My Kitchen Experiment

I know gas prices have been soaring out of control for some time now; but, I have to admit it has only been recently that I have noticed a very deep impact on my finances, as a result of this crisis. While it seems the price of everything is going up right now to compensate for the rising fuel costs, two particular areas are really making me wince. Gas (go figure) and food.

As far as gas goes, I can do little things like check my tire pressure once a week, keep a clean air filter under the hood and ease of that gas pedal; but, the only real solution is to drive less. Yea right! There is only so much "less driving" I can do, especially as a single parent who must drive all over the county to pick my son up from whatever sitter I can muster up. The idea of sitting in the house all weekend and staring at the walls is not so great either, so I'm left with trying to group my errands together and stay closer to home to avoid wasting fuel.

As far as groceries go, I think I have a-lot more options. The big dilemma comes with eating healthy and eating cheap. After doing a bit of research on this topic I have come to one conclusion. It you want to eat healthy and cheap you have to sacrifice some time. It requires a bit of planning and cooking from scratch. Normally I look for any way I can find to make things go faster; but, I am in a position where I have to start to look at ways to reduce my cost of living.

So, here is my plan. Obviously I'm not going to make everything from scratch; but, I'm going to give it a good shot. Below is a list of ways I will reduce my overall grocery bill over the next month. At that time I will post again on this subject and let you know the results of my kitchen experiment.

1. I will be laying Coca-Cola and his dearly beloved friend Mountain Dew to rest. That's right, no more soda. Now this does not mean I am quiting soda, just quiting spending money on it.

2. I will bake my own bread. This is time consuming; but, it's soooo tasty and so much better for you, not to mention cheaper. I'm actually kind of excited about this.

3. I will use the whole bird. Chicken or turkey. For one month I will only buy whole birds and use them for lunch and dinner. I will have sandwiches without nitrates or fillers. I will have homemade soup. I will have lean protein for dinner and sometimes even some homemade gravy.

4. I will make every effort to buy what's on sale, especially for the foods I can't make like yogurt.

5. I will be green. I will stop throwing out my quart sized zip lock bags. I will take the time to wash them and let them air dry. They are expensive and it is downright irresponsible to throw them away after one use.

6. I will plan my meals. I will take a list with the ingredients needed to the grocery store and I will make every effort to plan my meals around what's on sale.

That's it! I know there are other ways to reduce my costs; but, I'm trying to start with something reasonable and work from there. If you have any other tips for saving money at the grocery store, please let me know! I'd love to hear what's worked for you.