Project AwesomeFood Part 2: Saving at the Grocery Store

You can save a lot of time and money by following our simple process for making your grocery list. (Oh yeah, and when you’re done, don’t leave it at home on accident!)

Image source: eastbaytrainer.com

The essence of our strategy for saving at the grocery store is the widest array of things you can make with the fewest individual ingredients. Then just buy as much of them as you can and restock as you need them! Step one is just making a list of your most common kitchen ingredients. We all have favorites, so why not save a few minutes with a checklist? Ours is below so you can see what I mean.

When it comes time to go shopping your work is about half done for you. We keep a dry erase board in the kitchen, this one is only $6 with Amazon Prime. When you run out of one of your basics, just jot it down real fast. When it’s shopping time, copy down the list from the board and move on to part three!

Here’s what you should have in your kitchen pretty much at all times:

Seasonings

• Garlic Powder
• Onion Powder
• Salt
• Pepper
• Italian seasoning blend of some kind
• Cumin
• Cinnamon (Not a lot, but some for desserts and baked stuff.)
• Chili powder (For chili.)

We keep a bunch more, but when we talked about the different situations where Italian blend can substitute for several seasonings we agreed you can probably get by with just this to start. Anything else is cheap to buy fresh, and better anyway.

Fridge Stuff

• Minced Garlic (They’re usually pretty cheap, or huge and last forever.)
• Sriracha (The hot sauce with the rooster on it. Just a little adds great flavor to chili or asian dishes with not a lot of heat.)
• Butter
• Eggs
• A sourdough starter (It takes a bit of work to start, but it will keep going forever and make bread making way easy.)
• Soy sauce

Dry stuff

• Rice
• Some kind of pasta
• Cans of beans (Whatever you like, they’re good protien. There are good recipes for all of them.)
• Flour (I get mostly wheat flour and a tiny bag of white.)
• Wheat gluten (Yes, wheat gluten. Unless you have Celiac disease, the gluten-free trend is really stupid.)
• Sugar
• Bouillon cubes of some kind
• Olive oil
• Honey (A natural preservative for bread.)
• Masking tape and a sharpie (Label the food you make with dates so you don’t let leftovers go bad.)

Produce

• Onions
• Tomatoes
• Spinach and/or romaine lettuce (Iceberg lettuce is just water with a fiber chaser. Waste of money.)
• Potatoes (You don’t need the giant 10 pound bag, just a few is usually fine.)
• Mushrooms

Skip whatever you don’t like of course, but if you have this all in your kitchen at all times you’re pretty well set-up. Pretty much every recipe will use at least a few of these, and you can make a passable pasta, fried rice or basic Tex-Mex dish if you run out of food and don’t want to go to the store. This happens a lot for me, I’ll admit it!

Now that we’ve got the basics covered, the next part is the rest of the list. In the meantime, what’s on your must-have list? Let us know!

Project AwesomeFood 1.0 Begins! (Part 1)

Have you noticed how prices at the grocery store seem a little higher every time you go? I’m getting tired of spending hundreds at the grocery store. Enter: Project AwesomeFood 1.0.

Image Source: Huffington Post

This month we’re trying to save as much money on our grocery bill as possible. Our goal is to be at about $200 at the end of the month, to let nothing go to waste at the back of the fridge and not spend a lot of time doing it. Tall order, right? Let’s see how close we get!

We started the month with a pretty empty fridge, a bunch of common seasonings and only a few fancy kitchen gadgets. You can probably get them at your local thrift store:

• A bread machine
• A food processor
• A crock pot
• A few pans, pots, sauce pans, baking sheets
• Freezer bags, and lots of ’em!

When I was recently there, the first three all together could be had for about $40 at Goodwill. The older models usually last much longer than the new ones too, so it works out nicely in the long run too. The rest are usually around $5.

Before going to the grocery store, I always like to come up with a meal plan and jot down the major ingredients so it’s easier to keep from forgetting ingredients. Going back to the store for one ingredient is the worst, isn’t it?! To start the meal plan, I wrote down a list of foods that we like to have around here. You can do this by just getting a piece of paper and just brainstorming. Anything you can think of.

I’d like to say I came up with 40 or 50 amazing ideas and picked the best ones… but I’m not that creative. I came up with about 10 or 15, and added new ones as I went along. If you’re following along, try to think of dishes with common ingredients or ones that share ingredients so you can save by buying in volume.

Here’s my list: (I’m a vegetarian but meat works too)

• Falafel
• Portobello mushroom sandwiches
• Pumpkin curry
• Onion rings
• Veggie burgers
• Fruit smoothies
• Pizza
• Breakfast sandwiches
• Jalapeno Poppers
• Enchiladas
• Paninis
• Pasta w/ sauce
• Chili

I wish I kept the list, this is from memory but it’s close enough to get going. As you might have noticed, I kept it pretty general. Salads and different pasta dishes can fill in openings and use leftover sauces and dressings too. They’re quick and easy too for days you’re just tired, that’s the best part!

We usually make something four or five nights a week, and have leftovers or make stuff with them the other nights. So for October I am aiming for 20 dinners to choose from… but I am no where near organized enough to stick to a rigid plan, so didn’t schedule anything and I doubled/tripled up on things like pizza and burgers for days I don’t have time to think about what to make. Once a week, I’m going to cook a few things in advance for the week so everything else is easy.

This is getting pretty long already, so tomorrow I’ll talk about the grocery list and food choices. I tried to get just what was needed, and freeze any leftover ingredients for later in the month. As the month goes on, I’ll be posting recipes and tips on how to prepare some pretty awesome food in a few minutes a night. I hope this helps!

Do you have any tips for saving at the grocery store? Tell me, this is a work in progress!

Surviving warm days without Air Conditioning

It’s getting warmer out there now that summer is coming, so it’s time to talk about staying cool!

A lot of people use air conditioning all over the country, and that adds up to a lot of power use, a lot of money, and a lot of pollution. Refrigerators and freezers are big culprits too. In the U.S., air conditioning alone is responsible for about 16% of the average household’s annual electricity bill!

With power bills going up and food costs too, there are a few simple ways to help save money on power AND your grocery bill.

Tip 1: Buy a flat of generic water bottles for each freezer you own. (Cost $4 here in Oregon, from Fred Meyers.)

Some areas charge less for power during the summer overnight, so check with your power company or their website to save a little more. If so, wait until it’s nighttime to put them in the freezer.

Once they’re frozen, they will act as little “coldness batteries”. Your freezer won’t work as hard to keep everything cold, and on very hot days just take one out, wrap in a towel and put in your lap. When it thaws, drink it and refill in the evenings!

Tip 2: Open your windows when the temperature outside is lower than inside in the evenings. Close them in the morning by 10 if it’s going to be in the 80’s, 9 if it’s in the 90’s and by 8 if it’s higher than that.

You’ll stay cool most of the day, and the water bottles will help in the afternoon/evening.

Tip 3: When you go to the grocery store, if you buy meats or tofu, buy in large quantities. Generally, you save money that way anyway, and the frozen meats or tofu also act as “coldness batteries”. When you defrost, defrost a day or two before cooking and in the refrigerator. It takes a little longer, but your refrigerator will use less power too!

Total cost: $4, plus a small spike in power consumption when freezing the bottles. Average savings on power: upwards of $200-$1000 (depending where you live), more if you count buying an A/C unit.