"Serene Sprat" wrote
cshenk wrote:
Just curious what tips the rest of you might have? I've been getting a
fair

Here's something I posted a while back on a now-defunct blog of mine:

Someone on one of my vegan listservs was asking about how we save money on
food. She gave me permission to repost her questions and my answers here,
so here they are. Reading it over, it sounds a little preachy; I plead
indulgence because it was midnight and I was feeling tired and rambly:

Hehehe it's ok!

I mean, I could probably make a week's worth of chili for $3. But I
don't want to eat chili for a week.

Nor would I! I freeze what makes sense for us to have extra of, but I have
that huge chest freezer so I can do that. Many people dont have space for
one (apartment dwellers etc).

We eat very cheaply, and part of the reason is that almost all our
meals are made with dirt-cheap protein sources: beans, tofu, TVP,
and seitan. (I don't need to watch my protein intake, but James does;
he's diabetic.) I can feed all three of us for a few dollars, and

We dont eat as much meat as most USA folks, after a 6.5 year tour in Japan
but I've never used seitan or TVP. Beans and tofu yes, and a local asian
grocery has tofu at 3-4 blocks a dollar.

could do it on less if I avoided some of the more expensive fresh
veggies and stuff, but thankfully, we're able to get by. We don't
make very much money, but then again, we don't have kids or a car
payment or any debt to speak of, so our money already goes farther
than it would otherwise.

Being debt free is a wonderful feeling isnt it! I too am.

How does everyone else get by? Any tricks?

1) We go once every week or two to the Grocery Outlet for things
that are much cheaper than we can get in the store. Our favorite
bread is $3+ in the regular grocery store and $1.49 in the Grocery
Outlet, [Note: since this post, I've started making my own bread, for
around a dollar a loaf, sometimes less] so we get half a dozen loaves and
freeze them. Also, I get a
big bag (eleven servings) of O'Brien potatoes there for $.99. Stuff
like that. The prices are worth the extra trip from time to time.

Asian grocery and BJ's for me. Both beat the commisary (military food
store) by a wide margin on most things and the quality is the same or
better. I am not spending 1$ a loaf to make bread, but perhaps you have a
larger loaf. I make the 2lb breadmaker ones for about 50cents.

2) We make almost all our own meals. We nearly never eat out. We
like the food we cook, and we're fairly easy to please, so eating out
is saved for special occasions or for when we're away from home and
aren't likely to be home before it's time to eat again.

Same, we dont *want* to eat out all that often but we do indulge about once
a month in some sort of take out chinese or a pizza.

3) We shop for fresh produce every day or two (we walk a few miles a
day, and one of our walks is a mile each way to the wonderful natural
grocery near us). That way, nothing ever goes bad. It's *extremely* rare
that we throw food out.

Was same in Sasebo when we lived out in the town (called living in the cho).
Tonoo market was on the way home so I'd stop with my bicycle and it's basket
and see what was there for dinner, as I was riding home.

4) In the same vein, we rarely cook enough to have leftovers. In
our house, unless it's something we adore, leftovers are likely to
sit in the fridge until they get tossed, so we've learned to make
just enough for a meal in most cases. (I will freeze extra portions
of sauces or beans, but only if they're favorites and they freeze
really well.)

Now with my chest freezer, we happen to diverge here but thats ok! It's a
definate good idea for others who do _not_ have a way to store it long term.

5) We snack on popcorn (cooked in the kettle, not the microwave, for
much cheaper) and fruit most of the time, rather than expensive
packaged snacks. (If we want the expensive packaged snacks, we go
for it, but that's another thing we tend to pick up at the Grocery
Outlet.)

Fruit mostly for us. It's actually more costly but I dont care. We like
it.

6) We pay attention to how much stuff costs. If I make my own
spaghetti sauce, it costs me a couple of dollars a quart. If I see
decent spaghetti sauce pre-made at the Grocery Outlet for $1.49, I
pick some up.

Same here.

7) Sometimes I buy packaged soy/ricemilk, but I try to make my own
rice or nut milk because the price and freshness are much better. (1
cup of nuts or cooked rice, 4 cups of water, blend, strain.)

Hum! That would equate to me and making my own chicken and fish stock
probably.

Stuff like that. I may think of other things.

Same here.