Grocery Budget

Let me start this by saying that I have learned (the hard way) that all of the horseradish I ate with my yummy beef strudel gives me horrible pregnancy gas. And by horrible, I mean painful... I probably ate half a jar of that stuff, which left me barely able to stand up yesterday... so no more smothering on horseradish- bummer.

ANYWAY,

One of the absolute best things about living where we do is the wide availability of organic foods. Not only does our Safeway carry organic produce, eggs, and milk at a decent price- BUT we also live right down the street from a Whole Foods which actually stocks a wide variety of organic, grass-fed, locally grown meat. The meat, however, totally messes with my grocery budget: I purchased 3 pounds of red meat (2 pounds stew meat and 1 pound ground beef) and it was $24. Thank you for the gift card, Santa... but seriously: it made me want to purchase a herd of cattle and set up a butcher shop in our garage.

On Long Island, we couldn't quite find the organic, grass-fed, locally grown meat, but we looked for organic or antibiotic free options. We really have been wanting to make the big jump to great meat like this... the more we read about corn-fed animals pumped full of drugs on massive meat farms, the more sense it makes for us. But let's be honest: we're a one income household and my husband works at a non-profit that currently will not cover our next round of fertility treatments should we want another baby (which is much more than the standard IVF cost you see in ads on TV- trust me). How will we be able to retire if our grocery budget explodes and all our extra $$ in the next 35 years goes to meat (and babies)??

Because we want to make the better choices for our health and environment, here is what I'm thinking:

1. Look into zoning laws for the aforementioned herding/garage slaughter-house option.

2. Limit the amount of meat we actually eat and learn how to make hearty, protein rich meals that are meat-less. These meals must also be yummy. By no means would we go totally vegetarian, but this would give us some dinner options that are a bit cheaper.

3. Hold-up the Whole Foods meat department.

4. Win the lottery.

5. Research a meat share or actually purchase a full animal. We would work with a certified organic farmer in our area, pick out our animal, and he would take care of killing/butchering it. Lovely, right? We'd store Bessie in a deep freezer in the garage. Not sure the pricing for this. BUT, I love the idea of being able to support humane, organic, local farming.

If you have any ideas (or experience farming/butchering cattle) please, please let me know...

I have a confession...

... I love getting a bargain.  Anytime I can save money on something, I'm thrilled.  

But, I also have my staples on which I splurge: I'll literally show up to Marshall's wearing an outfit that could pay the rent just to save an extra 50% on an already reduced post-seasonal item.

My recent conquest to save money has been on groceries... learning how to effectively/efficiently comparison shop and use coupons- it's been a little stressful at times, but totally worth it!!  It's getting a little trickier now that we're moving towards organics.  But, I'm still doing well (and very thankful for store brand organics)... I spent $60 on our groceries today (it should last through the end of next week) when it should have cost around $80.

My favorite way to save money is at CVS.  I have been learning their customer loyalty program (aka: free card) for the past few months, thanks to some blogs that I now read daily (thank you, www.becentsable.net and www.moneysavingmom.com). Two weeks ago I got $9 worth of items for $0.09- seriously.  And this week, I got a big bottle of Head and Shoulders for $0.79 (it's about $6.75 regularly).

YES- I have boundaries for saving money:

1. It has to fit in the budget;

2. We have to have a place to put it; and

3. It has to be something that we can actually use (or donate to a local non-profit).

Expired Coupons??

One of my recent hobbies is coupon-ing (I can hear my brother laughing at me right now...). Slowly, but surely, I'm learning how to get good deals on the food we eat and the products we use (for example, $0.11 for a box of couscous, which Matt loves). Many of our local stores offer double and triple coupons, which adds up every week. I cut out every coupon I get, because I never know what's going to be on sale or what I'm going to need!

However, being just the two of us (and Hula), we don't exactly consume a lot of goods. What do we do with our left over coupons and coupons that we just don't need? I have four options that I'm learning to alternate between:

1. Stock-up on basics: Even if I don't need chicken broth, I'll use my soon-to-be-expired coupon and buy stock on sale. If I know that I'm actually going to use it soon, I'll stock up :)

2. Stock-up on items to donate: We like to give back to the community and participate in drives for those in need. When there is an amazing deal on products like soaps, toothpaste, canned food, diapers, etc, I purchase with my coupons and save the item(s) to donate. This way, we always have stock on hand and we can contribute to worthy causes while watching the budget :)

3. Send to friends: I have several friends with babies, and since we don't have kids yet, I send them my baby/kid related coupons. Even if they don't use them, I know that they have the potential to use them. I also send links to good online coupons to friends who I know will want to use them.

4. Send to military families overseas: The commissary stores on army bases accepts expired coupons up to 6 months past their expiration dates!! For families earning very little, coupons can make a big difference. Since I'm clipping anyway, it's an easy way for us to support our troops. If you would like to donate your coupons, go to http://www.ocpnet.org and follow their instructions for mailing coupons. This site sends coupons to a base of your choosing, and the coupons are put in a box at the front of the commissary for the shoppers. Military commissaries accept coupons 6 months past their expiration date as well as internet printed coupons. You can also send your coupons directly to military family/friends overseas!

If you have any creative ideas for old/irrelevant coupons, please let me know! Happy clipping :)