I feel like I'm playing Settlers of Catan or a reality TV game in which the object is to buy the resources that will yield the most meals for the cheapest price to reach the finish line with the most plentifully stocked pantry. This requires pricing every item per serving, knowing the best prices of the year, and buying hen using what one has until the next sale.
Peanut Butter is on sale for $.88. This food makes sandwiches, cookies and a Thai dip for flat bread (any other uses?). It is a good product for our three month storage goal because we could eat PB sandwiches everyday.
Potatoes are also on sale for $.13/pound. This is lower than the sale in January and almost as low as the annual low of $.09/pound. Will they keep in the cool of the basement? Do I stock enough for the summer? The versatility of the potato makes it an excellent choice for a food staple. The cost is less than $.05/serving at this price finishing a close second to rice that is $.03/serving. Each week the list of foods in our virtual pantry expands. With a little discipline and planning, we will hopefully feed the family, meet nutritional needs and fill our shelves.
To help manage the financial challenge I invested in plastic pants, pins and bleach so I could use the 12 cloth diapers on my shelf. My children have no idea what to do. They are asking if I throw the diapers away and how they are pinned, why the plastic pants etc... I plan to use disposable when we go out and at night but the cloth when we are home and able to manage cloth diapers. It will be good exposure for the children. Today I saved the equivalent of two disposable diapers.
This is building "Intestinal Fortitude" -One day at a time.
Breakfast: Rice Pudding
Lunch: Leftovers about one- two servings each dish: fried potatoes, shirred eggs, vegetable pot pie, rice pudding, carrot pudding
Dinner: Mesquite chicken (a free bottle of spice with the purchase of frozen chicken breasts at $1.69/pound, rice adn steamed cauliflower. Dessert: snickerdoodle cookies
Snack: Watermelon
You mentioned that you don't buy bacon and I just wanted to say that I buy bacon on a regular basis when the prices are ridiculously cheap. Recently I got 5# of applewood smoked Cudahy for $1 per pound. I don't cook bacon as a food but use it as a seasoning. A couple slices of bacon diced up and fried crisp provide two things--flavored bacon bits and the grease which I save and extend with canola oil. Now these things can be used to saute onions etc. and the bits can be added to scrambled eggs, potato soup and any number of other things to change the flavor the same as spices are used. Granted a pound of bacon for breakfast is not a healthy choice but a pound of bacon used for seasoning foods is worth it's weight in gold!
ReplyDeleteWe don't eat or store much peanut butter unless it is the natural kind. Regular peanut butter is full of hydrogenated oil which we try to avoid.
ReplyDeleteI smiled when you wrote about using cloth diapers. I used cloth diapers for my first child and after I discovered the simple blue liners that I used to help with diapers that were a little more substantial, I didn't mind the cloth ones at all.
ReplyDeleteWhen my son was born his skin would not tolerate the cloth diapers (no matter how I washed or cared for them) and there was only ONE brand of disposables that he could tolerate - and of course it was one of the more expensive brands (sigh). We had no money and being forced to buy disposable diapers was an extreme drain on our meager resources.
The day that my son was finally potty trained was a day of celebration and our food budget was once again viable. The price we pay for convenience is high indeed.
Excellent points! I too buy a case of bacon bits and brown them all up at one time to use as salad add-ins and flavoring for potato soup, etc...
ReplyDeleteNatural peanut butter would definitely be healthier. I want a Vita Mix blender that blends everything!
I love our Vita Mix, but we tried almond butter. You definitely need to buy the special attachment specifically for grains and nuts. Our nut butter was a big lump. It was not spreadable at all. But I can triple the blender pancake recipe. I just have to pour everything in at the same time or the milk and wheat turn into a dough lump that I cannot mix anything into.
ReplyDeleteOccasionally we get "insider discounts." I would be happy to pass them along if you like.
Marianne