Anyone Subsidizing Grocery Items?

**many houseapes** · 05-16-2008, 06:30 PM

Just curious if anyone here, due to the rising food prices, has started subsidizing grocery items that they normally would buy for something that is a cheaper alternative. I am seriously considering subsidizing hotdogs for sausage when a recipe calls for sausage -its cheaper & the only thing that I have found is that it's basically the same thing without all of those spices that I love.

**Dancing Lotus** · 05-16-2008, 06:35 PM

Your question confused me, I think you mean substituting.

Sure I substitute. When something calls for ground beef I use half the amount and then add lentils to it to make up for the rest.

I lot of more expensive ingredients I just leave out if its not key.

And lastly , I have been giving my kids Koo laid instead of juice. I make it with half the sugar. I try not to feel too bad because its just a temporary change and a still give them real juice once a day.

**many houseapes** · 05-16-2008, 06:49 PM

Originally Posted by many houseapes

Just curious if anyone here, due to the rising food prices, has started subsidizing grocery items that they normally would buy for something that is a cheaper alternative. I am seriously considering subsidizing hotdogs for sausage when a recipe calls for sausage -its cheaper & the only thing that I have found is that it's basically the same thing without all of those spices that I love.

Oh my gosh.lol...DUH!!!!!!!!!! I cannot believe I did that. I meant to type substituting....why in the world I said subsidizing is beyond me. Okay...get out the straightjackets & get the rubber room ready -I think I'm going loony.
lol...I am sooooo embarrassed.

**smk0817** · 05-16-2008, 07:04 PM

Originally Posted by AnnK

And lastly , I have been giving my kids Koo laid instead of juice. I make it with half the sugar. I try not to feel too bad because its just a temporary change and a still give them real juice once a day.

Same here!

I've cut out higher priced cuts of meat that my DH insists he must have. We've been eating more casseroles and stews that tend to not use as much meat.

**Marie78** · 05-16-2008, 07:12 PM

I have been cutting back on how much I use. I have recipe I just made tonight for dinner and it calls for 1/2 cup of cashews. I buy the cashews in bulk and they cost about $2.00 for a 1/2 cup. I have started using 1/4 cup and then I can get two meals out of the same amount of cashews. For the most part I have started to use a little less of everything in my recipes in order to stretch out the food we buy. It's the only way I have found to still maintain a similar food budget, but still make our same recipes

.

**cissylu** · 05-16-2008, 07:18 PM

I`m going to have to start doing this.

**Frugal Nurse** · 05-16-2008, 07:22 PM

[QUOTE=Marie78;901115]I have been cutting back on how much I use. I have recipe I just made tonight for dinner and it calls for 1/2 cup of cashews. I buy the cashews in bulk and QUOTE]

I did not just read that did I?
You get to have cashews?

I'm so jealous!!

I never thought of substituting (or subsidizing- although.. that's actually a great concept when you really think about it!) expensive items. I just do't make the meal.

I'll start thinking of things I can replace it with.

Lots of pancakes in my house.

**Domestic Gal** · 05-16-2008, 08:14 PM

I have been using ground turkey or ground chicken in all of my recipes that call for ground beef. It is cheaper and better for you. Only use 1/2 of what recipe calls for also.

We also only eat beef once a week. Have been doing this for about 6 months now and my husband has not noticed at all. When we do eat beef we usually eat quality cuts though.

We have been eating lots of chicken and turkey. I only make 1 portion of meat per person (unless a casserole or something) this saves money as there are no seconds of meat, they have to have fruits and veggies if they want more.

I add rice, barley, or oatmeal to some recipes to stretch it.

**anna021** · 05-16-2008, 08:23 PM

today at our local A&P supermarket 90% lean chop meat was 3.99 a pound, now I thought that was awfully high, I settled for 81% at 1.99 per pound, but I had to buy 3 pounds to get that price, other wise it was 2.49. I was so tempted to buy the ground turkey at 1.79 a lb. but it would be a waste, DH would never eat it.

**Edna_E** · 05-16-2008, 09:37 PM

Thanks for posting this - and don't be embarrassed! A good discussion resulted, and I for one am better off for it. I also often come out with a word that isn't the one I meant to say, but it usually starts with the same syllable. Then I find it impossible to get that word out of my mind to think up the right one, and a friend told me that this problem actually has a name - which I cannot remember (of COURSE!!!)

**peanut** · 05-16-2008, 10:44 PM

I substitute all the time. Mostly I make sure my recipes use very basic ingredients. Nothing is processed in any way.

Instead of chocolate squares, I use cocoa and shortening/butter. Instead of storebought croutons, I make my own.

Instead of storebought OXO cubes, I make my own liquid stock and freeze in commonly used amounts (2 c. seems to be common). I use that in recipes calling for OXO and water, or broth, etc. Less salt and cheaper stock.

Instead of buying diet margarine, I used to make my own with half and half butter and olive oil. It was a fraction of the cost of buying ready made stuff at the store. Now I can't have dairy, so I don't eat this.

I replace pizza sauce with a 5.5 oz. can tomato paste, a can of water, and 1 tbsp. Italian seasoning (which I make from scratch myself).

I substitute fat in baking with unsweetened crabapple sauce I make each fall from windfall crabapples, or those given to me by friends.

I also use pureed pumpkin (cooked up from cheap pumpkins bought on Halloween, and frozen) to replace fat in breads and other baking.

I cut sugar in half and often replace it with other sweeteners. Honey and maple syrup are more expensive, but a little goes a long way. You can also make your own pancake syrup instead of using real maple syrup. And buying honey in bulk can save a bundle. You can split it into smaller containers and store the extra in the freezer.

I just sometimes leave things out. We used to make fruit smoothies of different sorts every morning. The recipes all called for sugar of some sort, but we found we liked them better without the sugar. So we haven't added any since.

there's lots of things you can substitute, and still end up with a healthy, frugal meal.

Jean

**hippytreehugger4ever** · 05-17-2008, 01:07 AM

Originally Posted by many houseapes

Just curious if anyone here, due to the rising food prices, has started subsidizing grocery items that they normally would buy for something that is a cheaper alternative. I am seriously considering subsidizing hotdogs for sausage when a recipe calls for sausage -its cheaper & the only thing that I have found is that it's basically the same thing without all of those spices that I love.

Whoa, sausage is one thing I NEVER have to pay for! If you can buy farmland sausage where you live, wait until the coupons come out for $1 off the all natural and see if it goes on sale for $1. My grocery store gets it in their sale ad all the time at $1, and they don't sell the all natural variety. BUT the sale ad also says for ALL VARIETIES, so I take it to Wal-Mart and get it price matched for $1

**hippytreehugger4ever** · 05-17-2008, 01:11 AM

Originally Posted by AnnK

Your question confused me, I think you mean substituting.

Sure I substitute. When something calls for ground beef I use half the amount and then add lentils to it to make up for the rest.

I lot of more expensive ingredients I just leave out if its not key.

And lastly , I have been giving my kids Koo laid instead of juice. I make it with half the sugar. I try not to feel too bad because its just a temporary change and a still give them real juice once a day.

I do this too! I make lentil tacos, but DH won't eat them if it's straight lentils, so I usually do half ground turkey half lentil taco "meat". Anymore I've trained him to the point where he doesn't notice the difference in taste from just meat.

**hippytreehugger4ever** · 05-17-2008, 01:18 AM

Originally Posted by anna021

today at our local A&P supermarket 90% lean chop meat was 3.99 a pound, now I thought that was awfully high, I settled for 81% at 1.99 per pound, but I had to buy 3 pounds to get that price, other wise it was 2.49. I was so tempted to buy the ground turkey at 1.79 a lb. but it would be a waste, DH would never eat it.

I cook the big family packs at a time and get the extra fat off, then freeze the meat. Have you tried going half-turkey and half-ground meat? We also eat alot of buffalo meat here because it's cheaper than hamburger (about $1.39 a ib on sale!)

**qtkitty** · 05-17-2008, 01:40 AM

many houseapes~ You can buy the sausage spices or make your own mix to sprinkle into ground up pork or beef

http://www.3men.com/sausage.htm

I am not really substituting anything... we buy as much in bulk( from salvage store or mexican grocery) as possible mostly meats.. i often have my mom pick up spices and other items at an almish bulk food store at home because the prices are 1/5 what they are in the commercial stores.. i shop mostly at aldies for everything else.

When i seperate out my bulk meats.. i have the butcher at the mexican grocery cut the beef into 1/4 inch "steaks" which when we get home they get cut in half a big $30 peice of meat yeilds 15 steak meals and 3 roasts.. all extremely lean fresh meat. ( aka they had a pig head on the counter the other day where they had been cutting up a pig *lol*)

When i get ground beef in tubes $20 for 15 lb... i cut it into aprox 3/4lb sections to pack away instead of a lb.