Groceries, Gas and Getting By.....
 

The rising cost of gasoline is impacting my grocery bill! I have been stunned by the increase in the cost of my groceries, particularly fresh produce, dairy and other perishables in recent months. The purpose of this thread is to discuss some of the strategy's we can use to make our food dollars go further.

When I was a kid we had a large garden on one side of the yard that produced a good part of the potatoes, cabbage, carrots and other vegetables that got us through the winter. Some were stored in sand filled bins, and some were canned. Bread was baked from scratch, and treats were rare. Both my parents had lived through the depression. I don't want to be the Parkie that cried "wolf", but I guess that's what I'm doing. Many of us live on disability incomes, and making every penny count is rapidly rising on my list of lifeskills.

Here are some of the things I am implementing to st-r-e-t-ch my resources:

1.Go to the grocery store with a list. If it's not on the list I don't get it.
2. Make a large pot of soup out of stuff I would have thrown out in the past.
3. Keeping a Plastic bucket in the freezer to hold things for soup or stew that
won't last until I'm up to making another pot of soup or stew.
4. Stripping all the meat off the bones off chicken /turkey etc so I can use
bones for soup stock.
5. Go grocery shopping with a friend so only one of us is paying gas.
6. Using a spatula to clean out that peanut butter jar or jam jar.
7. storing and returning all recycleable cont, to get my fee's back.
8. Staying out of stores when possible.
9. Taking good used clothes to a consignment store.
10. Borrowing books from the library, not buying them.
11. Buying computer paper etc now, because It's cheap for students.
12. Buying Bulk from Costco and splitting with a friend.

These are a few of the things my mother would have done and it's time to do them again.

By the way, Christmas is coming -start thinking about it now.

Please add your thoughts to this thread. Things are going to get worse before they get better, and I'm not being negative...I'm being real.:eek:

coupons?
 

dear rosebud,
I look on the products of things I buy, to see if there is a www.
if there is I look for coupons?
I have a small list BRB...if it helps -because you are a Canadian eh?
;)
www.kashi.com -usually you must register so you can print the coupons off on your printer
www.organicvalley.coop
www.seventhgeneration.com
www.naturespath.com
http://www.stonyfield.com/
then this is coupon sites?
fatwallet.com -the free forum...
thats all for me?

I drive alot less, and I plan my routes so that I get all my stuff done without making a special trip somewhere..Like if theres a store on the way to a specific destination, I will stop on the way..When gas was $3 a gallon it used to cost me $36 a week..Now at $4 Im only spending $27 a week

When I grocery shop I look for sales, where as before I didnt pay a whole lot of atention to it..Theres alot of stuff I wont buy unless its on sale

Ive also been trying not to put the AC on unless I have to in the day time..I cant sleep without it at night..And I dont leave lights on all over the house anymore either

Its really tough to stretch out that SSDI check

some thoughts
 

1. turn your AC up til it is warm, but comfortable
2. I drive one of my daugters cars, instead of my Suburban; 25+ miles per gallon as opposed to 12-14 MPG.
3.water just enough to keep your yard green.

My dad and cousin fed the whole extended family out of a 1 acre plot and gave a lot of it away. Farming is hard work but if you make a small manageable-sized plot, it is doable I grew corn and pole beans for a number of years. Hydroponic is easy and low maintenance too. It is perfect for those who live in an apartment.

We have 5 kids and a family friend living with us, so we don't have to split our Costco bulk purchases. You might consider going to the local wholesale produce market. You can split the produce up with your neighbors. it is amazing how much markup there is by your local grocery store.

Charlie

prices have impacted my life
 

I've cut way back on driving, combining as many tasks as I can at one time and simply just staying at home more. When buying groceries, I never buy anything unless it is on sale or I buy the store brand.

I am amazed at how much the price of gas and groceries has really changed my buying practices!

thoughts.......
 

A little over a year ago I traded my Dodge Ram P/U (10 mpg, on a good day :eek:) for a Scion Xb (32 mpg :D:D) The payments for the Xb are higher but I save more in gas than the increase in the payment.

Even @ 32 mpg, @ $4+ per gallon my trips are planned. The days of just going out for a drive are just memories.

I use on line bill pay from my bank, save a little on stamps and a trip to the post office.

gas prices
 

The $4/gallon of gas has made me change my habits. I used to do an errand a day because that's all i have the energy to do. but i can't afford to do that at these prices.

And I also do what I can to care for my elderly parents. They are in their 80s (Dad has Alzheimers and Mom is the caretaker). My mother still drives but pretty much only to the local grocery store. So when I come for my weekly visit, I am met at the door with a list of places she needs to go to, and a list of people to phone for her (she is hard of hearing so i make phone calls for her, too) This starts with a 50 mile round trip to their house, plus whatever mileage gets added depending on where she wants to go that day.

Tomorrow I'll take Mother to her cardiology appointment - an extra 40 miles for me to drive. i often have to take a nap at their house before heading home. That puts me at the height of rush hour traffic to return home, but what can you do?

We're trying to get respite care for my mom, and of course I have to be there for interviews with prospective aides for my dad. Oh well, regardless of how hard the trips are getting for me, it's easier than when we lived in Virginia! At least i'm local.

And in addition to all this, we are applying for Medicaid for my dad, and that may involve multiple trips to the lawyers or other stops to help with the paperwork regarding that process. It's been 8 months so far and we're not done yet! if anyone wants details, PM me - and i'll be glad to share.

So the rest of the week I pretty much stay home and if there are errands to be done, i wait for the weekend and my husband & I go out together.

Asi es la vida!

Thank you for your input
 

It's amazing how quickly things can change. It was just a short time ago Canadians used to cross the border to fill up their gas tanks...those that lived close to the border. Not anymore, and no immediate reprieve in sight. I don't even know what the cost is anymore. It cost me $60. last time I filled my tank compared with a $40. fill up 6 months ago, compared to a $20. fillup when I was working....5 yrs ago. I'm thinking about buying a donkey. It would keep the grass under control, I don't need a license to ride it, and I'd have someone to talk to when I'm lonely. The only drawback is I'd have to leave Tuesday for my Neuro apptmt on Thursday!:D

goats?
 

Rosebud

this may sound crazy, but I've relatives who (in the past) had a couple of goats to eat the grass. they live in the country with a lot of land. and the goats kept the land cleared and ate just about everything. :eek:

Jean - the University of Washington recently used a herd of goats to clear wide expanses of lawn on campus; they were rented from a company called "Landscape Goats" . . . !!! cracks me up every time I think of it!

BAIT AND SWITCH: how to buy a new car below dealer cost
 

Watch for newspaper ads offering to sell you a new car for thousands less than sticker price. if the ad keeps running head for the dealer. you can cash in on their bait and switch. my last new car purchase was for $8788.
window sticker more than $13,000+.

Expect to be told to go away. if that happens go home and call the manufacturer, and the newspaper running the bait and switch.
a couple of weeks later you can buy at the advertised price. I have bought new proteges, a sentra, and a ford montego this way.

another opportunity for no haggling new car purchase is to watch for a dealer to write in big letters on the windshield a bargain price.

small cars have improved safety. if one suits you it will more than pay for itself in fuel savings. my $8788 sentra goes 40 mpg. compared to 20 mpg the savings on gas would be about $l0,000 on l00,000 miles at current prices.
japanese imports are so dependable ive spent nothing on repairs now
having 109,433 on the odometer, it has never failed to start and go.

davos
b 1936
dx 2000
stage 2-3

The best car
 

If you can find one, I recommend the Toyota Avalon. It is a full size sedan that seats five comfortable adults and gets 35 mpg - the best in its class. Mine is a 1996 and hasn't given any trouble.

Use the web to search within a half day's drive. And look for areas where businesses have dumped a big lease on the local market. I drove 300 miles to Atlanta because a big company had saturated the market and there were a couple of dozen in the north part of the city's used car lots.

I've just move to a city from a small town. I'm close enough to the stores that I can take my bike now. I just need to attach a two wheel cart so I can carry more if I need to. I actually find it easier to ride my bike than walkig sometimes. I ride a Seniors bike, low center bar and easy to ride. My gas saving is a bonus. I live alone, so when I cook, I cook enough so I can split it into two or three meals.

Max

victory gardens+
 

Remember victory gardens, which almost everyone grew during wartime, regardless of yard size? For some time, we have made small garden plots in our yard. Even in Texas where we live, we can grow a lot of things. The best is fall/winter, when I plant the chard, kale, kohlrabi, beets, broccoli, cilantro, and the like, even I was surprised what all we could grow during those months. Spring and summer are beans, peas, tomotoes, cucumbers, melons, and lots of herbs. Be prepared to fight the coons and squirrels, though, and they are very persistent. And if we grow it, I find our kids are far more likely to eat it.

A tip if you grow basil: we usually have a bumper crop of this stuff, far more than we can eat and give away....so, passing along a tip a friend gave me, here's what to do with all of those leaves:

gather all the extra basil leaves and wash
cut them up into small pieces and place into a ziploc bag
pour enough olive oil into the bag to thoroughly cover the herbs
with the bag flat on the counter, carefully press all the air out of the bag, then seal and place in the freezer (date the bag if you like with a sharpie)

The bag should not be thicker than about 1/4 of an inch-if it's too thick, it will be too hard to use. To use this stuff, just take the bag out of the freezer, open it up, and break off the size chunk that you need. So easy.

We do this and typically have enough basil to last well until the next year's harvest. You can use this in pasta sauces, salad dressings, pizza, anywhere you use regular basil, and the flavor is unbeatable.

One year our basil crop was so prolific (we planted 72 seeds and every one of them sprouted and grew like a weed!) that we actually took the thick stems from the plants and used them as skewers for grilling...waste not, want not.

Your local county agriculture extension agent can help you with what you can grow and when for your area. You can also find more information than you could ever read online, but again, plant for your area to avoid disappointment and waste.

If you are interested in gardening, try to get organic seeds, and heirloom varieties at that, to be sure you aren't growing some genetically modified version. We have saved seeds from one year to the next, with some success, but I usually buy them. Cost for a season's crop is usually less than twenty bucks.

If you don't have the space or energy to garden there are farmer's markets which I have found to be fresher, better tasting, and less expesive than produce trucked in from three thousand miles away. And it supports the local farmers, who use far less gas to get their produce to me than the farmer in California. A win-win all the way around.

Going more extreme...

If you have the space, also consider a bee hive. Bee populations are plummeting (a whole issue in and of itself, you can google this to read about how bad the problem is...but suffice it to say, no bees, no food as most everything we grow to eat has to be pollinated) and many online suppliers offer beekeeping supplies. Our famil's thought was just to buy a beehive starter, plunk the thing down in the back of the backyard, and leave it alone (after telling the kids to stay far, far away!).

One other thing we have not done but are considering for this fall: chickens. Not to eat, but for eggs. Check your deed restrictions to be sure you can have them on your property, research what breed(s) you are interested in, and whether they can live in your area. We found several places online that offer "organic" egg laying chicks, we just have to get the habitat ready. We've talked to some families that do this and it is complicated, so you have to do your research first and have everything ready before you get the chicks. But once you get it going, you can have fresh eggs whenever you like. And the chickens can scratch around in your garden plots, eating the bugs that might otherwise be a problem. I read they eat ticks, too, which is reason enough alone to have a few in the yard. Some of the families that do this in our area actually sell the extra eggs for two to three dollars a dozen, which beats the six bucks a dozen that Whole Foods charges...these are usually listed on craigslist (if you have access to that site) and are local, so again, less expensive and fresher.

Hope this information helps!

To help with grocery costs, many of our members are using Angel Food Ministries. They buy in volume and pass the saving on. You get $65 worth of groceries for $30. It's for everyone, not just low or no income.

http://www.angelfoodministries.com/

"smart cars"
 

you guys dont have these little rodent size cars in the states yet. They run on diet coke and an aspirin....well not quite, but they are showing up in increasing numbers on the roads, but have to stay off any roadway that goes more than 80 kph -sorry can't translate that into american equivalent, Maybe someone with more brain cells left than me can. They are so small they can park two to a street space alloted to one economy size car or skip parallel parking altogether and just put the front of the car parked toward the curb. In other words they are as long as the average auto is wide (Hummers are not average). I want my kids to buy me one so I can drive on the sidewalks. They say that they will not post bail if I become a menace to society....oh, I'm off topic. It's the brain disease ya know. Back to the donkey. I liked the bait and switch idea. Rick: I would be hard pressed to find 4 people who would get in a car with me if I was driving. Well Carry on ....some good suggestions and gets our grey matter moving.

what about food stamps..
 

these got a whole generation of welfare recipients through. I know that "welfare" is a nefarious word, but you only have to grovel for a few minutes at the ss department.
It was worse when it was worse. Welfare worker wanted us to sell our furniture before they would give us a penny more. My mom cried a river until her brothers stood up and picked up the tab for feeding us.

dearest cs...
 

dear cs my friend, :p
they havent changed much...I put 500 dollars in a savings acct.
and they sent me a official excuse me - we are going to take some -
benefits from you - you have 500 dollars in a savings acct...
you are suppose to be poor...
so I removed it from savings...
and bought frivilous things with it like food, shoes,toothpaste and hid the rest somwhere in a shoebox... ;)
yours truly,
tena

TRAVEL CLUBS...like staying at grandma's and cheaper
 

A european tradition now in the usa...members offer a safe comfortable room and breakfast to other members. PRICELESS but membership only about
$60 a year, $l5 single $20 double. members may or may not offer to show you about but will guide you to restaurants and sights to see.

i had thanksgiving dinner at a member's home in fla. stayed in a dozen
homes and hosted about that many. two are lifetime friends. all were
different except one couple i visited in fla came to tennessee.
one member in manitoba complained they had no guests. some are happy welcoming guests. members can accept visitors or not and the usual
stay is 2 or 3 nights. a host may have only several guests a year.

this is not a home exhange and obviously not a mercenary thing.

thanks to all neurotalkers....I'M ASTOUNDED !!!!

davos
b l936
dx 2000
stage 2.5

The AVALON is so quiet
 

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A friend took a trip with her sister in the family AVALON...impressed she had to have one too.

davos ...... PS Thanks for the idea of showing data.
b 1936 ..... Also info on meds and supplements you take.
dx 2000.... I'm taking most of the same plus isradipine an
stage 2.5.. simvastatin already needed for high cholesterol
.............. and hypertension.

MIRACLE WHIP 3 quart jars for one dollar, no sales tx
 

I've seen many Amish patronizing salvage groceries. i dont know if they buy the pop tarts for a dime or fancy bottled dressing for a dime.
microwave popcorn 25 cents.... they probably grow their own popcorn.
a box of several hundred "nutrition bars" for $6. the cashier checks every item and i've never had to return anything for refund. look for a well
lighted and good management stores with genuine bargain prices.

did you know DOLLAR GENERAL is building combination supermarket and
current misc.

my mother used to make dresses out of print feed sacks.

an elderly friend said her mother could take a pound of butter and a pound of lard and make it taste like 2 pounds of lard.

one time friends who were coming for dinner called to cancel. mom said
"oh darn..and i put 2 eggs in the cornbread !!!..."

davos

basil & bees
 

Lurking - thank you for the basil tips! Mine always went to waste - but no more!

And unfortunately nearly all of the bees in Arizona are now "africanized" -- we no longer have honey bees for pollinating.

I applied for them last winter when I applied for heating assistance..As Tena said, you have to be poorer than poor to get food stamps now..Things have changed in social services..I didnt get much from fuel assistance either..They gave me $325, and I was getting a bill for $700 every 5-6 weeks..Thanks to "Call Joe for Oil" I was able to get another 100 gallons

As I've said before
 

this is an awesome website and I love you guys! I love the line davos posted

" an old friend said her mother could take a a pound of butter and a pound of lard, and make it taste like 2 pounds of lard!" I'm still laughing.....

I also liked the next line about the corn bread.....2 eggs. Yup those were the dirty thirties. We're still better off than most of the world on this "the sunny side of the planet" (old line from song updated to acknowledge globalization)

Gotta go make applesauce out of some deceased (almost) apples I found in the back of my fridge

cheers Joy

Well growing up, we never lived high on the hog so these hard times for us are no different then when I was growing up. We've learned to make do with what we have and only buy things when really necessary. In general we avoid junk food and fast food because it's too expensive. When you can feed a family of 6 on a $6.00 piece of roast pork and a few good healthy vegatables, and it costs that per person at Burger King, you can see why we chose the healthier diet. The good side to this is a much healthier way to live because there is less Sodium and Sugar in the real food, and the junk food is loaded up to the kilters with it.

My car is a 2001 Toyota Celica with 120,000 miles on it. It gets nearly 37 mpg and I fill it up once every 9 days. We're lucky in that the supermarket is only a mile away. So for the most part, we could walk if we have to. We're also 3 miles from New Hampshire where there's no sales tax. After I did the calculations, even with the higher gas prices, we go to NH anyway because the difference between the two is a wash, although it is easier to drive to pick-up the groceries than it is to carry the sacks home.

We have a small porch garden at our house. The sunlight is limited to a few hours in the morning until mid-afternoon because we have too many trees and we live on the side of hill. So we end up with a few cucumbers, beans, lettuce, and a handful of tomatos. I think the tomatos wer better last year because it wasn't as humid.

When winter comes, we keep the thermostats down and bundle up under the blankets at night. I have to admit that cats make nice bedwarmers, and are welcome guests during the winter months. For the most part, I kick them out of my bed because they snuggle too tight across my legs.

Like everyone else here, we scrounge the coupons and shop at the seconds-stores. We have Family Dollar and Building 19. Building 19 is close-outs and slightly damaged goods. Who cares if the label was marked incorrectly. They sell just about everything from glassware, clothing, carpets, and even furniture.


John

We have stores here in Texas called 99c Only. They get great food items that are labeled so that they can't stay in the regular stores long. Like "New and Improved" or have a game ticket or sweepstakes. These are name brand foods. Can't beat Hillshire Farms lunch meat that come in a Gladware plastic tub for 99c or Bertolli frozen meals that seel at Walmart for over $6 for 99c.

Hubby gets his reading glasses there. Exact same ones that CVS sells for $20. He loses them all the time. :rolleyes:

Here is a link to their website. See if there is one near you. http://www.99only.com/

It has cut my grocery bill way down.

I also go on to the websites of the products we like. Most you can get samples. This really helps with shampoo and laundry care items.