A little bit of Q & A

I was so excited to get an email from a reader today that I just had to make a post about it. She asked such good questions that I figured I'd share with everybody!

Q: Where are you buying your brown rice?

A: I've found the best deal on brown rice is when Macy's does their case-lot/food storage sales. Usually in April and September. Also Costco carries brown rice in 25lb bags for a reasonable price (WAY cheaper than the small bags at the grocery store). They don't offer it at the LDS Cannery- it doesn't keep as long as the white rice so is not considered "long-term storage," however; I've kept it in my storage for at least up to a year and it has been fine so I try to keep at least one extra 25lb bag on hand as I can easily rotate that amount in one year.

Q: How many servings do your meals typically make? Do you usually make extra for your husband to take to work?

A: I used to always make extra servings when I make dinner because I'd almost always send leftovers with Mike to work. He's since changed jobs though, and no longer has an office where he can re-heat food so I've been packing him cold food instead like sandwiches, wraps and cold soups. Now I make extra servings  because my girls and I will usually eat them for lunch throughout the week instead. My meals usually serve at least 8 people.

Q: How are you liking Bountiful Baskets?

A: I've actually just started with Bountiful Baskets (just one so far and another one ordered) but so far I've liked it. It's like getting all your produce on sale. It's also fun to get items in your basket that aren't normally on my list. I've been able to buy more produce for the price of the basket at times depending on what's on sale. The easiest way to get the best deals on produce is to try to price match at Walmart all the other ads.. The disadvantage to that, though, is that you're buying produce from Walmart which isn't always very good. I've noticed that Buy-Low market in Provo/Orem area has good deals on produce frequently as does the Sunflower Farmer's Market store (if that name is right.. it's the store across the street from University mall- used to be an electronics store) But overall, Bountiful baskets is a good buy- just not always the best buy so I like to wait until the ads come out on Tuesday before I place my order (which means sometimes I miss it!). Another good way to get cheap produce is to check out some local U-pick locations. Also check KSL (or your local classifieds) because people often sell or even give away surplus from their gardens or fruit and nut trees. Last year I bottled dozens of quarts of apples that I got for $.10 per pound from somebody on KSL. I've also found peaches, walnuts, pears and more.


Q: When you started this how much did you actually have in stock in your home? For example, did you already have all of your spices? Did you have a basic supply of flour, sugar, yeast ect?

A: When I started trying to build our food storage and decrease our grocery budget we had virtually no food storage other than some basic pantry items like a couple 5 lb bags of flour, sugar, etc. I was buying yeast in packets as needed (ugh!) but I did have a pretty big supply of spices because I have always loved making my own sauces and seasoning my own food just the way I like it. The nice thing about spices is that a little bit goes a long way. They can be expensive when you are first building your supply but most spices will last for YEARS and you only have to use a little bit at a time. I usually only have to buy additional spices once every couple of months. The ones I use the most are probably basil and cumin so I try to buy those in the biggest volume that I can afford. (Mexican markets usually have the best deals on cumin in bulk- you can also try some online sources like bulkfoods.com)

Also- For the first few months when I started changing things, I cut our food budget from $800/month to $450. I spent $350 on our groceries and set aside $100 every month to build up our food storage. As I got better at budgeting, meal planning and cooking I gradually reduced that amount to what I'm at now. It didn't, by any means, happen over night. We probably would have starved! :) My normal grocery budget (including soap, cleaners, diapers, and food plus restocking our food storage) is pretty steady now at $250/month. Some months I may spend a little bit more (like this month- trying to diet and buy diapers on $250 might be pushing it a bit- but we'll see how it goes) and some months I have only had to buy eggs and milk so it's significantly less than that.

Q: Are you making one grocery trip a month or several?

A: I usually have one big shopping day per month. Usually on or near payday. This is when I buy the bulk of our food that we'll need during the month. I come home and freeze meat and vegetables in meal-sized portions so they won't go to waste waiting for me to cook everything. I add a second trip to the store about halfway through the month for more fresh produce, eggs and milk. If you buy your milk fresh, it should last about 2 1/2 weeks in the refrigerator so just buy enough to last you for that amount of time. Some stores seem to have fresher milk than others. Costco usually has at least a couple weeks on their sell-by dates as does our local Smith's market here in Saratoga Springs; however Walmart and some Associated stores often only have a few days to a week. Eggs should last through the month, but I buy them twice because I can't fit a month's worth into the fridge!

Q: How often are you eating vegetarian meals?

A: I usually make at least one vegetarian meal per week. I'm not a big meat eater, so I'd actually prefer to eat them more often, but my husband is a meat and potatoes kind of guy- He actually accuses me of trying to starve him if I don't feed him meat! Often, I add meat just for him and my son so I seldom use more than 3/4 pound of meat per meal. Some vegetarian meals that he doesn't mind: Macaroni and Cheese, Garden Vegetable Minestrone, Pastafazool (this can be made with or without meat easily) and tonight I actually made Vegetarian fajitas and he didn't even notice there was no meat! At least he didn't say anything about it and he had a second helping. The only thing he asked about was the cheese.

This is a snapshot of my spice cabinet. As you can see, a simple spice rack just doesn't cut it for me! I have just about every common spice and a few uncommon ones as well. The picture really doesn't even do it justice.

Please, if anybody else has comments or questions, feel free to email me at mikeandsheryl@q.com

Thanks!