Affording groceries during times of rapid price increases
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During the past two years alone, the price of some household staples such as bread, milk, and eggs have increased in price by as much as 69%*, while the median household income has only increased 1%*. In this video, I discuss these increases and offer tips to help your family cope with the rapidly increasing cost of groceries.
As I’ve found myself watching Youtube far more than I do television, I am going to start expanding my youtube channel, so please be sure and visit me on youtube by clicking here and be sure and click the red “subscribe” button!
References for this video:
- Soaring Food Prices: Compare Cost Increases
- Food Prices Soar as Incomes Stand Still
- Milk Prices Could Go up 60 Cents a Gallon
- Rice: The Ultimate Budget Extender
- Money Saving Tip: Rethink Bulk
- Come Home to Supper
“American families have always shown remarkable resiliency, or flexible adjustment to natural, economic, and social challenges. Their strengths resemble the elasticity of a spider web, a gull’s skillful flow with the wind, the regenerating power of perennial grasses, the cooperation of an ant colony, and the persistence of a stream carving canyon rocks. These are not the strengths of fixed monuments but living organisms. This resilience is not measured by wealth, muscle or efficiency but by creativity, unity, and hope. Cultivating these family strengths is critical to a thriving human community.”~Ben Silliman
Check out becoming minimalist on FB. You would be surprised how having less “stuff” actually makes your life better.
I will have to research that Kim, thanks for sharing!
I like to purchase bacon wrapped pork tenderloin medallions, they run about $3.50 per package of 2 and are about 3-4 inches across an inch to two inches thick almost like a pork filet minion..I marinate them in teriyaki sauce or what ever marinade you like for steaks, then I cook them in my Nuwave Oven with some chopped veggies in the bottom under the meat rack so the juice flavors them. This saves us by not having to use the large oven for such a small amount of food or heat up the house in the summer ( I like to use my slow cooker too, so we don’t heat up the kitchen to kick on the a/c in the summer)… In the Nuwave they sear perfectly and are so juicy plus the veggies are seasoned perfectly, we add a .99 cent bag of Uncle Ben’s rice of choice, a frozen veggie for $1.00 from Walmart or a salad and ya have a great meal. I also love Walmart’s black bean & corn salsa, it’s in a large glass jar. The flavor is wonderful and it can be used in soups, chili’s, stews or poured over chicken or beef in the slow cooker, in burrito’s, taco’s, quiches, omelets, etc… I recently switched to the Sam’s club brand paper towels and they are actually better than the named brand ones with the pic. of the very strong guy on the front..LOL…and their T.P. is great also ( I am picky about those products) it saves us about $10.00 total on the two paper products. Also Walmart reduces their meat mid-week and if you hit the store when they are doing reduction, you can save a ton of money on steaks, roasts, pork etc…Just call them and ask to speak to the meat dept., and find out what day they will be reducing the price that week. We also have “Ruler’s” which carries Kroger products and their poultry, eggs and milk are always the lowest as is the “Dollar Store”…As for T.V. the “Leaf” antenna with a digital booster works great for getting local and extended area digital channels for free, the combo runs about $60-$75.00 and no monthly fee, you just buy them hook them up and your set to go… If you have high speed internet, you can get Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime and stream form you computer most shows, some might be a day later than aired but you can see and entire season whenever you choose and at your convenience. Amazon prime also has some free books and movies and gives you free shipping on most items they ship from their direct vendors. All of these offer reasonable monthly/annual prices. You can also get internet phone by purchasing the phone unit individually. I have looked into them and read many reviews on Amazon, Epinions and Consumer Reports reviews and one in particular is rated very highly and works really well. Review your cell phone plans/costs and current usage to negotiate down the prices as they will not tell you when a new cheaper plan becomes available..as with most providers, they are becoming very competitive in most areas so check for a less expensive plan with cell and cable services. We recently switched and saves $100.00 per month and even though we still have cable/internet (my hubby likes his sport live) we were able to negotiate our bill down from $140.00 to under a $100.00 for HS Internet/Cable and landline after reviewing our phone usage and data package the wifi and landline will save us money by reducing our minutes used…Consider joining a local farmers market/co-op for veggies in the summe if you can’t garden. Local farmers offer great prices for those who pre-buy at reduced prices for the summer/fall produce..That way they know who is a guaranteed customer and many will deliver to your door or work and that saves you gas and time…Shop the clearance sections for household needs and seasonal items at places like Big Lots, Dollar Tree, Dollar Store and Family Dollar, all have great prices on canned goods, non-perishables, laundry and dish detergents etc.( check the exp. date to make sure you can use them by that time). Set the programable thermostat to 67 degrees at night and when we’re not home and 70 for the few hours in the morning and when we get home, reversed the ceiling fans to turn clockwise so they send the rising heat back down, putting them on low does not create a drafty feeling or to much air movement. We also purchased good quality electric blankets that are fleece on one side, added the clear shrink film to the inside of drafty windows using a blow dryer, the curtains hid the sides and you can’t even tell it’s on. We saved over $60.00 on the first heating bill after making these changes. We now run the dishwasher and laundry at night and that helps too…We have experienced what you mentioned in your video and are continually making changes to our budget and finding ways to save money. My husband is such a hard worker and so dedicated to who he works for, he would work day and night to make sure the customer, they employees he manages and the company are taken care of first…way before himself, he never called in sick..yet he lost his job, when the new owners brought in their own people to run the business…The Phrase they used was ” You are one of the hardest working employees we have ever had and we hate to loose you but we are eliminating your job, we hope you know it’s just business and we will give you a great reference” … this was after 12 years with the company, working 70-90 hours a week, driving 90 miles round trip to and from work each day 6 days a week..In the last 11 years he had only taken two 5 day vacations and a 3 day bereavement when his father was died after a botched gallbladder surgery done at the veterans hospital in Marion, IL (several patients died after surgery by the same Dr.) and 2 days to be with his granddaughter who was born premature and passed away at a week old and he went back to work immediately after each of these traumatic events and never complained…It took a few months for him to find any job and during the time he was off he became so sad, he was feeling lost and not needed, without a sense of purpose and he really missed his work family which he had grown to care for over the years …Thank God, he did find a job, still 80-95 hours a week and 135 mile commute each day. He leaves at 6:15 a.m. and gets homes at 9:15 p.m. at the earliest, yet it is half the pay and more time and gas added gas cost, but again we give thanks that he has a job and that’s all that matters for the time being …Hopefully things will get better for us and everyone else sometime soon…Praying they do, God Bless…
Sorry for the typo’s errors, I am a hunt and peck typist…lol
Wow Donna! Thank you so much for sharing your story and all the tips and tricks you have learned along the way. I am praying things get better soon as well, you will be added to that list. 🙂
Christy, you are amazing! Keep up the good work! Looking forward to more money saving videos!
Thank you Donna!!!
Great video!! Subscribed to your youtube channel too! I am blessed to live on a farm and have a large area to grow my own garden, we’ve raised a few steers and pigs too. When we grocery shop, it is 80 miles one way, so we don’t do it often, but we do buy in bulk and stock our fruit room and freezers. Our first store is always Grocery Outlet, then the “other” stores, because GO has much better prices. I write on the lids of my canned goods the date I put them on the shelf so I will use the older stuff first. When I had a bumper crop of zucchini, I shredded it all and put it in the freezer in 2 cups per zippy – I use one zippy per batch of lasagne so I don’t have to use as much meat and no one knows 🙂 Hubby is diabetic, so that totally drives my meal planning – no rice or pasta-heavy meals. I am making my own re-usable “paper” towels with flannel and old towels so I can avoid buying so many real paper towels that just get thrown away. Prepping as much as I can, in every way, to save money in the future!
Thank you Susan!!! And thanks for sharing some of your tips!
hi susan….I use coffee filters in the place of many paper towels. I still use paper towels but not near as any…they absorb great…dry yr hands, wipe up water/spills( small ones), cover microwave warm ups, and many more things…
Christy, where to begin? As always, you are the best.! Great mom, wife and great cook and I so appreciate the way you help us to create wonderful meals on a budget! Also love your stories and your down-to-earthiness in being one of “us.” I love that you love your pets… love that you didn’t shoo Zoe away when she interrupted your video recording and especially love that you didn’t re-start the video!! You are the real deal!’
I personally would like to hear more about drying fruits and veggies. I’ve been reading a great deal about it as I have a garden every year. Not a huge one but big enough for tomatoes, squash, green peppers, green beans etc. I tried canning tomatoes years ago and was not happy with the way they “looked” so was afraid to eat them and have not tried it since. Don’t want to rely on my freezer in case the power goes out for any length of time… i.e. if the grid goes out for some reason. Storm or ?
Also, I am a 71 yr old mom, grandma, great grandma trying to become somewhat of a “prepper” in that I want to have enough on hand to make sure my large family has enough to eat for an extended period of time. I agree that we should have a whole lot of white rice on hand but I’m concerned about how long it will keep by putting it into 2 liter plastic bottles vs putting the rice into mylar bags? Thanks for any help!
Have joined your you-tube videos and love, love your recipes!!
Nancy
Thank you so much Nancy!! I will be posting more about drying/dehydrating soon I hope. I researched the rice in 2-liters and from what I have read it will last 10-20 years if you place an 02 Absorber in it. Hope that helps!
My daughter and I live on $710 a month so we have to be very frugal. We use eggs a lot in a variety of ways, shop at Aldi’s buy specials we can freeze for another day, only go 1 time a month to save gas and money, shop strictly by our list no impulse shopping, divide a package of ground beef or turkey which ever is on sale into thirds and stretch it with rice or pasta, buy chicken thighs cook only one and stretch it in a casserole. We never buy pre shredded anything we shred it ourselves. But do you no what we are blessed we have each other, a roof over our head, and we don’t go hungry. We don’t have cable but watch what free tv we can get on the laptop as she needs the internet for her school work but there again we are blessed as we have together time.
You are blessed indeed Marsha!!! And those are some great tips! Thank you so much for sharing!!
I am so glad you are openly addressing this issue. After the demise of Angel Food Ministries, we had so many in need. In our area and other parts of the country, former AFM friends joined to restart. In our area, we are Hope for the MidSouth (TN,AR,MS) partnered with Smart Choice Foods http://www.smartchoicefood.com for bulk buying mostly through churches and nonprofits. Family Table is also partnered through us. In Kansas and OK, there is Bread of Hope. Great solution and we all use your recipes just like we did for AFM. Wish I could get your videos to stream smoothly but my problem not yours. Again, thank you so much for this focus. We use Kroger for other items!
Angel Food Ministries was such a blessing to so many, I hated to see it go, but I am so thankful for folks like you Cheryl. You work so hard to help others and it doesn’t go UN-noticed!