Lazy Man and Money

Save Money by Eating Down Your Food

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Halloween is over and my 3-year old is sad. He doesn’t understand where the spooky door went and still wants to wear his orange spider socks. While orange spider socks can be year-round fun, it is time to turn the page. I’ve found the easiest way to do that is to get him excited about the next holiday, Thanksgiving.

With Thanksgiving, thoughts naturally turn to turkey. And those thoughts turn to leftovers. There’s going to be a lot food coming in at the end of the month. So this month, I’m going to focus on eating down all the food in my pantry. That is, as soon as I get back from vacation.

I probably have over $200 worth of food in a chest freezer. The food storage in my basement is probably worth the same.

With that in mind, I’m going turn this over to my wife who has the following advice:

Go to AllRecipes and do an ingredient search for all the random stuff that you have sitting around.

I didn’t realize how much random stuff we had until she mentioned some spices that I had never heard of before. (I already forgot what they are.)

Because I’m on vacation and this is mostly common sense, I’m not going to waste any more of your time today. Will you join me in making November “Eat Down Your Food” month?

Saving Money At The Store

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Politicians say the economy is recovering, but a lot of people are still living paycheck to paycheck. Can we save money without sacrificing quality of life? Sure – and here are some tips.

Don’t Overpay for Convenience

This is tricky one. At some level, nearly everyone pays for convenience. We don’t go down to the creek for our water – we get it piped into our homes. Electricity gives us light at the flick of a switch. We’re spoiled.

However, there is such a thing as overkill. I recently became aware of the fact that you can buy toast in a sealed package. I couldn’t imagine someone being in such a hurry that they couldn’t be bothered to make toast. Just pop the bread in the toaster before you brush your teeth, and it will be done by the time you’re done brushing (and if it’s not done, go back and brush some more – it’ll help prevent gum disease).

Eventually, I realized that some college students living in dorms might not have access to a toaster (although a cigarette lighter would probably do the trick), and maybe someone just gets a hankering for some toast while they are at work. If you’re not in this group and you’re buying your toast pre-made, consider making it from “scratch” to save a few bucks.

Fruits and vegetables are big players in the convenience category.  You can buy potatoes already wrapped in foil and ready to be baked or grilled.  You can also buy a wide variety of canned vegetables and fruits.  Instead of buying corn on the cob, you can just dump a can of corn into a pot and not be bothered with the cob.  I’ll admit that we often opt for canned fruits and vegetables.  You don’t have to worry about them going bad, and you can consume them in smaller quantities.  We have young kids (5 and 3) who like fruit, but generally can’t eat a whole apple, orange or pear – but they can eat a full container of the processed fruit.  We also use baby carrots when we make pot roast.  We’re paying for the small, uniform size, and the fact that they are ready to use – but it also makes it easy to get just the right amount of carrots in the pot roast.

Avoid restaurants

One way to save money is actually to spend MORE money at the grocery store (subtraction by addition). Restaurants are a huge money suck. (By the way, here’s are some tips on how to save money at restaurants. The next time you’re in a sit-down restaurant (one that doesn’t have toys in the kid’s meal), take a look at the total cost (including tip) when you leave. Now take that money and go on a virtual shopping trip in your mind. How much food could you buy for the same amount of money. Shocking, isn’t it?

However, your time is also worth money. If you are a $200/hr lawyer, it might be cost efficient to work another hour and have someone else prepare your food. Even if you’re making less than $200/hr, there’s also a value on your sanity, and eating out can help that. The key is to find a happy medium. If you think you’re eating out too often, try reducing the number by one time per week. After a month, if you haven’t really noticed it, cut the number again.

Quick, cheap meals

An easy way to save time and money is to add a few cheap and easy meals to your rotation. I’ll be up front and warn you that these meals aren’t always the most nutritious – I wouldn’t recommend subsisting solely on these items.

Those of us who were (or currently are) poor college students probably had their share of ramen noodles. Every once in a while, I’ll still eat some ramens. They have heat and salt, which is a yummy combination. I also usually have a half dozen cans of chili (different varieties) on hand. I’m a fan of Totino’s pizzas (Canadian bacon), which are conveniently one of the cheapest varieties.

If you want to avoid the pre-made foods, there are plenty of do-it-yourself options. A couple pounds of ham, some swiss cheese, and a loaf of bread are the ingredients for several meals. If you want vitamins, slice up an onion for the top. Peanut butter and jelly is also pretty popular.

One of my favorite hot and easy meals is mini pizzas. Take ten Pillsbury buttermilk biscuits and flatten them on a cookie sheet. Top with Contadina pizza sauce and mozzarella cheese and pop in the oven for ten minutes are 450 degrees. As a seafood-averse Catholic, this is a Lenten staple for me.

Generics

Companies spend billions of dollars each year to entice you to buy their brand. Campbell’s soup is “mm, mm, good”, Ruffles have ridges, and Pepsi is the voice of a new generation (well, it was the voice of a new generation in the 1980s). I like my mini pizzas with Pillsbury biscuits and Contadina sauce.

Often, the name brand alternatives can be much cheaper. However, there can also be a different in taste or quality. You have to determine what makes sense for you. Maybe you refuse to eat any soup other than Campbell’s, but you’ll happily use generic crackers. The use of a product may also dictate whether a generic is a suitable alternative. If you’re making a ham, swiss, and onion sandwich, maybe you want to stick with Wonder bread (once it’s back on shelves). However, if you’re going to use the bread for stuffing at thanksgiving, perhaps the brand is less important.

When our oldest child was born, we used Pampers diapers. That’s what the hospital had used, and it was a well-known and trusted brand. The Pampers were great. Almost without exception, they kept the pee and poop inside the diaper. However, when our son was born, we decided to go with Target brand diapers – in small part because having two kids in day care is insanely expensive here (compared to other aspects of the cost of living). At a fraction of the cost, the Target diapers work just as well … during the day. However, for heavy duty nighttime use, we were never able to find a suitable alternative the Pampers night diapers. Any other brand resulted in having the bedding absolutely soaked the next morning, and having a nasty urine scent pervade the room. Using generic diapers during the day and name brand ones at night made sense to use – giving use the best mix of cost and functionality.

Pricing games

If you see a six pack of a product and a twelve pack, the natural inclination is to think that the per-unit cost of the twelve pack is cheaper. The concept is giving a bulk discount to the buyer who is putting more money in your pocket.

However, you have to watch this. Some stores seem to play pricing games on a frequent basis. The local Target is always unpredictable when it comes to toilet paper. Sometimes the six is the cheapest per unit, and sometimes the twelve. The largest package is almost never the cheapest. Recently, the eighteen pack has been downsized to sixteen.  Pringles was recently bought by Kellogg’s.  The can shrunk from 6 oz to 5 oz.  Then, a few weeks later, there was a new look can with 20% more!  20% more than the 5 oz can … in other words, the exact same size of Pringles can we had grown to love when they were owned by Procter & Gamble.

Rebates are another pricing game stores play. The reason why stores use rebates instead of just giving a discount at the register is because a substantial portion of people won’t follow through with the rebate.  Most people make sure to mail in their $50 or $100 cell phone rebate – but what about that $1.50 rebate on toilet paper?

Free!

Remember that “free” is a four letter word. This innocent little word is the mating call for many shoppers, who warble back “yes, yes, I must buy you!”. Analyze the offer. Do you have to buy $50 worth of items at full price to get something valued at a couple of bucks? Most importantly, do you actually need (or want) the free item? If it’s going to sit in a junk drawer, it’s not worth much.

Penny wise and pound foolish

Decades ago, on a trip to visit my brother in California, my parents ran out of gas. Twice.

You can guess what happened. They were trying to save a few cents per gallon and burned a couple gallons of gas trying to save that fifty cents.

If you’re paying $3.60 per gallon for gas and get 18 mpg, you’re burning 20 cents worth of gas each mile you drive. Oh, you’ll drive to a store 15 miles away because you can save $5? That sounds great … until you realize that the 30 mile round trip cost you $6 in gas – not to mention wear and tear on the car and the cost of your time.

Planning trips in advance can save time and money. Additionally, one stop shopping can also save you money, even if you end up paying slightly more for a few items. Look at the big picture and don’t get too caught up in the details.

Reader Email: What is a Good Food Budget?

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[Editor’s Note: Sorry for the lack of posts of late. I’m moving this week and traveling the next. In the mean time Cox Communications seems to be completely inept at setting up an Internet connection. Hopefully with the travel, I’ll have better access to Internet than I do now.]

A regular reader, Mike sent me the following email:

Subject: Question for your readers

Body: My wife and I live by ourselves. Our largest monthly expenses are her student loans, the mortgage, and then food. Are we spending too much on food? We average about $200/mo on sit down restaurants, $200/mo on fast food, and about $150/mo on groceries. This comes to about $9-10 per person/day. Too much? Tips to save?

I like how Mike is focusing on the biggest expenses and looking to bring them down. It’s much better than attacking the small things (though the small things can add up to be equal or more than the top big expense).

People typically spend a good amount on food, especially eating out. The USDA has some guidelines on how much people spend on groceries. Using the most recent data, a typical couple in the 19-50 range (a typical Lazy Man reader) would spend between $87.30 and $111.50 a week on thrifty or low-cost plans. I’m going to presume that the typical Lazy Man reader is going to be skewed to the more frugal options since we tend to be more mindful with our spending. The average of the thrifty and low-cost plans comes to about $100 a week for a couple or a little more than $14 a day. Per person this works out to be $7. Mike’s $9-10 per person estimate for all food (groceries & restaurants) comes in at around $136 per week which puts him almost exactly at the USDA’s moderate cost number of $138.70. Since the USDA’s number is about groceries only Mike appears to be doing great overall.

As for tips to save, I’ve got some Amex Blue Cash will put 3-6% back in your pocket on groceries. Unfortunately, Mike emailed me back to say that his grocery store doesn’t take credit cards (imagine that!). All is not lost though, he can use a debit card that can earn up to 2% back from Perkstreet.

As for restaurants, Mint has some good ways to track spending. (Side Note: It’s been too long since I’ve checked out their tools myself. That’s going on my to-do list.) It looks like Mike has already done the math to compile the $400/mo. number (I’m combining fast food and sit down restaurants). I don’t have comparison numbers for restaurants, but sit-down restaurants would be the place to focus on saving money. The cost per meal at one can be ten times what you can make at home. I have my own set of tips for save money at restaurants. One can consider eating out at a sit-down restaurant as entertainment too as the ambiance typically plays a role in the value.

Fast food restaurants can be cheap if you make the most out of value menus, but they typically don’t win any awards for great nutrition. From a cost perspective, a dollar McDouble is a pretty frugal meal… four of them a day (around 1500 calories) would set you back $120 a month, which is a pretty low food budget. I’m not recommending that, we say how that worked out for Morgan Spurlock in Super-Size Me, but the numbers illustrate how an occasional fast food trip can fit a frugal budget.

It’s hard to put a strict “you should spend $X amount on food” guideline in place. Geographic region, diet requirements (some people choose to pay more for organic), and other factors (time to clip coupons) can move your food budget in either direction. This is why I would focus on making sure that my spending is in a fiscally responsible range. Some of the tools I mentioned above can help provide a sanity check to make sure they are fiscally responsible.

Getting back to the subject of Mike’s email. He wanted to put the question to the readers. So now it is your turn to give feedback. I’m particularly interested if someone can find some food spending to income ratio numbers. That strikes me as a valuable piece of the puzzle.

If you have a personal finance question contact me and perhaps you can be featured in a future Lazy Man and Money article. And don’t be shy, we’ll keep things anonymous.

Do You Grocery Shop at 5 Different Stores?

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A friend shared this YouTube video as something he could identify. Since I could identify with it as well, I figured you might too:

A couple of months ago when I lived in California, I’d grocery shop at 4 stores (I’ll let you be the judge on the fifth):

  • Safeway – I’d pick up the first page circular loss-leaders… stocking up in our chest freezer if there was a particularly good meat sale. I’d take advantage of Safeway’s Just For U Program or a few items as well.
  • Lucky – Another place with the loss leaders. They also have bottles of wine for $2 that I don’t think are absolute swill (my wife would argue otherwise).
  • Costco – Costco is great for a lot of things, but for us, it had the cheapest price on quality dog food (a good site for that is Dog Food Analysis). Also I’d pick up 5 pounds of shredded cheese for around $10, portion it into sandwich bags, put all those in gallon freezer bag, and store in the chest freezer. If you want to pay $2.50 for 8 ounces of shredded cheese be my guest; I was paying around $1.25.
  • Military Commissary – This is my go to shop for just about everything else. Since they are non-profit, the prices are significantly better. However, they require more driving since they are only on some military bases. Also, almost all the meat prices are more than what you’d at your local grocery store, especially if the grocery store is running a sale to get people in the store. The exception is the ground beef, which is always a very good price.
  • Whole Foods – I really only stop in there for Ecover, which is a fancy, natural, laundry detergent that is highly recommended for the baby’s cloth diapers. I recently found that Ecover Liquid Laundry is available for less at Amazon. (I hadn’t looked until recently, because I had presumed that shipping costs would out-weigh any savings, but they don’t). Since I only shop here for one item every few weeks (and get the heck out of there ASAP), I’m hesitant to count it.

By the sounds of that, and coming after the video, you’d get the impression that I spend all day driving from store to store to buy groceries. However, the first three stores on the list are usually quite quick. Most weeks, I would only hit either Lucky or Safeway. Costco and the commissary were most likely once every three weeks.

Lately, I’ve gotten my grocery stores down to two: a Stop and Shop and the commissary. With the move to the east coast we are in temporary housing on a military base for a bit. With limited space (and no chest freezer), I can’t stock up on any deals. Also with no real mailing address, I don’t get the circulars tempting me to go to the grocery store to get the deals. The local Costco is a far enough away that is not a temptation either. All this will change when we get our real housing. Then I’ll go back to shopping at 4-5 different stores.

Save Money on Groceries

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Save Money on Groceries
Save Money on Groceries

Though prices have come down as the economy has slowed, there’s not much doubt that food is much more expensive today that it was in the past. It seems way out of line with inflation. Experts have cited many factors for this. Some say a change of eating habits in China and India towards more expensive foods is the reason. Others say it’s been poor weather conditions. Still others claimed it was the expensive price of energy (which obviously comes into play shipping food). It is probably a combination of all the above. While things are better now, I think we are going to have to live getting used to paying more for your food.

It doesn’t have to be that… there are many ways to save money on groceries:

General Tips

  • Coupons – Coupons can save you money, but there’s a danger. You may buy things you ordinarily wouldn’t. You also might find that are spending your time just to get a name brand product. The store brand might be as cheap. Then again, I’ve been known to clip a coupon on occasion.
  • Watch for Shrinking Portions – Companies have been known to reduce portion sized to maintain the same pricing points. The idea is that you’d notice a raise in prices more than you would a shrinking of portions. Yogurt comes in 6oz now instead of 8oz. The half gallon of ice cream has gone to 1.75 quarts and then to 1.5 quarts. Even propane portions are pathetically puny.
  • Don’t Shop as Often – Ever go shopping and pick up one or two extra items? Well if you go shopping often enough, that’s a lot of items. If you limit your trips, you’ll limit the amount of extra buying that you do.
  • Make the Most out of Leftovers – I’m not that creative when it comes to food. I don’t think about how to make tonight’s meatloaf into tomorrow’s sloppy joe. However, I don’t mind have leftovers for lunch (or even breakfast) the next day. I’m weird, but I’ve been known to eat the same thing for a week. If you aren’t like me, there are plenty of creative things to do with leftovers, but that’s a study in itself.

Plan Ahead

When it comes to saving money, there’s little substitute for planning. This is true in many aspects of life and groceries are no exception.

  • Keep Inventory on your Fridge – I’ve been intending to get a laminated spreadsheet of everything we use and stick it to the fridge. The idea is that I could use a water-based marker to check of the items that I need (as I need them), bring the list shopping with me, then wash and reuse it. I’ve been Lazy with this though, so instead I clog up my brain with details about what to get. My clogged brain system works fairly well for me, but I wonder how much more efficient I could be if I wasn’t storing information about how much milk we have in our fridge.
  • Do a Final Once-Over Before Shopping – It never hurts to give the final look to make sure that inventory is right.
  • Prepare Meals in Advance – While it might increase your grocery bill, planning your meals in advance will save you money by avoiding spending on convenience foods. Recently, I’ve been making what I call chicken bowls (chicken rice Rice-a-roni, chicken , diced tomatoes, and pinto beans all mixed together) and beef bowls (beef Rice-a-roni, ground beef or cut up steak, diced tomatoes, and pinto beans) and having them on hand.
  • Grow Your Own Vegetables – Though it’s not the Lazy way, it’s a way to save some signficant money.

Buy in Bulk

There are is a lot of money to be saved by buying in bulk. Not only can you get great prices, you can cut down on the number of trips to the grocery store. The only problem is that many groceries expire. Here are some tips to get around that.

  • Get a Foodsaver – I found that a FoodSaver does save you money. Foodsaver bags can get expensive, so I’d suggest getting a FoodSaver wide mouth jar sealer and some wide mouth mason jars. You’ll be doing the environment a favor by reusing as well.
  • Get a Chest Freezer – The perfect companion to the Foodsaver and mason jar is a chest freezer. Now I can prepare those beef and chicken bowls months in advance. I can also stock up when boneless, skinless chicken is under $2.00 a pound.
  • Be Careful About Too Much Bulk – Few families really need a keg of mustard. It simply makes them buy a bigger refrigerator or house.

Get the Best Deals

It’s time to finally find the best deal when you are at the grocery store. Here are some tips to do that:

  • Have a Head for What Things Cost – Some people have a price notebook and use that to keep track of what’s a good price. I tend to clog up my brain with that information. The good thing is that if you limit the products you buy to just a few, your brain gets use to it.
  • Know Where to Shop – Some stores always seem to have bargains on certain things. For instance, I know I can always get Charles Shaw (2 Buck Chuck) wine at Trader Joe’s (a great way to save money on wine). Wal-Mart has great prices on Sam’s Choice diet soda. I know that when I’m walking into these places, I’m going to be stocking up. For produce, shopping at farmer’s markets are an excellent way to save money. For those in the military, commissaries offer deals. For other tips see my article, Saving Money on Groceries: Picking the Right Store
  • Stock Up on Non-Perishables – One of the biggest ways to stretch your dollar is to stock up on non-perishables. Sometimes you can save 50% easily. That’s almost like getting a 70% raise (since you have to pay tax on it). There’s a risk of going overboard. My mother has Windex that has to be from the early mid 1970’s. I’m sure she got it for 9 cents after some double coupon promotion. She gave it to us, but we are convinced it has CFCs and don’t know how to recycle it.
  • Look at the Weekly Circulars – They often put the best deals right on the first page to entice you come into the store and do all your shopping there. That’s convenient because you know what’s really a deal right away.
  • Use a Store’s Card – Many grocery stores have a card where they’ll give you a much better price for swiping it. Sure you are trading your personal information… unless you gave them a fake name to begin with ;-). Not that I’d suggest doing something like that…

Change Your Eating Habits

I know this isn’t the easiest or best way to save money. However, it’s worth noting that you can control these factors which can save you lots of money.

  • Drink Water – Water is quite cheap. Even if you buy a Brita slim pitcher it will still beat the cost of other beverages like my aforementioned diet soda. You’ll also feel fuller as drinking water may help you lose weight.
  • Avoid Processed or Frozen Foods – Convenience often comes at a price. Sometimes it’s monetary, but other times it’s the use of ingredients like high-fructose corn syrup that deliver little nutrition. These processed foods are typically located in the center of the store. One can avoid them by usually walking along the perimeter where the meat, eggs, produce, and milk, etc. are.
  • Eat Less – Many Americans eat too much. Not only can you save money by eating less, but calorie restriction may help you live longer.
  • Look for Cheap High-Quality Food – Beans are excellent sources of fiber and protein… and they are cheap. Eggs have gone up in price, but they are still reasonable sources of quality protein. You don’t have to be a body builder to know a tub of whey protein can go a long way to making milk a quick breakfast.

That’s all I have folks. What other ways do you save money on groceries?

Photo Credit: dionhinchcliffe