Saving $$$ on food & other household items (Brookyn)

gryp

Wed, Aug 20 2008, 10:17 am

I go to Walmart because their generic diapers and wipes are better than the Target ones. Otherwise I rely on Walmart or Target for when I run out of what I usually buy in BJ's but my shopping list for there hasn't accumulated yet.

Btw, I also buy family packs of ground beef or steaks and split them up into smaller portions for dinners. It's cheaper that way, although when we first started doing that we were able to split up a package of ground beef into 9 dinners, then we had to start splitting it up into 6, and now we split it in 4. LOL

Such is life, Boruch Hashem.

zigi

Wed, Aug 20 2008, 10:20 am

the trip to walmart could be worth it. if you buy enough of it and you also won't run out and have to shop in a local store.

costco is worth it if you look around the prices for pasta and cereal and rice in your area. sometimes it might not be cheaper but the exact same price. but then you can stock up and not run out of things, also plan what you need to buy have a little bit of wiggle room. they sometimes have very good deals on clothing for babies and kids- carters and absorba strechies for 5-8 $ but take only cash the amount that you want to spend so you don't wind up buying extra. I sometimes buy enough diapers to last 3 months. it turns out to 6$ a regular size package.

my father is the king of saving. he goes to regular supermarkets and buys the sale items with double coupons. he only buys the loss leaders. also they could have buy2 get one free.

I buy gifts ahead of time, if I see something really cute for a very good price I buy it. I really should start buying kids gifts! also look at toysrus. they have really good clearance deals. also they sometimes have buy one get one free.

the kosher store could be cheaper than your local supermarket. so shop around and compare prices.

also check out craigslist and imamother classifieds you can get barely used things for 50% retail. I also buy secondhand toys, I just wash them really well.

Amital

Wed, Aug 20 2008, 1:26 pm

Teacup9 wrote:

Amital wrote:

I also buy big quantities of meat to freeze--some with prep (like made into meatballs), some just divided into appropriate sized portions. It takes a little longer, but not having to thaw out a 4 lb family pack when you only want 1 pound is great. Plus you can wrap it to freeze well. This is particularly important because kosher meat costs so much more than treif...I dream about sales with 99 cent ground beef or chicken breasts like in the regular grocery stores...

It's also worth asking about buying in bulk if you have a big freezer. Sometimes, the butcher will give you a better deal if you buy 15 chickens instead of 2, or something like that. Of course, it's only a deal if you have the means to store it and use it before it spoils!

Thanks for the great idea about meat. I always buy the smallest portion since it is just dh, me, and what the little guy throws on the floor. I never considered buying family pack sizes to individually freeze. One question though, how do you freeze them? I feel like I need meats to be frozen in those styrofoam sheets with that little paper so I can easily pull them out when frozen. I use the crock pot to cook frozen meat a lot.

Here is a topic I started about freezer cooking. There are two ways to approach it, depending on what your style is. One is to simply portion and then freeze the RAW meat. So for example, take the big 10 lb package of ground beef and divide it into 10 single pound packages. Wrap each in plastic wrap, getting all the air out, and then put in a big ziploc (double wrapping keeps the freezer burn away). Then you have 1 pound of ground beef whenever you need it, and you got a good deal on it!

The other takes more time up front, but makes this much more convenient in the end. You bulk cook, making, say 4 times a few recipes with whatever protein you got on sale. So say chicken: you make 4 recipes of barbecue chicken, 4 of chicken in duck sauce, 4 of roasted chicken, and 4 spicy honey chicken. You can bake these and then freeze them, or just freeze them raw, but otherwise prepared. (Be sure to label!) Then, you just go to your freezer and pull out a foil pan with dinner in it, heat it up, and there you are! 8)

There are several different groups who do this, and have tons of recipes of things that work on the internet and in their books. Google "frozen assets," "freezer cooking," and/or "cook for a month." Of course, most have dairy in with the meat and vice versa, so it's more sifting through the recipes than might be necessary otherwise, but it's still a good resource. I do this when I can, and it makes dinners SO much easier! (You can also simply double whatever meals you can while you cook and freeze the extras to build up some "cushion." I do this, too.)

greenfire

Wed, Aug 20 2008, 2:11 pm

here we have sam's club (instead of costco which is owned by same peoples as walmart ... I've compared some prices and haven't found sam to be cheaper than walmart and where do you stock inventory ... and walmart generally is cheaper than target ...

and these days you do have to factor the ga$ into the equation ... although here in cleveland we have a giant eagle that gives 10cents off per gallon of gas for each $50 you spend & if you accumulate 30 or 40 cents and fill er up - it adds up ... but I only buy sale items there or things I cannot get at the discount stores ...

oh and btw I do the same thing with clothing ... I.e. yesterday dd wanted a shirt at old navy ... 1 was $10.50 or 2 for $15 but then there was a day sale of 40% off and if you use a credit card (which I got specifically for sales) an additional 20% so in the end it cost $5.04 ... (we should have bought 2) another shirt was $14.50 we paid $3.19 ... and mostly go straight to the clearance racks ... I bought a shirt originally $14.50 on clearance for $6.99 + 20% off = $5.59 ...

if you only go shopping like that and only for what you need ... you can save a lot ... too many sale items still can add up ...

but I've bought $50 stuff for $5 ... and paid $1 for shirts that were from aeropastle on clearance ...

Imhappy!

Wed, Aug 20 2008, 2:23 pm

I didn't read the whole thread so sorry if I am repeating s/o post here.
the meat ( I use ground dark turkey) if you add challah to it you can really extend it .. I make a big mix and freeze them in balls ( an ice cream scooper works best for me{ I have a fleishigs one}.) on a plastic plate .

also I hardly use plasic (save for freezing items),
can't recall the last time I bought food out
bake own cakes/challah
no soda/ juice is a shabbos treat
every family has its own ... see what you can cut out and slim down without feeling "poor"

every once in a while I add a splurge item to keep me from feeling deprived.... but again my luxeries are someelses standards (say frozen pizza, or ready made dip)

greeneyes

Wed, Aug 20 2008, 2:51 pm

[quote="Teacup9"]My friend told me Moishi's is much cheaper than Glatt Mart, true or not true? quote]

Moisha's is definitely, without a doubt, cheaper than Glatt Mart. We used to live just a couple short blocks away from Moisha's, and now that we moved we still do most of our grocery shopping there, because I find that any other store is a lot more expensive.

I also find it helpful to look in the Torah Times each week and see what Moisha's has on sale. I'll stock up on items that I use regularly and that saves a lot of $$. I use a lot of chicken cutlets, for example, so when they have the family packs of chicken cutlets on sale, I'll buy that and freeze it in packages of 2 pieces, so that I just pull out a package when I need it.

octopus

Thu, Sep 04 2008, 10:58 pm

ok- so dh shops in pathmark, waldbaums, and cvs.

For local things when we are in a rush we get stuff at the local jewish supermarket. But we only get our meats from moishes. When they are running a good sale we stock up.

Also, cheese (which is expensive) can also be frozen until you need it.

Dh goes through the circulars every week, circles what's on sale, decides what we need and compiles his major shopping list. He puts a tremendous amount of effort into his list every week.

Stock up on non-perishables when it is a good sale and store. We have a mini-supermarket in our basement.

I find that getting tons of food on sale (ex. cereal) just makes me go through it faster. That's not a savings and is not good for me and the scale.

frumnurse

Fri, Sep 05 2008, 9:51 am

Hi,
I started a saving money blog last week about these very topics. I have written an article about CVS and learning their game. I have been really successful in that store. Check out my blog. I write at least one post a day. Make sure to check it on Sundays where I blog about cheap/free finds for that week. ( You can subscribe to the blog or make it a faviorite on your computer.)

http://www.savingmoneyideas.blogspot.com/

Although I do not live in NY I focus on Universal ideas and on sales/free items in common stores such as CVS, Walmart, Walgreens, rite Aid etc.

Tell me what you think about the blog , I am always looking for suggestions and tips.