đź’°Please share your money saving grocery tips.

[ Edited ]

*Shop sales

*Make a list, stock up on certain things if you can 

*Plan meals 

*Have a "meatless" main meal once or twice a week (alternative protein sources: cheese, eggs, nuts, lunch meat, nut butters, yogurt)

*Do your own baking from scratch rather than buying packaged treats, freeze part of the batch for another time 

*If you buy it, use it

*Avoid spontaneous purchases

*Eat off dishes rather than wasting money on paper plates

Respected Contributor
Posts: 4,935
Registered: ‎07-02-2015

Re: đź’°Please share your money saving grocery tips.

[ Edited ]

Pork seems to be the most affordable meat option out there these days.

 

Oven-roasted or grilled  pork tenderloins  can yield 2-4 meals or more, depending on size of the  tenderloins.

 

Before roasting or grilling, I always season the tenderloins with Montreal Steak Seasoning  which includes salt, pepper and garlic.  Sometimes also marinate them in equal parts of maple syrup and Dijon mustard.

 

Tenderloins can be served  sliced-- with various types of sauce or gravy--or just plain with some mashed potatoes...............

 

Leftovers can be sliced, drizzled  with a little bottled barbecue sauce, warmed in the oven and served on burger-sized buns.  Cole slaw is always a nice accompaniment.

 

Burger-sized buns  cost only 59 cents for a package of eight at our local Aldi store.

 

If some tenderloin is still left, it can be cubed and added to  Zatarain's gumbo, jambalaya or red bean/rice mixes to become a meal in itself.

 

Have yet to try using canned white meat chicken (from Costco) but  have some in the pantry and plan eventually  to bake in a white/wild rice casserole prepared with cream of mushroom soup and a few other ingredients.

 

A box of  Uncle Ben's White & Wild Rice mix always makes enough to last through more than one meal for us.

 

 

Honored Contributor
Posts: 12,295
Registered: ‎03-27-2010

Re: đź’°Please share your money saving grocery tips.

I've been sticking with my list...but still way too high.  I think getting fierce about meal planning will be helpful.  I stick to Costco and Sam's as much as possible and buy our produce in bulk.

Respected Contributor
Posts: 2,886
Registered: ‎03-10-2010

Re: đź’°Please share your money saving grocery tips.


@deeva wrote:

The same way I've been shopping for decades. Stock up on sale items. Shop at more than one store. Use the digital coupons from my favorite stores. Been using my Foodsaver since 2000.

 

 

Look for in store specials. My store recently had a in store special,

chicken wings for 49¢ a pound and bone in chicken breasts for 99¢ a pound. I stocked up and filled my freezer. 


@deeva, This is the way I have always shopped. I would wait for a great sale then call the meat department, order 20 lbs or more for a certain day so that I would not wipe out their meat counter. I would vacuum seal it and would be stocked for a long time. Since the pandemic, it is not allowed here. There are always limits of 2 or 4 items per customer and that is it.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 16,230
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: đź’°Please share your money saving grocery tips.

@QVCkitty1   I'm with you!  I can add 2 steps in addition to yours.  I avoid waste by buying perishables much more carefully than in the past.  I'm feeding just me most of the time -  I can't use up a variety of everything I like in the same week, so I buy what less.  (I know that's easy for me - 5 Publix+Trader Joes+Winn-Dixie+Whole Foods+2 large local gourmet markets all within a 2 mile circle)

 

Also, many perishable items I do bring home, I freeze what's most likely going to last more than 2 days as I put the groceries away instead of waiting until I realize I'm tired of it.  Rotisserie chickens?  Might as well freeze portions the day I buy one -  doesn't matter how many different recipes I use -  too much all in one week for me.    That bag of grapes or other sale berries -  I freeze some in small portions ASAP before they have a chance to spoil.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 19,487
Registered: ‎03-16-2010

Re: đź’°Please share your money saving grocery tips.

@qvcaddition 

 

I would also check with your electric company to see if they offer reduced rates for seniors or those with lower incomes.  

My electric company does this.

 

You're a trouper.  Hang in there.❤️