As promised...money saving tips from others

Yeah I know I promised you some of the great money saving tips I got. But then I started reading Twilight. I finished it in 24 hours and went on to the next book, New Moon, 15 hours later I found myself sucked into part three. So that's where I've been. I only have about 100 pages left of Eclipse before I can start book four and then I need find book five online so I can read it before it comes out. My husband is laughing at my crush on a fictional vampire. He's also shocked it's a vampire and not, a cowboy or something. Sigh. Am I the only one who finds Edward so dreamy?

Jiff said

I have done a couple things to make it better for myself: store gift cards. I load money on it and leave the debit card with hubby at home. I have been known to cook a few meals in bulk and store them in the fridge or freezer and just heat them up later. The most common is my friend Courtney's chicken spaghetti.

A recipe that's simple and easy... not gourmet or fancy like what you and Cristina do, but:
cut up and coat ckn breasts in flour. Brown and then add the shells only from Kraft Shells & Cheese with two cans of Rotel. Don't use water, the Rotel is what you use instead. When the pasta is cooked and tender, add in the cheese sauce and it's done. A little spicy for me, so sometimes I use one can of Rotel and one can of water. But whatever. Z and Joe love it.

Christina said
Some of my tips might be a bit more expensive the first time but it adds up over time.
I buy meat in bulk and then seperate it when we get home ( I do one big shop a month and then bi weekly for fruits veggies milk things like that)
That means I have two envelopes(jars here) for food one for the big shop and then the one that is for the bi weekly shop.
I find buying in bulk evens out over the months because I seem to run out of the bulk stuff at different times.
On my big shop I buy ALL the diapers and wipes(gave up cloth for disposable due to the bedrest with the twins) I buy the months supply of cleaning products if I have run out, I buy a huge bag of rice every 4 months (like the mamoth ones). I found with things like sour cream as I don't use it daily and to prevent it from going bad I buy the no name smallest containers then the fresh ones stay sealed in the fridge and it can usually last us through the month. It is hareder for perishable in bulk as I tired the huge block of chesse but it took two months to go through. If I find something fresh I can cut up and freeze I do, my kids don't get the individual snack pack things in there lunch as it costs to much niether do they get juice it is water all the way here. For lunch snacks I bake and freeze things individual pop them into the lunch and they defrost by lunch or snack time. All the older kids (my blog list 3 of my 5 (not including the twins) as I took custody of my step kids prior to my spilt with hubby and am still in the process of them becoming officaly mine yes that will mean 7 with the twins...where was I the bigger kids all have theromoses as it is so easy to make more of a meal ad reheat it the next morning and pop it into the thermoses (which I preheat by pouring in hot water then dumping out). I will compile a bunch of my easy cheaper recipies for you in the ext cuple of days most are convetable with vegetarian meals.

I forgot the sick cupboard have the cupboard pre stocked for colds flus stuff like pop jellp juice crackers whatever you use when someone gets sick then you wont spend as much as if you ran out and grabed anything you could think of.

Mrs J said

We are on a tight budget right now and we try to be as frugal as possible. I haven't done as much menu planning as I should but we really reduced our grocery bills. We use couponing, setting a budget of $30/wk, comparing prices and buying only the best deals, no eating out and learning to say NO to ourselves everytime we're in the grocery store bombarded with so many temptations! Our pantry hasn't been so full since we did this compared to our $200 grocery trips before and we have MORE food now!

Anonymous said

My husband and I just recently ended up in that same position where we're finally being forced to cut back on the excessive grocery spending, and focus on not wasting food... what a bummer! But in the Cooking Light magazine, they just featured a whole series about "cooking once and eating twice." I love this! I just made spaghetti the other night, and then re-used the left-over sauce for lasagna. Or making a tri-tip one night, then re-using the leftovers on top of a salad the next night. It's worked really well for us, and I've definitely seen some savings already since we're not throwing all that extra food away! Good luck... can't wait to hear all the other ideas!