The average family of 8 spends between $1200-$1600 a month on food. We spend $620 ($550 for groceries, $40 for eating out and $30 for lunch allowance for my husband.) A difference of $580-$980 a month. That means over a year we are saving $6,960-$11,760. We have been living this way for more than 10 years for a cumulative savings of $69,600-$117,600. Around here, that’s enough to pay cash for a modest house.
The pantry method allows us to spend less. I buy food at the lowest prices possible and enough that I don’t have to buy that item again until it’s at the lowest price again. Then…listen up this is KEY…I meal plan based on what I already have on hand. I’m using that sale stuff up, not hoarding it. I’m only buying the stuff we eat, not crazy stuff or junk food just because it’s on sale. (Though sometimes we’ll grab a rare treat when the price drops.)
I do have a meal plan service complete with shopping list. The services is usable with the pantry method also because I base all the recipes off the healthy low cost foods in most American Pantries. The cool thing is if you buy ingredients for a recipe and end up not cooking it, you’ll use them next week in something else. Nothing is wasted.
Sometimes there are weeks when I don’t buy anything. Either because the sales weren’t worth it or we were just to busy to go out. That’s when I’m especially thankful for a well-stocked pantry to cook from.
I love to shop at Aldi, because I know their house brand prices will beat most sale prices at the regular store. Since I shop Aldi frequently I have a lot of their prices memorized. Then on the rare occasion the conventional store advertises a lower one I recognize it and can stock up.
I’ll also occasionally shop at salvage food stores like Dirty Don’s or Cargo Largo. Those are local non-chain stores, but I’ve found every urban area has something similar. Do a yellow page internet search for salvage grocery stores in your area. It’s really important to know prices when you go into these places. Some of them will be good deals but a lot of it will be retail or higher.
Tomorrow I’ll show you how I find the deals I’m going to take advantage of for the week.
A pantry is very comforting, knowing there is good food no matter what small crisis lies ahead.
My husband got his first elk this year. It has been absolutely wonderful to just go to the freezer every week to get meat. I haven’t bought beef since September and we have tacos, chili, spaghetti, stew, etc all the time now. It has been such a blessing.
Wonderful! Elk tastes even better than beef.
I’m going to try to do this – meal plan around our pantry for the last week (at least) and try not to shop that last week. I think that’ll help shave our grocery bill. Thanks for the encouragement! Visiting from This is How we Roll link up
I love having things stashed in my pantry. However, most of what we eat is fresh or frozen and that is hard to get at good prices around here. We don’t use many things that come in boxes and cans. We don’t have Aldi or Costco or super bargain places. Milk is crazy expensive. Produce seems higher than it should be. I try to find deals on our meat. Our grocery bill is the one place where expenses are variable and I keep trying to figure out how to lower it, but it seems really hopeless without giving up on our nutrition.
Samantha, Are you in a rural area? What part of the country? I’d like to get a feel for different areas. If you have a conventional grocery store that sends out weekly ads, my next post is going to be how to use them for the pantry method.
I’ve been really working on eating out of the freezer (much like the pantry 🙂 ). We get meat so cheap because I “shop” from the freezer and buy meat on sale and put it in the freezer!
Kristy, Yes! That’s how we eat meat cheap too.
wish we had Aldi in my area, I hear so many people rave about it. Thanks for sharing on the #HomeMattersParty . I hope you will join us again next week.