Home Economics

[KittyT]

Well I just signed up. Good lord are there a ton of details and fine print into making this work. I'm not sure that the effort or time involved in getting my brain wrapped around this system is something that's going to work for me. We'll see I guess. I'll give it some time.

I was a little disappointed with the list. I'll see how they look over the next few weeks, but almost everything on the list were products that I would never eat let alone buy.

 

[desi_de_lu_lu]

Oh my! You don't know how nice that sounds right now, as our heat engaged last nite!

I remember the cold long months of winter from living in Upstate New York. True it is nice here during the winter, but come mid June.. you can't leave your house b/c it is soo hot.. (especially up in Phoenix).

I run from tree to tree to get to my car like Wylie Coyote just to maximize on the shade factor.

The sun here boils your guts.

 

[fortworthgal]

And to prattle on more about general home econ...

I can't stress enough - TURN DOWN THAT WATER HEATER! I cut our gas bill in half by doing this and hanging up laundry. I think most plumbers atomatically set it to "high" when they install it, but you can save a lot of money by just turning it down a notch or 2! The gas bill is the one bill that is always lower than I estimate now because of this one step.

I need to do this! In Texas we're already close to 100, and our "cold" tap water usually comes out fairly warm. We use a lot of hot water!

We put in a clothesline 2 weeks ago and I cannot rave about it enough. We always had one when I was growing up and I'm so glad we have one now! It saves a significant amount of electricity (dryers are one of the top electricity hogs next to refrigerators), and since our dryer is in our garage, it keeps our garage from being heated up so terribly. Love it!

 

[desi_de_lu_lu]

I need to do this! In Texas we're already close to 100, and our "cold" tap water usually comes out fairly warm. We use a lot of hot water!

We put in a clothesline 2 weeks ago and I cannot rave about it enough. We always had one when I was growing up and I'm so glad we have one now!

Yessiree, there is no such thing here as a "cold shower" come August.

 

[fortworthgal]

You ain't kidding. lol

 

[Joie DeVive]

I love this topic! I'm actually pretty good at this. I spend $25 a week on groceries for the two of us (food only) and that is for all meals except take out on Saturday nights. And no, I don't just eat beans and mac 'n' cheese. This week has been: Waffles and fresh strawberries, whole roasted chicken and gravy with brussel sprouts, angel hair pasta pomodoro made with fresh tomatoes, parmesean cheese and rosemary with spinach salad.

I'd echo a lot of the tips here, but here are a few of my favorites:

• Plan before you go. Know what you are after.
• If you have a couple of stores near each other, consider shopping at more than one to maximize savings.
• Except for staples, try to buy everything on sale. If the store is out of a sale item, ask for a raincheck.
• Use coupons with sales to maximize savings. Even better if you have a store that will double coupons. I cut mine every Monday and keep them in a divided coupon file. When writing my list I go through the file and pull out the ones I could use and put them in my wallet.
• Cut down on bought beverages. These are some of the biggest unneeded costs. Instead try to drink more water.
• Oatmeal is way cheaper than boxed cereals even after you add raisins and sugar.
• Consider buying generics or store brands, many aren't any different than name brands.
• Meat is expensive. Consider going vegetarian one night a week.
• If you can't go veggie, consider cutting portions of meat. In casseroles and pastas, you can get away with using less. Remember, a portion of meat is about the size of a deck of cards!
• If you really want to limit your spending, plan out what you will buy, and take only a limited amount of cash. Spend no more than that.
• Tally your cost in your head and know what you expect to pay before you hit the checkstand. If their total is more than a dollar or so above what you expected, check your receipt before you leave the stand and fix the problems. If you aren't getting the deal you thought you were on a product, don't be embarrassed to return it.
• Make friends with your freezer. You can freeze meats and Baked goods easily. I buy in larger packages of ground beef and chicken breasts and divide them up into bags for freezing. Buy larger quantities on sale and freeze it. Use it as needed.

 

[fortworthgal]

I also wanted to add that I'm a huge fan of my crock pot. Slow cooking can save you time: I typically start mine before I leave for work in the morning and come home to a fully-cooked meal, and a house that smells fantastic. If I'm really pressed for time in the morning, I'll put all of the ingredients in the crock the night before, and put it in the fridge, so in the morning I just take it out and let it sit, then put it in and turn it on.

It can also save you money, as you can use a lot more items that typically take longer to cook but cost less to purchase - dry beans, fresh carrots & potatoes, etc. (items that might normally be replaced by convenience items like canned beans). Slow cooking also allows you to use less expensive cuts of meat, that will still turn out very tender due to the slow, low heat, and moisture.

I use my crock pot at least once a week, probably 2 or 3 times per week in the winter.

 

[Paisley]

Well I just signed up. Good lord are there a ton of details and fine print into making this work. I'm not sure that the effort or time involved in getting my brain wrapped around this system is something that's going to work for me. We'll see I guess. I'll give it some time.

I was a little disappointed with the list. I'll see how they look over the next few weeks, but almost everything on the list were products that I would never eat let alone buy.

Some weeks are better than others. I hope it saves you some money--and I have no doubt you'll easily wrap your brain around it.

 

[desi_de_lu_lu]

I also use powdered whole milk. (Klim, by NESTLE) I actually grew up with this in the Virgin Islands. (we didn't have a fridge in our house until I was 9) A two lb can of Klim will make roughly 2 gallons of milk. (at $5.99 a can)

I have noticed that the economy has not affected the prices on some of the items at the Asian import. (where I get my Klim and other stuffs).

The nice thing about the powdered milk, is that since it is powdered WHOLE milk, I can use it in my coffee and cereal, and then I can make it watered down for my husband's cereal etc.

(He says whole milk tastes like a milkshake to him, and I can't stand 2%. ew ew.)

Oh, Klim is Milk spelled backwards..Lol

 

[desi_de_lu_lu]

I also wanted to add that I'm a huge fan of my crock pot.

I have busted out my ole crock pot as well. I have also left that chewy tough as bricks oatmeal (the Irish kind) in my crockpot overnight for breakfast the next day.

 

[Lady Day]

I commend you gals for being able to shop at normal grocery stores. :eusa_clap

After living a while in the land of co-ops, and farmers markets, the concept of a Safeway, Kroger, Vons, Ralphs, Win-Dixie...etc, baffels me.

Everything is so over packaged, and overpried, I just walk out with nothing!

I cant deal with coupons, as I am always going to the grocery after they expire.

I also buy a lot of fresh things, and coupons dont always apply. Im also a gal who gets store brands on nearly everything, so I dont have to pay that 25¢-$1 extra they factor in for advertisments. Generics use to be a a safe bet, but now they are just a s expensive as major brands.

Trader Joes is my staple, and their brands and quality and price are always market value (with the acception of brands not labled by them).

I get a pound of spinich there for less than $3. Kroger would be $9. Might not be packaged as pretty, but I dont care about that, is gonna get recycled anyway.

With that said, I proably DO spend more than most on food (about $35-40 weekly) because I get fresh things that dont always keep, I buy enough to take my lunch every day (No thanks Quiznos for a freggin $8 sandwich!) and I have a very green diet.

I dont think its always about buying the most cost effective solution (altho I wish I could), but as far as food goes, its the major contributor to how you function, I cant comprimise that

LD

 

[MissMissy]

I use my crock pot quite often myself, love it. I have two crock pot cook books that have given me great ideas. My other fave cookbook is from my childhood church in Minnesota. It has "real people" recipes in it, no hard to find fancy shmancy ingredients. Just good Lutheren dinners, lots of hot dishes and the like, sweet goodies our Swedish grammy's made for us!

I've never tried powdered milk, I think I just might have to now.

Missy

 

[LizzieMaine]

The water heater and clothesline hints are spot on. I've taken it to the next level by hauling my old wringer washer out of the garage and putting it back into service. Automatic washers may be convenient but they're also extreme water hogs. I can do an entire week's worth of washing in my wringer machine using half the water and half the electricity used by an automatic. It's more work, certainly, but it's also very good exercise.

An important tip on the food front: it doesn't matter how much you save at the register if you're not going to actually eat the food. If something's inexpensive but you don't end up liking it and it ends up going to waste, it's no savings at all. Food experiments can be very costly. One of the advantages in living alone is that I can be ultra-conservative foodwise without anyone complaining about it -- I know what I like, I buy only those items in the cheapest possible forms, and I eat every speck before buying more. No waste anywhere.

I've also learned that I don't have to eat three meals a day -- if I have to, I can easily make do with two. That's not a money-saving tip that everyone could implement, especially with a family, but if it's something that can work for you, it can save a lot of money.

 

[Helen Troy]

Beeing Norwegian, I can not help you with tips about stores etc. But I love to share tips, so here is mine:

-As others have said: Plan the meals ahead! I loooove to do this, because I'm a food geek, and this way I get a nice, varied menu. But it's also a great saver. If I don't plan ahead, I end up with lots of stuff that I bought for one meal getting thrown out because it turns bad before I can figure out what to use the rest of it for. When I paln a whole menu, I avoid that. I can also plan in some really nice, expensive steak-dinners, I just put in an inexpensive dinner with frozen fish one of the other days. Totally worh it!

-I don't know how it is "over there", but here frozen fish is really cheap, and you can make a lot of nice dishes with it. I'll give you my recipe for home-made fish cakes if you want!

[i9-About the men that eats a lot: Some time ago I started dishing out portions on the kitchen, instead of putting everything on the table. This was not to save money, but to live healthier, because I noticed that we allways ate until it was empty, not matter how much food there was. This is pure psychology; we eat until it's empty. And it takes 20 minutes from you are full until you feel full. Try dealing out portions and make nice, good-looking plates, set a nice table and enjoy the meal and see if he doesn't get full on much less. In the start, you can allways keep some extra inexpencive food like bread or potatoes in the kitchen to give him if he complains until you get the portions right!

-If you are a stay-at-home, I'm sure you can save a lot on special offers, sale items and cupons. But if you work, and have the oportunity to put in some over-time, most times you will save less pr. hour you spend on bargain hunting and cupon cutting than you earn pr. hour at work. But this is a personal choise, shopping can be a lot more fun, depending on your job.

-If you have the time for it, making everything from scratch is a lot cheaper than ready-mades and dried soups and such. And it tastes so good, you wont even know your saving!

-My recipe for the cheapest gourmet food in the world. You can invite all your friends, they will go home impressed and it will cost you next to nothing:

Missis Holms potatoe soup
(Serves 8-10)

About 15 potaoes
3 leeks ( I think that is the right english word. They look like this:

Can be replaced with normal onions.)
2.2 pints of water
4 cubes of vegetable or meat stock.
4 tablespoons dried chives
4 tablespoons dried thyme
0.8 pints of whole milk
4 whole garlic

Peel the potatoes, clean the leek. Cut in pieces and boil with herbs until tender.

Put the garlic int he oveb as they are and cook on gas mark 8/450 farenheit using the hot air for about 15 minutes. A little longer if you don't use hot air. They are done when they are brown and soft.

Peel the garlic and cut in smaller pieces, or squish them with a fork. (They should be very tender now.) Put in the soup.

Put whole milk in the soup.

Use a blender in the soup until you have a nice, thick soup. If it's too thick, put in more water.Salt and pepper as you like.

Serve with bread.

If you are feeling really generous, serve with a little dollpop of sour cream in each plate of soup. If you have to be stingy, replace the milk with water.

This is so easy, cheap and tastes great! Really filling too!

 

[Real Swell Gal]

My husband eats like an horse too but he knows if he goes overboard and leaves nothing for lunches, I starve, you starve.
We always pack. The only exceptions are business lunches.
Even the kids pack. Why spend $2/day on a school lunch when I can buy stuff for them to pack for a week on $20?
Every now and then if they're having something the kids really really like, I'll give them lunch money.

I can. I use some leftovers for new dishes. I shop for most of my groceries at Aldis and I get my meat & fresh produce wherever there is a sale that week.
I avoid convenience foods because they are a rip off and I'm a better cook.

We spend about $200 every two weeks on food for four people.

 

[desi_de_lu_lu]

My husband eats like an horse too but he knows if he goes overboard and leaves nothing for lunches, I starve, you starve.
We always pack.

My husband is fairly new, and I am still training him. lol

If I can get him to pack his lunch every day, I would be flipping backwards like a mechanical poodle at Toy's R Us.

He was used to his bachelor days of going to fast food .....daily.

 

[desi_de_lu_lu]

I've also learned that I don't have to eat three meals a day -- if I have to, I can easily make do with two. That's not a money-saving tip that everyone could implement, especially with a family, but if it's something that can work for you, it can save a lot of money.

I always ate breakfast like a king and lunch like a queen and dinner like a pauper.. or worse. If it is any meal I can skip....it's dinner. [huh] Believe it or not. Also, it keeps your weight down!

 

[LizzieMaine]

I always ate breakfast like a king and lunch like a queen and dinner like a pauper.. or worse. If it is any meal I can skip....it's dinner. [huh] Believe it or not. Also, it keeps your weight down!

That's pretty much how I do it -- a reasonable breakfast, and then a large "lupper", a combined lunch and supper, around 2 or 230 in the afternoon. I'm at work in the evening, so a sit-down supper isn't an option anyway, and if I'm feeling peckish when I get home, a small dish of cereal before bed will usually knock that down.

 

[MaryDeluxe]

I clip coupons and use them. Only clip coupons that you know you will use - don't buy something you normally would not just because you have a coupon. The best way to use coupons is at stores that offer double and triple coupons, and when items are on sale.

I also shop at dollar stores for some items such as cat litter, cleaning supplies, bleach, etc. My husband loves Hawaiian punch, and I get large jugs there for $1 that are $3 at the grocery store. Occasionally I go to places like Big Lots that sell closeout items - they frequently have higher-end food and drink items for practically nothing. Check the clearance racks at stores!

For produce, fresh herbs, and eggs, we buy at the local farmer's market. Cheaper, fresher, and supports local farmers. I also have a small vegetable and herb garden at home.

Buy store brands or generics when possible.


One site I think is really fun is www.hillbillyhousewife.com - although it is really intended for those who are on an extremely tight budget, but it still has lots of interesting ideas and recipes.

I'm with you fortworthgal...I am a coupon clipper big time and I love when I can double them with store coupons! I just did that the other day and saved $22 bucks! It's like a game for me, I refuse to ever go grocery shopping without coupons.
And the dollar stores rock! What bargains you can find in them. Good name brand cleaning supplies at much better prices!
I also LOVE the hillbillyhousewife site! Great ideas!

 

[KittyT]

[i9-About the men that eats a lot: Some time ago I started dishing out portions on the kitchen, instead of putting everything on the table. This was not to save money, but to live healthier, because I noticed that we allways ate until it was empty, not matter how much food there was. This is pure psychology; we eat until it's empty. And it takes 20 minutes from you are full until you feel full. Try dealing out portions and make nice, good-looking plates, set a nice table and enjoy the meal and see if he doesn't get full on much less. In the start, you can allways keep some extra inexpencive food like bread or potatoes in the kitchen to give him if he complains until you get the portions right!

Unfortunately, this will not work for my man. He will always just go back in the kitchen for more. He is frequently hungry again 2 hours after eating two huge servings of whatever I've prepared as the previous meal. He is very thin and has an exceptionally high metabolism. He can eat as much as he wants (but always eats healthy) and not gain weight.