It seems that the high gas prices are pushing up food prices even more. These prices are killing my shopping budget which has now been cut to $300 a month. This includes everything food, cleaning, hygiene, pets, etc. If I have to purchase it has to come out of this pot. So now I am looking for ways to cut round corners. We used to be able to live comfortably within our means but the economy has forced our means to shrink and now there seems to be more month than money. Some days it seems we just can’t win.
So back to the drawing board....plan E or F (LOL)
- Can more veggies
- Buy more dry beans
- Eat more brinners (breakfast for dinner
- Buy the best cuts of meat I can afford and stretch with pasta, rice, and veggies
- Cook more casseroles-like I don’t cook enough of those now. It seems every other meal is a casserole.
- Buy meat on sale and can it. That way I will not lose it if the power goes out or loose it to freezer burn.
- Use more dry beans in soups
- Buy neck bones and back bones for soups instead of using regular cuts of meat.
Some of these are going to be difficult and I suspect I will have a mutiny on my hands. You see currently I use a half pound of ground beef to feed a family of four for two meals…dinner and lunch the following day. Just a footnote here my family of four is all over the age of 16 and three are males so you can imagine what happens when they put on the feed bag. My stir fry is made with one or two chicken breast and triple vegetables. Chicken and rice is really rice made from chicken broth with bits and pieces of chicken that cooked off the bones that I used to make the broth.
So I guess we will have poverty cooking at its finest, not that I am complaining. It may seem like I am whining and I guess I am having a pity party in a way because I really dread telling my family that we have to tighten our belts yet again.
How have you tightened your belt lately? What are some of your thrifty ideas to stretch a buck?
poor piggy
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