My grocery list: how does everyone get it so low???

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I joined the grocerygame.com, signed up for the bonus card at CVS, printed off coupons at eversave, and went through the circular today to get the best deals. And still, we are spending tons more than others. Here's my grocery list and meal/snack list for the week, how do others save so much???

First of all, please note, that I am spending no money on meat, diapers, dog food, and most paper products this week, so I buy some of the other stuff on sale, then we go to the angelfoodministries for all of our meat now. But, I also am not buying lots of stuff this week, so next week I might be buying some of the other staples:

Also, we are a family of 7, that's why there's so many varieties for lunch, etc, it's because it's for all 7 of us! We also have several with food allergies and skin allergies.

Here's the menu:
Breakfast:
Pancakes, syrup (already have)
Cereal(have)
OJ
English muffins
Eggs/egg sandwiches

Lunches: at school and at home
yogurt light
cheese sticks
grapes
apples, oranges, grapefruit
pbj's
tuna melt on english muffins
salad with egg/cheese/dressing
cheez-its (for school donation)
fruit snacks
Applesauce

Snacks: 2-3X daily for little ones, 2X daily for older ones and for adults:
-baked chips
-pretzels
-veggies/dip
=apples, other fruit
-PBJ
-cereal
Tortilla chips/cheese
-popcorn
-cheese sticks/cheese sandwich

Church/school donation:
-pretzel
-baked chips

Valentine's dinner:
-steak,potatoes, veggie, cake and cake mix

Other dinners: I have all the ingredients for them except for the potatoes and frozen dinners, so I don't have to buy much for dinners this week.

Grocery list: Starred items are on sale and/or I have a coupon for them

Produce:
2lbs green beans:_______3.40
2lbs grapes:____________4.00
White potatoes2/5______5.00*
Red Apples_____________3.00*
Sweet Potatoes_________2.50
Baby carrots____________2.00
Salad Blend (2 bags)_____5.00*


Personal care/household:
Always maxi pads:_______2.65
Head and Shoulders shamp:2.99*(need this brand because of psiorasis)
Same, conditioner________2.99*
Deordorant______________1.00
Prilosec_________________10.00*I have 6.00 off in coupons, need for gerd
All free laundry detergent___6.00
Dish washing detergent_____4.00
Toilet Paper______________8.00


Refrigerated/Frozen:
Milk, 2 gallons__________7.00
Cheese _______________5.00*
Coffeemate____________2.00*
OJ___________________3.99 (this is for big one, enough for week)
Frozen veggies (8)X.80__6.40*
Yoplait light yogurt (10).52_5.20*
Butter 2/5 sale___________5.00*


Canned/boxed/snacks:
Pa. Dutch noodles: sale 10/10_____10.00 *(stocking up for soups and casseroles)
Tuna sale 10/10 ________________10.00*
Baked potato chips 2/6___________6.00*
Pretzels 2/4____________________4.00*
Cheez-it's (school donation/lunch)2/5.00*
Brownie Mix (great sale)________2/1.00*
Fruit snacks__________________2/3.00*
Cake mix/frosting______________2/2.30(valentines day dinner)
Water 24pck for lunches, trips___5.00
cream mushroom soup 3/2______2.00


Bread:
English muffins 2/5___________5.00
Bread 2 loaves for kids/hubby__3.00

Total: $173.50 (I rounded)

Right now, my budget is $800/month and I just don't see how to cut that back. Next week,we will pay for the march angel food ministries, then the week after, we will buy 3-4 packs of diapers/pullups, dog food, wipes, and probably more stuff like hairspray, toothpaste, etc. And then in the next week, I usually get staples, ketchup, tea, coffee, seasonings, and gluten free mixes for pancakes and stuff. I already have all that stuff for now, so none on this weeks list.

I know some people want me to cut the snacks more,but I find that if I am unrealistic with food and snacks, they will end up wanting to eat out, eat more school lunches, etc. So it doesn't save me any money in the long run.
__________________

Have you tried shopping from home? Menu planning based on what you already have and fill in the gaps with new things??
The rise in food is incredible and we are all feeling the pinch

Chandi

Honestly, $800 for 7 people plus a dog sounds very reasonable to me. I spend about $400-$450 a month for 4 people and no pets (though we do plan to get another hamster soon.)

The people who spend less money than you do on groceries probably fall into one or more of the following categories:

Smaller families. $300 can easily feed a family for the month if it's only 2 adults and a toddler.

They may only be counting FOOD- not "all groceries" such as diapers, pet foods toothpaste, laundry detergent, etc in the grocery budget.

They may have gardens and/or livestock, ie: not have to actually purchase all of their food.

They may live in an area with a lower cost of living than you do.

Families without food allergies can get by with cheaper foods.

There are still ways you could theoretically cut some of your expenses. I say "theoretically" because I don't know if some of my suggestions may be unrealistic for a busy mom with 5 kids, including a toddler!

1) Would you consider using cloth diapers instead of dispsoables?

2) You mentioned snack foods- do you buy these in individual packages, or in large packages that you then repackage yourself into sandwich bags? These items are generally cheaper when purchased in larger packages. Popcorn is cheapest when purchased as unpopped kernals that you pop yourself. I'd say that your older two are probably old enough to pop popcorn, and the older 3 (maybe even the 5yo too) are old enough to repackage chips and pretzels into ziploc sandwich bags.

Similarly, yogurt is much cheaper when purchased in quart sized tubs instead of 6oz or 8oz individual serving cups- but if the yogurts are being packed for lunches away from home, this may not be practical.

thanks for the ideas,

yes, I do plan the menu around what we already have, that's why i didn't include any of the dinners, plus many of the foods such as pancakes, cereal, syrup we already have.

We do buy the bigger snack things, we look for what's on sale, that's how we pick. Plus with gluten intolerance, we have to include nongluten items. The kids love to pop popcorn, we have lots of different flavors we play around with.

We have used cloth in the past, but since I am away so much right now with working (and recently have been sick with a pituitary tumor), my husband wants nothing to do with them in a 2.5 yo. The other pullups are actually for my 9yo daughter who isn't dry at night, we wouldn't wear cloth when we tried!

i'm open to others suggestions, ideas, or even what others buy weekly or monthly.

Here's mine last week for my family of six:

Breakfast:
Oatmeal
Granola
Cold Cereal
Cream of Wheat

Lunch:
Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwiches
Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
Leftovers from dinners

Snacks:
Animal Crackers
Trail Mix
Carrot sticks
Celery with peanut butter
Cheese Slices

Dinners:
Huevos con Tortilla
Green Bean Okazu
Baked Squash Lasagna
Apple Raisin Wraps
Butternut Squash Pizzettes
Vegetarian London Fog Split Pea Soup
Spaghetti and Sauce

Grocery List

From Local Organic Delivery Service:
3.74 Apples (6)
6.41 Green Beans
1.61 Celery
1.81 Cilantro
1.89 Rosemary
1.32 Lemons (1)
1.85 Green Onions
1.66 Onions (2)
2.11 Green Bell Pepper
5.87 Butternut Squash (2)
5.48 Spaghetti Squash
2.99 Cream Cheese
.88 Rolled Oats
3.08 Toilet Paper
5.98 Bread (2)
1.17 Carrots
1.00 Corn Tortillas
2.49 Jelly
3.88 Parmesan Cheese
3.68 Canned Olives (2)
3.75 Wheat Tortillas
5.04 Dish Soap
.97 Split Peas
1.43 Brown Rice
3.56 Canned Tomatoes (2)
3.53 Granola
1.28 Walnuts
78.46 TOTAL

From Safeway (estimates):
2.00 Soy Sauce
5.00 Vegetable Broth
2.00 Raisins
5.00 TVP crumbles
7.00 Pizza Shells
5.00 Coffee
26.00 TOTAL (may be lower)

From WIC:
Eggs
Cheese
Peanut Butter
Cold Cereal
Milk

Already had:
Cream of Wheat
Coffee Creamer
Animal Crackers
Trail Mix
Spaghetti and Sauce

That's 104.46 total and the majority of it is organic. Our budget is $400/month. WIC helps, as does the fact that we're vegetarian. Without WIC we would have spent an extra $20-30 but we probably would have cut that out by using less organics or cooking vegan foods. We use a diaper service for $16/week.

Oh, and you do know that with the 10/$10 sales you don't have to buy ten, right? You can get 2/$2 or 5/$5.

I found with the Grocery Game that I wasn't saving a lot. Most things listed were unhealthy or things that we didn't need. I might buy chips on sale 2/$6 with GG but without I might have spent $3 on carrots instead.

The things I have found that helped most with grocery costs are:
-eating meatless meals
-cutting out soda/juice and only drinking coffee/tea/water
-cutting out pre-packaged and frozen foods
-using cloth instead of disposable diapers, baby wipes, paper towels, cleaning cloths, and menstrual care

I don't include non food items in my budget.

try buying water bottles to fill at home. less money and waste.

nak

How long have you been doing the grocerygame? I know it really does take about a 13 week cycle to get really stockpiled on things. I don't use their site anymore, I kind of do my own thing but I mostly buy loss leaders and stock up on things when they are on sale and then we base our menus around what is already in the freezer/pantry. We are a family of 7 plus one on the way and we average 4-500 a month on all groceries and household stuff- this includes a lot of organics and fruit/veggies. The big thing for me was to start baking from scratch- you can make a lot of grab and go snacks and just have them on hand. That helps us alot too!

How long have you been doing the grocerygame? I know it really does take about a 13 week cycle to get really stockpiled on things.

:yeah:

This is what I was going to say. It takes some time to get stocked up and see the savings with couponing. Right now I could skip the grocery store, except for milk, for at least 3 weeks without my family noticing. I won't, but I could.

There are many things on your list that I have stockpiled and paid nowhere near what you are going to pay (many things a dollar or less), because I had the luxury of waiting for a sale. If we lived nearby I would give you some of it ;) For example, the shampoo, maxi pads, TP, dw liquid, etc. Some of those things I literally have more than a year's worth, and I give stuff away all of the time.

The only other thing is we eat a lot of meatless meals, or low meat meals. That saves a lot.

You are also feeding a lot more mouths than many people here, and feeding them EVERY meal, and you have allergies to deal with!!

I think given your family size that's a VERY reasonable budget!

That said, I'd make some menu changes if it were for my family (not saying you should - just that we would). We generally don't buy processed foods and I saw things like cake mixes, pre-packaged snacks, etc. that could be substituted with homemade versions to lower your budget. Not everyone has time for that sort of cooking, though, I know.

Yogurt can be made very inexpensively at home as well and re-packaged for travel.

OJ can be purchased in concentrate form and *might* be less expensive than the "big one" on your list, but don't know your local prices.

Admittedly, I don't know what it's like to have to feed 7 people. Our budget for 2 adults and 2 small kids (5 and 3 yrs) is $550/month (we buy beef in bulk once a year and that's not included in this number) but that does not include non-food items.

Here are some suggestions that we've put into play, don't know if they'd work for you or not (also I'm in Canada and food prices here can differ alot from US).

Cheese Sticks: I used to buy these b/c I loved the convenience, but my kids eat a lot of cheese and DH pointed out the unit price (price/lb) is 3x higher if you buy cheese sticks than if you buy a big block of cheese. I just cut it up into chunks and stick them in small tupperware containers. It's a bit more work, to be sure, but it does save money.

English muffins and fruit snacks are a luxury item in our new grocery budget, lol. Ditto for cereal. I don't feed the kids cereal (even though some mornings I wish I could for convenience sake). And I limit myself to the occasional bowl and only buy what's on sale (2 for 1, etc). Before sitting down to look at our grocery bill I had no idea how much money was going to just cereal (a lot!).

Water: we have a service that delivers 18L jugs. We go through two per month and each costs less than $8. I use sippy cups and small reusable water bottles.

Honestly, looking at your bill I think you're doing fine. Maybe you need to readjust your grocery budget.

Thanks! It makes me feel better to know we are on track, since we include everything in ours including dog food, some meds, household products.

I do know that cooking from scratch would save time and be better. But, I honestly hate to cook. I have tried over the years to convince myself I didn't and try to learn to cook more, and I suck at it and hate it! Right now, my 12, almost 13 year old does most of the cooking. Luckily, she likes it and is very good at it. She is learning to make all kinds of things gluten free! But with my crazy schedule as a midwife and mom to 5, I just don't want to be in the kitchen!

For an example, a funny one. One of my amish gave me, like 40 lbs. of tomatoes this summer. We decided we were going to learn how to can, my 12 yo and I spend all morning, I think almost 4 hours in the kitchen, between squeezing all the tomatoes, cooking them, getting the canning stuff clean and ready to go, cleaning up our big mess, etc. After we were done (with our experimenting!) we had 5 jars of tomato sauce. My boys were fighting, they had made huge mess, and then I got called out to a birth, smelling and covered with tomato juice. It dawned on me, with coupons, I could have spent less than $5 for 5 jars of spaghetti sauce and been done with it!!! I know some people love to do it, for my Amish, it's almost their meditative work, but it's not for me!

Anyway, I tend to buy the 10/10 if it's a good deal. our grocery has a sign that says that if you buy less than the sales amount, you pay regular price! My oldest daughter used to work there and was given grief about that all the time!

I will keep with the grocery game for a full cycle and see if we don't do better. And angel food ministries has helped greatly too, although some of their food is kind of gross, my kids won't eat it, but they do like the meat.

7 of you and two teens and you work, all on $700 or so a month - you are doing fine.

We have 4 people and our budget is $100/week. I don't buy meat, and we almost never buy prepackaged foods.

I feed 6 on about $600. But we all cook, all the time.

A few adjustments would save you some, though.

English muffins are costly. Use bread. Is there a day-old store any where around you? Bread is cheap there!

Cereal is pricey. I saw that you hate to cook. Any chance of making an extra bunch of pancakes and microwaving them for breakfast? Or search out coupons! real oatmeal, the cooked kind, can be made over night in your crockpot. Try making it with apple juice.


Do you buy ppre-cut, pre-packaged stuff, or buy big and break it down. Kids can help!!!!! Apple sauce, yogurt, cheese sticks, etc.

Donate something cheaper than Cheeze-its. Pretzels maybe.


When I worked, about 35 hours a week, and it ws 3 years ago, we spent $250 a week most weeks. (didn't need to shop about once every 2 months) And that was TRYING. Oh, and there were only 5 of us, but we did have a HUGE dog.


I think you're doing fine. If you can get the kids to help out, you might save more.

I think you are doing GREAT as well. We are a family of 4 and our grocery bill (not including paper/toiletries/laundry) has been around $500/month...however, I am trying to get it to around $400.

If you are not a cook or baker, that does make some issues! However, maybe you can take more advantage of your daughter cooking...maybe you could pay her to cook?

Here are some minor changes I see that you could make:

Produce:
2lbs green beans:_______3.40 frozen? like $1/bag
2lbs grapes:____________4.00
White potatoes2/5______5.00*
Red Apples_____________3.00*
Sweet Potatoes_________2.50
Baby carrots____________2.00
Salad Blend (2 bags)_____5.00*if you buy in bulk at Costco or buy the heads of lettuce/romaine is usually less than $1/head


Personal care/household:
Always maxi pads:_______2.65
Head and Shoulders shamp:2.99*(need this brand because of psiorasis)
Same, conditioner________2.99*
Deordorant______________1.00
Prilosec_________________10.00*I have 6.00 off in coupons, need for gerd
All free laundry detergent___6.00
Dish washing detergent_____4.00
Toilet Paper______________8.00


Refrigerated/Frozen:
Milk, 2 gallons__________7.00
Cheese _______________5.00*
Coffeemate____________2.00*
OJ___________________3.99 (this is for big one, enough for week)frozen?
Frozen veggies (8)X.80__6.40*
Yoplait light yogurt (10).52_5.20* how about a big container...scoop it into little ones
Butter 2/5 sale___________5.00*


Canned/boxed/snacks:
Pa. Dutch noodles: sale 10/10_____10.00 *(stocking up for soups and casseroles)
Tuna sale 10/10 ________________10.00*
Baked potato chips 2/6___________6.00*
Pretzels 2/4____________________4.00*walmart carries their brand for $1/bag
Cheez-it's (school donation/lunch)2/5.00*
Brownie Mix (great sale)________2/1.00*
Fruit snacks__________________2/3.00*you could wait and stock up on store brand usually less than $1/box
Cake mix/frosting______________2/2.30(valentines day dinner)good price! could you make your own frosting? powdered sugar a little cream and a little butter...SOOOO much better ;)
Water 24pck for lunches, trips___5.00 this seems a little high. we buy water for 3.88 a case at walmart. Often though, I see it for 3.99 at other places...even places like Lowes
cream mushroom soup 3/2______2.00


Bread:
English muffins 2/5___________5.00 that's pretty high. I can usually find a HUGE store pack of like 18 for a little over $1
Bread 2 loaves for kids/hubby__3.00

I really think you do well...and maybe the couple of dollars that I have found wouldn't even be worth the time. Sometimes you have to think about that you and your husband both work and a few dollars extra might mean A LOT of sanity!

Do you have an Aldi near you? or a Save-A-Lot?

The pretzels, water, cheezits, light yogurt, noodles would probably be cheaper there.

Any chance of making an extra bunch of pancakes and microwaving them for breakfast?

My DH does pancakes and waffles every weekend and we freeze them. It's great and since he makes 'em from scratch, we can use half whole wheat flour and sometimes a little flax meal in them to boost the nutrition.




real oatmeal, the cooked kind, can be made over night in your crockpot. Try making it with apple juice.


Oooh, do tell ... I've never tried. How do you do it??

I second the suggestion to simplfy breakfast.

English muffins and cereal are treats for us. Mostly, breakfast is yogurt or cottage cheese (bought in large containers) and toast (made in the bread machine).

Depending on how fast you go through breads, a bread machine might pay for itself for you guys, with 7 to feed. My numbers say that ours paid for itself pretty quickly -- I didn't compare cheap bread, though, I compared the pricey stuff I coveted, the no transfats no corn syrup stuff. And we didn't buy a cheap bread machine. Once we had it, though, bread costs 1/3 or even 1/4 of storebought.

Otherwise - I agree, frozen green beans are cheaper and probably more nutritious at this time of year (they're usually frozen hours from the field, vs days of shipping to get them to you, during which time they're losing nutrients). Grapes are pricey right now and so are apples (they're down to the last of the cold-storage stuff or theyr'e shipping them from the southern hemisphere). I buy fruit based on the season especially - no berries in winter unless frozen.

I share the love of the bagged salad for its longer-lasting qualities, but I can get a 1-pound tub of organic salad greens for less than 2 bags of non-organic, and they really don't go bad faster.

Bottled water - buy water bottles and fill as needed for outings or school. Our school has the kids bring water bottles for the classroom that they leave on their desks. Paying for water - especially water in small bottles --
has always (sorry to be blunt) seemed both silly and wasteful to me. If you do bottled water for health reasons, I'd fill refillable bottles from a giant tankard.

You can pick up bread machines at second hand stores or yard sales for almost NOTHING! I paid $5 for mine, brand new in the box! I really like the little bread machine books by Donna Rathmell German The Bread Machine Cookbook 1-?. Easy enough for a few of your kids to handle. Also makes making pizza dough a breeze!!

I am worried that your oldest may start to feel a lot of pressure to cook (speaking from personal experience here). I liked the idea of her getting paid or perhaps that being her chore. Can the younger sib's help cook too? wash lettuce, grate cheese, slice bread, make sandwiches?

Can you have cooking lessons on the weekends for all of them? My 7 year old can make pancakes and scrambled eggs almost by himself.

I agree with you: canning isn't for everyone. That is OK. You need to maxamize your time more than anything else. Instead of tomato sauce, I buy tomato paste and make my own sauce for 1/4 the cost. If I do can: I don't can tomato sauce; I can whole/diced tomatoes. Faster and easier. But really, canning takes some practice to really get a good return on the effort.

Can you work a couple large cassaroles in a week and double or triple them to freeze 1-2 for later?

Don't buy gluten free mixes. They are SOOOOOOOO expensive. Make your own. If you want some easy pointers, pm me.

:notes:

just an update...I ended up not buying everyone on the list, partly because people are sick here again and we ended up eating boxed soup, crackers, ginger ale and popsicles!!!

I thought about all our meals this week and breakfast seems the simplest, cereal is certainly the easiest for me, and eggs. We're not big breakfast eaters, but we did freeze up some pancakes, both regular and gluten free.

someone offered to help me with homemade gluten free mixes, that would be great, you can pm me.

My daughter and I joined a local biggest loser group and hope to each lose 2 lbs. per week, so hopefully we'll be able to concentrate on produce and eating more beans.


Bread: We go through about 3 loaves per week, my husband likes the cheap stuff, and so he won't touch bread I make, the kids aren't fond of it either, plus when he is eating cheap stuff at less than 1/loaf, it's hard to beat that. We have tried the gluten free stuff and it's pretty yucky, so we just skip it. And the 2 kids that eat the english muffins won't eat the generic, only the brand, but we usually only eat 1=2 packs/month, it's not a regular. We use them for lunches and snacks too.

We are also trying to eat more soups and stretch the budget that way. And get better at CVS and their bonus program.

So, I'm back at it this week trying to keep improving, thanks for all the suggestions, any others would be appreciated.

I share the love of the bagged salad for its longer-lasting qualities, but I can get a 1-pound tub of organic salad greens for less than 2 bags of non-organic, and they really don't go bad faster.


Where do you get this?

Thanks everyone- I am also snagging many of these ideas!

Okay. I read through the thread after I came up with comments...but I think that still perhaps...it might be worthwhile to try some of it out.

-Can the fruit snacks. Or, if there is a costco around, you can get them for less in larger quantities there.

-Again, I would buy each child a water bottle and use it. Study after study shows that the water in the bottles isn't any better or safer, only about ONE HUNDRED times more expensive than tap water. We got a reverse osmosis filter and it paid for itself in a year. Now it's just wonderful! We use sigg bottles, but there are less expensive ones, but we ALWAYS have our water bottles with us, each of us has, and is responsible for refilling, our own (obviously that wouldn't work for your tiny one, but our four year old has been doing his own for...oh, six or eight months now...he's tall and can reach the fridge).

-As a PP suggested, I would get large tubs of yogurt and toss the portions in some small tupperware or rubbermaid containers. Yes, more responsiblity for the kids to take care of, but considerably less expensive in the long run.

-I, too, make my own bread. Honestly, the kids got over it quite quickly...and now they don't like the other stuff! Too, I tweaked the recipes until I made it light and soft...you can do that with white whole wheat flour and lots of vital gluten. It can be made just as, uh, gummy, as the cheap store brand stuff, if they like it that way...but my kids don't...and my husband dealt in the beginning and has become accustomed to it as well.

On top of that, homemade English muffins, uh ROCK and are less expensive and are actually better (believe it or not) than the name brand. Not hard to make, either. At all.

Pretzels are easy to make. Really. The seventeen year old could share some kitchen responsiblity...eventually they'll need to move out and know how to cook, so now is better than never!

-Again, gluten free. Make your own mixes. Join a co-op that sells dry goods, buy your ingredients in bulk (for easily half the cost), and make your own flours. We keep a HUGE crock of all purpose garfava-sorghum-tapioca-rice (or potato starch) flour on the counter at all times. We make home made rice bread that is just great...I actually wouldn't mind were I "forced" to eat it (I'm not gluten free, but DH and DS are). HOnestly. The store breads make me wretch just opening the bags, but this is pretty darned good. And the baking mix is AWESOME. We get cakes that act like real wheat cakes, and pizza dough, and pancakes, etc. Almost like normalcy, and it's not breaking our budget. we got really scared when we realized we'd have to go wheat and gluten free on top of all the allergies we already "provide" for...but some leg work really pays off!

-get store brand frozen oj for a TON less than you're paying, and the SAME brand (or close) frozen for still quite a bit less.

-Maxi pads...I bought a diva cup and it is one of the best things I've ever done. I am also a birth worker, so wouldn't be able to do cloth. It's just not okay with me to have to stash a wet bag of my cloth during a birth. *shrug* others may feel differently...but I like the diva cup because I have a LONG time before I need to empty it, so if I take care of it when I get there (on a heavy day), I often don't have to change it till I would have taken a breather anyway. If you are NOT a cup kind of Mama, then I WOULD suggest cloth. It is just such a huge savings. I bought it two years ago, and feel like a freeee woman because I don't have to spend $15 a month on tampons (I bleed quite heavily). But, even $7 a month over the years adds up. It just does.

-Along those lines--cloth diapering. I know you already addressed this...BUT. Even just going to washcloths over wipes (you can get a 20 pk at walmart or a 24 pack at Costco for under ten bucks) will save you huge. And you'll see the savings in the second month.

-The GoodNights...can you contact the manufacturer and ask for coupons? They are expensive, and you can't help it if you wet (we have enuresis in our family). But if you are able to get coupons and shop when they're on sale, you can bring the cost down.

-If the Amish are going to GIVE you the 40 pounds of tomatoes you may as well use them somehow! Toms freeze well, as well. YOu freeze them whole, then when you're ready to cook with them, they honestly just slide right out of their skin. You can also just can them whole or cubed, rather than making the sauce and canning IT. That will give her the chance to use it in making a quick sauce by the can, OR using them in chili, soup, stew,or in meatloaf, or whatever. MOre options.

-Get into a CSA or buy from the Amish MORE of your veggies, at much better prices. Then eat them fresh and blanch and freeze like crazy. I paid pennies a pound for my beans and peas this past year. I paid a dollar a pound for potatoes (they store well in the basemetnt), apples, berries. I got potatoes and apples that "keep well" and berries got frozen. ACtually some of the berries also got made into freezer jam, and I did get a box of apples that I made into apple butter. Much the same end product as your tomatoes...but still stored them, got them dirt cheap (actually got a second bushel for free at the service station across from my kids' homeschool music class--they always go to waste and I just asked them if I could pick them, they said sure!!), and in the end got 10 jars of apple butter for significantly less (quarter? third?) of what I would have paid for apple butter in the store...and I controlled the sugar and the LACK of corn syrup!! But I digress. The berries we use year round, on our pancakes/waffles and in muffins, crepes, on desserts. Frozen berries are expensive. Really a "splurge" item in our house. Now they're really cheap.

-I agree, use less paper products if you can. We use NO paper towels or napkins, all cloth. It saves us. We DON'T use family cloth, I must admit. But I do always only buy TP on sale.

-see if, next year, you are able to buy meat in bulk. I bought organic free range pork and beef this year for easily fifty cents or more less a pound than I would have spent for the conventional stuff at the grocery store. Yes, I bought a whole hog and shared a 1/4 cow. We also bought several chickens, some cut up and some roasters, and three turkeys. Our meat budget was actually cut more than in half for the year, and we have MORE meat than we'll be able to eat, I think, before fall...or we'll come REALLY close! And, because of our food allergies, we eat pretty much all of our meals at home or homemade. And I swear, it tastes so good!!! I ended up taking one doula check to pay for the chickens and turkeys and another to pay for the hog and the cow. And now I'm done for the year...and it's all in the freezer. Yes, we did buy the freezer, and it is large. However. IT is a super energy star, and we got it on clearance, and it paid for itself the first year, in the savings we were able to realize in food.

Hope some of that helps. Have your daughter try a cookbook called "The New Best Recipes." She'll never want to use anything else again (and you might even like it!). It is worth every penny, I swear.

I find buying skim (or whole depending) powdered milk to be a huge saver and easy to hide in stuff..I also make my own yogurt and nut milks SO EASY.
I got a yogurt maker second hand..but you can make it with a mason jar as well...
Nut grain milks - soak nuts, or boil, toast or season first mix it up a bit if you prefer...blend and strain so much better than the store bought and so cheap

I am a big kitchen gadget queen I ask for them for holidays..
my icecream maker rocks - I can put things in and hide them fruit, extra skim milk powder...

I also LOVE my dehydrator - jerky, dried fruit (PINAPPLE ROCKS)

had a bread maker it sucked that was 12 years ago..

also we bought a food slicer deli style this year -oh baby...meats to slice are so much cheaper when you slice at home - you can slice anything roasts, leftovers, cheese, and when you do tomatoes and onions le voila instant subs restaurant style!

crock pot oatmeal...yummy