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Across the Fence:  Food Prices  |
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naturemaiden
True Blue Farmgirl
2569 Posts
Connie - Farmgirl #673
Hoosick Falls
NY
USA
2569 Posts |
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AmethystRose
True Blue Farmgirl
254 Posts
Rosemary
Huntingdon
PA
USA
254 Posts |
 Posted - Sep 07 2011 : 08:37:10 AM
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| There are some items that have seasonal sale prices. Mayonnaise, for example. There usually are sales just before Memorial Day, July 4, and Labor Day. That is when I stock up. Late September, look for sales on baking items. After Halloween, when people are thinking of holiday baking, nothing is on sale. There is a pattern to store sales, and usually the same item is on sale the following week at another chain. Make notes on the brands that you use and the prices at each store. Between two stores in my area I found a forty cent difference in the price of frozen name brand orange juice. |
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Alee
True Blue Farmgirl
22941 Posts
Alee
Worland
Wy
USA
22941 Posts |
Posted - Sep 07 2011 : 08:41:51 AM
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I shop frugally and try to make as much at home as I can. You can make your own mayo pretty cheaply and it tastes way better! Also I always get the store brand when possible but check prices because sometimes a name brand is having a sale or is cheaper. If there is a buy one get x free I stock up.
Alee
Farmgirl Sister #8
www.farmgirlalee.blogspot.com
www.allergyjourneys.blogspot.com
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FieldsofThyme
Farmgirl Guide & Schoolmarm / Chapter Leader
4928 Posts
USA
4928 Posts |
Posted - Sep 07 2011 : 08:43:43 AM
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My father has predicted high food prices next year. He's usually right, so I stocked up from my garden and hope to have a goat in milk here soon.
Also, I just saw that pasta prices will go up now, due to flooding. I just made some homemade noodles yesterday.
We don't like to buy cereal too much either - way too high in price. We resort to eggs, oatmeal, steel cut oats, fruit etc.
Farmgirl #800
http://pioneerwomanatheart.blogspot.com/
http://scrapreusedandrecycledartprojects.blogspot.com/
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MEWolf
True Blue Farmgirl
358 Posts
Margaret
Byers
Colorado
USA
358 Posts |
Posted - Sep 07 2011 : 08:44:55 AM
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I agree, it can be very daunting trying to purchase food these days. But my solution is to make my own whenever I can. I make my own butter, ketchup, mustard, barbeque sauce, salad dressing, kefir, yogurt, ice cream and mayonnaise. I order grain in bulk and grind my own flour. I hardly ever visit the interior aisles of a grocery store. There is a wonderful cookbook called "Nourishing Traditions" that has tons of great recipes for making your own. Also check out amazon.com monthly buying club. It can cut the cost of ordering staples quite a bit.
Margaret
“Kind hearts are the gardens, kind thoughts are the roots, kind words are the flowers, kind deeds are the fruits. Take care of your garden and keep out the weeds, fill it with sunshine, kind words and kind deeds.” ~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1808-1882)
Farmgirl #3020
www.grey-wolf-farm.com |
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nabrown42
True Blue Farmgirl
409 Posts
Nancy
Caneyville
KY
USA
409 Posts |
Posted - Sep 07 2011 : 08:58:20 AM
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We'll be stocking up a little at a time. We're moving to a 1440 sq ft house from 3500 sq ft with a big walkin pantry. I'll have to use my food storage skills to find the places. I used to stock canned and papers goods behind our couch years ago, put bedding into garbage cans topped with a plywood rounds and then skirted to use as end tables, there was food in boxes under beds, etc. There are lots of storage available even in a tiny place if you look hard enough. The big problem is coming up with the extra money to cover these rising food prices. We won't have a garden until next Spring so we'll have to be even more frugal but that doesn't scare me...it's a challenge.
"I've wept in the night for the shortness of sight that to someone's needs I've been blind; but I've yet to feel a twinge of regret for being a little too kind." |
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Okie Farm Girl
True Blue Farmgirl
1674 Posts
Mary Beth
McLoud
Oklahoma
USA
1674 Posts |
Posted - Sep 07 2011 : 09:32:20 AM
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Like Nancy, we are planning ahead. I buy only on sale and I buy a BUNCH at a time. For example, our local grocer has potatoes on sale this week - 10 lbs for $1! Can you believe it? So I am buying 30 lbs and dehydrating a boatload of potoatoes as diced and sliced for soups and au gratin potatoes and I am freezing hashbrowns. I plan on putting up enough to last us at least a year. They also have bananas at 5 lbs for $1 so I am dehydrating those too. Banana chips to munch on and bananas for banana pie or pudding when rehydrated. Rump roast is on sale for $2.49/lb and so I am buying 20 lbs to put into beef stew and soup, (using some of those cheap potatoes too!) as canned beef for pot roast and am doing another round of jerky. If I find toilet paper for really cheap, I may buy as many as 20 pkgs. I shop the bargains and then plan my menus around what I have. I have made a list of staples that I need all the time like spices, baking needs, etc and I stock up on those on sale so that I always have the basics. One time, they had sugar on sale for 99 cents for a 4 lb bag so I bought 24 bags!! I am still using them and putting back what I take out when sugar goes on sale. Oh, and coupons! Always coupons. I seem to be saving quite a bit of money doing it this way.
Mary Beth
www.OklahomaPastryCloth.com
www.Oklahomapastrycloth.com/blog
The Sovereign Lord is my strength - Habakkuk 3:19 |
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naturemaiden
True Blue Farmgirl
2569 Posts
Connie - Farmgirl #673
Hoosick Falls
NY
USA
2569 Posts |
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caitlinsmom
True Blue Farmgirl
86 Posts
Kim
St.A
Idaho
USA
86 Posts |
Posted - Sep 07 2011 : 10:18:12 AM
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I agree with what everyone else has said. The above tips have helped to save me tons of money. Another thing that I did was decide to go without. Do we really need 2 kinds of icecream? No. Do we really need $15 worth of juice every month? No way!
I cut down a lot of money from our grocery expenses a couple years ago because I just said we don't need it. I can honestly say we haven't missed a single thing we've cut. LOL in fact I can't even remember what was on our list back then. :)
I stock up on case lot sales (usually 2x yearly in March and September, check your local stores). I can get really good deals on things like frozen vegetables (less than $1 a bag), frozen oj, etc. I use case lot sales to pad my pantry with the items I didn't get canned and that we use often.
www.imnaturallysimple.com
SIMPLIFY! |
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caitlinsmom
True Blue Farmgirl
86 Posts
Kim
St.A
Idaho
USA
86 Posts |
Posted - Sep 07 2011 : 10:25:30 AM
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Also, we never buy cereal! The cost is outrageous and there is a lot of research going on about the nutritional content of it. There is speculation that it is less healthy BECAUSE of the added nutrients. We depend a lot on oatmeal, steel cut oats, eggs, and museli. Whole cereal grains are a lot cheaper and actually beneficial for your body.
www.imnaturallysimple.com
SIMPLIFY! |
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natesgirl
True Blue Farmgirl
1735 Posts
angela
martinsville
indiana
USA
1735 Posts |
Posted - Sep 07 2011 : 10:44:21 AM
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We have been stockin up a little at a time for the last month. MSN says food prices will be 3x what they are right now by spring.
I'm building an indoor greenhouse to put in our living room and Hubby is making me a bunch of shelves for the windows to grow lettuces this winter. I have to get some big boxes to cut cardboard covers for the windows for night time.
Our garden flopped this year, so all the empty jars in the basement are gettin filled with rice, beans, wheat, oats, noodles, flour, nuts, and anything else I can find on sale or at a decent price. I had a bunch of veges offered to me cause they were a little past thier prime. There wasn't enough to can individually, but throw in a few jars of tomatoes and juice from last year, and bingo! Canned vege soup!
A little tip that gives my family one free meal a month! Get yourself an empty ice cream tub, I have a few square ones. Every meal in our house has 2 vege sides and there is always a little bit left over, but not enough to keep for a second meal. Those veges get drained and thrown into one of those tubs in the freezer. When it's full, we have vege soup fixins. I have one tub for chicken and turkey broth, and one for beef and deer broth. Every roast, baked chicken, cooked turkey, what have you, has broth that I save. Then I have broth for the soup! I also have a bucket for bones and giblets. I keep all baked chicken bones and the giblets from them and turkeys to make huge amounts of broth for Thanksgiving dinner noodles.
I also have a drying system for making my own noodles. My Hubby put hooks in our ceiling and cut pvc pipe to fit the hooks. I have one of those christmas gift wrap storage boxes and the pvc pipe sections go in it when not being used. I even hang holiday decorations from the hooks when the pipes aren't in them!
Those who like oatmeal and oats for cooking and baking, you can get large amounts real cheap if your not squeamish about it. I buy cleaned oats from the feed store and use them. They are actually the same oats sold as rolled oats but are bagged and shipped for animal consumption before the others are sent for USDA testing. You get a little more of the oat chaff and sometimes a few handfuls that were missed by the roller machine, but otherwise just the same.
I also stop at any house I pass that has fruit trees if I see fruit on the ground. I will ask for permission to pick the fruit and usually am told yes. I am amazed at how many people keep the fruit trees at a house they buy, but don't want the fruit. They usually just want to enjoy the blossoms in the spring and let the fruit rot every year.
If you have a freezer and know where there is a hostess bread store or other kind of bread store, ask about animal bread. I have a local store that takes a list of names and phone numbers and calls on a rotation basis for people to pick up a whole shopping cart of bread and snack cakes and anything that is on it's expiration date. I have only had a few articles that had molded, almost all of it is perfectly fine, except sometimes a little squished. I get a load for $5! I freeze the bread and snack cakes. Fruit pies don't freeze well, but can be eaten up pretty quickly for us since we share with our parents and grandparents. I have seen some loads that were fresh breads, simply packaged in the wrong bags, wheat in white bags or something like that. You can sometimes get raisin bread, english muffins, bagels, and donuts as well in the loads since they are mixed loads.
If you live near a canning factory, where veges or soup or whatever is canned for grocery stores, ask them about damaged or mislabeled cans. I have an uncle who buys whole cases from them for half what the grocery stores pay. He got a whole case of lemon pie filling for $7 just last month and is gonna send me half next time someone is headed my way from his place. He lives 6 hours from me, but remembers me and him eating an entire lemon pie together at a family gathering when I was a kid.
I know it sounds kinda icky, but watch for boxes or bags set beside dumpsters at any store. I know of a few grocery stores and a craft store that sets usable items beside the dumpster for people who are willing to use it to get it without the dumpster dirt on it. My Hubby scored an entire diplay box with all the chocolate still in it still in plastic 2 years ago. It was a ghiradelli thanksgiving display case with a grand total of 75 pounds of chocolate in it that the store never got around to setting up. I had 2 whole shelves of chocolate chips and baking bars in my upright freezer. I still haven't had to buy chocolate for anything! We have also gotten clothes with the tags still on them, vcrs that didn't have remotes, and case after case of sweet corn, fresh green beans, tomatoes, potatoes, onions, oranges, apples, and peppers that way. They hadn't even been opened! The store over ordered and the produce was at it's sale date. It usually has been in the cooler the whole time and is just as sound and fresh as the day the store recieved it.
If you live near a small grocery store, talk to the meat dept manager. I have asked about old meat they have in the meat freezer and gotten it for almost nothing. I even got an entire box of smoked turkey legs for $10 once! There was 2 of the legs that were freezer burnt beyond saving, but our 2 cats ate on them for 3 days and the dog loved the bones when the cats were done. I usually use the real old meat for stews and soup as slow long cooking will fix mild to moderate freezer burn. I will can anything that is mildly freezer burnt and let it sit for at least 4 weeks to fix it. Anything not freezer burnt I will repackage in small portions and double wrap it to keep the freezer burn off. Then we have lots of meat for little money. Big grocery store won't do that for you, but smaller ones usually will. I have even found a few of the smaller ones will 'backdoor' the old produce that they have to pull if you are vigilant about being there to meet them on time. They aren't supposed to, but I have on occasion gotten whole boxes of produce that way when I found the right person working there. You can get a lot of lettuce and fruit that way since they have such a short saleable time period.
If you have a small privately owned restaraunt near you there might be an option for you as well. I worked in a little place like that when I was in highschool and the owners had us put the leftover food into containers and in the freezer at the end of the day. The containers all had names on them. There was people who brought in empty containers once a week or so and when they were all full, one of us girls would give them a call and they would come pick them up and drop off the next load of empties. I remember putting rolls, roast beef, mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, and all kinds of veges in those little boxes and freezing them. It was usually older people who came to pick them up the next day, but there was one family with a whole ton of kids too. I remember theirs took us about 2 weeks to fill for them. They had four boxes of containers! Don't forget to ask at donut shops and bakeries as well. They are known for not wantin to throw out anything. Just remember, unless you personally know the manager, big chain stores will tell you no, so don't get discouraged if they do, just keep trying.
I know I've wrote a book here, but I've had times in my life that there was litterally no money coming in and I had a family to feed. I still use any avenue I can find to reduce our bills and spending and I hope some of this info will help someone else. I have even been so desperate that I went door to door in town to all the restaraunts and stores asking for anything they were gonna be throwing out and made schedules with them to pick it up. We may have had hard times in our life, but I have never let my little ones go hungry. I know it's kind of embarrassing to go ask, it feels alot like begging, but I have found that most places are thrilled to find someone to take the stuff. Most people fell bad about throwing out something that is still good. It lets them feel good about themselves for helping someone out as well, so it's not so bad all in all.
I hope this helps and gets your creativity going to figure out places like that in your own towns where you can score some cheap or free stuff to help your families with!
Farmgirl Sister #1438
God - Gardening - Family - Is anything else important? |
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Room To Grow
True Blue Farmgirl
974 Posts
Deborah
Kingston
Georgia
USA
974 Posts |
Posted - Sep 07 2011 : 4:56:39 PM
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I sometimes got o Big Lots and Fred's to find deals on toilet paper and paper towels. And I also get laundry det. there too. I went there today and found that alot of things that are usually ther have gone up 20-30 cents. And the olive oil that I got 2 weeks agao for 5.00 is now 6.50. It was a large bottle that is usually 8-10 dollars at the Kroger. Anytime I go to the grocery store I buy a bag of rice and a bag of beans...My daughter says I am crazy to have so much of a stock pile for 2 people. And now since I have been laid off work I dont have to worry about having enough food....I do have enough food for a few months
Deborah
we have moved to our farm...and love it |
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naturemaiden
True Blue Farmgirl
2569 Posts
Connie - Farmgirl #673
Hoosick Falls
NY
USA
2569 Posts |
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naturemaiden
True Blue Farmgirl
2569 Posts
Connie - Farmgirl #673
Hoosick Falls
NY
USA
2569 Posts |
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jclambert
True Blue Farmgirl
149 Posts
Judy
Stringtown
Oklahoma
USA
149 Posts |
Posted - Sep 11 2011 : 11:38:55 AM
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I grocery shopped yesterday. A 10 pound bag of red potatoes was $8.19! Could not believe they had went that high. I usually buy russetts anyway unless the others are on sale. Is this a normal price everywhere else?
Judy
"Courage is when you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what". Atticus Finch - To Kill a Mockingbird |
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naturemaiden
True Blue Farmgirl
2569 Posts
Connie - Farmgirl #673
Hoosick Falls
NY
USA
2569 Posts |
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Ninibini
True Blue Farmgirl
7577 Posts
Nini
Pennsylvania
USA
7577 Posts |
Posted - Sep 11 2011 : 1:16:03 PM
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These are excellent, excellent, excellent suggestions! Thank you, girls! Farmgirls ROCK!!! Hugs - Nini
Farmgirl Sister #1974
God gave us two hands... one to help ourselves, and one to help others!
www.papercraftingwithnini.myctmh.com
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Lieberkim
True Blue Farmgirl
839 Posts
Kimberly
Sunnyside
WASHINGTON
USA
839 Posts |
Posted - Sep 11 2011 : 1:35:13 PM
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Groceries are out of this world aren't they??? My goal is to have a full freezer and a full pantry and if worst came to worst not have to go to the grocery store. I'm not there yet because I don't have my rootcellar built yet. But what I'm doing to help save money and be as healthy as possible is growing my garden and then freezing, canning, dehydrating. I went to a fruit stand and got some fruit for canning and dehydrating. I'm fortunate that I live on a huge farm and I can glean potatoes, apples, carrots, garlic, etc so I do that and then do my best to preserve and I also share with others. I'm also blessed that we live in an area good for hunting. I'm hoping my husband will get a deer and elk this year. I'm also able to get goose as some of the hunters end up with more than they can use so I'm going to make jerky and also have some in the freezer. Then I like to buy bulk, it's usually cheaper. I bought spelt, wheat and kamut for sprouting and grinding so that I can bake. I have Nubian goats for milk and make yoghurt, ice cream and cream cheese. I want to also make soap and cheeses. I have chickens for eggs.
There's a lot of good info on here. I need to go through and make notes!!! I think the key is do as much as you can for yourself and then share/trade with those around you and we'll all come through the tough times well. :)
Excuse the mess & the noise, my children are making happy memories |
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Betty J.
True Blue Farmgirl
1403 Posts
Betty
Pasco
WA
USA
1403 Posts |
Posted - Sep 11 2011 : 1:54:38 PM
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Connie, have you noticed that margarine comes in 15 oz tubs now? That was a shocker to me. Not even a pound any more!
Betty in Pasco |
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Room To Grow
True Blue Farmgirl
974 Posts
Deborah
Kingston
Georgia
USA
974 Posts |
Posted - Sep 11 2011 : 2:15:28 PM
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Betty, Check out alot of the sizes of certian foods. Sugar is now 4lbs. not 5lbs...And cereal is in smaller boxes. But they are charging the same or more for less. Going tomorrow to check out Big Lots...
Deborah
we have moved to our farm...and love it |
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naturemaiden
True Blue Farmgirl
2569 Posts
Connie - Farmgirl #673
Hoosick Falls
NY
USA
2569 Posts |
Posted - Sep 11 2011 : 2:56:42 PM
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i have noticed the cereal boxes got smaller. I've taken notes from all the great info here. Kimberly, you inspire me! I do a lot here as far as growing vegetables and other things...i am determined to shop differently and end this madness. we use to have ducks and we ate their eggs. i cant wait until we get our own farmhouse. i will have chickens and garden more. I'd love a root cellar too!
connie
http://www.naturemaiden.com/- Soap & Candle
http://flowerchild-lifeinthegarden.blogspot.com/ My Blog
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/farmgirl-crafting-group/ - A group for all farmgirls wanting to share their craft.
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Edited by - naturemaiden on Sep 11 2011 2:57:27 PM |
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Across the Fence: Food Prices |
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Food Prices
