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Nicholas Day
yesterday at 4:55pm |
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Plan Meals, Shop with a List, and Check Specials
“To save money on groceries, it will take time,” says Dr. Patricia S. Barber, an associate professor of food and resource economics at the University of Delaware. “This is what most people don’t want to hear.” Even if you just plan two or three days’ worth of meals, create a shopping list to eliminate waste or unnecessary purchases. Most markets now put their weekly specials online: WeeklyCirculars.com, for instance, has an alphabetical database of markets that will take you directly to the specials pages. Check the circulars early in the week, and develop meals around sale items.
Filter Your Own Water
In many places the tap water tastes bad, so it makes sense that you’d want to buy it bottled. But a basic faucet-mount filter, like PuR’s, costs $37, filters 100 gallons of water, and removes contaminants and 95 percent of chlorine’s taste and odor. Single replacement filters cost $26, which brings the cost per gallon down to 26 cents; multipacks of filters increase the savings. This is about a fifth of the price of a gallon of Arrowhead or Crystal Geyser spring water at CHOW’s local supermarket. A faucet filter also does away with packaging waste from bottled water. Besides, many bottled waters are really tap water anyhow.
Buy Herbs and Spices at Your Local Ethnic Grocer
CHOW compared two typical supermarket spice brands (McCormick’s glass jars and Spice Islands’ glass jars) to the spices sold at a local ethnic grocery store in plastic bags. The savings were big: Ground black pepper was $1.19 per ounce at the ethnic market versus $2.71 per ounce for McCormick and $2.76 for Spice Islands; ground cinnamon was 79 cents per ounce versus $2.78 for one ounce of McCormick and $3.03 for one ounce of Spice Islands. Ground ginger was another big savings, running 79 cents for one ounce at the ethnic market versus $3.95 and $3.82 for the supermarket brands, respectively. The same ethnic grocer showed savings over the supermarket on produce, too: Cabbages were 39 cents per pound versus 99 cents; broccoli was 79 cents per pound versus $2; green onions were four bunches for $1.20 instead of 99 cents for one bunch; yams were 79 cents per pound versus $1.99; and yellow onions were 39 cents per pound versus $1.80. The only caveat to shopping at ethnic grocers for produce is that many things are shipped from overseas. You’ll want to check the stickers and signs if local food is important to you.
Use Online Coupons
Many larger organic brands and distributors offer coupons you can print directly from their websites. They’ll usually only let you print a coupon once, but you may be able to get a few rounds of savings by using multiple email addresses. Try Stonyfield Farm’s website for discounts on organic yogurt; Organic Valley for butter, milk, cheese, and soy milk; and Living Naturally for Barbara’s Bakery cereal.
Reduce Waste with Proper Storage
“When you throw food in the garbage, you may as well just throw away your money,” says Dr. Barber. To reduce waste, she recommends putting a little thought and effort into food storage. Place dry goods in airtight containers, freeze items correctly, and be mindful of things you’ve already purchased: Barber says that if she has bread sitting in the pantry for more than three days, she’ll freeze it, then defrost it as she needs it, so it doesn’t mold. For produce, we’ve had good luck with Evert-Fresh Green Bags, which add a few days to the life span of leafy produce, and Chowhounds swear by glass jars for storing berries as well as cut produce and grapes. It’s also important to learn which foods to store where in your kitchen and refrigerator. This article from Prevention Magazine maps it out.
Buy Organics from Bulk Bins
If you buy food from bulk bins, organic items can end up costing less than packaged nonorganic versions. For example, at Safeway, a canister of Sun-Maid seedless raisins with a net weight of 24 ounces is $4.99 (equal to $3.33 per pound). At Whole Foods, the bulk-bin price on organic raisins is lower, at $2.99 per pound. A canister of Quaker Old Fashioned rolled oats with a net weight of 42 ounces is $5.15 at Safeway, equal to $1.96 per pound; an independent neighborhood health food store in San Francisco was recently selling organic rolled oats for $1.19 per pound.
If one is a flexible cook, I'd say it's better not to plan meals before shopping or make shopping lists, but go to the market and construct meals around what's fresh, in season, and affordable. A supermarket circular can point you toward sales, but you don't know if a perishable item is something you actually would want to buy unless you can see it, touch it, smell it, so you can't plan from a circular. If you cook all the time, you figure out how to use everything.
i agree; in addition, you can always check the day old shelf for "tonight's meal". many of the coupons are for processed foods and new products that i find do not taste good. you can also do better by buying smaller portions of meats and vegetables, ask the meat person to give you one steak instead of the family pack, or buy a porterhouse steak, eat the fillet the first night and the sirloin after wrapping well a day or two later; leave the meat on the bone it will last a while longer. veggies are where you need to be very careful, i stop on the way home and buy only enough for one to two days at a time and only buy where you can buy open stock and choose the perfect tomato or ear of corn or slice of watermelon.
there is a hidden cost to all foods: preparation and cooking, i never use the oven in the summer time and preparation of everything before cooking and you will find that a simple saute of asparagus, remov from the pan, add a little more olive oil, not extra vergin but a blend, cook your meat and while this is working assemble your salad and you can be finished during a commercial break on most network stations.
This is great, especially the tip about buying produce & spices at ethnic markets. I'd also add that you can save a lot by choosing the cheaper cuts of meat, i.e. chicken thighs, pork shoulder, pork ribs, brisket, sausages, ground beef. You can often find pork shoulder, for instance, for just over $1/lb, and if you're like me you'll end up liking these cuts just as well as, if not more than, many of the finer cuts.
Thanks for the feedback, and for sharing your own tips! Balabanian, you reminded us that we ran a story on underappreciated cuts of meat a while back. Here's a link: http://www.chow.com/stories/11028.
Here's that link again, the period seems to be messing it up: http://www.chow.com/stories/11028
My way of cutting corners and still eating well is to grow my own vegetables and herbs. That way I get fresh produce with a very small carbon foot print. Also, when I eat chicken I buy the whole bird and make stock from the carcass for that soup later on in the week. And make my own yogurt and granola which is a lot cheaper and more tasty, too. I buy olive oil in bulk.
Along with the "Check the Specials" tip, I have two words: DOUBLE COUPONS! If you're lucky enough to live in an area where a market does double the value of a coupon (Vons and Ralph's does it here in Los Angeles), then you can save quite a bundle. Moreover, if the product you're buying is already on sale -- you've struck gold! Can't tell you how many times my mom got boxes of cereal, cheese, or other items for free (i.e., on sale: 2/$4.00, $1.00 coupon that is doubled = free if you buy one. A bonus parenthetical tip: You don't have to buy 2 to get the benefit of the deal.). I think the most my mom ever saved was about $50 on one trip -- pretty substantial when every cent counts.
David Goldfarb: Thank you a million times over for the 'not making menus an buying what's fresh and on sale' at the market! This is a major argument that I had w/my former spouse for the 20 years of my marriage -husband/marriage gone over 35 years! I never know what I want to eat it in a given week ahead of time. Easier and much more cost effective to see what's on sale in the market on a given week. While living in CA I learned the benefits of shopping in local ethnic markets..some foods are much fresher, great varieties of produce, fish, etc. and much lower prices. I find middle Eastern and Asian markets among my very favorites. Thank you so much for bringing this to peoples attention!
Ground beef is quite expensive nowadays. Ground pork or ground turkey are cheaper alternatives and, in the case of ground turkey, much leaner and healthier! And I find that a crockpot is a great investment, since it allows you to slow cook cheaper, tougher cuts of meat that turn out delicious. And another cheap thing? Cabbage. I love cabbage, it's always under a dollar a head when I find it at the store, and you can prepare it so many ways.
David and srgbrooks, I think that the good folks at Chow are targeting people like me who go to the store and impulse shop when I'm not shopping from a list. If you can keep yourself from grabbing things you don't need or if you know exactly what's in your pantry (so that you're not thinking of maybe making a recipe and grabbing another bottle of Olive Oil when you have two at home already), more power to you both. I, however, need the structure of a list so that I'm not constantly purchasing bad things like cookies or things I already have like another container of rice or another dozen eggs.
I may go out with some recipe ideas, but I'm always willing to change on the spur of the moment. A lot of it is growing confidence in my cooking skills -- as I learn I find myself more willing to experiment.
We buy very little from grocery stores. We hit Costco for meat and some staples, then buy nearly all produce, eggs, and some meats from the farmer's market. We hit TJ's or Wegman's for cheeses and things we buy in smaller quantities, but that's the only grocery store shopping. Of course, this will change in the winter when the market is closed, but for now it's very workable.
great article! yup, like other readers, i get my grocery staples from larger chains like trader joes and do the produce and meat shopping at the farmer's market...