The Homestead Mindset Anywhere: by Donna Miller : shopping tips

Making gifts and decorations for the Holidays

Millers Grain House — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 19:50:00 GMT

This year, we are doing as we have often done as we have trimmed our budget to the bone; we are making most of the gifts and decorations. This is not a new thing for our family. It actually began years before the kids were born, but has become a tradition...(read more)

Keys to bulk buying, storage and learning to stretch grocery dollars.

Millers Grain House — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 19:24:00 GMT

If, like us, you are preparing your long term pantry for whatever reason (weather, gas savings, economic future) you may be a tried and true veteran of this longstanding homestead traditon or you may be new at it and ready to take the plunge. Either way, it doesn't matter if you live in the country or the city, buying in bulk can be a money (and time) saver if you do it right. There truly are some key points to keep in mind when learning to buy in bulk.

First, just exactly what IS bulk buying? Well, it's not just buying a lot (as in multiple items all at once). It IS buying larger than typical amounts of the same item. One can of organic green beans is always going to cost more per can than if we can find them in the case. Then, each can is substantially lower in price, because we have 12 or 24 of them.

Secondly, buying in bulk often, but not always, is less expensive in the long run. Time saved, gas saved and quantity discounts (as above mentioned) add up to being dollar stretches.

Third, bulk buying doesn't have to be done in the big warehouse stores. When a local market had tomato sauce on sale of $.30 a large can, I got about 8 of them. There are still 7 of them in my pantry and that sale was 3 months ago. The price has risen again, but there I have 28oz of tomato sauce for thirty cents sitting ready for us to use. Most of the time I can tomatoes, but the sauce takes too long for me and heats up our kitchen in the summer. This bulk buy was/is a big time/money saver for us.

Fourth, remember not to buy it - even if it seems like a great deal - if no one in the family will use it, or eat it before it goes bad! Fresh veggies are aften a good buy in wholesale clubs, but if you have 4 heads of romaine lettuce to throw out, then you have still wasted your hard earned money.

Fifth, learn how to store bulk items. Dry items need to be kept in a moisture proof container. Even large bags of rice and oats are easily stored for months on end in the right container...see here.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEblkB1mvFk

.... For meats, repackage into meal sized amounts and freeze. For cheeses, if you don't mind crumbled cheese, just freeze. If you do mind it, slice and freeze or shred and freeze.

Lastly, bulk buying can also work for items that are more household related than just food. Find out how long that $9 giant pail of laundry soap lasts by writing the date you started using it on the top in a magic marker. At the end when it's empty, you can see if it was a savings or not. I'll bet it was.

Buying bulk can be a bit of a learning curve, but by keeping a few things in mind we can see how bulk buying stretches our dollars each month!

Best Blessings and enJOY the journey!

Donna Miller

http://www.millersgrainhouse.com/store

Fun New Game: "Let's see how long before I have to get groceries again!"

Millers Grain House — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 21:23:00 GMT

Part of the homesteading mentality is making deprivation creatively FUN ~

So after I got groceries this past week - I thought it would be fun to see how long before I have to get ANY again...so the game is ON!

Drinks always consist of mostly water between meals, and milk, OJ, coffee or tea with a meal.

So for the meals yesterday (the day after grocery shopping) here is how I fed my family of 5 adults - all three meals:

Breakfast - Multigrain Waffles (made with a little fresh milled flour and left over grits and oatmeal) w/ Agave Nectar and banana
Lunch - Left-over Homemade Friday Night Pizza and apple
Dinner - Pinto Beans and pan fried cubed potato browns, green beans.
Dessert - Lemon Amish Friendship Bread (pound cake) with berries.

Today's three meals for 5 adults consisted of:

Breakfast - Cheese omelette with Turkey Bacon and apple
Lunch - Homemade Hummus and pita chips, homemade cherry yogurt, carrots and snap peas.
Dinner - Butternut squash Mac and Cheese (ssshhhh...they don't know squash is in there), tomato soup and salad.
Dessert - Lemon Amish Friendship Bread (pound cake) with berries (yep again, I baked 3 loaves!).

Thursday night our family goes out to dinner so...we'll just see tomorrow or Friday what the next two days' meals look like...

The point I guess I am getting at is not that I think I'm so 'good' at stretching my grocery dollars - it's more that making it a game or FUN helps me be more creative.

My goal is to buy nothing aside from MAYBE milk. eggs or fresh produce for the next 2 weeks - (and I'd like to avoid those too if possible) that is until October 3rd (our son turns 22 so we'll HAVE to buy some special foods then!) Stay tuned to see if I can pull it off! It's my own personal challenge to see if I can do it! To see if $105 will last two weeks for a family of five grownups!

Have fun playing YOUR game that helps you stretch those dollars!

Best Blessings!

Donna Miller

New Videos each week on stretching grocery dollars: Tried and True Tips and tricks http://www.youtube.com/user/thewheatguy