Question About Saving Money

This just came through on the comment to the post about Saving Money on Groceries post and here is the question from sortin'itallout (Grammy's Recipes You have a very nice site by the way):

"I am curious about the coupons--we don't buy a newspaper, so would it make sense to buy a paper just for the coupons? Or is the cost of the paper more than you can save with coupons?"

I would buy at least the Sunday paper each week for all the ads, there is enough ads in most newspapers that can actually pay for your newspaper in addition to saving extra money on your food bill. Most ads in papers are for newer products, old faithful products, and sometimes products that do not sell well. You have to wade through them and find what you will really use and what you need.

If you do not want to go the newspaper route (I find it is one of the more easier ways to get my coupons but not everyone does), there are also websites that you can print free coupons and you can surf those after making your weekly grocery list and check to see if there is a coupon for anything you have on your list and print it out.

Sometimes, there are coupon swapping groups (yes they still exist haha, but they are few and far between) or get some friends together and start one; that way you all benefit. You can possibly find coupon swapping groups within Mom's groups, and places like that online will guide you to a local one in the area, if it exists.

Check the magazines you read. A lot of the recipe, cooking, home and garden magazines are huge with coupons on popular products.

Check your grocery store receipt, sometimes there are coupons on the back and some stores print out coupons at the register. Save these for later and make sure you use them before the expiration date.

Check product websites. Some of the more popular products have huge websites and you can surf them to find coupons, they are large enough to give out massive amounts of coupons because that indicates dollars in their pockets. Here are a couple websites that you can get coupons from:
1. Box Tops for Education These are boxtops that come off of cereal boxes and many more other products from General Mills, they are glad to give away coupons because when you clip these little boxtops and send them to a school that accepts them, they get money but they also give back by giving money to schools when they turn it in. Win Win situation for all. I clip many many boxtops for my daughter's school.
2. Betty Crocker Coupon Page
3. Pillsbury Coupon and Promotion Page
These are just a few of the sites you can get coupons from. All 3 of these individual sites come from General Mills. You can also look up Post, Kellogg's, and whatever else site you can find. If you have the surfing time, you can save a bundle of money on looking on sites of products you use the most.

I hope this was helpful. Let me know what else I can do for you! Thanks for your question.

Food Saver Vacuum Sealer Saves Money

Saving money is a big thing for me. Therefore, I use a vacuum sealer for food I buy in bulk for the freezer, especially meat. I have a Food Saver Vacuum Sealer and it is worth it's weight in gold. You can vacuum seal your food in bags or canisters to elongate it's shelf life. When you freeze meat and other foods in food saver bags; it doesn't get freezer burnt and keeps a lot longer than if you just put the food in Ziplock bags.

You can save about 10-50 cents a pound when you buy bulk meats or vegetables and then freeze them in Food Saver bags. This will eliminate some trips to the store since you already have a good supply of these things in the freezer (or deep freeze chest freezer).

With the dry canisters, you can seal in flour, sugar, other dry ingredients to keep the shelf life on those things longer. Sealed dry ingredients will ensure that mice, boll weevils, and other critters are not going to get into your food in the pantry. Additionally, it is just as easy to reseal it as it is to seal it. Not a long chore that it used to be to preserve food.

There are also other vacuum sealers on the market that might be less in cost to the Food Saver and some (such as Rival brand) are just as good, just lower cost. But, I like the Food Saver because I can always find replacement bag rolls for them. I do not see too many other vacuum sealer brands out there in the stores that sell their replacement bag rolls or that have canisters to go along with the vacuum sealer of other brands.

Make Your Own Zest

You know those recipes that call for lemon or orange zest? And, so you know how expensive that can be at the store. Well don't buy your zest at the store anymore, make it yourself. You can buy a Lemon Zester at my store, or at any kitchen store that sells tons of gadgets. I especially like the Oxo brand. It holds up great to any type of kitchen abuse it may receive. With an ergonomic handle, that makes it easier to hold onto effectively as it does not slip out of the hand. It is a brand that is not outrageously expensive, but it is great quality. This is the zester I personally have at home and I highly recommend it.

lemon zester

When you need some lemon or orange zest in your recipes, all you have to do is go buy a lemon or orange from the produce section at the store (or any local farmer's market) and take the tool and start scraping away at the peel. It zests your fruit easily and this homemade zest tastes better than store bought stuff any day of the week, because it is fresh rather than from a jar. You can have zest for pennies per serving doing it this way.

With this tool, you can also make fancy garnish decorations using orange, lemon, or lime peel making curly-Qs that go well in drinks, or garnish for an elegant meal. In peeling mode, it can even peel chocolate curly-Qs from a regular chocolate bar, I have garnished many a dessert with this tool.

The benefits are it cost way less, the food will taste better since fresh zest has better flavor, and there are no preservatives added such as what some commercial spice companies use to make it last a long time. That's what I like!

Saving Money On Your Grocery Bill: My Top 10 Tips

(photo credit: http://moms-life.com/more-ways-to-save-money/)

Everyone wants to save money on their grocery bill. I know I sure do. Here is my tips on saving money that works for me. (Disclaimer: This may not work for everyone, I am just putting what I do out there in case anyone wants to try it). Try my Top 10 Tips and let me know how much you save! I can usually save between $50-70 per week.

1. Plan meals ahead. Make a list of what meals you want to fix during the week and stick to it! Make a plan A and plan B in case something you have planned each night is not what everyone wants to eat. I call it the Just In Case meal. Buy only the things you need for the meals, and maybe breakfast and lunch foods. You can make healthy snacks for the kids rather than buying everything packaged. My kids always want fruit, celery with peanut butter, or carrots for snacks; and they can be inexpensive if you find a good sale or go to Farmer's Market or a co-op.

2. If you can get away with it; DO NOT take the husband or the children with you. They tend to want things and try to sneak things into the cart that may not be on your list. Instead, ask them before you leave if there is anything they might want and try to accomodate them according to the list you have prepared.

3. Eat before you go into the store. You tend to buy more when you go hungry.

4. If you have a store that honors other store flyers, go there. Chances are if you do your homework and find out where everything you need is on sale, then you can save even more in one store when you bring all your flyers with you. Such as the case of Walmart, they honor other competing stores sale prices as long as you have your flyers with you.

5. Keep your eagle eyes out for coupons. If it is a coupon for things you always use, then by all means get that savings. There is no shame in clipping coupons despite what some folks think. (I have had other people roll their eyes at me at the store because I pull out all my coupons and flyers and take forever in line, but I do not care because that is money going back into my pocket).


(photo credit:http://freeprintablecoupons.blogspot.com/2006/10/counpons.html)

6. Get a membership to a food co-op. You pay a yearly fee and your produce is at just picked freshness and you pay alot less per pound.


(photo credit to www.gallatinvalleyfoodbank.org/calendar.cfm)

7. Frequent the Farmer's Market. Get to know your local growers on a personal level and sometimes they are willing to cut you deals since you are a regular customer.


(photo credit: www.boistfortvalleyfarm.com/markets.php)


This photo is actually our Farmer's Market here in Olympia. I love to shop here!

8. Learn how to can and preserve food. You buy in bulk in the summer/fall and preserve it, then you have that food all year long and do not have to buy it every week at the store. I do this with pears, peaches, beets, pickles, and other fruits and vegetables. Canning cookbooks will tell you what is cannable (don't know if that is a word, but it works for me) and what is not. Then you will know if you should buy it in bulk or not.

9. Invest in a food vacuum packer (otherwise called The Food Saver; that way you can buy family packs and repackage them to freeze.

10. Buy meat in bulk family packs; they are usually 10-20 cents cheaper per pound and then you just refer to #9 above about The Food Saver

I have more tips but those are my Top 10. If anyone would like anymore tips, leave me a comment and I will post some more!

Save money by canning

Canning... alot of people think it is so hard to do. It is easy! Just time consuming but well worth the time spent which means you keep more of your money in your pocket when you can food.

First you need some good canning equipment. I recommend using a Hot Water Canner because most food is acidic enough to warrant preserving with the boiling water method. This canner in the link is exactly what I have in my house and use religiously when I do my canning. This is the method I prefer since it is very easy to do. Then you need the accessories: Jar Lifter (to lift the jars safely from the hot water bath), funnel, mason jars with lids and screw bands (they come in quarts and pints available at Walmart or whatever other store you have that sells canning equipment, and finally, you need a cook book. I use this one called Putting Food By; it is very easy to use and explains everything in great detail.

When I can, I preserve pears, peaches, cherries (when they are affordable), beets (I usually pickle them as they taste the best that way in my opinion), pickles (they can get so expensive at the store so why not make my own). You also can make salsa, spaghetti sauce, relishes, and a whole lot more; but these are the items that my family eats tons of so it saves me a bundle on buying those at the store all year round at outrageous prices.

Support your local farmers market for the food you need to preserve. I have a great relationship with 3 of the local farms in the area when I need my produce for canning. You can get great deals on boxes of fruit rather than by the pound. This may sound expensive but I pay about $24 for a box of pears and I usually get 2 of them to make 48 pints of canned pears (the kids absolutely go nuts for them!) so thats about $1.00 a jar that it costs me to make for the fruit... you cannot get homemade quality pears for $1.00 a can at the grocery store (The DelMonte jarred fruit comes close but its also double the price), so I save money since my kids eat tons of them. What I buy at Farmer's Market pays for itself during the winter when I do not have to buy canned peaches, pears, beets, or pickles at the store and it lasts me all year until I can the next year. Especially with the state the economy is in, you need to save all you can where you can. Canning is an excellent way to save money on your grocery bill. Try it, you will like it!