| Friday, May 27, 2005 |
| Staples in my pantry |
As you can probably tell, my grocery list looks quite a bit different than a 'normal' grocery list would. I don't use up my pantry/fridge/freezer food every shopping cycle and start all over with each shopping trip. That would break me. I keep a stocked pantry. It's a little costly at first when you are starting with an empty pantry, but in the long run it more than pays for itself.
The staples I keep in my pantry are:
flour
yeast
dry milk
chicken broth
beef broth
cream of soups (mushroom, chicken, celery, etc)
canned veggies
various spices & seasonings (the basics: garlic powder, oregano, basil, red pepper flakes, thyme, salt, pepper, etc)
various condiments (worcestershire, soy sauce, etc)
vinegar
rice
oatmeal
peanut butter
canned tuna
sugar
pancake mix
That's just the basics. In the freezer I keep bread, rolls, pureed pumpkin, fruits & veggies bought on sale and frozen before they can go bad. I stock up when there is a good sale, even if I don't "need it" right then. I work it into the next menu ;) Like the ribs on this bi-weekly menu. They were on sale a couple of weeks ago, I bought enough for 2 meals. We had one last month, and another this month. I also try to keep some ground beef or ground turkey in the freezer as well.
You might wonder, why keep all that food in your pantry/freezer if you aren't going to use it. Oh, but I do use it! Just not right away. I would much rather buy something on sale and put it away for another day, then to have to pay full price later on! Another reason, it keeps me from having to make multiple trips to the store. More trips to the store, even with a list, usually ends up with extra items not needed and adds up to extra money spent that wouldn't have been spent had the pantry been stocked. Lastly, it keeps us from eating out on the spur of the moment just because there's nothing 'on the menu' or we're too busy. In my pantry, I can make a super quick meal for less than even fast food would be.
When I first started to stock a pantry I started out very small. Each grocery trip, I would buy 2-3 small items that I had no plans in the menu for. A couple of cans of soup, an extra 2lb bag of rice. Just those three items add less than $3 to your grocery bill. Eventually I worked up to setting aside $10-20 per shopping trip to purchase 'loss leaders'. Loss leaders are the sales that stores take a loss on in order to get you into the store in hopes that you will buy other items as well. What is very important about loss leader shopping is to ONLY buy what is on your list. If the grocery store in town has a great sale on ground beef and flour, ONLY buy ground beef & flour.
Another trick that some people use is to shop around. Before the commissary was available to me, I would indeed shop around. There were certain foods that were cheapest at Aldi's, and others that I could only get at Price Chopper. Instead of making one huge long day of driving all over town shopping at various stores, I staggered those trips as well. Aldi's was a once a month trip. Because that's where I got my staples, flour, rice, sugar, spices, pasta, canned stuff I could limit my shopping there to once a month. Then I would stop at Price Chopper on the way home for the loss leaders one day. Then another day stop at P&C or Hannaford for there loss leaders. I would plan my menu around the loss leaders. Now I am able to plan our menu around recipes I want to try and fitting in the loss leaders I've stocked up on by modifying recipes.
Some people swear by coupons. Unless you live where they offer triple coupons, I don't see a whole lot of savings with coupons. I do use coupons. I cut them out religiously, but most of what I clip either gets given away or swapped for what I do need. Coupons have several downfalls. One, they are usually for convenience or prepacked foods loaded w/ junk that I wouldn't feed my dog. Seriously, how many coupons do you see for eggs versus sugary cereal geared towards kids? How many coupons do you see for meat (the largest portion of most families' grocery bill) vs. coupons for chips & soda? Have you ever seen a coupon for produce? Not me. How about milk? Almost as rare is a coupon for real juice, not a 'juice drink' made with 5% juice.
So my word on coupons, only use a coupon if:
1. it's something you normally buy anyway. If you only like Jif peanut butter, use a coupon to buy it. If you are like me, and have a family member who is allergic to cow's milk scout out some soy milk coupons. And don't be brand loyal! But don't use a coupon for 20 cents off a can of bamboo shoots just because you'll save a whopping 20 cents. I'm not even big on using a coupon to get something FREE if it's not something you are going to use. Of course, you could always donate the free item...
2. if with a coupon, the item (that you normally buy) is less than the cheapest brand. If you have a coupon for Campbell's soup for 40 cents off 4 cans (dont' laugh, that's what they usually are for Campbell's) and the store's price is 89cents per can. With the coupon, you can get the Campbell's soup for 79cents a can....if you buy four cans. But the off brand is only 69cents without a coupon. Go for it. try the off brand. Most times, the off brands come from the same place as the name brands. And a lot of off brands (Aldi's and most store brands) have a money back guarantee. So if you don't like the off brand you can get your money back.
Those are my only coupon rules :)
Other people talk about using a price book to keep track of who's prices are cheaper on what items, and to try to track when certain foods go on sale. I find this too complicated. But, then I only shop at 2 or 3 stores and don't find it difficult to remember who has my normal foodstuffs for cheaper. I don't know about you, but I just don't have the time to walk up & down 2-3 grocery stores noting the price, size, unit price, etc for all the stuff I normally buy! But if you are that kind of organized person, go for it! I applaud you :)
So next time you go shopping, pick up an extra box of pasta to stay in your pantry. It may be the only thing left at the end of the shopping cycle, but slowly you can watch your pantry grow and your grocery bill shrink :) |
posted by Heather @ 5:46 PM  |
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| 1 Comments: |
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I like to visit my favorite store Staples store through Couponalbum.com....!
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I like to visit my favorite store Staples store through Couponalbum.com....!