If there was one thing I’ve been so thankful for while trying to be able to afford Parker, is the fact that I’ve always been a HUGE believer in the The Pantry Principal, the brain child of Amy Dacyczyn, author of The Tightwad Gazette Series.
In a nutshell, The Pantry Principal is all about shopping to fill your fridge, freezer and pantry with bulk purchased and sale priced staples. Then you create your meals from what you have in your pantry.
And of course, what you purchase would be items you KNOW your family likes and will eat.
Because often the only wiggle room we have in our budget falls under the category of ‘groceries’, it’s nice to know that when a rough month hits, you eat from your pantry and use that month’s grocery money towards other bills.
In our case it’s usually medical bills or other items Parker needs.
One of my freezer staples is chicken. And it just so happened that a local grocery store was offering flash frozen chicken breasts for $1.49 a pound. A SCREAMING deal around here.
The only catch? you had to buy a lot.
A whole lot.
So I would know how many chicken meals I had on hand, I broke the big bags into meal sized bags.
I did some bags of 8 chicken breasts (for Sunday dinners) and some bags of 4. I use the bags of 4 for soup night, or casseroles, and then I save a couple back for salads the next night.
That way I get two meals with just having to cook the meat once.
You will want to label and date your bags.
Man. I wish I could have purchased a few more boxes of these breasts! Drat!
Another way to help fill your pantry is to combine sales and coupons. I’m not as big of a couponer as I used to be because I cook from scratch so much.
But sometimes a deal comes a long to make you change your rules.
Pillsbury Brownie Mixes. Ninety cents a box.
Except, there were coupons that saved you $1.00 for every two boxes of brownies you purchased.
Making the brownies FORTY cents a box.
I may have purchased a box. Or four.
I found my coupons on ebay. But you can also download coupons from www.coupons.com. Or ask your neighbors if you can have their Sunday coupons if they aren’t using them.
A GREAT place to match up sales to coupons? Pinching Your Pennies.com
So. What about you? Do you utilize The Pantry Principal? How do you save money on groceries in order to free up money for other items?
PS:Â With food prices going up the way they have lately, stocking your pantry is a pretty smart idea.
PSS: Make sure you read what Christine has to say in the comments below! Pretty Amazing!
I am in LOVE with Freeze Dried food…..I first read about it on your blog and was intrigued, so I did some research and started ordering….until my daughter got diagnosed with celiac disease on top of her other issues, we were saving about 70% on our grocery budget….impossible to do gluten free, but we are still well under where we started and that is what has kept us afloat this year.
Last year when my daughter was in the hospital for a month one of our friends haad a shelf reliance party for us and we were able to get $500 worth of food for only $150…we are a family of 3 so that was almost 3 months worth of food for us….I only was spending $30 a month at the store for the next 2 months, which helped us catch up a bit. SInce then I have had several shelf reliance parties myself and have ordered from them regularly saving a ton of money and building a pantry easily. Now in months we have no money we really can get away with spending next to nothing. I am sure there are other places that sell freeze dried food but really like the parties and free food….each time I have a party I have gotten at least $100 of free food and then another $300 of 1/2 price….that is my best find.
Before we were Gluten free we did alot of coupon shopping…unfortunately gluten free food rarely goes on sale so we have not had much luck there, but I am cooking almost everything from scratch now too and that does save. I can make cream of chicken soup for almost nothing (and do it only using my food storage…a bonus)
I did recently at a fundraiser score a gift card to the local health food store for $10…the gift card was for $200, we used it to buy gluten free flour and stock up.
I have also found that ordering things that I know we use a ton (like gluten free flours) that we can get a discount sometimes as much as 20%…I have started tryiing to do this especially in months we have extra cash.
I LOVE Shelf Reliance.
But I’m always hesitant to host parties like this. Mine always bomb. But, wow!, what a great way to build up a pantry.
I’m totally jealous!
Tammy
Only 3 people came to my last party but I still ended up with almost $300 dollars worth of food…..and every little bit helps
Twitter: kadiera
says:
Our big pantry thing lately hasn’t exactly been a pantry thing, exactly.
We found a local company that delivers fresh fruits and veggies to the door every week – a box about the size of a case of printer paper of them, for about $30. It’s less than I ever spent on fresh stuff at the store, and far more than our little family of three, plus a single friend that we share with, can eat each week.
What isn’t used each week is frozen as-is or frozen as leftovers. We’ve got a fair amount in the freezer now to keep us going if things get tight.
Plus, it means I go grocery shopping far less often. The not grocery shopping deal means that we spend less overall, because when we go to the store we’re going for a handful of things and it’s easier to stick to the list when you don’t have to walk every aisle. Most trips are confined to milk, eggs, cereal, and carnation instant breakfast (a staple of Alex’s diet).
kadiera recently posted..in the closet- or out
Kadiera,
There is something like that here called Bountiful Baskets. But you have to go and pick it up yourself.
I like delivery.
Twitter: valmg
says:
I’m not familiar with Shelf Reliance.
I save a fortune by using coupons, stocking cabinets and freezer.
If possible would you please email Christine from the above post if possible and give her my email and ask her if she’d be willing to share her gluten-free cream of chicken soup recipe, I’m looking for a good one. Thanks.
Val I have a blog where I post my gluten free recipes when I have time…it is CFandCeliac.blogspot.com…I am pretty sure my cream of chicken soup recipe is there….I will go double check….if it is not I will post it when I have a chance. I have not been home in 2 weeks because my daughter has been in the hospital, and I am not sure when we are going home, but when I get there I will post it for you. It is really yummy and super, super (or shall I say souper) easy.
Shelf Reliance has been a God send for us….their website is http://www.shelfreliance.com
I loved it so much a became a consultant to save even more money and the party prices are less than the online prices so I was saving twice. Almost everything they have incorporated really well into our glutenfree diet. And because it is all easy to use has made gluten free much easier.
Twitter: valmg
says:
Thanks Christine! YThe cream of chicken soup is on there. Now I must learn about magic mix. You’ve got some other recipes on there I’m looking forward to trying. If you’re interested I’d love to have you as a contributor on livingwithspecialneeds.com, email me at valmg2 AT gmail DOT com if you’re interested.
Val…I will email you
The Magic Mix is the blend of milk, gluten free flour and butter
It is not clear on my post
It is called Magic Mix because it can be the base of any creamy soup and other stuff as well.
I have used the same basic recipe to make cream of potato, celery and mushroom.
My non gluten free family liked this soup better than canned…..they were all doubters.
I didn’t know there was a name for it. This year we ate from our pantry in November and used the extra money for Christmas gifts. Now, I have to work on restocking.