Could you spend only $100/month at the grocery store?

[SaintAllie]

[quote="Chef #825331"]
One thing I now longer buy "cheap" is ground beef. It just isn't worth it anymore. It's not just the fat content, but somehow everytime I buy it, I end up with half the meat I thought I had purchased and a pan full of water!. .[/quote]

I have given up buying ground beef/ minced steak at the supermarket as it does all turn into water when you cook it, even the premium, more expensively priced one does it. Have found myself a reputable butcher, buy all my mince from there now and have never had the same problem. I don't know what the supermarket does to their mince but I am beginning to think they soak it in water beforehand to get the weight up.

Also earlier in this thread someone mentioned wanting to be able to afford the odd bottle of wine on a budget. Wine is very easy to make at home with minimal ingredients, fruit ( even vegetables) from your garden .. or surplus gifted to you. It's another skill all on it's own and most of our grandmothers kept a cellar ( well mine did anyway),

[Sailin' Babe]

About the burger-much of the time the lesser cuts of steak and roasts are less per pound than burger so you can grind your own. I have used my grandmothers old fashioned hand grinder but am working on buying an attatchment for my mixer so it is faster and easier. It will pay for itself. I have a friend who lets us use theirs-have a friend?! Great way to control the fat and the flavor is great.

[Molly53]

Hi and welcome to the forums, chef. Nice to meet you!

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[Mami J]

SaintAllie wrote:

I have given up buying ground beef/ minced steak at the supermarket as it does all turn into water when you cook it, even the premium, more expensively priced one does it. Have found myself a reputable butcher, buy all my mince from there now and have never had the same problem. I don't know what the supermarket does to their mince but I am beginning to think they soak it in water beforehand to get the weight up.

I think finding a good butcher is a very good thing to do. Many are glad to have new costumers and will gladly teach you about the many cuts of meats and their uses. And you probably get a fresher product without additives.

[MealPrepper]

Does anyone use coupons, Safeway offers it where you can print coupons online, coupons from anywhere to fresh meats to over the counter medicines and always weekly specials http://www.safeway.com/IFL/Grocery/Coupons[url][/url]

[pryor208]

I've spent the last couple of days reading through all 40 pages of this thread and am amazed by the amount of tips and wisdom shared. Thank you all so much!

I also don't skimp on ground beef, but try to buy it on sale. I watch the local flyers for sales on other kinds of meat. My husband has what we think is an allergy to chicken unless it is the canned kind (he got very ill twice in a week, each time not long after eating chicken from two different places). The majority of my cooking challenges come from trying to make a meal that we both can enjoy, because he has a few food preferences to work in. Fortunately we can eat pasta and sauce once or twice a week (under $2 for a meal for us), and I have a couple of other meals that are weekly standards such as beef patties with salad and mac & cheese for sides.

I've learned a lot in the first few months of being married and a stay at home wife, such as planning for at least a week's worth of meals and working with what's on sale. I depend on Aldi for the majority of our food, and am hoping to stockpile a little at a time in preparation for winter when his check drops somewhat. Making everything possible from scratch is a goal of mine, but flour tortillas are my latest project and have me stumped, because in one batch I'll end up with maybe 2 tortillas out of 8 that are thin enough after cooking them up. But I know it's a gradual process, and I'm loving getting to try out new things and learn.

[Cinisajoy]

pryor208 wrote:
I've spent the last couple of days reading through all 40 pages of this thread and am amazed by the amount of tips and wisdom shared. Thank you all so much!

IMy husband has what we think is an allergy to chicken unless it is the canned kind (he got very ill twice in a week, each time not long after eating chicken from two different places).
Making everything possible from scratch is a goal of mine, but flour tortillas are my latest project and have me stumped, because in one batch I'll end up with maybe 2 tortillas out of 8 that are thin enough after cooking them up. But I know it's a gradual process, and I'm loving getting to try out new things and learn.

Hi! I had to comment on your post. If he can eat canned chicken it is not an allergy to chicken. You said he had chicken in two different places. I am going to guess both meals were eaten out. It sounds more like the chicken was slightly underdone. I eat chicken at home all the time but I generally cannot eat chicken in restraunts especially not grilled or fried. Yes it is cooked to health department standards but it is not cooked to Cindy's stomach standards. My method of cooking chicken is it is done when it falls off the bone. Your best bet to test that idea is buy some cheap thighs, drumsticks, heck a whole chicken if it is cheap enough and cook the daylights out of it. I generally slow roast my chicken for about 6 hours. I set it on its legs and when it lays down it is done. Here is the recipe. Vary the spices to your taste.
Cindy's Roasted Chicken

Now on to the flour tortillas.. Two words GOOD LUCK..
I haven't looked to see where you are but here in Texas even most of the mexicans buy their tortillas at the store because it is cheaper and easier.
Though here is the catch to making decent flour tortillas. Do you have a good rolling pin? First make your dough. Then make equal size balls and roll them till they are real thin.
Better idea: Please give me your flour tortilla recipe. If you are having a thin problem that sounds like too much baking powder. They should not puff up much. Yes I have made flour tortillas several times.

Oh wanted to tell you welcome to recipezaar and any time you have a question someone probably knows the answer and usually pretty quickly.

[pryor208]

Cinisajoy wrote:

pryor208 wrote:
I've spent the last couple of days reading through all 40 pages of this thread and am amazed by the amount of tips and wisdom shared. Thank you all so much!

My husband has what we think is an allergy to chicken unless it is the canned kind (he got very ill twice in a week, each time not long after eating chicken from two different places).

Hi! I had to comment on your post. If he can eat canned chicken it is not an allergy to chicken. You said he had chicken in two different places. I am going to guess both meals were eaten out. It sounds more like the chicken was slightly underdone.

Thanks for the warm welcome! I've learned so much wandering around the forums here.

We ate chicken first at his sister's (and thought that he'd gotten undercooked chicken although no one else got sick), and the second time was at a local restaurant and had been cooked on a smoker. Again I ate the same chicken as him and didn't get sick, so an allergy was the only thing we could think of. But I'm hoping to get him to try chicken cooked at home by me again sometime soon to test that theory...sometime when he can be sick at home just in case lol.

[Cinisajoy]

Yes that definately sounds like undercooked chicken. It doesn't matter that he was the only one that got sick from it. Some people are a lot more sensitive to how their chicken is cooked. I would never eat chicken off a smoker. A lot of times people cook chicken exactly to whatever recipe they find, but I have found a lot of times it isn't done. My former Son in law used to do chicken on the grill to the exact temperature that some online guide he found said and would not cook it a second longer. It was not cooked completely. He would do pork chops and ribs the same way.
Gee he couldn't understand why we started turning down invitations.

If he can eat any chicken it isn't an allergy per se. He is just allergic to undercooked chicken. I am glad you came back and told me how they were fixed. That rather solved the mystery.

[tasb]

Even if your pieces of chicken were off the same bird cooked at the same time there is a chance his piece would have been a little thicker or in a cooler part of the oven, if it was oven baked. So just his alone could have been a little under cooked.

[pryor208]

Cinisajoy wrote:
Yes that definately sounds like undercooked chicken. It doesn't matter that he was the only one that got sick from it. Some people are a lot more sensitive to how their chicken is cooked. I would never eat chicken off a smoker. A lot of times people cook chicken exactly to whatever recipe they find, but I have found a lot of times it isn't done. My former Son in law used to do chicken on the grill to the exact temperature that some online guide he found said and would not cook it a second longer. It was not cooked completely. He would do pork chops and ribs the same way.
Gee he couldn't understand why we started turning down invitations.

If he can eat any chicken it isn't an allergy per se. He is just allergic to undercooked chicken. I am glad you came back and told me how they were fixed. That rather solved the mystery.

Thanks for the tip! I'll have to try cooking some well done chicken and test it on him.

[the80srule]

I only read through the first 2 or so pages of this, so I'm out of the ground beef loop heh...(and being a vegetarian the only ground beef I buy is Lightlife Smart Deli tofu when I have Smart Deli coupons)

I just wanted to throw in that using coupon sites helps, especially if you don't have access to coupon papers. My building gets them on weekends every so often, but not always. And if they do, I have to make sure to grab a few bags because things in my lobby go fast. Stores that triple coupons? Oh man. I have no idea where that happens, (I'm in NYC) although Stop & Shop by me will double coupons if they're under $1 unless it says "do not double".

But that's what I like about using internet coupons at the self check-out: some of them say "do not double" but the machine doubles them anyway.

Forming groups with family and friends to exchange coupons also helps. Especially for printable coupon sites: when I hit the print limit on something I want, I ask my friends and family members to print those coupons for me until they too hit the print limits, and I do the same for them for coupons they want.

I did especially well in my last shopping trip with this strategy-- I got Holland House red wine vinegar for 78 cents, Tabasco sauce for 80 cents (it came in the fancy box and everything! Gotta love coupons.com), Hunt's tomato sauce cans were 3/$1 plus I had some 35-cent coupons, and several boxes of Nasoya Silken Creations flavored tofu for only 75 cents apiece. Plus, the larger cans of Progresso chickpeas for 50 cents each.


Although I've learned you sometimes have to be wary with certain coupons-- if you have to buy too many units of something in order to redeem the coupon, like more than you'd use or know you'd use, then it's not a real bargain. For instance, if you have to buy 3 bags of Wacky Mac to save 50 cents and you don't go through pasta that fast, then it may not be worth it. This comes from a one-person household perspective; chances are if you're shopping for a family of 4 or 5 (and assuming you let your friends and kids' friends stay over for meals constantly too) then you'd probably go through 3 bags of pasta quickly.

[Brisket in Roses]

Since I became unemployed I have had to be more careful on wasting food, and spending too much money on food. I live with my girlfriend and our son. I take care of my niece every day and my sister always stays for dinner when she comes to pick her up. I take the sales papers once a month and sit down and look at every single thing in each and every paper. I sit down in the middle of the living room with 4 different sales papers surrounding me and I compare everything. I have managed to feed 3 adults and 2 children (3 children if you count my stepdaughter but she is not with us all the time) for about $200 a month. Sometimes a little more, but not often. I usually spend about $180 total and leave $20-25 for any extra expenses (like bananas....they never last in this house). We have been doing well and the only time I went over was the month we had a birthday party.

Like other posters, I do suggest working on a menu. I take whatever is on sale and plan my menu around that. I try to work in some vegetarian menus as well, and some fish dishes in there. It took some getting used to, but it's like an addiction now. And now I'm starting more coupon clipping....anyone know of any good coupon websites?

[the80srule]

coupons.com
Coupon Cabin (INVALUABLE- they have many PDF coupons so you can print unlimited amounts!!! I found them for Swiss Tea and Back to Nature products)
Coupon Bug
Shop At Home (has 3 different coupon collections)
SmartSource.com (usually limited but has some good ones occasionally)
Redplum.com


Saved me hundreds of bucks, coupled with my strategy to form coupon groups with friends and family. I print til I reach the limit and they print things for me until they hit the print limits too, and I print what they want. That's how I got 11 Nasoya coupons and 12 Progresso coupons!

EDIT: Call your grocery store beforehand to ask if they accept printable coupons, or go to customer service and show them and ask. Stop & Shop takes them, so does Whole Foods. Morton-Williams Associated does not and many small businesses might not take them.

[Brisket in Roses]

the80srule wrote:
coupons.com
Coupon Cabin (INVALUABLE- they have many PDF coupons so you can print unlimited amounts!!! I found them for Swiss Tea and Back to Nature products)
Coupon Bug
Shop At Home (has 3 different coupon collections)
SmartSource.com (usually limited but has some good ones occasionally)
Redplum.com


Saved me hundreds of bucks, coupled with my strategy to form coupon groups with friends and family. I print til I reach the limit and they print things for me until they hit the print limits too, and I print what they want. That's how I got 11 Nasoya coupons and 12 Progresso coupons!

EDIT: Call your grocery store beforehand to ask if they accept printable coupons, or go to customer service and show them and ask. Stop & Shop takes them, so does Whole Foods. Morton-Williams Associated does not and many small businesses might not take them.

Thank you!!!