Getting Our Grocery Expenses Back Under Control

Grocery prices have just gone through the roof and I am leaving pretty much all of our disposable income at the store these days just to make sure we have enough food on the table. Something has to chance and since it doesn’t look like food prices will go down any time soon and getting a raise is pretty much impossible in this situation, it’s time for me to take matters into my own hands. After much contemplation, the solution became obviously clear… I had to turn to the past and more specifically to my grandmother for advice. After all, her generation was all about making do with less.

I sat down with her and we had a nice long chat about the way she used to cook and take care of her family. Turns out that the two big differences in the way she cooked and the way we are used to eating now were less convenience food (including eating out) and less meat. Makes sense, doesn’t it? We pay a premium for the conveniences bake mixes, dinner kits and frozen meals provide us and you don’t have to be a financial adviser to figure out that a good chunk of your grocery money each week is going towards buying chicken and steaks.

My new plan is to cook a lot more from scratch and to replace some of the meat with beans. I’ve found some great suggestions to do that here - legume dishes and will of course rely on grandma’s recipes as well. I’m sure it will take my family (and me) some time to adjust, but it will be well worth it when we can spend some of our hard earned money on more fun things like Christmas presents for example.