Jean's Blog

Stretch Your Food Dollars

Posted by Arielle

Hi, I’m Arielle McGowen, and I do some reporting and researching for Jean. In my downtime, though, one of my favorite things to do is cook.

This, I’m sure you know, can be an expensive hobby. I only have two mouths to feed – I live with my fiance in Brooklyn – but a good chunk of our budget goes to the grocery store and farmer’s market each week. Over the past few years, I’ve had to learn how to cut back so we could put a bit of money away for a rainy day (Jean’s influence) and, let’s be honest, so I could afford to support my other costly habits (namely, going out to eat…I’m noticing a pattern here).

Jean asked me to share some of my tips with you:

Use what you have. Before you head to the grocery store, take an inventory of what you have in stock and what can be used to form a meal – vegetables, leftover rice, pasta. That way, you can plan your meals around what you already have instead of buying more. Which leads me to my next money-saver…

Meal plan. Planning in advance – before you hit the aisles of the grocery store – saves you money because you know exactly what you need to buy to get you through the week – no more, no less. All it takes is ten minutes to sit down and write out the ingredients you need for that week’s meals. You end up wasting less food – and money – this way.

Go frozen. Fruits and vegetables are flash frozen at the peak of freshness, meaning you can buy them for less in the freezer aisle – particularly if they’re out of season. Once defrosted, they taste great and are considerably cheaper than buying fresh.

Limit your shopping trips to once a week. I don’t know about you, but every time I walk into a grocery store, I leave with something I didn’t plan on. A pack of peanut butter cups (my favorite) here, a magazine there – it all adds up, and suddenly you’ve spent an extra $10. If you make one big shop for the week, instead of three small shops after work, you only spend that $10 on impulse buys instead of $30.

Shop the bulk sections of health food stores for grains, nuts, dried fruit and even cereal. I love this, because you can buy as much or as little as you want, and prices tend to be much more reasonable because you’re not paying for brand names and flashy packaging.

Don’t pay for convenience. Sure, those 100 calorie packs are portion controlled, and it’s easier to throw a single size bag of chips into your kid’s lunch box. But packaging portions of things like chips, crackers, and cookies up yourself will save you a bundle. Just do it when you get home from the grocery store and you’re set for the week.

Make your own. You can buy a single serving can of soup for $2, or make a big pot that will last you a week for less than $10. And if you make too much, freeze it! Pulling that out on your next busy weeknight is much less expensive than buying a $5 frozen entrée. My favorite place to find recipes is www.myrecipes.com.

Know when organic is worth it, and when it’s not necessary. I’d love to buy everything organic, but I just can’t. So I stick to what’s called the dirty dozen: Peaches, apples, sweet bell peppers, celery, nectarines, strawberries, cherries, pears, grapes, spinach, lettuce and potatoes. These items tend to be the most contaminated, so it’s worth splurging here. I also always buy organic milk, because the shelf life is much longer.

Hit the farmer’s market. This time of year, farmer’s markets are opening in most cities and a lot of towns (they’re getting more and more popular all the time, so if you don’t have one in your area yet, I bet you will soon). It is considerably less expensive to purchase your in-season fruits and vegetables this way, because you’re buying directly from the supplier – no middle man. These items also don’t have to travel as far to get to your table, which means it’s better for the environment and you’re not paying for the gas to get them to your grocery store.

Go vegetarian. Admittedly, I’m a bit biased – I’ve been a vegetarian for a long time. But I’m not asking you to give up meat for every meal. Just once or twice a week will give your wallet a boost. In general, meat is considerably more expensive than other sources of protein – a pound of chicken breast might be $6.99 a pound, while a pound of dried beans is under $2. If we’re talking about steak, the difference is even more significant.