I love being able to make just about anything we want to eat with what we have in the pantry. It took me many years to learn how to cook without having to run to the store for every recipe. One thing that saves me tons of time and money is using my daycare menu, planning out meals for the fam, and only shopping once a month for staple items.
Shop Local
I shop with Oklahoma Food Co-op once a month for my beef, wheat berries, yogurt when I don’t make it, and cheese. I also buy any pork products I may use from them as well. I try to buy local fruits and veggies when they have them available. Other products I may buy include garden plants, peanuts, peanut butter, and pasta. I love the Co-op because I know the food they sell comes from Oklahoma producers. I love to shop local.
I go to a local fruit company to buy produce in between my monthly shopping trip. I can get in and out of the small store with some local products and it doesn’t take me as long as going into a big supermarket. We also, during the gardening season, eat from what we grow, so I don’t usually go to the fruit store during summer.
I also shop for dairy products at Braum’s each week. I use Braum’s because there are not hormones in their milk. I get milk, cottage cheese, and butter there. I will also pick up bananas if I don’t need anything else from the fruit store to save a trip.
When planning our monthly shopping trip, I make a detailed list of what I would buy from the store we shop at. If I send my husband to the store, we save money because he only gets what is on the list and doesn’t do a lot of impulse buying like I do. He’s willing to go, so that’s a good way for us to save money.
Menus help cut down on waste
I have a shopping list that corresponds with my daycare menu, and I go through that and write down on our shopping list what we need. A great way to save money would be to use the grocery store ads to plan your family’s meals for the month. Use whatever is on the front page of the ads that is actually healthy, whole, real food, to plan them out.
Another great way to save time and money is by buying in bulk. I love to order bulk grains online and have them delivered in 25 or 50 pound bags so I don’t have to buy that for months and I don’t have a ton of tiny packages that get wasted in the landfill or have to be recycled. I get as much of my food in bulk as possible. Also, if you have 25 pounds of several products, if something happened to interrupt your food supply, you are prepared. I like knowing I have something to feed everyone no matter what.
I order these items in bulk:
Now let’s talk about what items I always have on hand:
Wheat berries to grind whole wheat flour (Soft and hard wheat)
Organic, unbleached white flour
Raw sugar
Salt
Baking Soda and Powder
Spices
Chocolate chips
Cocoa powder
Cream of Tartar
A couple of kinds of cereal
A couple of kinds of crackers
Tortilla chips
Tortillas
Olive oil
Coconut oil
Beans
Tuna
Pasta
Rice
Oatmeal
Bulk assorted meats frozen
A few bags of frozen vegetables or multiple packages of veggies frozen from the garden
Sour cream
Cream cheese
Butter
Cheeses (I always have cheddar, mozzarella, and parmesan, but like lots of kinds of cheeses.)
Cottage cheese
Eggs
Milk
Rice milk for those of us who cannot tolerate cow’s milk
Peanuts
Sunflower Seeds
Pumpkin seeds
Sesame seeds
Dried herbs
Fresh fruits and veggies including lemons and limes plus whatever is in season
Onions
Garlic
Tomato products (usually frozen from garden produce, but some canned for when we run out)
Jars of pickles
Raisins (sometimes homemade)
White vinegar for cleaning and cooking
Balsamic vinegar
Apple cider vinegar
Honey
Buying monthly cuts down on travel time and impulse buying
I can pretty much make anything I want to make with these items. I rarely have to go out and buy something to cook with and I cook an average of 4 meals a day including snack for the kids. If we want any sweet treats, I make those here, they are much healthier than store bought. They taste better too.
It’s so much easier to come up with a plan for dinner when you have food on hand and don’t have to run to the store every day to come up with a meal. I love knowing if we got snowed in or anything like that, we could still find something to make to eat. If you buy your food in bulk to cut down on packaging and well as wasting gas and time running to the store every night.
I have everything I need for tons of different meals made from scratch. I cook inexpensively using lots of oats, rice, pasta, and beans for our meals. These items are nutritious and very inexpensive.
Here are 23 things I could make from what I have:
Tacos/Burritos/Nachos
Scrambled eggs, bacon and toast
Muffins
Pancakes
Spaghetti
Broccoli rice casserole
Cucumber salad
Chili
Roast with potatoes and carrots
Omelets
Grilled cheese sandwiches
Sausage Biscuits or Biscuits and gravy
Chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy and veggies
Beans
Pasta salad
Meatballs or meatloaf
Cookies
Obviously there are hundreds more, these are just a few ideas. I hope you take these ideas and make a plan of your own to save time and money.
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