Using What You’ve Got – A Grocery Trip

Grocery costs. They’re enough to send you in a panic.

For years I have been spending upwards of $1600 a month for our family of six, and some months are closer to $2000 (thanks, gas prices and inflation). According to the Motley Fool, food expenses are third in line behind housing and transportation for where Americans spend the most each month. But that isn’t the case for my house. The money we spend on my modest Subaru, my husband’s Jeep, and the gas we use don’t come close to feeding four hungry kids.

(If you’re expecting me to write about coupon clipping and using the same ingredients from meal to meal, that isn’t what I’m sharing. This is about being creative with what you have.)

We hardly ever eat out unless we are out of town, so I can’t even blame that on why our food bills are so high. It all had to do with my grocery shopping habits. I had to do something to stop the bleeding. I think I knew deep down I had the solution all along, but it takes planning to bring those grocery bills down, and I am not a planner.

Here is where I started: the pantry.

Why do I have so many half-open packages of pasta, rice, and beans? And why do I have so many canned goods that I buy every trip thinking I need to have every nook and cranny of my pantry filled. I won’t even get started on all the frozen veggies in my freezer, but here, my friends, is where my solution began.

Breakfast is usually yogurt or toast with peanut butter. Lunches are usually sandwiches, soups, salads… whatever we have on hand plus fruit, chips, and granola bars making their usual appearance in lunchboxes

For dinners, I brainstormed with my husband since he’s the main cook. Together, we came up with ways to make a dent in the pantry.

• Monday
  3 half bags of egg noodles + 4 frozen steaks that were on sale + mushrooms = Beef stroganoff!
• Tuesday
  Buy one get one pork tenderloin deal + rice + can of peas = Roasted pork tenderloin and sides. I got to use a pantry bouillon cube to season the rice. It’s all about using those pantry items.
• Wednesday
  Frozen hot dogs + crescent rolls = pigs in a blanket + mustard (not every meal is gourmet – we being frugal here!). I had some frozen mozzarella sticks I added to the “feast.”
• Thursday
  So many half-full jars of olives + can of garbanzo beans + feta + tomatoes + cucumber + a half bag of frozen chicken = Greek salad with grilled chicken. I made my own salad dressing with red wine vinegar, olive oil, lemon juice, and various spices. The kids gobbled this up (well, the oldest only ate the chicken, but three out of four ain’t bad!).
• Friday
  Frozen salmon + quinoa + frozen veggies. Here’s where I got creative. Those frozen veggies needed heeeelp. I found a recipe on Bon Appétit that has you toast panko with spices that you mix with the sautéed veggies in butter right after they are cooked. It took my sad frozen cauliflower and brussels sprouts to another level. Here’s a link: https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/skillet-roasted-cauliflower-with-panko (I didn’t have any pine nuts, so I skipped that).
• Saturday
  Any leftovers you have – or whip up a butter noodles or spaghetti and meat sauce. It’s Saturday, and no one felt like preparing a huge meal.
• Sunday
  Eggs + frozen veggies + cheese on hand = veggie soufflé! Soufflés sounds intimidating, but they’re not. And I got to use the bits of feta, parmesan, and mozzarella I had. Is it worthy to be served at Rise? I think decidedly no, but this is a delicious meal, and you will be surprised how easy it is to make and how much you can go through those bits of things in your kitchen. Same goes for quiche if you prefer them. You can work in ham or bacon if you need to use up the meats in your fridge.

My grocery list included pork tenderloin, crescent rolls, mushrooms, onion, frozen chicken, cucumber, tomatoes, two bags of lettuce, and then all the stuff I buy weekly like chips, granola bars, yogurt, milk, butter, and fruit – lots of fruit, as my kids go through pounds and pounds per child per week. Admittedly, this is where a large portion of my bill is, but I know how healthy it is for them.

Last week, my grocery bill was UNDER $300! Don’t forget we have four teenagers/tweens who eat all day long. This is a huge win for me. And if I keep it up, we will save over $10,000 this year on our grocery bills.