I have children with spouses/boyfriends who like to cook...and eat... Need I say more? Last Christmas we encouraged their habits by including the following in their stockings. All recipes are from Tawra Jean Kellam's book "Not Just Beans".



The first is spiced honey, with lemon, cloves and cinnamon in it. It tastes to die for on toast!

The second are these spice mixes for a son-in-law who likes to grill...Italian seasoning, taco seasoning, seasoning salt and Cajun seasoning. Mmmmm...



I've had a great time with Tawra Jean's cookbook this year. It is a great compendium of frugal living tips, frugal meals, and frugal gift ideas. I believe it has been republished under the title "Dining on a Dime".

Yesterday some friends bequeathed 2 shopping bags of windfall apples on me.  I quickly processed them into 14 quarts of unsweetened applesauce.  It's unsweetened because I use it to replace fat in baking.  But Paul kept asking me if it was sweetened, and if he could use it on top of pancakes (would need to be sweetened).  So I got on-line and found someone giving away crabapples.  I'm taking Meghan this afternoon to go pick a couple bags so I can make sweetened crabapplesauce for Paul.  That will give us plenty of applesauce.  As it is, my freezers are full, so I will be canning the sweetened stuff.

Then there's the beans and new potatoes friends have been giving us.  We've almost eaten all the potatoes, but we still have beans.  I'm thinking about freezing them.  Just not sure how I can find room in my freezers.

I sorted through both freezers yesterday - the basement chest freezer and the upstairs fridge freezer - and did a thorough inventory.  I took older stuff from the basement up to the fridge freezer.  Discovered I have 2-3 year old rhubarb that needs to be used.  Made a rhubarb crisp for dessert last night.

I also found more pumpkin puree.  I thought I was out!  This is good.  Means I can treat Paul to some homemade cinnamon buns soon.  I use the pumpkin puree to replace the fat in those.

I found four ham bones, and promptly tucked them in the bottom of the freezer for soup making when it grows cooler. 

Paul and I had a talk about our grocery bill and eating habits, and how we expect things to change once Meghan leaves for university.  I think we'll have plenty of food for awhile.  I'll work on a grocery exile.  We certainly have a lot of bones to make soup!  

I finally packaged up that beef stock I made about a week ago the other day.   I threw the tallow out because, well, I didn't have room in the freezer for it.  But I ended up with 6 quarts of stock for cooking this fall and winter.  That, combined with what else I have in the freezer, makes for lots of stock.  We'll be able to make cheap soup for sure!

Hmmm...some of you may not know what a grocery exile is.  Grocery Exile is where you try to live off the food in your home, without going grocery shopping.  You take an exile from the grocery store.  It requires starting with a pantry inventory, then planning your menus around what you have.  If you buy anything, it's usually perishables and fresh produce. 

You can save a lot of money by going on permanent grocery exile.  How do you do this?  You constantly eat out of what's in your pantry and only buy food that's on sale.  I've never been able to do this because I hate shopping.  So when an exile is on, I really do take an exile from the store, often missing the good unadvertised sales.  Ideally I need to go in with a strong will, just to look and see what's on sale...without a grocery cart.  Otherwise I tend to buy things that aren't on sale "but would be nice".

I am always perturbed at seeing all that paper delivered to my house and rarely read.  At one point I had them stop sending them, but I was missing the Michael's flyer every week.  So I had them start them up again.  Now I know better...  I can find all the flyers I need on-line.  No paper mess in my mailbox or house or recycling to be done!  I go to the Michaels site and find the flyer for my location. 

I also do this with my grocery store flyers now.  Today was a bonanza.  Someone on Frugal Village mentioned that blueberries were on sale at Superstore.  I had been shopping on Thursday and hadn't seen any sale.  Paul mentioned he had seen blueberries on sale at Safeway.  So I checked both store flyers on-line.  We hoofed it up to Superstore to take a look.  They were the big bland blueberries.   Well we use blueberries in smoothies, on cereal and for muffins.  These will do for muffins.  I picked up 8 lbs.  for $19.52 ($4.88/2 lbs.). 

Paul and I are talking about how good my sister's wild blueberries are...but they work out to $3/lb. to ship them to us.  He said he thought the Safeway blueberries were smaller.  To me smaller blueberries means more flavour.  I'm thinking we could easily use 20 lbs. of blueberries a year.  So we head to Safeway to take a look.  Sure enough, they're smaller.  But they are still domestic blueberries.  They are $9.99/4 lbs.  I pick up two 4 lb. containers. 

At home I mixed the two types up while rinsing the berries.  I froze most of them.  We put some in the fridge to eat this week.  Paul kept scooping some out of the water to eat.  I had some fresh with Rice Dream.  He had some on ice-cream.  They taste much better mixed.  The flavourful ones at Safeway are definitely worth the effort.  They are a better quality berry than Superstore's.

Paul still wants me to order some wild blueberries from my sister this fall.  We'll see...

So if you feel overrun by flyers, check your favourite store's website on-line and see if it is available that way.  You might be surprised by what you find.  It may save resources (paper and ink) and time (don't have to do recycling or de-clutter them as often).  Today I am motivated to put a "No Flyers Please" sign on my door.

Company is coming.  They are vegetarian.  We are not.  I think I've come up with a reasonable menu.

They handle breakfasts themselves. 

Lunch tomorrow will be avocado sandwiches...well, maybe on pita bread...with lettuce because I've never been able to get alfalfa sprouts to sprout properly in this climate.  With homemade mayonnaise.  And a homemade bean salad courtesy of "More With Less" cookbook.

Supper tomorrow night will be gazpacho soup, garlic bread (I'll make it), and grilled corn on the cob.  Maybe some cucumber sandwiches.  Dessert will be fresh fruit and ice-cream.  In fact, we'll snack on fresh fruit too. 

I'm not sure this is a good menu for a 3 year old though.  I'm a bit worried about that.  But her mother will no doubt tell me if it's a problem.

Sounds about right...I think.  I gotta watch it.  We've been shopping at the local store so we save time and money in the car, but their prices have really jumped to almost a dollar more per pound on everything compared to the other store!  Ouch!  It only costs $2.00 in gas for a round trip to the other store.  But it takes 15 minutes to get there.  Still, I might have to go there from now on...my grocery money is growing thin again.

Today's tackle is the grocery budget, menu planning and grocery shopping.  I have a plan.  I have a list.  Now to go forth into the grocery store!  Today is payday for Paul, so I'm flush and looking for bargains of any sort.  Probably won't find them this week...maybe next.  It's become more and more important in these times of rising food prices, to find good quality, affordable food.  I am resigned to the higher prices, but have adapted my way of shopping.

Today I am going to try cruising the produce aisle to see what's on sale.  I did this last week with great success.  I bought reasonable cheap fruits and vegetables.  There wasn't much organic available, so this made my grocery bill a bit cheaper. 

I have a few crackers I'd like to buy to snack on.  I find I can't eat a lot of them because I am allergic.  But there are some. 

I will be buying chickpeas in the big gallon can and making my own hummus for the crackers and a veggie dip.  That, with fruit and veggie sticks, will be my snacks for the week.

I'll make muffins too, for Paul to take to work.

I also think I'll put off purchasing some things from the health food store until it's 15% off day the beginning of next month.  I will have to buy flour though.  We simply need more so I can bake bread, and even at the horrendous prices it's at, it's still cheaper to buy the flour and bake the bread myself, than to buy a loaf of healthy bread.

One thing I am noticing in the stores...if I buy locally, it's getting cheaper.  This is especially true in the health food stores.  I'm going to keep an eye on this.  I think it will be worth our while to go pick our own food at the U-Picks this summer.

Update:
In the interests of showing you how I shop, I thought I'd run through my list and what I do with everything.  Today's groceries came to $151.35 at Superstore, and $3.65 for eggs at the health food store.

Cocoa - I buy No Name (generic) for $4.48 for 500 g (1 lb.) of it.  I always compare the price with the bulk bin cocoa.  This time the prepackaged stuff was all cheaper than the bulk bins.  this amount will easily last us 6 months.

Haddock fillets - the recipe actually calls for halibut, but it's twice as expensive.  I buy the haddock 2 packages at a time for a $2 discount.  It was $9.96 for both packages.  Each package will serve us one meal with leftovers.  Fish is expensive here.

Baking Powder - I buy No Name (generic) for $2.18 for 450 g.  Someone suggested I try double acting baking powder, but I haven't been able to find it locally.  Guess I'll have to try some different stores.  This is expensive for baking powder from my perspective.  I like to wait until it goes on sale in summer and buy just enough for the year (usually 2-4 containers).  Baking powder tends to lose it's 'umph' after a year.

Crackers - I bought two packages of crackers so I had some snack food I could eat in the house.  It's very tough to find food that fits my dietary requirements.  I picked up Finn-crisp and Rice Thins.  Both products are soy and corn free.

Ground Beef- We're having Mexican Skillet and Tacos this week.  Both require browned ground beef.  I did my usual trick.  I bought the regular ground beef, simmered it in a bit of water, drained the meat (saving the stock for soup), and measured it into bags for the freezer.  It was $7.68 for the equivalent of 4 lbs. of extra lean ground beef...plus there will be 4 cups of beef stock.  So...that's $1.92/lb.  It will last 2-3 weeks.

Jam - I decided to spring for the deal whereby if I buy 3 jars of All Fruit jam I get a discount.  So three jars cost me $9.57.  That's enough jam for 2 - 3 months.  Paul also wanted a jam...his own special jam.  He picked out a blackberry jam for $2.99.

Salmon - I picked up wild Pacific salmon fillets for $4.89 for one meal's worth for four.  Salmon is tricky to purchase.  Seems I always have to be checking fresh against canned against frozen to see which is cheapest.  Come the right time of year, I'll pick fresh again.

Chicken Breasts - I again picked the skin on, bone in.  I have enough for 2 1/2 meals, plus bones for stock.  The last batch of bones went to making stock for chicken noodle soup.  I want to cook up this batch of bones just to have chicken broth to throw in various recipes.  I've run out of chicken bouillon.  No need to replace it if I don't have to!  I'll be freezing the broth and the chicken breasts, cut in half - they were huge.

Currants - periodically I make scones.  And I have a vegetarian entree that calls for currants.  A quick check of bulk versus prepackaged showed the prepackaged to be cheaper at $3.68/ 375 g.

Coriander - I bought fresh and ground dried...the fresh is for a recipe.  It was 68 cents.  The ground was on sale for $1 for 200 g.  I always check the sale racks.

Apples - These are a mainstay in our diet.  We prefer to buy organic, but almost didn't today.  There were organic apples on the sale racks, but they were in bad shape.  As Paul eats most of the apples in the house, I let him choose what to buy.  If it was me, I probably would have bought the ones on the sale table and just had baked apples for dessert tonight to use up the bad ones...or maybe just have them for snack.  But he found a good deal of 3 lb. organic apples for $2.99.  These will last two weeks.

Bananas - I don't really like them.  I keep trying to convince myself I do, but I don't.  These are for Paul.  1.2 kg. for $1.72 (or $1.46/kg.).  I think that's expensive, but then bananas rarely change in price.

Milk and milk substitutes - This is where our grocery bill takes a hit.  We buy a gallon of milk a week for Meghan, her boyfriend and Paul, and two litres a week of Rice Dream for me and any cooking or baking we do that calls for milk.  It adds up to $10 a week.

Peanut Butter - President's Choice Just Peanuts $3.49 for 1 kg.  We're thinking we might try making our own.  I just keep forgetting... I need to price out the peanuts at the store.  This will last a month.

Lettuce - I always check the various lettuces to see which is cheapest.  It really doesn't matter to me whether I use leaf or Romaine lettuce.  Today Romaine was 97 cents a head, so I bought it.

Yogurt - I don't eat it anymore, but Paul does.  I let him pick out his favourite...a Neilsen blueberry yogurt. 

Oranges - Ever since I found out Paul was juicing all of the orange, I've been buying organic oranges.  Today they were $3.99 for 3 lbs.  These will last 2 weeks.

Sour Cream - I buy fat free for health reasons only.  I don't use it, but Meghan and Paul like it on their tacos.  It was $1.98 for 2 cups today.

Almonds - I have a recipe that calls for a cup of whole almonds.  Today we checked the blanched almonds in the bulk bins against the ones with their skins still on in bags.  The bagged ones were cheaper.  With the skins on, they are also healthier.  When good health costs less than less nutritious food, I buy the good health item and use it.  This was a huge 2 kg. bag.  It will last us months.  It was $9.98.  I store nuts in my freezer to keep them fresh longer.

Flour - Flour has gone up in price...period.  I bought organic.  If you have to pay that much for flour, you may as well get the good stuff.  It worked out to just under $1/lb. at Superstore...much cheaper than the $1.75/lb. at the health food store.  I am growing concerned about the price of flour, I must admit.  I am thinking I may just forget the organics of it and buy a couple of huge bags for the freezer.  That would last us several months.  But for today I just wanted to get enough flour to bake up a batch of bread that will last us 3 or 4 weeks.

Corn - I can't have it, but Paul likes it.  We decided to buy in bulk in a 2 kg. bag and then split it into smaller bags to freeze.  The big bags often get holes in them before we get to the corn!  The 2 kg. bag was cheaper than buying 2 smaller 1 kg. bags.  It was $3.98.

Strawberries - They were on the clearance racks.  I like to go shopping first thing in the morning.  The stock boys are cleaning out the produce and putting it on clearance racks.  We hit it just right today.  Those strawberries weren't on the racks when we went into the store, but they were there before we left.  It worked out to $1 per pound.  I picked up 8 pounds.  We're out and I need to put enough in the freezer to last till June, when we can pick some up at the U-picks. 

Dried Apricots - Paul loves these in hot cereal in the morning. I use them in various recipes as well.  We checked bulk bin versus prepackaged here too, and found the prepackaged cheaper.  One kg. for $4.58.  This bag will last a month.

Chickpeas - I make my own hummus.  That way I can make it fat free and salt and sugar free.  The main ingredient is chickpeas.  I buy a big can for $4.59 and get enough for 4 batches of hummus.  It actually works out to 12 cups of chickpeas.  This will last 2-3 months, at least.  Depends how often I make hummus.

Green Peppers - They were on the clearance rack for $1/lb.  Normally in summer they go cheaper than that, but we're out and I need some to get us through.  These will probably last a month or two.  I brought them home, washed them, cored them and chopped them.  I stored them in the freezer in one pepper amounts to toss in recipes.  They were $3.92.

Tomatoes - They too were on the clearance rack for $1.13/kg.  A really good price.  Most tomatoes here are running about $2.60/kg.  I kept one out that I needed to use fresh.  Then washed and weighed the others in one pound amounts to freeze in bags.  I'll use them in recipes calling for canned tomatoes.  There were over 4 pounds of tomatoes.  That's enough for the next 2 weeks at least.

Mangoes - They were also on the clearance rack - 4 for 48 cents.  Paul wanted them for smoothies, so I bought them.  I'm running low at home, now that I'm using them in muffins too.

Canned Peaches - Normally we do not buy this kind of food, but it was on sale and Paul thought he might use them for lunches.  They were those little individual serving packs.  They were dented, and cost 20 cents each.  We bought five.

Capers - for a fish recipe I make.  We bought the No Name kind.  I expect these to last two months.

Ziploc Sandwich Bags - There was an institutional package on sale 150 for $2.  I whisked those up quick for freezing things.  Some people claim they don't freeze things well, but considering I often freeze in those thin produce bags, they are an improvement!

Eggs - We picked up our free range eggs on the way home for $3.65 a dozen.   We use a dozen a week.

So that's it...a day at the grocery store with Jean and Paul. 

I had an interesting discussion with folks after church yesterday on ham.  We buy ham infrequently.  People do not realize there is a difference between real ham and processed ham.  People who do will often say they don't like the real ham, but prefer the processed ham.  Personally, I generally avoid ham due to all the preservatives and hormones in the meat.  However, that being said, ham is the family's meat of choice for holidays.  So twice a year we have ham...Easter and Christmas.

But I buy smoked picnic hams ~ 3 kg. for $15 at Superstore.  Why?  That 3 kg. ham has a cherished treasure in it for me...the bone.  I  cook the ham.  We eat one ham dinner.  Then I freeze enough for a couple of pizzas/jambalayas/etc. (1 lb. amounts finely cubed) or one more ham dinner, plus a bit (maybe 1/4 lb.) to throw in with the ham bone to make pea soup.  One batch of pea soup feeds us two meals.  So that $15 gets us 4 to 5 meals.  I like that figuring.  That's $3-4 per meal.  And the real ham is healthier for us than the processed ham.

One case where the real thing is cheaper and healthier.  Gotta love it. 

I was going to cut pork out of my diet completely when my nutritionist exclaimed no, the meat is leaner than chicken these days.  Pork is being raised a lot differently than it used to be.  So I've kept some in...just not much.   And I prefer pork chops I can trim before freezing.  Preferably a whole pork loin bought on sale and cut at home into individual chops.

If I need or want ground pork, I buy a cheap pork roast, cut out all the fat, and grind the pork with our hand meat grinder.  It's much leaner than the ground pork in the store.

So I was talking to my little sister one day and told her I was buying chicken breasts with the skin on, bone in, and then deskinning and deboning them at home myself.  She thought she wouldn't save any money that way...So today I embarked on "The Experiment". 

Skinless boneless chicken breasts are $13.98/kg.  Skin on, bone in are $7.68/kg.

I took the skin off...it weighed ~150 gm.   I took the bones off...they weighed ~400 gm.  I weighed the five large breasts...they were ~950 gm.  Total weight of package 1.466 kg.  Total cost of package $11.26.

The breasts were very large.  One will serve both Paul and I a meal if used in stir fry, etc.  So I'm figuring on a minimum of three meals - possibly five - plus two meals of soup from the bones...that's 5-7 meals.  The skin is garbage.  Still...let's do the math...

950g/$11.26 x 1000 g/ ???  = $11.85  for 1 kg.  I'd say that beats the $13.98/kg. for boneless skinless any day!   Plus I have bones for soup later...

So read it and weep little sister!  We're having chicken!