How do you stretch your food budget in these inflationary times?

R

Robb.hisself

Member
I use more water to stretch my food budget. It is a very old idea. It is often practiced by poorer members of American society. Simply add more water.

For example, rather than buy a gallon of nonfat milk I buy a gallon of whole milk. Each glass of milk I pour I only fill the glass half full. Then I fill the glass to the top with tap water. It is just about as weak tasting and as thin looking as real nonfat milk. Milk is a big expense for me because I don't drink coffee or tea. So every time the average person drinks a cup of coffee or tea I am drinking a glass of milk. I used to cook my hot cereal each morning in milk. Now, I use water instead and only use the milk over the cereal after it is made.

Water really cuts down my food expense. After I order my meal at a restaurant the waitress then asks me what I will have to drink. I used to say, 'milk'. Now I say, "I'll have a glass of water." (Which is free by law in California.) Wow! Do I get the evil looks; she knows this cuts down on her tip at 15% of the total bill. Water really works to help cut down the expense of food. LOL
 

I think that there are few of that watch the sales. That is basically all I do is add to my pantry and freezers on those sale items and what is needing to be restocked. I may buy what may seem like a lot but I get enough of the item until the next sale on that item. I never pay full price and I hardly ever run out of the things I use.

I do not go without, the freezer holds chicken, steak, ground beef, sausage, bacon, roasts and shrimp. I also freeze veggies, cheese, butter and eggs.

Then with the dry pantry I have all the basics of everything I use. All the stuff for bread, cakes, cookies and pies. I do this with household goods and toiletries as well. I started doing this well before covid when my husband died.

I am blessed to have the strorage space, the money is not a problem since I don't buy everything all at one time. I do no go without at all. I will say to try some store brand products, much cheaper and a lot of them are very good.
Get away from conveniece items and just cook.
@Robb.hisself, I would not skimp on your milk. I also like to drink milk so I always have it. I do keep canned and dry milk on hand for evergencies and cooking.
 
One thing I've been doing for many years is to cut down on the amount of meat that recipes call for. If it uses a pound of ground beef, I use half and we never once missed it, or even noticed. Same for recipes that use 2-3 lb of diced chicken breast. One chicken breast diced up is plenty. I should say that I've always had a small family... cooking for more people with half of the meat amounts wouldn't have been sufficient.

I didn't start doing it because of inflation or money concerns... but rather to cook healthier. This is a great thread topic... I'll be watching it!
 
I've hardly been eating for months now. I think it started when my cat Buffy became ill & died then my sister died. I got out of the habit of eating. That's how depressed I've been. I have enough stuff in the freezer for weeks & weeks. Hope the food still is edible.

Why couldn't I not eat in my twenties & thirties? Would have saved a lot of angst. Save Money, too.

So that's how I've been saving on my Food Budget.
 
To stretch a food budget, reduce the amount of meat that you eat. I can go for days without eating meat. Consider also buying house brands as opposed to name brands of products when available; they are cheaper, and often just as good. Also, remember that pasta is your friend, and will fill you up nicely. I love the whole noodle family! 🍜
 
Unfortunately, that is where seniors cut back is on meat. We need to be careful because we need enough protein at this age so we don't get feeble.
I like this thread too @CallMeKate !
I actually stopped using coupons unless it is for a staple item. For a short while I got caught up in the "I bought this because I had a coupon". Waste of money and space and it's mostly processed food.
Our two meals a day actually saves money.
 
I think we need to be careful about highly glycemic foods as meal padding. My doctor cautioned against eating bananas at all, rice only in limited quantities, and frowns on pasta, bread, and the like. Even potatoes are on the small quantities list. Apples are ok, presumably due to fiber content.

I'm not giving any specific advice, just saying to be wary of making bad choices when you think you are being smart.
 
dilettante said:
I think we need to be careful about highly glycemic foods as meal padding. My doctor cautioned against eating bananas at all, rice only in limited quantities, and frowns on pasta, bread, and the like. Even potatoes are on the small quantities list. Apples are ok, presumably due to fiber content.
Click to expand...
Yeah... I make a conscious effort to watch the carbs... not "count" the numbers obsessively, but half a banana at a time (I remember how unbelieving I was when I first heard how much sugar bananas have! All my life I'd heard and read that they're "life's perfect food." I cut pasta for recipes in half, too, like I do for meat. Never did eat a lot of potatoes.

I'm going to stick a recommendation in here. Bread... so carby *but* there's a brand called Schmidt's 647 that tastes like real bread. It's not like the thin stuff most brands call "low carb" or "reduced calorie." It tastes like "regular" bread to me.... SIX carbs instead of 12-15 in brands such as Wonder, Holsum, Sunbeam, etc.
 
Since my husband passed away last month, my eating habits have changed drastically. First of all, I'm not hungry. My stomach growls but when I fix something (scrambled eggs, maybe), I take a few bites and can't finish. My neighbors brought me food the first couple weeks or so and it all ended up in the freezer. I'm sure my appetite will return at some point. This is not the way to cut down on grocery bills, though :(

I have a ton of food here. The pantry is stocked with all the things I use to use to cook/bake for us and the freezer (large upright one) is packed. We had just gone shopping a couple days before he died because we were starting to stock up for winter. I could feed an army.
 
Pepper said:
I've hardly been eating for months now. I think it started when my cat Buffy became ill & died then my sister died. I got out of the habit of eating. That's how depressed I've been. I have enough stuff in the freezer for weeks & weeks. Hope the food still is edible.

Why couldn't I not eat in my twenties & thirties? Would have saved a lot of angst. Save Money, too.

So that's how I've been saving on my Food Budget.
Click to expand...
OMG that's dangerous. You must eat.
 
I make more soups and salads and stirfrys but I do love healthy food of all kinds and after the difficulty of finding almost any food during the first three months of the pandemic, I will not skimp on good food now or ever again and I hope I can stick to that. It's just a choice. But honestly root vegetables are in season now and they are among the cheapest so if I was trying to save money on food I would stock up on those and buy dry beans and cook them from scratch instead of buying canned.
 
Mainly I shop different markets for different items. The closest is Ingles about 1 mile away. Good meat but expensive veggies. Walmart Super Center about 2 miles. Both Kroger and Aldi about 3. Today it will be Aldi for turkey and the go-withs. The Korean farmers market is just up the street and a bigger farmers market about 10 minutes away. It's harder to stick to a list at the farmers markets with all the beautiful and colorful food beckoning so planning is the trick.
 
*Seniors are 1 of 2 groups in the US that are deficient in protein consumption.*

Saving

Sales - stock up on regularly used items
Bulk - oatmeal, beans, rice, flour
Senior discount - 10% off Tues, Fri btwn 12:30-2:30 pm
Restaurants, take out - "just say no" lol
Eliminate waste - eat what you've bought(see below)
Reduce, eliminate processed foods - cook from scratch
More chicken & turkey, less beef - healthier too
Drinks - no alcohol, soda, bottled water
Costco - it's cheaper for many things


Splurges

Coffee - no shortcuts to a great cup of coffee
Nuts - from Costco
Steak - every couple weeks
Seafood - 1/2x week



Eliminating waste, which would typically be produce. It really pays to carefully select what piece of produce you're buying. The new stuff is most always at the bottom or back of the display. The freshest is in the carton as they are putting it out. Produce departments are all different, quality varies just as much as price and the lowest price isn't always the best value.
 
Last edited:
We really haven't changed. Buying on sale is normal routine. Simple things like limiting buying processed foods I think makes a differance. Grinding meat rather than buying the store ground meats like hamburger or pork sausage. Vacuum sealing without the need to add preservatives beats the alternative.
 
A couple other produce ideas:

If you use conventional produce always check for higher quality in the organic section and vice versa.

When buying by weight you're not required to buy the entire "bunch." For instance broccoli- the bunches may be made of of several stems so just pick out the amount actually needed and put the rest back.

Not solely a produce item but take the receipt home to check for errors. My store makes a lot of mistakes as they monkey around w sales prices. I bought some orange bell peppers the other week "on sale", clerk keyed them in as jalapeños, which were mispriced at $5.99 lb, (real price $1.99 lb.) It was a $3.00 error. The store, a chain of 3, caters to lower income and hispanics while the other 2 are for the tourists, which have wildly higher prices. Zone pricing is real.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top