Maximum Return on Investment- The Supermarket

CreamyGoodness said:

I'm going to take some flak for this one I'm sure, but I always have a box of storebrand instant mashed potatoes. Not only can I get some mashed potatoes inside 10 minutes that dont taste half bad, I also have a thickening agent for everything from croquettes and crabcakes to beef gravy.

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You c** sucking **** face.......of all the nerve??!??!


Oh!....wait.....does it save you money?

(sorry, just wanted to be FIRST at dishing some flak)

Appreciated cheezy. well-played.

Love the tips. Most are common sense. Try to make the most out of what you buy and throw away as little as possible. Planning meals or having a set of go-to meals that you can switch to when you see a given item or items on sale is a huge saver in the end.

Crock pot cooking things like soups, stew, chili, etc is also a great saver. You can make a week's worth of split pea soup with a few carrots/onions, 2 $1 bags of split peas, stock and a ham bone.

Buy dry beans instead of canned beans. Once you learn how to prepare them, it's significantly cheaper.

E-Mursed said:

Two words....Food Saver

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This with a chest freezer is truly the way to go. Seasonal fruit on sale? Great, freeze it (berries, peaches, etc). Whole beef tenderloin on sale for $6.99/lb? Buy 2, section them into meal-sized portions and freeze them! And so on. It's how we do all of our meats and a lot of our fruits (we grow our own fruit, so we end up freezing a lot as it ripens all at once in quantities greater than you can eat)

And, if you eat a lot of meat, I would say get a side of beef, pork, bison, etc.
We bought a whole side of bison 2.5 years ago and split it with my parents. Still finishing up a few cuts and will probably try to re-stock this winter. Talk about saving money! Do the math on a side of meat compared to market prices!

peaktopview said:

one thing i would also like to recommend is make a weekly menu, you can plan on making extra of something and using the leftovers somewhere else.

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also look to where you can substitute an ingredient or switch menu nights in case of sales.

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with food prices going up across the board, stay away from the processed foods and put up a good effort to learning some simple scratch cooking. the internet is your friend.

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Good advice. I look at the store ads the day I go shopping, and plan a few meals around whatever is on sale, stocking up on core kitchen staples only when they are on sale.

And it can be a bit of a PITA, but I plan alternate shopping trips. I hit the fresh market for veggies, fruits, meats/fish, and then I hit the local big chain for dry food stuffs and kitchen staples. I find that the sales are more frequent and the prices almost always lower for things like flour, cereal, oatmeal, yogurt, etc at the big market places (Safeway, Costco, etc). Everyone should try to find a good fresh market as they will have much better tasting, fresher, and more local produce.

CreamyGoodness said:

Here's another one, root veggies with the leaves attached. For example radishes with leaves cost $0.99 a bunch locally. Radish greens have a nice peppery kick to them, so they are nice in most salads. Its almost like getting free salad greens.

Same can be said for beets. The greens can be cooked and eaten the same way you would kale or collards.

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Ohhh, good suggestion. I also save my broccoli stalks and slice most of the softer sections of the stalks into our weekly stir fry (which is a great way to incorporate these left-over byproducts of the rest of your weekly cooking/meals)

My now-wife roped me into renting an apartment with her by bribing me a series of shelves for me to put jars on. I buy a lot of spices, rice, and other dry goods like beans in bags because it is considerably cheaper. Instead of having to throw them out because they went off or dried out or got full of weevils, I put them all in jars and label them.

CreamyGoodness said:

My now-wife roped me into renting an apartment with her by bribing me a series of shelves for me to put jars on. I buy a lot of spices, rice, and other dry goods like beans in bags because it is considerably cheaper. Instead of having to throw them out because they went off or dried out or got full of weevils, I put them all in jars and label them.

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Your NOW WMBO?

Jars are great.

I have a pet tortoise that gets all of my soon-to-spoil green things. During peak metabolism (summer) that little thing can mow through a ton of green. He really loves brocolli stems.

AZ_IPA said:

I have a pet tortoise that gets all of my soon-to-spoil green things. During peak metabolism (summer) that little thing can mow through a ton of green. He really loves brocolli stems.

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Now that just sound like a waste (unless you are planning to eat it later)...

CreamyGoodness said:

I'm going to take some flak for this one I'm sure, but I always have a box of storebrand instant mashed potatoes. Not only can I get some mashed potatoes inside 10 minutes that dont taste half bad, I also have a thickening agent for everything from croquettes and crabcakes to beef gravy.

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instant mash potatoes actually make a great breading for white fish (tilapia, snapper, halibut). just use them instead of bread crumbs. tasty, tasty

Now that sounds like a great idea.

Oh, I buy garlic heads in the little mesh bag, and if any of them get a little dry I roast them in the oven in foil with olive oil and a little salf for spreading on beef and/or veggies or mashed potatoes.

Also, dont forget, a good quality pomice or "pure" olive oil is JUST FINE for sauteeing or basically anything that requires heat. If you cant taste it, you shouldnt have to spend a skillion dollars on it.

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Baby food. If you have one, you should be making your own food, not buying it. Kids eat too damn much to spend a couple bucks for a 4oz jar of vegan organic whatever carrots. When I bake or roast something, a couple sweet potatoes go into the oven. A whiz of the stick blender later, and you've got baby food. Pick up a book if you want- you'll still save money. Tyler Florence has a good one; Williams-Sonoma has another.


Buy a cheapo mandoline at Ross or WalMart or whatever and make your own chips/fries/etc. Most of that stuff you can bake instead of fry, and it's healthier as well as cheaper. Plus your friends will be amazed at your plantain/yam/gourd chips.


Forget about the farmers market, and find a farm market. Any area with an agricultural region will have one. You're looking for a large farm, usually a family operation, that sets up a tent or shed just off whatever main road. You'll find seasonal produce fresh off the plant and it will be cheaper than the grocery.


There are a plethora of value-added foodstuffs that are quite easy to make at home. Jerky, sausage, BACON (or almost any other cured meats), pickles, salsa, fermented foods like sauerkraut or kimchi, cheese, hot sauce. For a lot of these you're paying someone quite a bit to do a little chopping or dunk something in vinegar.

dwarven_stout said:

Baby food...make your own ...Tyler Florence book...

Buy a cheapo mandoline...make your own chips/fries/etc

Forget about the farmers market, and find a farm market.

There are a plethora of value-added foodstuffs that are quite easy to make at home. Jerky, sausage, BACON (or almost any other cured meats), pickles, salsa, fermented foods like sauerkraut or kimchi, cheese, hot sauce. For a lot of these you're paying someone quite a bit to do a little chopping or dunk something in vinegar.

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YES YES YES YES YES. 100% agree.

Baby food is ridiculously easy. Freeze the puree in an ice cube tray, then ziploc in freezer = easy portion size. Florence's book is fantastic. My wife made pretty much all his recipes; easy, delicious, nutritious, baby loved them.

I find merchants at farmers markets charge a premium for "organic / whole produce" "straight from the farm" etc...but I feel like I'm paying for their overhead & venue fees. Those tent/sheds/roadside stands are where it's at...plus, good conversation is usually had. Nice knowing the guy that grows my food.

CreamyGoodness said:

I'm going to take some flak for this one I'm sure, but I always have a box of storebrand instant mashed potatoes. Not only can I get some mashed potatoes inside 10 minutes that dont taste half bad, I also have a thickening agent for everything from croquettes and crabcakes to beef gravy.

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Nothing wrong with that at all. I always have a box even though it very rarely is ever used to make mashed potatoes.





One thing I do quite a bit is whenever boneless skinless chicken breasts are on sale for 1.99 a pound a buy at least 20 pounds of it. About 1/4 will get food saved whole, another 1/4 will get sliced thin food saved and frozen, and then the other half I will cook up and cube. I will pack the cubes in food saver bags of about 4-6 ounces each and freeze them. They are great for just about anything you want to add chicken too and since they are small they thaw really quickly. We regularly use them for quesadillas, nachos, and salads.

By the way, feel free to Prost this thread if you want more folks to see it. Lord knows I did. Ha!

Done

and rated

I have taken to making a half gallon or so of DARK roux and keeping it on hand. (8 cups flour 8 cups oil)

1tbsp of that and 6-8 cups of water, 1 99 cent bag of frozen veg and you have fantastic gumbo. Add a little left over meat and leftover rice, and you have a full on meal.

Oh, here's another one for bread that is getting stale. Nuking it in the microwave for 10 seconds will return it to edibility. It wont be as good as fresh, but if you are putting it alongside the soup bowl it is servicible again.

A better one: make your own bread, a lot of you guys are making pizzas rigth? the dough is not very different and you don´t have to make bread everyday fresh baked bread (specially the big loaf of italian bread with a nice crispy and thick crust) can hold for a week (or even a lot more).... and if you really want to make from scratch make your own flour, we brew beer and most of us have a mill well I have a corona mill that i´m not using I´m sure I can make flour. Bakeries and breweries were historically together we are already brewing so...

if you get into bread making, or for your pizzas too, a cheap pizza stone option is un-glazed quarry tile. i stopped by a tile outlet store and found a case of discontinued tiles for something around $20. i think there were 20 6"x6" tiles in the case. popped them in my oven for an 18"x18" square tile area. plus i have a bunch for back up in case one brakes or such. gave them a quick scrub out of the box and popped them in the oven at 250 to make sure they were dry before baking on them. gets you a real nice crispy crust when baking on them at 500*. do a search on the internet, think i read up on it on a pizza forum. i just keep mine in the oven all the time on the bottom rack. beats paying $60 for a small round pizza stone.

b

edit: make sure you give them a little extra time at 500* to soak up that heat. probably a good 15 mins extra will do.

peaktopview said:

if you get into bread making, or for your pizzas too, a cheap pizza stone option is un-glazed quarry tile. i stopped by a tile outlet store and found a case of discontinued tiles for something around $20. i think there were 20 6"x6" tiles in the case. popped them in my oven for an 18"x18" square tile area. plus i have a bunch for back up in case one brakes or such. gave them a quick scrub out of the box and popped them in the oven at 250 to make sure they were dry before baking on them. gets you a real nice crispy crust when baking on them at 500*. do a search on the internet, think i read up on it on a pizza forum. i just keep mine in the oven all the time on the bottom rack. beats paying $60 for a small round pizza stone.

b

edit: make sure you give them a little extra time at 500* to soak up that heat. probably a good 15 mins extra will do.

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I use my BIG cast iron with fantastic results.

I either turn it upside down and use it as a pizza stone, or Heat it on the stove top and mold crust into it (usually for a DEEP dish if that way) and then transfer to broiling oven to finish and brown the top.

I'm not sure if leftovers ideas is out of the scope of the thread, but I do like this idea. Last night we had a couple corn on the cobs left in the fridge that had maybe another day before they went awry. I cut the kernels off the cob and tossed in a pan with a little olive oil and salt and pepper. I also had a couple scraps of gruyere and maybe a teaspoon of grated parm left, so I whisked them into some hot milk with a bit of cayenne. Nice little side dish, and "free" in that I already had the capital hanging around.

I know I'm blessed, but I live on a beef cattle farm, so the beef is no problem. The neighbors raise "milk" so there's an endless supply of milk as long as I keep a supply of cheese or steaks on hand. Another neighbor raises chickens: fresh eggs & dead roosters occasionally. The pig farmer down the way died a few years back, but his wife leases the farm to a guy who deals in pork. He likes homebrew. My garden is roughly an acre in size. Since May, we haven't bought a single item of produce outside of mangos or something else exotic. We raise virtually all of our own spices/herbs except some of our favorite blends, and saffron & nutmeg etc. I freeze stuff, I dry stuff. I save seeds. I've dried untold amounts of basil, cilantro, oreagno, dill, mint & horseradish this year. Froze something like 20 one gallon zip lock bags full of ear corn, dried pound after pound of black beans & great northern beans. We raised all kinds of root crops, and worlds of winter veggies such as Butternut Squash, acorn squash, winter squash etc. I have the seeds already dried to replant most of the garden next year. About this time of the year, I'm sick of eating squash, spinach & zuchani.

All that said, we still have the weekly trip to the grocery store for stuff like flour, sugar, napkins, rice & most importantly: Dog Food!!! Anything else such as toothpaste, soap or paper towels comes from Sams Club, and gets bought in bulk.

If you really want to cut down on food price, stop eating meat.

drvinck said:

If you really want to cut down on food price, stop eating meat.

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Wait a second there so you can eat soemthing that is not meat?????

peaktopview said:

if you get into bread making, or for your pizzas too, a cheap pizza stone option is un-glazed quarry tile. i stopped by a tile outlet store and found a case of discontinued tiles for something around $20. i think there were 20 6"x6" tiles in the case. popped them in my oven for an 18"x18" square tile area. plus i have a bunch for back up in case one brakes or such. gave them a quick scrub out of the box and popped them in the oven at 250 to make sure they were dry before baking on them. gets you a real nice crispy crust when baking on them at 500*. do a search on the internet, think i read up on it on a pizza forum. i just keep mine in the oven all the time on the bottom rack. beats paying $60 for a small round pizza stone.

b

edit: make sure you give them a little extra time at 500* to soak up that heat. probably a good 15 mins extra will do.

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Don't know where you're buying your pizza stone at for $60, but I've got two of them. Picked both of them up for less than $30 total.

With the stones, it's a good idea to leave them in the oven all the time, the heat cycles help condition them, and in turn, the thermal mass of the stone helps regulate temperature in the oven. Say you have to open the door to check a casserole - that stone sitting in there at 400° helps get the temperature back up quickly after the door closes again.

This has been said before, but as an illustration I just bought a half of beef. Total cost was about $750 with processing and gas to go get it from the butcher. For that amount of money I got:
100lbs ground beef
70 lbs roasts
30 lbs hotdogs (I can't stand them really but the kid loves them and at least we know its actual meat in these)
50 lbs assorted steaks
5 lbs beef liver
20 lbs soup bones

So even discounting the liver and soup bones we paid about $3.00 a lb for everything from 80/20 ground beef to ribeye and t-bone steak custom cut and packaged. At the store last week I saw ground beef for 3.99/lb and steaks for anywhere upwards of 8.00/lb. Pretty good deal and this meat will last us a full year. Soup bones will be made into stock for french onion soup and stew. Liver will probably go to the dog, but it was less than 50 cents/lb so ceaper then doggie treats.

Oh, sorry for the bump but I have one more. Make a big pot of coffee on Sunday morning. Let the leftovers get cold, and then on Monday morning send SWMBO into work with a cup of iced coffee. Just add milk, ice, and Splenda.

One more bump, assuming people are still interested. Buy the $0.99 gigantic jug of storebrand white vinegar. Uses include but are not limited to:

1) Remove capsaicin from your hands after you have handled hot peppers
2) Mix with water and put in spray bottle in place of windex
3) Add a little to you a basin of water to soak "tired" produce (takes less than an hour to perk them back up!)
4) When pickling okra or green beans etc. white vinegar can be used to "cut" cider or wine vinegar should you run out of the other stuff.
5) No cider vinegar when preparing store-bought sauerkraut? Mix a little apple juice with white vinegar, works in a pinch.


I funnel this into a smaller, more attractive bottle for kitchen cooking use.

I got one of those misto olive oil sprayers. I use a ton less olive oil now than I did before

Kikoman soy sauce is $12/gal at the asian market. A lot cheaper than buying a small bottle at the store

Grow your own garlic. I was appalled to learn that most of the store garlic is actually from China. It is just so easy. Throw some cloves in the ground, cover with mulch or shredded newspaper or straw and harvest in summer. I leave the whole plant intact, hanging in a dry area for a bit before breaking them down. I leave some alone to put in the ground for the next harvest.

I also do some canning and pickling. I'm not gonna say it is a big money-saver, but if the cost:quality ratio counts, then there you are. For those who don't want to go to all that trouble, making freezer jams is easy and tasty, especially if you pick up some fruit in season that is a tad bit overripe and get a sweet deal.

"Kikoman soy sauce is $12/gal at the asian market. A lot cheaper than buying a small bottle at the store"

And since it is made in Walworth, Wisconsin...a short, lovely drive from the Chicago area...I wonder if they, perchance, sell "seconds"???

glenn514

Great post.

Something people hardly ever take into account is nutritional density - you will get the most bang for your buck if you either :

Grow it

Or

Buy your fruit and veggies from a farmer at the farm or a farmers market

When you buy that apple or pepper it may cost a little more per apple but the nutritional content is about 10x the amount of an under ripe picked apple trucked from Chili 3 weeks ago.

You won't need to eat as much food to sustain your life force.

I'm not a meat eater but the same probably holds true for beef, chicken, eggs, milk.

Obliviousbrew said:

A better one: make your own bread, a lot of you guys are making pizzas rigth? the dough is not very different and you don´t have to make bread everyday fresh baked bread (specially the big loaf of italian bread with a nice crispy and thick crust) can hold for a week (or even a lot more).... and if you really want to make from scratch make your own flour, we brew beer and most of us have a mill well I have a corona mill that i´m not using I´m sure I can make flour. Bakeries and breweries were historically together we are already brewing so...

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Somewhere I have an article from Mother Earth News about the most efficient manner of baking bread. It was a method developed by a couple where one of them was a baker and the other a chemist. Basically, you make the dough for about 5-6 loaves at once and put into storage, then grab a piece, let it rise, and throw it on a heated bread stone to bake a boule. Easy. I still do it from time to time, but we just don't eat enough bread and I found myself either throwing out the unused dough or feeding the birds.

If I get time today, I'll try to find that article...

I have heard of people "going in on" a whole or half cow, buy all the meat at once and have it butchered and split up...tons of meat/cuts for cheap.

Fresh herbs that would otherwise rot in the veggie drawer get chopped, put in an ice cube tray, topped off with olive oil, and frozen. Whenever I need some, I just grab a cube and toss it in the pan.

"blue apples" (can be found at the grocers) kept in with the veggies keep them fresh way longer, those green thin film bags work well two, keeps parsley for 2 weeks.

Use stores with gas points, we get extra point coupons all the time too. Have gotten it down to the point where I spend $150 on groceries I need anyway and when the SWMBO and I redeem the doubled points together and fill both tanks at once, we save $75, half price gas/food.

Purveyors of megapacking such as costco/sams club are great for things like TP, paper towels, toiletries...well worth any membership cost.

Definitely buy dry items when they are on sale as opposed to when you need them and stockpile. Much cheaper overall. We got really good at throwing together amazing meals from what we have on hand.

Here are our tips:

1. Coupons. Start getting the Sunday papers and look for the little freebie local papers in restaurants and retail businesses around town. Sometimes they're chock full of redplum and smart source coupon inserts. Save your coupons even after they expire because either A) retail stores sometimes don't remove them from their databases on time or B) when the coupons are re-issued by the manufacturer, they use the exact same barcode. There are also tons of online coupon websites and printables online. The best resource for finding these coupons and other valid coupons out there is the coupon database over at hotcouponworld.com

2. Websites. Definitely check out grocery scenario websites like southernsavers.com, commonsensewithmoney.com and others and develop a plan of attack.

3. Have fun and buy in bulk. Get a deep freezer for meats.

Necro-bump.

Just curious for those who mentioned the foodsaver-- anything special about freezing produce? I got really scared when I saw not to food-save garlic or mushrooms because of anaerobic nature of the botulism spores that's on those veggies. Now I'm scared to vacuum-seal any kind of produce. Advise?

Also very interested in these stocks y'all are making from carcasses. I've never actually bought a whole chicken, because I lack any experience whatsoever with separating it into parts. (Sad, I know). So I did feel proud of myself for buying bone-in chicken breasts on sale, and removing the bones and skin myself . Could I have made something out of those bones?

I also bought a Boston butt roast, and cut it into 3 manageable sized portions, and food-saved it. No clue what I can do with that, I just bought it cuz it was >50% discount per lb.

naga77777 said:

Could I have made something out of those bones?

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Absolutely. I save all my bones in the freezer until I have a good amount and then toss them all in the stock pot with some onion, celery and carrot (a good place to get rid of "tired" veggies by the way) and simmer and simmer until I get the chicken flavor I am looking for. I have heard of people roasting the bones first, but so far I have been too lazy.

Does your boston butt have a bone or is it boneless? Skin on?