More about frugal grocery shopping

I'm still cleaning house and organizing the foods in my kitchen.

I decided to take a break from it yesterday to search the web for ideas and inspiration. I came across this couple who had experimented with eating for $1 a day to bring attention to the plight of hunger around the world.... especially in America.

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In order to read about their 30 day project you need to go to "older posts" and get to the original starting post then it will let you read in the right order instead of backwards. It was an interesting read.

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While it was an interesting experimental project and did bring in donations..... I saw many flaws in their way of thinking. For example: the couple attended social functions where food was offered to the attendees. They didn't eat any of it. In my opinion, no one, in any country, who is truly going hungry would ever turn down free food.

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The couple were offered cookies by some of their students. Again, they didn't eat any. Very often the kids in real poverty situations will offer some of their own food to others who are also in the same situation. Even with the knowledge it means less for them self. Those kids were possibly offering a gesture of friendship/kinship and the couple missed the opportunity. The couple also never visited a soup kitchen nor asked for help from a local food bank. Both places are common food stretchers among the poor. There is also the commodity and wic food programs.

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People on food stamps or those in the very low income bracket know how to stretch those dollars in many various ways. Not because they are lazy.... but just because they don't have a choice.

Why do I keep coming back to the subject of food in my frugal posts? It's like this....

During economic hard times when the whole world seems to be falling apart; it's important that you have "something good" to look forward to each day. Three really nice things happening every day will cheer up even the gloomiest of circumstances... don't you think?

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The fact that three nice comforting meals can be done very cheaply is so apparent when you look at the delicious foods cooked by the poorest of people in different areas around the world. The Chinese have their rice, the Italians their pasta and polenta, lentils of the middle east, or even Kedgeree (I hope I spelled that right) of New England, and Hopping John of the Carolinas.

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There are two main requirements for any honest to goodness frugal recipe for economic hard times. 1) It must fill everyone up. 2) You must give everyone the best nutrition you can with the limited funds you have. This might be discouraging until you think about how many frugal recipes have been around since the beginning of time. There have always been the rich and the poor. The kings and the subjects. Every group of the poor has come up with good recipes to "make do" with what was available..... and the foods became the source of comfort.

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Just look at all the movies about poor people and you will see that much of their happiness is happening around the dinner table. One that comes to mind is the movie of Scrooge. Tiny Tim's family didn't have much but their Christmas meal was a very happy time.

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It might sound strange coming from someone like me who has never been "well off"; but, I feel very sorry for the suddenly poor. Those who have never had to "do without" in their lives and are suddenly without income and no idea how to survive. Or, the two income families who have never given much thought to buying groceries..... suddenly having to rethink every penny they spend because one lost their job and the other had their hours cut.

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My frugal food posts are to help those who are just one paycheck away from poverty and happen to stumble on my blog. Or to help the young mothers who are just learning to survive on limited funds. Or to help those who are worried they might be the next victims of these economic times. It's a subject I know all too well and I'm willing to share with others. I've said it before and I believe it very, very true..... the easiest place to save money is at the grocery. The money saved can be put toward other things.

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Just to give you a glance inside my cabinets.... This is one area. See the organizer box? It fits nicely don't you think? I'll post instructions for making them as soon as I can.

Here is inside the new cabinet. Only two shelves filled so far. The organizer box fits really well in here too. I'm going to make more when I get some cardboard the right size.

If you will notice.... no convenience foods! No mac & cheese boxes. No pasta roni bags. No chips. No junk food. The Hershey's bags in the first picture is baking chips. I bought those to make some chocolate covered raisins as a Christmas treat. Some of my food is commodity foods. Yes, I did get signed up on their senior program a few months ago. Also, a friend who gets commodities has given me her juice. She doesn't drink juice. I use it for more than just drinking. I cook with it too.

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I really am a scratch cook. I don't like paying for a personal chef. That's what you are doing when you buy convenience foods. You are paying for some factory machine to "measure and mix" your ingredients together. Measuring and mixing is something that takes very little time to do yourself. The cost of paying for this convenience is very high. The cost of the actual ingredients in convenience foods are very small.

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Think about it.... a cup of macaroni and a tablespoon of powdered cheese would cost about how much? Maybe 10 cents? But a packaged box of mac & cheese was costing about a $1.19 each at the store the other day. Another example is the generic instant pudding. It costs $.85 cents per box but can be made from scratch with cornstarch for about.... hmmm $.20 cents. I'm not a mathematician so I can't figure the exact costs out in my head. One more example is a few ounces of flavored croutons. These sell for about $2.59 per 5 oz bag if I read the shelf label right. But I make them from stale homemade bread, Mrs. Dash, margarine, and garlic powder for just pennies. By the way, I eat the croutons that I make as a snack instead of potato chips.

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I tried a bag of those premade frozen meatballs I bought several days ago. I bought them for my nephew and neighbor but kept one bag for myself. Yuck! I didn't like them at all. I'm too used to making my own from scratch. My neighbor loved them though. I tried one and sent the rest over to him. Then I got to thinking; Oh my, I did the wrong thing when I bought all those convenience foods for the goodie boxes! I have no idea where my mind was at the time. I should have made everything myself ready to be heated and eaten.

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Geeze..... I realized I was type talking one way and doing it another. My lesson is learned. I'll try to do better next time. Ok, in my own defense, my mind was stressed trying to finish the xmas quilts. Hopefully 2009 will be a much better year!