My Daily Dollars

Now that the wedding’s over and my credit cards are paid off, it’s time for a new project: getting the grocery bills under control!  I’m trying a new experiment where I buy in bulk and cook as much as possible from scratch.  Now, as a working wife with step kids every other weekend, I have to streamline the time I spend on food preparation.  Most meals come together in thirty minutes or less.  A firm believer in the “local food” movement, I’m trying to rely on produce from the farmer’s market.  We eat seasonally as much as possible, have meat only once or twice a week, and store food for the winter.  Here are the basic “rules” for my new approach:

1.  Shop for non-perishable food once every three months.
2. Rely on fresh, local produce as much as possible.
3. Can and preserve as much as possible to use when fresh produce is not available (typically late November through early April for us).
4. Shop bi-weekly for milk, cheese, meat, and toiletries, stockpiling on sales and using coupons.

I started the project around September 15, 2008.  Check back here to see my updates, recipes, and posts.

The Basics

• My Frugal Pantry
• To Buy in Bulk: Long-Term Meal Planning
• Designate a Baking Day

Updates

• My Big-Bulk Shopping Trip
• Pantry Update 9/23
• Perk Up Store Brand Coffee
• Pantry Update 10/28

Recipes

• Homemade Breakfast Bars
• Quick Summer Minestrone
• Homemade Crackers
• Pasta with Quick, Fresh Tomato Sauce
• Simple Pita Bread
• Butternut Squash, Sage, and Pasta
• Three Simple Meals from the Pantry
• Yummy Salmon “Burgers”

Preserving Food

• Save Money Canning Preserves
• Three Easy Steps to Frugal Home Canning
• Is It Worth Canning Berries?
• Canning Tomatoes