Author Topic: Share your Grocery Hacks  (Read 21456 times)

asauer

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Re: Share your Grocery Hacks
« Reply #50 on: March 03, 2015, 06:08:55 AM »
I thought of another one.  Many folks have mentioned gardening but last year we looked at what produce were our highest cost drivers (expensive and/or used all the time) and we chose to grow those items: bell peppers (freakin expensive at the store!), winter squash, onions, tomatoes for canned products like diced tomatoes, herbs ($3 for a dried up bit of rosemary?!), flowers/ herbs to make tea, peanuts etc.

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Re: Share your Grocery Hacks
« Reply #51 on: March 05, 2015, 12:24:21 AM »
I know I'm late for the bountiful baskets reviews, but I'm still going to add my two cents. I would not recommend them unless you have a large family that eats whatever. My husband and I did the baskets several times and we did not get much variety in it. One basket was 90% peppers. For people who don't like peppers, that was a bummer.

Yea it saves you money, but only if you wanted 80 peppers in the first place.

cacaoheart

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Re: Share your Grocery Hacks
« Reply #52 on: March 05, 2015, 05:36:48 AM »

Green pepper, as many have suggested, is good, but likely not cheaper than your apples.

Years ago I noted that while bell peppers, depending on time of year, are $1-3 each, jalapenos are a similar price per pound, so I switched to using jalapenos and they simply taste sweet to my wife and I now. If we want something to be spicy we use ghost pepper/habanero.

One of our biggest food hacks has been my wife joining a local community garden she bikes to. For about $5 per month she has access to not only what she plants but surplus from what others plant. She now no longer feels a need for us to get our own yard :-)
« Last Edit: March 05, 2015, 05:41:30 AM by cacaoheart »

HenryDavid

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Re: Share your Grocery Hacks
« Reply #53 on: March 05, 2015, 06:57:16 AM »
Oats! Buy  em in bulk at costco, eat oatmeal, make your own granola in the oven, make fruit crumble. You can build a lot of stuff around oats.
Also, look at the cookbook Diet for a Small Planet. Good ideas on combining veggies so you need less meat protein. The idea of using meat "as a garnish" if at all has saved me lots of $ and been delicious for 30 years.

One high-quality free range chicken fed 6 of us for Sunday dinner (delicious--stuffed with lemons a la Jamie Oliver); then two of us for another dinner with yams; then made chunky chicken soup with veggies and rice, enough for about 6 more meals. Thank you ms. chicken.

Yogurt freezes fine, so you can stock up. Some kinds will need to be remixed as they separate when thawing. If you're making smoothies, who cares.
Dried fruit can be expensive, but watch Costco and ethnic stores for deals. In a bag with raw almonds, dried apricots or dates make day-long anti-snacking mix . . . all I take for lunch now. Sort of hiker mix with zero actual prep.
Speaking of hiking my hardcore friends make their own beef jerky in the oven and it shmecks.

HenryDavid

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Re: Share your Grocery Hacks
« Reply #54 on: March 05, 2015, 06:58:17 AM »
Oh yeah--when you make your home made pizza, try chunks of roasted squash on there.
Mmm.

boarder42

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Re: Share your Grocery Hacks
« Reply #55 on: March 05, 2015, 07:48:21 AM »
i dont know how you guys find making homemade pizza cheaper than buying frozen pizza.  our favorite frozen pizza is palermos' thin crust sicilian.  and they frequently run on sale for 2.99each.  someone want to break out their pizza cost b/c i dont think you can get pizza that cheap homemade

Bracken_Joy

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Re: Share your Grocery Hacks
« Reply #56 on: March 05, 2015, 08:13:06 AM »
One high-quality free range chicken fed 6 of us for Sunday dinner (delicious--stuffed with lemons a la Jamie Oliver); then two of us for another dinner with yams; then made chunky chicken soup with veggies and rice, enough for about 6 more meals. Thank you ms. chicken.


How'd you manage this? A whole chicken will generally feed fiance and me (2 people) for 2 meals on the meat (one with rice and green beans, 1 as topping for a salad) then 1 with the broth as a base for soup. I can't imagine making that stretch for 6 people. Do you just not eat much? Sometimes a whole chicken's meat only feeds the two of us one meal. =\ I know we're really active people, but it seems like a big disparity.

CheapskateWife

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Re: Share your Grocery Hacks
« Reply #57 on: March 05, 2015, 08:35:17 AM »
I know I'm late for the bountiful baskets reviews, but I'm still going to add my two cents. I would not recommend them unless you have a large family that eats whatever. My husband and I did the baskets several times and we did not get much variety in it. One basket was 90% peppers. For people who don't like peppers, that was a bummer.

Yea it saves you money, but only if you wanted 80 peppers in the first place.

I had a "Fiesta" pack add-on that was all peppers one time...and yes, we had to get creative.  I just made lots of salsa that week :)  Sorry to hear it didn't work out for you!


10dollarsatatime

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Re: Share your Grocery Hacks
« Reply #58 on: March 05, 2015, 08:56:26 AM »
I know I'm late for the bountiful baskets reviews, but I'm still going to add my two cents. I would not recommend them unless you have a large family that eats whatever. My husband and I did the baskets several times and we did not get much variety in it. One basket was 90% peppers. For people who don't like peppers, that was a bummer.

Yea it saves you money, but only if you wanted 80 peppers in the first place.

I had a "Fiesta" pack add-on that was all peppers one time...and yes, we had to get creative.  I just made lots of salsa that week :)  Sorry to hear it didn't work out for you!

I did Bountiful Baskets weekly for a couple of years before I started my garden.  I loved it.  Yes, you got a huge amount of some things (I once got 5 heads of celery), but I was pretty good about still eating or preserving everything before my next basket.  And I'm just one person... who pretty much only ate what came in the baskets. 

Lots of peppers?  Roast them, dice them, and freeze them.  Celery?  Dice and freeze or dehydrate.  I can just toss it into soup.  And the extras were great.  My favorite was, I think, the case of Cherries.  I loved the variety, and I rarely had an issue with the food going off before I used it, which does come down to proper storage procedures.  The only thing I rarely got through was the lettuce.  I'm not a leafy salad fan. 

I think I'll start baskets again for the couple of stretch months before my garden starts producing this year...

Also, they expect you to volunteer every 4-6 times you get a basket.  I really enjoyed volunteering, and in exchange, you get to choose one extra item for your basket, which meant I could end up with extra strawberries or asparagus or whatever sounded the best that week.

merula

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Re: Share your Grocery Hacks
« Reply #59 on: March 05, 2015, 08:59:37 AM »
i dont know how you guys find making homemade pizza cheaper than buying frozen pizza.  our favorite frozen pizza is palermos' thin crust sicilian.  and they frequently run on sale for 2.99each.  someone want to break out their pizza cost b/c i dont think you can get pizza that cheap homemade

Pizza dough:
1 c warm water (110F) - free
2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast - $0.11 (we buy yeast in 1lb vacuum-sealed packages and store in the freezer)
1 tsp olive oil  - $0.05 (3L can is $15 at the middle eastern grocery store)
1 tsp salt - $0.02 (2lb box of kosher salt is $4)
2.5-3 c flour - $0.27 ($1.72 for a 5lb bag of flour)
Total: makes enough for four 8-10 inch personal pizzas, so let's say $0.23 for a comparison to your single pizza. (2 of mine = one of yours)

Pizza sauce:
1 onion - $0.25
14 oz canned tomatoes - $0.50 (we typically buy the larger cans when they go on sale for $1)
2-3 cloves garlic - $0.10
1-2 Tbsp olive oil - $0.25
Spices - negligible
Makes enough for several (10?) personal pizzas, so say $0.22 for comparison to your one pizza.

2 oz cheese - $.60 (This is mozzarella form the local all-natural dairy, $5/lb. You can get cheese much cheaper than this, but we're not willing to.)

Toppings - Typically using up odds and ends from the fridge, but say on average $0.50. I like plain cheese pizza.

Grand total: $1.60 for pizza of a far superior quality to frozen. If you wanted to get really fancy with toppings, I suppose you could spend $1.40 on that and call it even.

Homemade pizza method tip: Turn on your broiler and put a cast iron pan on your stove on medium heat. Let both heat up for 5-10 minutes while you assemble your pizza stuff. Add a littel oil to the pan, if you like. Roll out the dough and put it in the hot pan, then top while the crust cooks. Once you've got it topped, put it under the broiler for 3-4 minutes or until it's as done as you want. Perfect crust, top and bottom, and no spilling pizza all over your oven.

plainjane

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Re: Share your Grocery Hacks
« Reply #60 on: March 05, 2015, 09:11:17 AM »
One high-quality free range chicken fed 6 of us for Sunday dinner (delicious--stuffed with lemons a la Jamie Oliver); then two of us for another dinner with yams; then made chunky chicken soup with veggies and rice, enough for about 6 more meals. Thank you ms. chicken.
How'd you manage this? A whole chicken will generally feed fiance and me (2 people) for 2 meals on the meat (one with rice and green beans, 1 as topping for a salad) then 1 with the broth as a base for soup. I can't imagine making that stretch for 6 people. Do you just not eat much? Sometimes a whole chicken's meat only feeds the two of us one meal. =\ I know we're really active people, but it seems like a big disparity.

I'm not the OP, but it might be the size of the chickens you are dealing with, also expectation of amount of meat the first night.  In general, a chicken can give you an easy 4 servings from the breast (you could stretch this to 6 if you sliced more thinly), 4 from the legs, plus wings and carcass.  So the breasts + 2 drumsticks feed six people on night one, on night 2 you shred a thigh and use the wings for two people, on night 3 you use the carcass (+bones from wings & drumsticks depending on how much that icks you) to make the stock, and then add the last shredded thigh at the end for texture for as many people as you need to stretch it for.

boarder42

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Re: Share your Grocery Hacks
« Reply #61 on: March 05, 2015, 09:36:22 AM »
i dont know how you guys find making homemade pizza cheaper than buying frozen pizza.  our favorite frozen pizza is palermos' thin crust sicilian.  and they frequently run on sale for 2.99each.  someone want to break out their pizza cost b/c i dont think you can get pizza that cheap homemade

Pizza dough:
1 c warm water (110F) - free
2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast - $0.11 (we buy yeast in 1lb vacuum-sealed packages and store in the freezer)
1 tsp olive oil  - $0.05 (3L can is $15 at the middle eastern grocery store)
1 tsp salt - $0.02 (2lb box of kosher salt is $4)
2.5-3 c flour - $0.27 ($1.72 for a 5lb bag of flour)
Total: makes enough for four 8-10 inch personal pizzas, so let's say $0.23 for a comparison to your single pizza. (2 of mine = one of yours)

Pizza sauce:
1 onion - $0.25
14 oz canned tomatoes - $0.50 (we typically buy the larger cans when they go on sale for $1)
2-3 cloves garlic - $0.10
1-2 Tbsp olive oil - $0.25
Spices - negligible
Makes enough for several (10?) personal pizzas, so say $0.22 for comparison to your one pizza.

2 oz cheese - $.60 (This is mozzarella form the local all-natural dairy, $5/lb. You can get cheese much cheaper than this, but we're not willing to.)

Toppings - Typically using up odds and ends from the fridge, but say on average $0.50. I like plain cheese pizza.

Grand total: $1.60 for pizza of a far superior quality to frozen. If you wanted to get really fancy with toppings, I suppose you could spend $1.40 on that and call it even.

Homemade pizza method tip: Turn on your broiler and put a cast iron pan on your stove on medium heat. Let both heat up for 5-10 minutes while you assemble your pizza stuff. Add a littel oil to the pan, if you like. Roll out the dough and put it in the hot pan, then top while the crust cooks. Once you've got it topped, put it under the broiler for 3-4 minutes or until it's as done as you want. Perfect crust, top and bottom, and no spilling pizza all over your oven.

The quality if cooked properly of the pizza's i buy is very good.  And you left out toppings so you basically made a cheese pizza.  so for me to recreate the pizza we like i have to buy pepperoni.  and genoa salami and sausage. and then i have to make like 4 pizzas at once b/c we eat pizza one day a week i just dont see where the value is .  just not for me. 

merula

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Re: Share your Grocery Hacks
« Reply #62 on: March 05, 2015, 10:10:49 AM »
i dont know how you guys find making homemade pizza cheaper than buying frozen pizza.  our favorite frozen pizza is palermos' thin crust sicilian.  and they frequently run on sale for 2.99each.  someone want to break out their pizza cost b/c i dont think you can get pizza that cheap homemade

Pizza dough:
1 c warm water (110F) - free
2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast - $0.11 (we buy yeast in 1lb vacuum-sealed packages and store in the freezer)
1 tsp olive oil  - $0.05 (3L can is $15 at the middle eastern grocery store)
1 tsp salt - $0.02 (2lb box of kosher salt is $4)
2.5-3 c flour - $0.27 ($1.72 for a 5lb bag of flour)
Total: makes enough for four 8-10 inch personal pizzas, so let's say $0.23 for a comparison to your single pizza. (2 of mine = one of yours)

Pizza sauce:
1 onion - $0.25
14 oz canned tomatoes - $0.50 (we typically buy the larger cans when they go on sale for $1)
2-3 cloves garlic - $0.10
1-2 Tbsp olive oil - $0.25
Spices - negligible
Makes enough for several (10?) personal pizzas, so say $0.22 for comparison to your one pizza.

2 oz cheese - $.60 (This is mozzarella form the local all-natural dairy, $5/lb. You can get cheese much cheaper than this, but we're not willing to.)

Toppings - Typically using up odds and ends from the fridge, but say on average $0.50. I like plain cheese pizza.

Grand total: $1.60 for pizza of a far superior quality to frozen. If you wanted to get really fancy with toppings, I suppose you could spend $1.40 on that and call it even.

Homemade pizza method tip: Turn on your broiler and put a cast iron pan on your stove on medium heat. Let both heat up for 5-10 minutes while you assemble your pizza stuff. Add a littel oil to the pan, if you like. Roll out the dough and put it in the hot pan, then top while the crust cooks. Once you've got it topped, put it under the broiler for 3-4 minutes or until it's as done as you want. Perfect crust, top and bottom, and no spilling pizza all over your oven.

The quality if cooked properly of the pizza's i buy is very good.  And you left out toppings so you basically made a cheese pizza.  so for me to recreate the pizza we like i have to buy pepperoni.  and genoa salami and sausage. and then i have to make like 4 pizzas at once b/c we eat pizza one day a week i just dont see where the value is .  just not for me.

I did not leave out topping cost, even though I do like cheese pizza. We will typically use pizza as a "clean out the fridge" meal, so the toppings don't cost us anything, but, again, I did include it as an "apples to apples" comparison.

If memory serves, Trader Joe's has 8oz packages of mixed fancy deli meat (pepperoni/prosciutto/salami or chorizo/jamon serrano/salchicon) for $6 each. So that's like $1.50 per pizza, bringing the total cost of my pizza to $2.60. You can get the meat cheaper, I'm sure, but since I don't usually buy it I went with what I knew.

I'm not saying you need to take my pizza advice, but this is a "Share your Grocery Hacks" thread, not a "Justify your extravagance" thread.

skunkfunk

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Re: Share your Grocery Hacks
« Reply #63 on: March 05, 2015, 12:24:05 PM »

Green pepper, as many have suggested, is good, but likely not cheaper than your apples.

Years ago I noted that while bell peppers, depending on time of year, are $1-3 each, jalapenos are a similar price per pound, so I switched to using jalapenos and they simply taste sweet to my wife and I now. If we want something to be spicy we use ghost pepper/habanero.


My butthole clenched up a bit when I read that.

lakemom

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Re: Share your Grocery Hacks
« Reply #64 on: March 06, 2015, 07:30:47 AM »
I mainly agree, but counting tomatoes as a fruit, I would say some fruit can give some novel antioxidants especially. Most of your reds and yellows (carotenoids/lutein) are going to be tomatoes, melons, etc, and your blacks and purples (anthocyanidins) are primarily from berries. But as far as foundational nutrients, absolutely you'll get more and better from veggies. I think a major disservice was done when the "fruits and veggies" vernacular came around- as though the two categories are equal. Way too much fruit (at the expense of veggies or other nutrient dense foods) seems to be a really common one for otherwise healthy eaters.

They're lumped together because many 'vegetables' are actually the 'fruit' of a plant.  If it flowers and then grows the edible part which then holds the seeds for a new plant it is a "fruit" (green peppers, green beans, squash, etc.) if you eat the leaf, root, or stem then its a "vegetable".  Unfortunately in western society we have learned to equate "fruit" with the sweet fruits (apples, berries, citrus) rather than the "veggie fruits."

Gerard

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Re: Share your Grocery Hacks
« Reply #65 on: March 06, 2015, 01:05:39 PM »
Homemade pizza method tip: Turn on your broiler and put a cast iron pan on your stove on medium heat. Let both heat up for 5-10 minutes while you assemble your pizza stuff. Add a littel oil to the pan, if you like. Roll out the dough and put it in the hot pan, then top while the crust cooks. Once you've got it topped, put it under the broiler for 3-4 minutes or until it's as done as you want. Perfect crust, top and bottom, and no spilling pizza all over your oven.

I heartily endorse this tip! You can also try popping the rolled-out crust onto a piece of parchment, topping the pizza, and then lifting it by the corners of the paper into the hot pan. Either way, you're getting very hot heat onto both sides of the pizza very quickly.

Dividend Youngster

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Re: Share your Grocery Hacks
« Reply #66 on: March 06, 2015, 04:29:36 PM »
Ive got a big chest box freezer and I buy my meat in bulk, just got 85 lbs of boneless ribeye for $3 /lb. ive gotten it as low as $1.5 / lb before. Definitely have to have a vacuum sealer to keep it fresh though.

Bracken_Joy

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Re: Share your Grocery Hacks
« Reply #67 on: March 07, 2015, 09:33:14 AM »
I mainly agree, but counting tomatoes as a fruit, I would say some fruit can give some novel antioxidants especially. Most of your reds and yellows (carotenoids/lutein) are going to be tomatoes, melons, etc, and your blacks and purples (anthocyanidins) are primarily from berries. But as far as foundational nutrients, absolutely you'll get more and better from veggies. I think a major disservice was done when the "fruits and veggies" vernacular came around- as though the two categories are equal. Way too much fruit (at the expense of veggies or other nutrient dense foods) seems to be a really common one for otherwise healthy eaters.

They're lumped together because many 'vegetables' are actually the 'fruit' of a plant.  If it flowers and then grows the edible part which then holds the seeds for a new plant it is a "fruit" (green peppers, green beans, squash, etc.) if you eat the leaf, root, or stem then its a "vegetable".  Unfortunately in western society we have learned to equate "fruit" with the sweet fruits (apples, berries, citrus) rather than the "veggie fruits."

To be fair, botanical, culinary, and legal (import law) definitions all vary on what constitutes a fruit.

clarkfan1979

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Re: Share your Grocery Hacks
« Reply #68 on: March 08, 2015, 06:59:14 PM »
The avocados at my Costco are 5.89 for a 6 pack. My best estimate is that they are at least twice as big as the avocados at walmart which typically sell for 69-89 cents depending on the time of year. Costco tends to be about the same all year.

My wife and I have been eating squash once a week as a meat replacement. Cut any squash in half. Put in the oven for about 45-60 minutes. You can add whatever you want to the squash that you want. We occasionally make an alfredo sauce to our spaghetti squash. It's probably not that healthy, but better than noodles and it's cheaper.

We have been doing a noodle-less lasagna with zucchini that replaces the noodles. We  have a special slicer that cuts in real thin. The zucchini cost $1 and is enough for a tray of lasagna. Healthy, cheap and big enough for leftovers.