Get Started: Saving on Your Once a Month Cooking Costs
Aside from time savings, the other major reason readers report doing once a month freezer cooking is the savings, or what they hope will be the savings. I’m right there with you as I (Pam–traditional menu writer) also worry about money and working hard to keep our grocery costs low and feed my family of six on my husband’s tight teacher salary. Saving money is a priority to the other menu writers as well, and we believe freezer cooking Once a Month Mom style does save a lot.
Let me explain how by walking you through our process of planning a monthly menu to help YOU save money. . . .
Seasonal Produce
First, each menu writer considers the seasonal produce. For example, we know from a budget-friendly standpoint it’s not practical to include strawberries on the November menu as they are out of season and expensive; however, sweet potatoes and apples will likely be on sale at the local grocer, farmer’s market, or in your CSA boxes that time of year.
Sales Cycles
Next, we look at popular sale cycles. With each season, grocery stores also have sales on everyday products–for example, during the summer we can find BBQ sauce, salad dressing, and grilling meats at the best price, while in the fall, baking items and canned soups are on sale.
Once each menu writer has reviewed the best seasonal and sale cycle ingredients, we look for recipes that include these products and write them into our menus. New menus are released the first day of each month, and to achieve the maximum savings, we suggest you ideally shop throughout the month, and then cook the menu towards the end of the month (although you can still save money by buying all at once because of the named reasons).
This means, for example, if you were to make a new year’s resolution to start once a month cooking in January–you would take our January menu, review the grocery list, and then shop all month for your ingredients, planning your big cooking day for the end of the month. Then you would store those meals in the freezer, and eat them throughout the month of February while you’re collecting ingredients for February’s menu. Breaking the shopping into smaller trips is the ideal because it allows you to keep an eye out for sales during the month.
Besides shopping and cooking seasonally, here are a few more ways to save as you prepare for your big cooking day:
Meat
Unless you’re using the vegetarian menu, meat can take a big chunk from the monthly budget. I’m sure there are many different ways to go about saving money on meat (feel free to share your ideas in the comments!), but here are my best meat saving tips.
Meat goes in sale cycles just like other grocery items. Where I live, some weeks boneless skinless chicken breast is on sale for $1.99/lb, but other weeks it’s over $3 a pound. The trick to maximizing your savings on meat is to “stock-up” when it’s the best price, buying several pounds (or as much as the menu recommends) at a time so you don’t have to pay full price later on.
My other favorite secret about buying meat is looking for markdowns, often called “manager’s specials.” It’s well worth it to talk to the butcher and ask what day and time of day they mark down, and then get there at that time! Often times I can find really great cuts of meat for amazing prices just because they are nearing the sell-by date and need to be cooked or frozen. In either case, unless you are going to be cooking it right away, freeze your meat until your big cooking day.
Note: The USDA recommendations indicate that you CAN freeze most meats, defrost them and refreeze them without cooking them IF they have been SLOWLY thawed in a refrigerator and never spent time in the Danger Zone of above 40 degrees.
Coupons
I’ve been a “couponer” for about three years, and there is no doubt in my mind that coupons can save a lot of money. I typically save 50-80% on my grocery bill each week, thanks to savvy shopping and coupons.
Most of the time, coupons follow similar grocery store sale cycles. Since we at OAMM strive to base our menus around these sale cycles, there’s a good chance you’ll find coupons that will match up with the monthly menu items.
Buying in Bulk
Buying in bulk can often be a good way to save money. Just make sure to check the unit price to see if buying the bigger version really IS the better price.
Now it’s your turn. What are some ways you save on groceries? Please leave your tips in the comment section, and feel free to ask money-saving questions as well.
The next time we talk about cooking costs, I’ll be sharing some actual dollar amounts from other once a month moms, and tips on budgeting for your big cooking day. Stay tuned!
We buy meat by the animal instead of from the grocery store. So, for example in Febrary or March we bought 1/2 cow direct from the farmer. He had the meat processed (to our specifications about the amount of ground beef, size of steaks, lbs per package, etc.). He delivered it to us, and we freeze it and eat it year round. It’s a lot of money up front, but it works out to about $3 per lb for ALL kinds of meat. So, while you can probably buy ground beef cheaper, we get NY Strip, and T-bones on there too. :) And this is the good beef – grass-fed, pasture raised.
We also get chickens in bulk from a friend when they slaughter. Those we don’t save as much money on, but we know what we’re getting in that case.
So jealous! It is so wonderful to know the source of your meat. We have a local grocery that only sells humanely raised meat, but the prices can get steep so I look for the “specials” when I’m in the area, but the best resource we have is a year-round market (terminal market with lots of vendors from produce to meats/cheeses and even premade meals). It is a little closer to the source than a grocery and very inexpensive (I got 3# of ground beef for $7.50 today). Still, a herdshare would be preferable. Keep the great ideas coming! I really appreciate the advice/tips!
I’m with Kimberly. We buy our meat straight from the source. It’s cheaper, more efficient and a 100 times fresher and more tasty. We buy a 1/4 twice a year and purchase chicken and pork in bulk. This method also significantly reduces waste. I send an email to the butcher letting them know exactly how I want it to be cut and wrapped…and they have it waiting for me when I get there. I don’t have to spend any time sorting it or re-bagging (cost of bags)…it just goes straight in the freezer.
Plus, I just read that the USDA says you can thaw meat in the refrigerator and safely put it back in the freezer. This is big new for us freezer cooks because when you buy meat in bulk, it often comes frozen.
We also buy a 1/2 a beef once a year from our family farm. If you don’t know a farmer to buy directly from you can go to the closest butcher and they usually have meat for sale cheaper than going to the grocery store.
I buy bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts when they go on sale for $0.88/pound. Cook them in the crock pot on low for 4-5 hours. Then shred/cube the meat and put into quart sized freezer bags. When a recipe calls for precooked chicken breast I know that I paid much less than if I had paid for the convenience of boneless/skinless. (I am highly grossed out by skin/bones, however, and still refuse to deal with raw chicken still on the bone for other chicken purposes.)
This is great. I was thinking about this on my way to the store tonight. I am starting to get back into my couponing after having twins, and I’m trying to be more efficient with my budget and cooking as I don’t have a lot of time anymore! I couldn’t figure out how in the world I’d do a OAMC and still save, so your hint about using the month to buy and then cook at the end is perfect! I think I’ll go look over the Nov menu now.
I love all of your suggestions and already use many of them. With regards to coupons I highly recommend checking out the Grocery Game (thegrocerygame.com). Not only does it help with food savings, but also helps me to buy things like toilet paper, OTC medicine, freezer bags, foil, etc at the lowest prices.
I stockpile on a small family scale..we have a large pantry and there’s duplicates of everything. When I run out in the fridge of an item, there’s one already in the pantry. Stockpiling allows me to stockup when prices are lowest.
Just did a major shop and freeze (for the slow cooker) which I have been thinking about but re-learned about from http://mamaandbabylove.com/2010/06/04/once-a-month-cooking/.
It was 5 hours in the grocery store, and 4 hours in the kitchen, with another 3 hours planned for tonight. Exhausting, but well worth it. The cost was no higher than I’d have paid throughout the month (even though the sales were not on), because I bought most of the supplies from a bulk warehouse. The individual cans and smaller quantities were bought from a local shop, with sales, gift cards and coupons.
I normally don’t buy lots from the bulk store, because I hate processing the bulk meats (cutting the giant cuts of meat into useable portions isn’t fun). Knowing I’m helping my family by prepping all the dinners for those busy nights, however, made it worthwhile.