Set a per-pound price limit for food purchases
Yeager used to swear by a $1 per-pound limit, but rising food prices — he lives in high-cost-of-living metropolitan Washington, D.C. — have driven his bottom line up to $1.19. Consider the cost of living in your community and your own frugal tolerance before picking a number, but pick one. You’ll find it’s a good strategy for paring down your weekly grocery bills.
To make it work, you need to be a creative cook and base your household’s menu on sales and store specials. For instance, this week you might be able to get mangos for $1 per pound, but next week, when they’re twice the price, you will have to choose another fruit that is on sale or in season.
“You’ll find it tends to steer you toward a healthier diet,” Yeager said.
I think many people use this strategy who are living a frugal lifestyle. We've been doing this for years now, and it really does work well. You acclimate to the food choices at this price point and get creative. I agree that it can be healthier because you are cooking from scratch, and learning to cut back on fats and sugars. We use a lot of spices instead of salt, oils, and sugars. Our discount shopping stores offer a limited selection of Mrs. Dash, which has a much tastier formula than in earlier years. We get the Grilling Chicken Mix and use it in regular stove top and oven meals.
See more tips from Mr. Cheapskate here.
About Me
- Alexandra
- A homeschooling mother of one teenager and a little. In 2001, I resigned from my 13 year position as a case manager to homeschool my oldest who was a preschooler at the time, and later a daughter who came along in 2005. This is by far the hardest job I've ever loved. My husband of nearly 20 years supports us as a fire fighter and EMT.
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3 comments:
This is an interesting idea. I have not heard of it before, but it might be something I'll have to try.
We had a list in the past of cheap meals, moderate meals and expensive meals. When we did the monthly menu we would try and have mostly the cheap meals/moderate meals. We also wanted to have some expensive ones because they tended to be meals that we really loved. Having them all planned out helped us to know that we were getting the meals we liked but keeping within our budget.
Yes, a good reminder to try to treat yourself every once in a while! Roasting a big turkey has been a nice change.
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