Basics 101...Food...heading to the store

In this post I'll be talking about one of the basic priorities in life...Food. Everyone has to eat and with all the do's and don't's about what is good and what is bad...I for one stay confused. Instead of keeping up with every food fad that comes along, just try to eat as healthy as you can afford to.

We have all been taught the basic food groups since elementary school. Sitting down with the grocery list though and trying to follow tight budgets, well, some things just aren't as necessary as others. While raising my son in the early years I was dealing with a husband who would only eat certain things...and meat was a huge priority to him. Every meal had to have meat, but when living on an extremely tight food budget, how to do this?

One of the things I began buying was the frozen meat entrees. I could fix canned vegetables and fresh potatoes to serve with it. Yes, they are probably chock full of things people could do without...additional sodium, preservatives, etc. But, they were edible and filling and best of all....cheap. When frozen tv dinners would be on sale, they became an excellent 'back-up' meal for the freezer. It was the same with pot-pies. Now some might argue that these things could be made much cheaper and more nutritious if done from scratch. Maybe, but only if one has the time, and everything on hand. Not to mention, not everyone is comfortable in the kitchen.

In years past and currently, my shopping habits have taken a different turn. Always having to cook for what I fondly call 'a small army'....there were seven in my family when I learned to cook...I never quite got the hang of cooking for only two. Up until the past couple of years, I've had growing boys who could wipe out a week's worth of groceries as a snack....how to fill those 'black holes' could be challenging.

As a result of growing boys, I started cooking much like my Grandma and mom....in quantity. We tried to eat healthy, just like mom tried to do with five kids of her own who could clean a refrigerator out, but my main objective was to fill their growling bellies like mom had done with us. Stews, soups, gravies and biscuits were top favorites around our house. Mom cut corners with the cheap meals like hot dogs and chicken when we were growing up...those two items were very cheap then.

When I head to the store even now, I make a list. Starting at the refrigerator I go through and write down the items I need...same in the freezer. From there, I move to the cupboards and go through what is on hand, what needs replaced. Don't forget to go through and check for the personal items you need, shampoo, toilet paper, laundry supplies, dish soap, etc.

Once you have your list...go through and think about what types of meals you will be making. Around our house, I plan for our main meal...supper...and whatever leftovers are in the fridge are what will be made for lunch. I do keep canned soups and ramen noodles on hand for those 'quickie' weekend lunches or late suppers.

I tend to buy all meats in the largest packages I can afford...depending on price per pound. Most of the stores I shop offer discounts per pound for the larger packages. Check prices...sometimes the better deal is in buying two smaller packages....I've found this to be true especially when purchasing sliced cheese.

Now I'm sure you might be asking, why do I want to have 10 pounds of chicken for two people? If you break down the chicken into individual packages and then freeze it you will have several meals for a very minimal cost. I buy pork chops, steaks, roasts, chicken pieces, etc all in this manner. Once I get the food to the house, I begin breaking down the packages into individual servings and in the case of ground beef...into approximate 1 pound packages. The cheap, flip-top baggies are wonderful for breaking down servings. After each piece is in the flip-top bag, I slip it into a freezer bag until the gallon size freezer bag is full and then it goes to the freezer.

Recently, sis was complaining about her husband cooking the entire package of sausage links and then wasting the uneaten portions...she was amazed when I suggested that she break down the links into indiviual baggies and freeze them that way. She hadn't thought about that being an option. Anything can be broken down to individual servings before freezing. Buying in quantity when possible is almost always cheaper.

Another tip before you head out to the grocery...look at the sale papers from the stores. If your grocery stores are fairly close together go for the cheaper items in each store. If you are like me and only have one store that is close, look for the sales and see what on your list might be on sale...stock up when you have the extra cash and things are on sale.

For some items like toilet paper, freezer bags, even canned goods....check out the discount stores. I have found the prices at these type stores are usually well below the prices at the grocery. When I am out of certain things like these, I plan my shopping trip to correspond with other errands I need to do while I'm in town. It is extremely rare for me to make a special trip in to town just for one or two things.

One of the most important lessons I think I learned from my childhood about food....no matter what the price or how much is saved by purchasing a certain brand because of price....if you or the family don't like the taste of the product, you aren't saving money. I'm still that way over certain things like peanut butter and cheese. I prefer name brands on peanut butter and when it comes to processed American cheese...Velveeta is for me. Once when mom had our dad go to the store, he picked up this really 'good deal' on another brand of processed American cheese. Being the cheese eating munchkins we were, we immediately had to have a sandwich. Ewwww, is about as kind as I can be. That was some of the nastiest tasting stuff I ever put in my mouth. None of us would touch the stuff. When mom said something about it, dad was still defending his purchase as a really good deal....as mom said 'If it doesn't get eaten, it isn't a good deal, no matter how cheap it was'. That cheese sat in the fridge until he finally managed to eat it his self, mom went and bought the Velveeta which we all adored.