How To Save Money On Groceries In Wenatchee

I thought, on the heels of my last post, I would write a post about how I was able to eat very well with very little to spend, when I was on food stamps for the first time in my life. By following principles below, we were able to buy about $400-500 of groceries a month with $100-200 in food stamps.

I am hearing there are a lot of new families in this position, and many used to ask me how I could afford to buy organic for my son and make the kind of meals I made with such a tight budget.

I never cut coupons. In my opinion, most of the time, it's a waste of time, but if you have time, you could probably do this too and have even greater savings.

These are my tips:

1. Cook from scratch, in general.
2. Buy in season
3. Buy at discount grocery stores FIRST and then fill in the gaps with what you need, afterwards. I saved about $300/month from shopping at discount groceries first and I actually got a lot of organic food there as well and it wasn't old, it was just there because of overstock. Never buy expired goods, of course.
4. Grow a garden (if you haven't already but have space for next year, do)

I never, ever, wrote out a menu plan first. Forget planning a week-long menu. You have to think like you're living off of the land, and take what's there. The one thing you will keep in mind is to buy foods from all food groups so you're getting proper nutrition. Just because applesauce is on sale, you're not going to spend most of your money on applesauce, but if there is a really good deal, you can get more than usual because it will carry over until next month.

In Wenatchee, there is a grocery store called "Grocery Outlet". Shop there FIRST. You will even get a receipt which shows you what your savings are and my savings were usually in the $300 range. There are a few things to avoid buying to make the most of savings. I generally did not buy desserts or frozen pre-made dinner items, though I would buy TV dinners for the times I just didn't want to cook. Sometimes, you could get "Annie's" (organic) dinners for half the regular price. There were also a lot of organic fruits and vegetables in the frozen section. I bought organic whenever possible. I frequently found organic yogurt and dairy products as well, and organic soups, all with good expiration dates. There was always something in produce that was organic too, and even a lot of pre-made salads that were organic.

Usually, at Grocery Outlet, you're going to find deals in canned goods, nuts, dairy products and frozen items. I bought chocolate there as well. Every now and then I'd get a bottle of wine.

What I didn't find at Grocery Outlet, I would then fill in with grocery from a regular store and use the member savings. Most of the time, almost always, I would buy organic meat & fish at a regular grocery but I bought it on sale. I bought organic dairy for my son at the Discount place or at the regular store but bought regular non-organic milk for myself. I bought organic meat for my son, but I chose non-organic for myself, to save money. At Safeway or another store, there is organic chicken that's often on sale, and if it's just approaching expiration dates, but not past, I would buy and then freeze. If you freeze, it's not going to get "older". I did a lot of freezing so I always bought Freezer Zip-locks.

Things which cost money which have no real nutritional value, which I didn't buy:

1. No chips (unless occasionally one small bag or tortilla chips for nachos)
2. No soda (empty value and sugars)
3. No juice (unless it's organic orange juice or something, no real nutritional value in most juices and they're more expensive than just eating a piece of fruit)--we drank bottled water and milk, and some juice. None of this Caprisun stuff.
4. No pre-made desserts or candy other than occasional organic ice cream (if it was available on sale and chocolate)
5. Nothing packaged into an already-made meal except for a pizza or TV dinner or two for times when you are just tired and want something easy.
6. No sugary cereals. We bought raisin bran, oatmeal, and that was about it.
7. No bread other than whole wheat, and occasional bagels. Some pasta and rice but to complement proteins and other kinds of carbs more than anything.
8. No cheap eggs. Eggs are important and there is a big difference between organic and free range eggs and cheap0s.
9. No "farm fish" or wild fish from certain oceans. If you do a little research, there is an above-average mercury content in some of the farmed or other waters. Usually we got seafood fresh but still found sales. We ate a lot of good wild salmon, shrimp, sometimes cod or halibut, and clams (fresh--don't eat them if the shell doesn't open after steaming).

Nutritional Supplements:

1. We got most our nutrition from good food. But, I also used a variety of organic oils: olive, canola, coconut, sesame, flax-seed, and other ones as well, for cooking. They each have different fat-Omega compositions that are good for the brain.
2. Cod liver oil, mercury and contaminant distilled. I would not ever use a cod liver oil supplement that isn't totally free of contaminants and some brands are better than others--this is one place to spend a little extra money.
3. Multi-vitamins...I used Rainbow Light "once a day". I don't like taking pills all the time, after every meal. I ate well, too a Rainbow light, and called it good. I didn't give my son a multi-vitamin because I didn't want to overload him when he already got well-balanced and organic meals that were very high in nutritional value. Too much of a good thing is a bad thing.

Not To Be Afraid Of:

1. Canned goods. Frozen is better if it's not fresh, but there are some things I bought which were canned. Canned organic beans for salads because I didn't want to cook a pot-full of beans all the time (though if you have a large family you could save a lot of money doing this with legumes). I always check the label to be sure MSG and other additives are not used. A good canned item usually has nothing more than salt and water, though vinegar too for pickled things, and I didn't shy away from olives, pickles, and artichokes. I also really like canned peaches, as does my son, and we got these too.

2. Raisins. Unless you hate them, they're a very good sweet food and packed with iron and minerals.

That's about it. Basically, you get what's cheap and on sale or in season and available and then think on the fly about what you need to fill in with for making some things. For example, if chicken was on sale, I'd get that and then look for celery and carrots and things for a homemade soup. There are basic staples.

If you follow the above general rules, you're not going to be overweight, because you've cut out junk that just costs money. Oh, one exception--sour cream! Sour cream is essential for baked potatoes and everything else.

I just thought I'd write these things out because it could be helpful to families who are trying to make food and grocery money stretch. People always asked me where I was getting my money and how I could afford to buy organic or make good meals for my son all the time, and this is how we did it. Shop at Grocery Outlet, or if you really like bread, get this stuff at the bread discount place in town.

We got all these things and fresh herbs (cilantro, basil, dill, etc) too. I didn't buy many salad dressings but balsamic vinegar and olive oil goes with everything. I also always had fresh lemons/limes, garlic, and peppers (jalepeno, habanero, chilis) on hand.

You could probably save even more money by cutting coupons, but I didn't want to mess with it and didn't have time. We got about $400-500 worth of groceries a month or more, with a little more than $100-200 month. Our cupboards were absolutely full and overflowing, and we were never short on anything, and that was while on only food stamps and a cash income of $440 a month (which went to rent).