Need help in Central PA with food budget.

[BeachFun]

I need to reduce my food budget. I would like to reduce it to the $50-$60 per week range. We are a household of 3 adults, one teen and 1 small dog. We live in central PA's amish country. I normally spend $100/week (sometimes more or less) on groceries. I include everything in that budget (food, paper products, toiletries and cleaning supplies). I am wondering if there are any stores or outlets hidden away that I don't know about. I do sometimes shop at Aldi's and Amelia's. BB's and Sharp Shopper are too far away and the hours are not convenient to my schedule. Any menu ideas would be great as well as I find this task a bit overwhelming.

[shoiji]

Do you have an area where you can garden. Even if it is in pots it will save you money.

Have you started stockpiling? The best way I have found to save money is to eat produce when it is in season and to find out when the grocery store has manager's special in the meat department. Beans and rice make a great alternative for protein and is less expensive. Also having different types of seasonings will help to make the same inexpensive meals taste different.

I use the website called Couponmom to help me find good prices (free) on items I would originally buy. If you go the coupon route make sure to purchase a newspaper from a large city. They tend to have better coupons.

Try using rags instead of paper towels. Some people will even buy inexpensive handtowels instead of rags. It might take a little time to get used to but you save a lot of money this way.

Look at the cooking part of this website to get helpful ideas on how to cook inexpensively.

[Ceashels]

Find recipe's that use the ingredient's from the stores you shop the most. Aldi's doesn't have a huge selection but it does have the basics.

My three current favorites that I can purchase in their entirety at Aldi's:

Mexican Lasagna (a spin on Rachel Ray's): Black beans, corn, diced tomatoes, a pack of taco seasoning, tortillas and cheese. (I add diced onion, celery and carrots to saute and this can be made with ground beef or turkey if you like) Aldi's has all the ingredients. I have used this to stuff soft or hard tortilla shells. It's a great salad topper and without the meat it still has protein.

Chicken Corn Chowder: a can of cream corn, can of corn, cream of chicken and chicken (frozen, fresh or even canned). Put all in a crock pot and after the meat is cooked take it off the bones and return the meat to the crock pot. If using chicken pieces they will create enough broth/stock to make a great consistency for the chowder.

Sausage gravy over biscuits - a can of refrigerator biscuits, a pound of sausage, a little butter and flour for a rue, and milk. I finely dice celery, carrot and a little onion and saute them in the butter before I make the rue so I get some extra veggies in the meal.

Introduce beans and legumes into your family's diet.
Make one dinner a week - meatless.
Price out the ingredients you use to make your family favorites.
Stock pile when on sale so you can have the items handy when they are not on sale.

You don't need to change every meal of the night but just starting with 2-3 a week can make a huge difference.

[marjorie]

We sometimes make breakfast for dinner- kids see it as a treat and it's cost effective budget wise. Also, do you can?

[shoiji]

Try looking up the recipes for using vinegar as a cleaner. It can save you lots of money compared to the commercial cleansers. Large store brand gallons of vinegar is very inexpensive.

[steelergal]

If you don't have a stockpile, I definately suggest starting one so that you can cut easily cut back on what you spend! Everyone gave great tips- cleaning with vinegar, using rags instead of paper towels and having breakfast for dinner, meatless dinner another night!

When money is tight and I am low in my stockpile I cook multipurpose meals. I.e. whole chicken- the first night I will make a proper chicken dinner with stuffing, mixed vegetables. The next night I might make chicken quesadillas or chicken casserole (using up leftover veggies and stuffing) or even make chicken salad-of course it all depends on how much is left over! The last thing I will make with the chicken is chicken noodle soup.

Also, most people don't eat up all their leftovers, I highly recommend one night be a leftover dinner night and you can pull all the "good" leftovers out and people can eat which they perfer.

[bumplett]

homemade cleaning products
homemade laundry det
don't buy paper towels or paper napkins, use cloth instead.

couponing can keep prices very low, esp with items such as pasta, rice, toothpaste, shampoo, etc.

good luck!

[laura-n-sasha]

I need to reduce my food budget. I would like to reduce it to the $50-$60 per week range. We are a household of 3 adults, one teen and 1 small dog.

We live in central PA's amish country.

First off, here is a link of the different grocery stores for their Sunday Saver and from there you can get some ideas of the grocery stores around you. (go to grocery - I just did the link to the main part oops!)

Second, I do not know where you are exactly in Amish Country, but There is a great place called the Green Dragon where you can get lots of good food at great prices, plus they do auctions lots of times for food items.

Plus, I would check the farmers markets around there as well as the farms to get produce, fruit and veggies at better prices sometimes. I would regularly go to a farm to pick my apples and peaches out in Virginia. It is called pick your own in PA.
Most Amish stores are great for meats.

I normally spend $100/week (sometimes more or less) on groceries. I include everything in that budget (food, paper products, toiletries and cleaning supplies). I am wondering if there are any stores or outlets hidden away that I don't know about. I do sometimes shop at Aldi's and Amelia's. BB's and Sharp Shopper are too far away and the hours are not convenient to my schedule. Any menu ideas would be great as well as I find this task a bit overwhelming.

I would strongly suggest that you stop buying name brand groceries (that Amelia's store stated 70% off brand names). I would go slowly at first, don't want to scare the family too much. Also try to get more things in bulk rather than paying the extra marketing for the name brands.

Start cutting out the empty calories stuff like sodas and fruit juices.
Try to have less meat, whether that is beef, chicken or pork. Go slowly at first as usually teens will balk. Try to have first just one night of no meat, then move up further.

Get your teen involved. Make it a game on how to lower the costs of the grocery shopping. Get everyone involved.

Look at the sales flyers and figure out what things you need for the week. Start off making homemade meals. Stop buying pre-made stuff. (I mean, who needs cut up veggies and baby carrots? You pay more for baby carrots and they are not babies, they are just cut up carrots!)

Make a price book - figure out all of the things that you buy, and start calculating how much it costs per ounce and per pound. That way you can figure if something is a good deal or not when you see it in a different store.

I have found Aldi is good for lots of things, like milk, cheeses, deli, pasta, beans, and meats. Use them as your baseline numbers, and then start checking out other stores, discount stores, markets, farmers markets, and other avenues.

Let us know if you need other help and how you are doing to cut down your food budget.

[BeachFun]

I wanted to thank everyone for their suggestions. I do some of them but could probably be better at it. I only shop at Amelia's about once a month. They have cereal and pasta cheaper than I can get anywhere else so that's what I usually get there. I do not use many coupons since the items I buy usually do not have them. I normally shop the outside of the store (produce, meats and dairy). I think looking over everyones suggestions that my stockpile is pretty depleted and when I try to decide what to get I have a mental block. I have some items but nothing that I could make a meal with. I also am having a lot of trouble sticking to my menu plan so I need to have a little more willpower there too. I do know where the Green Dragon is located but it's a little far from my house. We have another one "Roots" that is closer that I will need to start going to. I already make my own laundry detergent (I use the clone "Tide" recipe). I normally make 1 vegetarian meal per week (which is sometimes breakfast for dinner). I want to thank you again for all of the suggestions and if you have any new ones or quick, inexpensive meal ideas please post them for me.

[pollypurebred39]

I shop at Amelia's too! I wish we lived closer I'd show you some of the local food thrifts.

Here's something that I find really helpful. You can use it to make potato soup, cream of any vegetable soup, hamburger or sausage gravy, the gravy for meat pies, etc.

Make your own white sauce mix and store it in your pantry for sauces in an instant.
Prep Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

2 cups nonfat dry milk powder
1 cup flour
2 tsp. salt
1 cup butter, margarine, or oil
1/8 tsp. white pepper
Preparation:

In medium bowl, combine dry milk, flour and salt and mix well with a wire whisk to blend. With a pastry blender or two knives, cut in butter, margarine or oil until mixture resembles cornmeal. Put in an airtight container and store in refrigerator. Use white sauce mix within 2 months.
To make white sauce, combine 1/2 cup white sauce mix and 1 cup cool water in small saucepan. Cook over low heat until smooth, stirring constantly with wire whisk. Season as desired. Makes about 1-1/2 cups sauce.

This is a link with a recipe for homemade bisquick. It includes recipes. There are hundreds of quick dishes you can make if you have this mix.

Homemade Bisquick Mix

[BeachFun]

So it's May 1st and I'm trying to really be good with my grocery shopping. I don't need too much to get us through this week so here's how I did.

Aldi's total $17.38:
French Green Beans 4 @ $.49 each
Parmesan Cheese $2.39
Tuscan Garden Dressing $1.19
Strawberry Preserves $1.49
Spanish Olives $.89
Onion Soup Mix $.69
Homestyle Potatoes 2 @ $.79 each
Macaroni & Cheese 6 @ $.35 each
Lasagna Noodles $1.19
Bananas $.82
Strawberries 2 @ $1.49 each

Dollar Tree $9.42:
Cheddar Cheese Crackers $1.00
Garden Vegetable Crackers $1.00
Love My Carpet $1.00
Women's Shave Cream $1.00
Fresh Bowl Bleach $1.00

I also bought for DD college graduation:
graduation thank you cards $1.00
graduation napkins $1.00
graduation paper plates $1.00
graduation tablecover $1.00

Pet Supplies "plus" $14.14
I also had to buy my dog pet food and she is rather finicky:
Deli Fresh $7.98 for a 2lb pkg (should last at least 2 wks).
Birthday cupcake cookie $1.48 (her bday tomorrow)
New toy for her Bday $3.98


Total spent $40.94

Overall I do not think that is too bad. We won't eat all of it this week so to my stockpile will go:
2 cans of green beans
4 boxes of mac and cheese
1 parmesan cheese
1 tuscan garden dressing

[shoiji]

Looks like you have the idea down on how to shop. Putting those extra items in the stockpile will come in handy some day.

[BeachFun]

pollypurebred39:
I just wanted to thank you for the White Sauce Mix recipe. I made a batch this afternoon. I decided to make a dry mix to store in the pantry and will add the necessary amount butter or oil when I make the mix.
Thanks again.

[pollypurebred39]

You're welcome. Just make sure you mix the butter in really well before you put the water in. It will just melt into the water then and thicken without a single lump. It's one of my favorite mixes.

[BeachFun]

Spent another $7.12 at Aldi's today.
I bought:
1 gallon milk
1 pkg american cheese (the individually wrapped kind)
1 box crackers
1 pkg peanuts (this was a snack size for $.39 since i didn't have lunch)

Total spent this week is $$48.06. I'm still under my minimum goal of $50 by $1.94 and the my maximum goal of $60 by $11.94. If I don't spend the $11.94 I'll add it to my grocery budget for next week to help build my stockpile.