It’s something that none of us really want to think about but most of us can’t avoid: the R-word. You know, the one that brings to mind visions of nose-diving stock prices, $6/gallon gas, and burning furniture to stay warm. While it’s unlikely that things will get that bad, it is clear that the American economy has been slowing for a while. This has left many people wondering what they can do to prepare their family for the future.
One of the most prudent and simple things you can do is to put all of the money you can into savings. This applies not only to times of economic turmoil; having money in savings is always a wise move. But if you want to minimize your potential financial troubles for the present and future slowdown, it’s especially important now.
In the typical American budget, the single most controllable area of spending is groceries. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average annual food expenditure of a family of four (including meals away from home) in 2006 was $8,543. That comes out to just over $711 every month. To many families, a food bill that high would take up nearly all of their discretionary budget. So how can you drive that cost down and have more money to squirrel away for lean times?
Most experts say to grocery shop less often. Only going to the grocery store once or twice a month might encourage you to put more thought into your grocery list and walk out with just the things you need. However, f you are a more disciplined shopper adopting the European grocery shopping method might be more effective. This involves shopping once every day or two and buying only what you need until the next shopping trip. Shopping in this way helps you avoid the hundreds of dollars of usable food that most households waste every year by ensuring that you don’t have a bunch of stuff decomposing in the back of the fridge. This will probably only save you money if you have the time to shop every day, live within walking distance of a grocery store, and don’t have a lot of people to feed.
Using coupons and taking advantage of advertised loss-leaders is a timeless tip that has helped many people save money. However, it takes a savvy shopper to use coupons effectively. Many times, generic products are cheaper than their name-brand counterparts - even after coupons.
You’ll hear many people insist that eating convenience foods is cheaper than buying whole foods and preparing them. This may seem like the case, but if you look at the cost per serving it’s easy to see that whole foods are much less expensive. You can get a box of Hamburger Helper for under $2 and a pound of ground beef for around $2 (on sale) and eat for one or two meals. Or you can buy a pound of beans for 80 cents and a pound of rice for $1 and eat for ten meals. We certainly don’t suggest eating only beans and rice, but maintaining a diet rich in whole foods is much cheaper than eating a lot of processed stuff. That isn’t even taking into account all of the health care costs you’ll save in the future by eating more healthfully now.
You can cut down your grocery bill by huge proportions by growing some of your own food. Plant as much as you can on the land that you have, but make sure it’s food that you’ll put to good use. Sure, chili peppers are easy to grow and attractive, but if you’re not going to eat them you’re just wasting valuable garden space. Tomatoes, zucchini, onions, cucumbers, bell peppers, and peas are all relatively easy to grow and can be planted in most parts of the US.
You can grow herbs and vegetables even if you don’t have a garden. Use your kitchen windowsill for herbs and use your balcony or patio for tomatoes. Sprouts are easy to grow absolutely anywhere and don’t even need light - and they’re cheap and nutritious.
If you have more room, plant food-bearing trees and shrubs like chestnuts, raspberries, and apricots. They may take a few years to get established and start bearing a good-sized harvest, but some trees can start producing in their second season.
Foraging for these foods is a method that many of us have utilized for years. Finding unused food-bearing trees isn’t difficult in most locales. Try to get permission before picking food from anyone else’s property! Foraging can get you whatever kind of nuts are local to your area, apples, raspberries, mulberries, elderberries, oranges, and many other foods that happen to grow near you. For the most adventurous and environmentally-minded among us, freeganism (or urban foraging) is rapidly gaining followers around the world.
After you learn to acquire food cheaply, you’ll need to learn to preserve it. You can’t grow or forage fresh produce all year, so learn to can whatever you can’t use right away. A vacuum sealer can be a very handy food storage appliance. A freezer is a sound investment for foods that you find on sale as well as things that you cook in advance. If you’re inclined to order a pizza after a long day instead of taking the time to cook, having a bunch of pre-prepared meals in the freezer can drastically reduce the amount you spend on takeout.
Finally, working at a co-op can get you good food (often in bulk) at discounted prices. Many cities have natural food co-ops where you can get fresh produce, whole grains, and all kinds of healthy foods at cost, provided that you work at the co-op store for a few hours per week or per moth.
These are just a few of the hundreds of ways to save money on your grocery bills. We want to know: how do you cut down on your food costs when money is tight?
* What do you do when you come face to face with economic recession? You face the problem head on. You can live through it by abiding these tips on how to live through a recession.
