Bakersdozen:
Another question i wanted to ask was, when you go grocery shopping, what are the staples you buy weekly? Do you always but the same things, and if so do you always cook the same things with it? I'm just trying to compile a list of food items to keep my grocery bill down to be able to put more money on the debt! Answers and suggestions would be great!
Good question! It's so easy for money to "seep away" at the grocery store. I buy the store brand of absolutely everything -- that makes a huge difference.
There's not much I have to buy weekly because I buy in staples in bulk whever I can. But I pretty much do have to go every week to fill "holes" in the pantry, plus perishable items.
Weekly purchases: every week, I buy fresh fruit in season to send in my husband's lunches. Most, but not all, weeks, I have to buy some sort of pet food (dog, usually; they go through more than 20 pounds of dry a week; in fact, I have a call to the feed mill on my to-do list for the day to see if I can do better than Wal-Mart prices).
Every few weeks to monthly: I buy a bag of flour every 2-3 weeks. Eggs about every 2 weeks. TVP about every 2 weeks -- this is a new thing for us, and if we continue to like it as much as we seem to, I'll buy more at a time. I get a pound of dry granules for $9 and make the equivalent of 8-10 pounds of ground beef and sausage with it, and use 1/2 -3/4 lb equivalent per meal. I think I'm going to add back some ground meat to this, maybe 1 part meat to 3 parts TVP; my husband reports he gets less hungry and snacks less if he gets a little more meat and/or fat. As the summer ends, I'm buying some sort of fresh produce at least every couple of weeks -- last week it was cabbage. I buy five pounds of potatoes a month (mine made this year, but the vines died at the new potato stage, so I couldn't store them), and three pounds of onions every two weeks. I'm hoping to cut back the potatoes shortly; my sweet potatoes are about ready to harvest. I buy some sort of dry cereal every couple of weeks, usually a couple of boxes (store brand, remember). I make about half our bread (beer bread, so easy it feels like cheating), but I buy 2-3 loaves of sandwich bread every 3 weeks or so for toast; I store it in the freezer until needed, then thaw and keep in the fridge.
Roughly bimonthy: Rolled oats -- I buy a big container every couple of months. A 5-lb bag of cornmeal. A pound of pasta. A few cans of Italian diced tomatoes and chili tomatoes, as long as they stay cheap. (These are for convenience; I have lots of sundried tomatoes from the garden.) Several cans of chickpeas for home-made hummus (to pack in lunches). A six-pack of cheap beer for bread (the big cans make two loaves each).
Roughly quarterly: A 5-lb bag of quick grits. A 5-lb bag of sugar and a 12-oz jar of molasses (which I would buy in larger containers if I could find it).
Every ? months: I bought a 20-lb bag of dried pintos at the beginning of the summer and I've been using them heavily without making a noticable dent. I'm thinking that will last 9 months to a year (and I don't want to store it longer). You can cook dried beans in the microwave, by the way :) I also use dry milk, even for drinking, because it's so much cheaper. We'd already switched to fat free for health reasons, and you can't really tell the difference. You would be able to tell if you're drinking whole milk! I buy that about every four months (for about $8 for two lbs, which makes about 30 quarts).
As you can tell, I cook from scratch a lot, and I have a deep freeze. But I've discovered that scratch cooking is more intimidating than time consuming. Once you try something the first time, the second (and following) times are about ten times easier. Also, keep in mind I work from home, which gives me the luxury of starting something that takes a while and then getting back to work while it cooks. But I think you could do much the same thing even working full time by using a slow cooker or setting the timer on your oven to bake dishes to be ready when you get home. And not everything takes a long time to cook. I also make double batches and freeze the extra for a convenience meal later.
