Has the economic situation changed your lifestyle etc to date?

Parent Cafe
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<p>Jolynne: Do you live near a local college where you could work as a part-time instructor?</p>

<p>That’s what my friend does. Like you, she was a practicing attorney before she quit to spend more time with her family. She did part-time legal work during the next ten years or so, but she stopped when even that became too stressful for her.</p>

<p>Then she found a part-time job as an undergraduate law instructor at a local college. It’s been great for her. The college mostly caters to people already in the workforce, so most of the courses are taught in the evenings. Depending on whether she chooses to teach one or two courses per semester, she works 2-4 evenings per week. She loves it because her husband is home with the kids and the extra income really comes in handy.</p>

<p>Good luck with whatever you decide to do!</p>

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<p>mapesy–thank you! Appreciate that. Applied for a comm college ‘criminal justice’ adjunct instructor job a while back but didn’t hear anything. Will definitely apply to a local Univ that just opened a law school (bonus–son was accepted there…the best-of-all-possible-worlds would be a job for me plus free/reduced tuition for son! Dream big!).</p>

<p>Kelowna–we spend much more for groceries per week than we should (over $100). I’m going back to what I used to do–pull out the grocery store fliers (w/coupons, specials) – list the items on sale (ground beef, chicken, etc.) then list a series of meals built around those specials (e.g. if chicken is 1/2 price–buy a lot, then write out meals). I include side dishes in this. I agree—fish is super expensive. It’s also not an economical meal for us because if husband works late & is not hungry when he gets home–I can’t really freeze his fish meal, or leave it in the fridge for tomorrow night–it’s too delicate.</p>

<p>What I’ve found economical–making big batches of meals. For example: hamburger is on sale–buy 2-3 family packs of meat (3 lbs each) and make a batch of 75 Italian meat balls, then freeze them in meal sized packages in Tupperware. I end up with about 9-10 meals. It save time in the long run, too (although an initial investment).</p>

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<p>I find that I am spending about $150+ per week for a family of four (wine not included) and I think this is excessive. I do not know what I am doing wrong?</p>

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<p>I can’t figure out the food cost thing either. We never have been frivolous, have always bought sale items, checked circulars, satisifed with “store brands” in virtually every instance, used coupons. Meat, be it pork, chicken, ground meats always bought in family pack sizes. I’ve given up on beef, I find the quality and flavor so substandard I can’t justify the per pound prices. We will buy an occasional whole loin, but only on sale, and it will yield 4 to 5 meals for four. I’ll only buy the holiday roast from a top quality butcher, and am willing to pay the premium for the once or twice a year special meal and not be disappointed. Not many convenience foods/meals purchased, and only on sale and just a few as an individual’s emergency meal if schedules get really funky. On average, we spend $150+ a week to feed four adults. And that’s basically one meal a day for four adults. Breakfast here doesn’t exist, and son packs a sandwich from fridge four days a week. D does lunch 2 days a week, and wife’s is covered as a perk (she’s in food service); if I eat lunch once a month, that’s unusual. I’m a one meal a day guy. Granted, it’s not all consumed in a week due to the family pack and 10 for $10 way we shop.</p>

<p>I’ll split a family pack and do three or four different dishes, and refreeze as meal sized portions. Over the weekend, I did ribs, maybe 30lbs, all bought on sale, over time. Ended up with five meals for four and two individual portions. I’ll take a 5 pound pack of ground beef, do a meatloaf, meatballs, ground beast for pasta, maybe some chili. Fish we buy only on sale, but have found most frozen flounder, tilapia cheap and of good quality. I have been getting frozen bay scallops (real scallops, not fish chunk substitutes) at $4/pound. </p>

<p>We used to have a BJ’s membership when kids were small, and it did save on cleaning supplies, diapers, multipacks and institutional sizes, but I never was too keen on their meats, but maybe that was our BJ’s. Is it worth a Costco or BJ’s membership to retry? And, we ended up always buying something cheap or unusual on a whim (like the institutional size frozen cheescakes) as a treat, which ended up negating the savings.</p>

<p>We’re not going hungry, and the freezer and pantries are full. Could probably get by with no shopping other than bread, milk, some fresh fruit for 6 weeks or so if we had to. </p>

<p>And I can’t remember the last time we had a meal “out”. What am I doing wrong here?</p>

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<p>Well, I don’t know what we spend/week on groceries; I’ll have to find out. But I do know that most of my neighbors shop at Jewel or Dominics, and I rarely go in those stores. I shop where prices are cheaper, like Trader Joe’s for many items, and the local green grocer for veggies, sometimes meats, etc. I’m even finding WalMart and Target cheaper for some items, like organic milk (H is reacting to non-organic).</p>

<p>We have a Sams club card, and I’m glad we do, but you can’t assume that something is much, if any, cheaper there. You have to price check. Often prices are better at regular stores when they have a sale. For each item you regularly purchase, price check it at a few stores. It’s amazing how much prices can vary.</p>

<p>What I haven’t done is shop much at Aldi. They are cheap, but spotty in supply.</p>

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<p>Like I said earlier, you have to go to Costco with a shopping list in hand.
I like Costco very much though, I can’t imagine going without the cheese I buy there.
I used to buy bread at Costco exclusively but lately I have switched to darker kind that I purchase at Whole Foods. I buy milk at the local dairy and it costs me close to $3 /gallon.
We also buy meat in large quantities/family packs. Pork loin at Costco for about $16-17 (I alway look for the smallest one :slight_smile: ) that will yield at least four dinners plus lunches.
Instead of chicken breast I started buying boneless/skinless thigs which are not only less expensive but also not as dry as the breast. But we do not eat that much meat, maybe 2-3 times weekly. A lot of soups now, since it is getting cold. Soups should be inexpensive?
I find that it is those little food purchases that add up. Juices are pricey and my kids can gobble up a gallon in no time. So I have been resorting to making my own ice tea and lemonade. A taco night is not cheap either - when you count up all the ingredients that are needed and if you do not have them handy at home, which I rarely do, it can be more than $10, which is still not bad but way more expensive than that pork loin I mentioned above.<br>
We rarely buy desserts but purchase lots of fruits - about $30 worth a week.
A friend of mine with a family of five tried to live on $25 a day a few years back ($175 weekly) He found it was impossible. But stretching it up to $30 a day made a whole lot of difference.
What about others here?</p>

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<p>Kelowna–those fruits & veggies will put a hole in the food budget. Do you have a Produce Junction near you? You can get a bag of apples for $1, bag of red peppers for $2 (would cost about $6 in the store). I eat lots of fruits/veggies so this saves me a lot of $$. </p>

<p>I’m trying to switch my kids to water more than juice (it’s hard–juice is very sweet) but it’s actually better for them then all the sugar in the fruit juice (plus it’s so expensive–we get the store brands, & it’s still $1.79 a gallon). I’ve managed to get them to take water to school & I now refuse to buy juice boxes. I do buy many gallon containers for home–but am trying to wean them away from it.</p>

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<p>No Produce Junction here, I buy my produce at the local fruit stand and lately I have been paying less than $1 lb for local apples and $69 lb for oranges. Melons are still very inexpensive at $39lb - we eat a lot of these. But my veggies, since I cook from scratch, do really add up :(</p>

<p>No boxed juices here, but at the store I try to buy natural, 100% juice so it is pricey.
I am going shopping shortly, just milk, cream and produce run. I will report how much I have spent. Maybe together we can become those “expensive groceries” detectives? :)</p>

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<p>Speaking of food prices, and one get the Willimas & Sonoma Christmas catalog? The stuff looks great, but who would pay those prices? $200 for 4 side dishes to feed 6 people?</p>

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<p>H and I try to keep our grocery bill under $100(3 meals a day for two).Including wine ! As others have mentioned, we make large batches and freeze individual meals. Favorites include Beef with Burgundy, chili, lentil and spilit pea soup. I never throw veggies away. If I have a bunch of parsley and I am only using half of it, I rinse what left, let it dry and then throw it in the freezer. If I use half an onion, then the other half goes in the big bag 'o leftover veggies in the freezer.
For most stews and soups, these frozen veggies are perfectly fine. Favorite shopping spot is “Fresh n Easy”, Im not sure that they have come back east or to the midwest yet, but they will----the freshness,quality, small portions, and prices are fabulous. (they are run and owned by Tesco in the UK) And of course we NEVER eat out–that includes fast food or take out.</p>

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<p>Wow musicamusica, well done.
I have yet again left way too much money at the store :(</p>

<p>I stopped at Costco - bought cheese, organic cereal and a piece of turkey for sandwiches. That piece of turkey was an impulse buy - we do not eat a lot of cold cuts since virtually all sandwich meats contain nitrates, to begin with. So when I saw this turkey piece at $4.99 lb without any sodium nitrates and other artificial ingredients, just kettle boiled and oven roasted, I decided to try it. Sliced it in half and am going to freeze one part. The other will last us a few days only - we tend to eat more sandwiches when the meat is here :slight_smile:
So Costco was - $25.81
Then milk and produce - $35
For a grand total of $60.81. Way too much if I want to live on $175/week.
The gallon of milk will last us probably a week. I bought potatoes (20lb), tomatoes, spaghetti squash, two kinds of apples, oranges, grapefruit, lemons, parsnips, celery, parsley,cranberries, broccoli and jalapenos. Fruit will last me only through the weekend, if lucky.
What is wrong?</p>

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<p>The problem is your family is eating quality fresh food. You could eat much more cheaply if you used canned and fozen foods and stuff full of nitrates which you can buy in bulk on sale.</p>

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<p>I’m the type that could eat peanut butter sandwiches for lunch every day - one way to save on food.</p>

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<p>I scored some pears from a neighbor’s tree this week. Nestle chocolate chips 1.67 at Jewel tomorrow, limit six.</p>

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<p>Kelowna—Im a big fan of Turkey as well. I buy a small one(about $18.) for the H and I. Roast it and first night its turkey dinner, second night turkey sandwiches, third night turkey pot pie (enough for three nights) and finally turkey soup (simmer that carcass with all those fresh left over onions,celery carrots and parsley in the fridge for stock.) I make my own noodles to make the soup the best part of the “parade 'o turkey” Yah, it kinda makes Thanksgiving dinner seem a little anti-climactic–but that day is a celebration of pie in our house. You can save money and still use fresh veggies wisely, its just a little labor intensive. But then again --thats half the fun.</p>

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<p>cottonwood----Free fresh pears. Lucky you.oooh you know what sounds good. A fresh pear, a slice of jack cheese and a glass of white wine. mmmm</p>

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<p>“I’m the type that could eat peanut butter sandwiches for lunch every day - one way to save on food”.
LOL ^ - that’s what Amy Dacyzyn and her whole “cheapskate” family did every day. Using bulk peanut butter. And the husband made the bread from scratch using bulk flour! And they had bulk oatmeal EVERY DAY for breakfast.
I guess I could do this if I had to but I do like some variety. And I love Costco and Trader Joes - but I’ve pretty much weaned myself away from Whole Foods.
Those Costco Turkey chunks are great.<br>
You could go MUCH cheaper if you had more time though -<br>
Lately, I’ve been using the slow cooker a lot - makes a great meal out of cheap cuts of meat.</p>

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<p>I actually like cheap cuts of meat better most of the time. I love soups, stews and braised roasts simmered a long time. </p>

<p>I think we should do a CC budget food challenge! One week of low cost easy to cook meals. We share recipes and costs with the winner being whoever comes up with the best low cost menu.</p>

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<p>When I was single, I had a rice steamer and my usual dinner was steamed brown rice with steamed vegetables. I did that for quite some time. I could always go back to that.</p>

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<p>It used to be that meat was what brought up the prices. Now it’s fresh vegetables. I went to Costco today too. Bought bananas, tangerines, carrots, brussel sprouts, spinach which was very expensive. When I lived in the Midwest I would get potatoes, carrots and onions for very little money. Apples, green beans, tomatoes were also cheap. I could make stews and casseroles with lots of veggies for very little. Now it’s the veggies that are driving up the costs. </p>

<p>According to an Aetna health info advisory, one should be eating 5 servings of fruits and vegetables daily. That can get really expensive. I try to make a salad, serve veggies for dinner, and lunch bags always have a fruit. But fruit for snack or breakfast every day is tougher to do. Costly too. I do make oatmeal regularly for my family, always have and french toast with old bread. Try to throw in some fruit with it as well. But my kids are not wild about fruit and a piece a day is about all they want to eat. </p>

<p>I’ve looked at some web sites and read some books on frugal eating. It’s the fresh fruits and veggies that are often missing from those diets. I am not big on prepared foods, but I do love fresh veggies which do bring up the cost of groceries. Also if you want to a bit of pizzaz to your meals, beans and rice every day won’t do it. We do have bean/lentil and rice occaisionally but I don’t want it as a daily thing. Also fresh baked breads from the bakery are my faves, and though I bake, there are some of the French and Italian variety that need that industrial oven. </p>

<p>By not using prepared foods much, and eating at home often, making fried rice and fried noodles (favorites of my kids), we have our budget trimmed pretty low while we still enjoy a good variety of foods, have fresh vegetables and fruit regularly and our meals are also attractive and appetizing to most people. Here in NY, it is not that easy to do.</p>