Help with the Trifecta, please -- good food, for less money and less time

[Anonymous]

My DH and I are (I guess, for lack of a better term) foodies. We like good food, made from mostly unprocessed ingredients, and we try to use local, organic, and humanely-raised products as much as possible. However, our time and money spending habits are bad. We shop 3 to 5 times a week at Whole Foods, Giant, Trader Joe's, and, in the growing season, our local farmer's market. We spend more money than we can afford on high-quality, expensive products. We spend too much time making multiple runs to the grocery store because we only think 1-3 days ahead and something is usually forgotten, anyway. The only thing we do “right,” budget-wise, is that we never, ever eat out and order delivery once a month at most.

I want to do a better job of meal planning for the week and reducing our shopping trips, finding good recipies for tasty food that will be less expensive, figure out how to save time and money by doing most of our shopping in one place (join Costco, or a CSA with delivery?). Please share ways that you are able to save time and money and where/how/when you do your shopping. I am willing to give up some of the expensive meats, but I don't want any milk or beef from cows treated with hormones (I'm nursing and have a preschooler). We love good vegetables. We are totally willing to eat more vegetarian meals, but have to stop ourselves from using ten dollars worth of cheese on cheap homemade pizza dough.

Ideas and strategies, please! Where do you shop? Do you like any phone apps or internet sites? Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Just planning ahead and going once a week will save you a ton of money. I find that I spend 30% less per week if I make a menu plan, one big list, and shop on Sunday for the week.

I buy most things at Giant but I do get meat at WF whenever I can.

[Anonymous]

Make more bean and lentil based meals. I cook a few cups of brown rice in the rice cooker each week and make a big batch of some sort of bean and vegetable stew. A little goes in the freezer, i eat it for lunch, send it with my toddler to eat for lunch, and we get a couple dinners out of it for both this week and some point in the future when we don't want to cook.

Some suggestions: dal, spanish chickpeas w/spinach, hoppin john, split pea with ham and ginger, tofu with vegetables, chili, black bean soup (make refried beans and enfrijoladas at the same time), white bean and rosemary.

Pasta and enchiladas work well like this too. I always try to have 2-3 things at home I can cook really quickly (often something to accompany the above) and at least one thing already made. Frozen vegetables are your friend because you can keep a lot in the house and they need no prep time.

[Anonymous]

I agree with PP. Use lots of lentils and beans and cut down on the meat. I often use small amounts of good bacon to give the food a good flavor. Stir fries are good too.

Soup is my favorite. It's cheap, filling and you can generally use whatever leftover veg you have on hand.

Good veg is expensive but you can skip things like peppers during the winter when they are expensive, and eat lots of sweet potatoes, cauliflower and cabbage.

[Anonymous]

You need to mealplan. If you love good food, I would think you'd be good at meal planning. Then you only buy what you need. Plus, you can save more money by focusing on things that are in season (aka - don't make a recipe that needs red peppers when they cost $4.99 each).

We did not find a CSA to be money saving. But the one we used has poor quality. I honestly think the were trying to drive us away as we were the furthest drop off point, so maybe others can suggest ones that are good. But they only work if you are flexibile with what you make, and can do a lot with less then common veggies. On the upside, my son would try anything that came in that box.

[Anonymous]

My husband and I enjoy good food and quality ingredients, but I agree going full organic would bankrupt us. So we pick and choose what we buy organic and what's okay generic. We definitely choose organic, free range, cage free, free roaming whatever, beef, chicken, eggs, milk (the taste difference between regular eggs and farm market eggs are huge). But compromise on things like box pasta, rice, beans, etc. I don't know if organic beans vs. non organic beans make a difference. We stock up on pasta when it's 10 for $10. I found a list of the dirtiest fruits and vegetables and made a choice about what I was willing to buy organic and not buy organic.

Coming up with a weekly meal plan and writing grocery lists have helped me keep our grocery budget around $100 for our small family of 3.

[Anonymous]

Just our of curiousity- why don't you ever eat out? Where do you get your delivery from?

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thank you, everyone. We don't eat out because we can't afford it, especially to eat at the kinds if restaurants we'd love to try, as opposed to Chili's or something. Plus, my son is allergic to soy and nuts which eliminates a lot of Asian restaurants, and we can't afford a sitter. We get pizza once a month. We also make pizza from scratch sometimes. Pizza and wings tonight -- go Hoyas!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You need to mealplan. If you love good food, I would think you'd be good at meal planning. Then you only buy what you need. Plus, you can save more money by focusing on things that are in season (aka - don't make a recipe that needs red peppers when they cost $4.99 each).

Exactly the opposite. If you love good food, you buy what looks good, not whatever's on your list.

I've been in this boat before, where I'll have a week's worth of seasonally-appropriate meals all planned out, and then find out when I get to the store that the broccoli is limp, or they don't have any of the fresh fish I like, or there's no fennel to be had... But the artichokes are on sale and looking good even though it's August, and steaks are half off... and so on.

[Anonymous]

I used to buy fruits and vegetables at several local farmer's markets every week in addition to going to Whole Foods. I'm the only one in my family of four who is a "foodie," though, and I decided that it was not worth the extra expense to buy at such high prices. Now, I go to Giant once a week, maybe Trader Joe's every 2 or 3 weeks, and Costco every 6 to 8 weeks. By picking carefully at Giant, we eat just as well, in my opinion, and we've saved a ton of money. I also buy meats on sale, and freeze sausages and chicken thighs; I just bought filet mignon that was on super reduced sale at Giant because the last sale date was very soon, but I knew we would be eating it that night. I still may be some farmer's market tomatoes, though, this summer!

[Anonymous]

I subscribed to the Fresh20 with a Groupon. I've been doing it for about 2 months. Even without a Groupon, I think it's money well spent.

http://www.thefresh20.com/

For about the cost of a cooking / food magazine subscriptions, you get a shopping list, menu, prep list and nutrition facts for 5 family meals that utilize 20 ingredients plus pantry staples. Unlike other meal plan services, the recipes focus on fresh, healthy foods.

You can get a 3 day test menu for free by going to the web site above.

[Anonymous]

I have staples meaning things I get that that are versatile for most things I make- shallots, garlic, chicken stock, heavy cream. Then a few veg that everyone likes and again fits in with our palate. Then bread, a few cheeses, and fruit. Most of these items I get from trader joes. Snacks and meat I get from WF. I do my third shopping at target since they carry diapers "extras" etc that I need. I do some planning ahead of time but mostly I plan around my protein, so it's whatever looks the freshest or catches my eye. I also have the WF app on my iPhone that's helped me out when I've had random items in the pantry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You need to mealplan. If you love good food, I would think you'd be good at meal planning. Then you only buy what you need. Plus, you can save more money by focusing on things that are in season (aka - don't make a recipe that needs red peppers when they cost $4.99 each).

Exactly the opposite. If you love good food, you buy what looks good, not whatever's on your list.

I've been in this boat before, where I'll have a week's worth of seasonally-appropriate meals all planned out, and then find out when I get to the store that the broccoli is limp, or they don't have any of the fresh fish I like, or there's no fennel to be had... But the artichokes are on sale and looking good even though it's August, and steaks are half off... and so on.

What I do is spend an afternoon browsing cookbooks and recipes, focusing on what's in season. I'll mark 10-15 recipes that look appealing and write down the major ingredients that I would need.

Then I go to the store with a loose list. I buy what looks good and is on sale and then finalize my plan after I get home, going back through the recipes and adapting as needed. I try and vary my meals, meat one night, flatbread pizza or paninis the next, then a stirfry, then pasta, etc. I really don't like leftovers, so I plan out how to use everything up.

It does take some practice and you have to keep your pantry stocked so you can improvise, but I prefer this over straight meal planning. I did do straight meal planning for a while, but was never able to really stick with it.

I also pay attention to the specials so I can plan my meat purchases (which I really only eat 2-3x a week anyway) and I get a box each week from Washington Green Grocers, which helps too.