Search Results for: blog five ways to save money on food

Five Steps that Will Help You Go on A Spending Break

If you have an unexpected bill, want to take care of a new purchase with cash, build up an emergency fund or just get closer to paying off your overall debt, you might want to consider going on a spending break. How much extra money you accumulate will depend on what you normally spend in any given time period plus how long you decide to stay on your spending break. Saving $500 this month is not unthinkable for most families. Before you get started with a spending break, you’ll need to have a plan to ensure the best success and … Continue reading →

5 Frugal Practices That May Be Costing You Money

Sometimes even the best intentions to save money fail. Are you losing money while trying to be frugal? Here are five frugal practices that may be costing you money. • Stockpiling Do you still have cans of vegetables from 2001? Have the breadcrumbs gone stale? Stockpiling is a great way to save money and to be prepared for rising prices, but when you have half a pantry full of expired food then stockpiling is costing you money. To solve this problem, don’t give up on the stockpiling, just get a little more organized. Rotate your pantry items and keep track … Continue reading →

Are You Shopping at the Right Grocery Store? Four Steps to Save 20 Percent or More

Choosing the right grocery store can save you 20 percent or more on groceries before using coupons. If you were buying a big ticket item, such as a television or a new washer and dryer, you would do some research and shop around, right? Since food tends to be the biggest general family expense after housing, it just makes sense to do your research before you step foot in your grocery store. Just spending $225 a week on your groceries, adds up to almost $12,000 a year!Imagine shaving close to $2,400 off of that total food bill, doing nothing other … Continue reading →

5 Things to Make From Scratch to Save Money

Homemade is usually best, especially when it comes to saving money. Here are five things you can make from scratch to save money. They include homemade cleaners, food prepared from scratch, baby items and more. Pizza Pizza dough is quick and easy when you make it in a bread machine. Even with loads of toppings, two large (restaurant large, not supermarket large) thin-crust pizzas will cost you around $4. For a little more money, you can buy prepared dough, but of course making your pizza completely from scratch means a lower cost as well as a lack of preservatives and … Continue reading →

Five Days to an Organized Pantry: Day 2

Have you ever reached for the pasta sauce only to have a jar of peanut butter drop on your head? How about getting dinner started and finding that you are missing a key ingredient? Having a well-organized pantry can eliminate both of those issues. Yesterday, we talked about the important step of getting to know what you use and how to create a pantry that is valuable to your home. Today, we will build on that foundation to make sure that your pantry is stocked properly. If you are just joining us, don’t worry You can start this plan any … Continue reading →

Last Minute Superbowl Food for Less Than $10!

It was such a busy weekend. I didn’t even have time to put anything into the crockpot or even defrost some chicken. As a result, dinner time was fast approaching and there was nothing on the table. What makes it worse is that it is Superbowl Sunday! Ack! Here are some of my favorite ways to use prepared food for last minute cooking and still save money. Rotisserie Chicken Around here, an already cooked rotisserie chicken will run you about $7.99. Ouch, right? Still, it beats take out at $25-$40 (the prices in my area to feed our family of … Continue reading →

Saving Money on New Year’s Parties

Even if you are planning a potluck for your New Year’s Eve bash, hosting a get-together of family and friends is going to cost you. Fortunately, there are ways you can serve up a memorable shindig without breaking the bank. The key is to employ some basic tips on cooking for a crowd that won’t sacrifice flavor for frugality. For starters, you’ll want to invest in affordable appetizers. If you can get guests to fill up on snack food, they will be less likely to devour five helpings of the main course. Some affordable snacks include: chips and salsa, cheese … Continue reading →

Ways to Keep Money in Your Pocket

Right now my email inbox is full of coupons for free food at various national chain restaurants. The offers for free appetizers and desserts are extremely enticing, but I need to purchase an adult entree to get the gratis grub. Whereas I would love to chow down on my favorite spinach/artichoke dip or cap-off a meal with free bread pudding, I wouldn’t even consider eating out, if it weren’t for the coupons. What’s the sense of saving five bucks on chips and dip or chocolate cake when I have to shell out $10 to do so? With the holidays fast … Continue reading →

10 Ways to Save on Your Next Trip to Hawaii

Last year, my then six-old daughter celebrated her 12th visit to Hawaii. However, to her, the Aloha State is more than just a top tourist destination, it’s also home to grandma, grandpa, and a huge network of aunts, uncles and cousins. I kid that she would have been marking trip number 20 if it weren’t so dang expensive to fly from Wisconsin to Hilo. Fortunately, once we land in the “Land of Aloha” we score free room and board. Bottom line: traveling to Hawaii is not cheap. However, there are ways you can save on your next vacation there provided … Continue reading →

Buying Bulk Organic Food

You can save money on organic food when you buy it in bulk. Sometimes, you can even save over the cost of a non organic product. Here is how we did it. If you do a lot of cooking at home, and hopefully you do since it can save money and be better for your health, you can really benefit from buying certain organic items in bulk. We make a trip about every five or six months (depending on how our schedule works out) to the bulk natural food store to stock up on some items that we need. The … Continue reading →