Welcome back to the grocery budget series! \u00a0Here is tip #2:<\/p>\n
We learn do without.<\/u>\u00a0It sounds scary, but it’s really been a blessing to see things from a different perspective. \u00a0Instead of thinking “I don’t have enough money for everything I want to buy” I break my list down into necessities and find ways to make do without the things that are not essential food items. \u00a0Sometimes I need to let go of hangups like thinking we need milk as a necessary ingredient, or I need “x” because I buy it every month. \u00a0If I allowed my grocery budget to control me, I’d be spending triple or quadruple what I currently do for items that I want. \u00a0But being able to say no is important, even to yourself.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t buy many snacks (usually buy crackers to pair with cream cheese, peanut butter or cheese, and pretzels \u2013 any other snacks we make and they come from raw or basic ingredients such as plain popcorn popped in our air popper).\u00a0 I don\u2019t buy cereal unless it\u2019s for an occasional treat (I am happy to do without the sugar, colors and artificial this-and-that).\u00a0 We don\u2019t buy much other than raw and basic ingredients \u2013 I have found we can make many of the items we used to buy \u2013 even ingredient-type products.\u00a0 When I have the money to be lazy, we might buy taco seasoning, breaded chicken (my husbands usual meal after work), chips, things like that.\u00a0 But we understand that we don\u2019t have<\/strong> to and that makes all the difference.\u00a0 Can\u2019t afford it one month?\u00a0 No big deal, we can make do!\u00a0 That goes for any other ingredient we might buy.\u00a0 Our meals change according to what we do have.\u00a0<\/strong> \u00a0If we have to scrimp and save, we plan more meatless meals, less expensive meals (expensive meals in my book are meals with ingredients like cream, cheese or beef), and get creative.\u00a0 It\u2019s amazing what you can do with some basic ingredients!<\/p>\n Some of my greatest learning in the kitchen comes from the ingredients I don\u2019t<\/strong> have \u2013 I have to learn how to make do without, or learn of a substitution for whatever reason.\u00a0 Sometimes the money just isn\u2019t there, sometimes I just don\u2019t have time for a trip into town to go to the store.\u00a0 That doesn\u2019t mean we don\u2019t eat \u2013 it means we improvise and make do without.<\/p>\n If I find myself unable to afford to buy ground beef one month, then I learn to do new things with pork or chicken.\u00a0 If I don\u2019t have enough milk to get us through the week, I learn how to make do without and discover ways to tweek recipes to work with what I do have.<\/p>\n Make your grocery budget work for you.\u00a0 If you have a set amount set aside for groceries, decide what items are most important to you.\u00a0 Make a list, estimate your total.\u00a0 Find ways to make do without or substitute what you need. \u00a0Can you make something instead of buying it? \u00a0Can you trade with a friend? \u00a0Is there a less expensive way to obtain it, such as through a discount store?<\/p>\n As a quick side note, sometimes I freeze small bits of leftover cheese, milk, butter, etc. when it is nearing its expiration date and I have purchased those items new. \u00a0 I also freeze vegetables when they are either nearing the threshold for going bad soon, or when there is so little left and I can’t use it right away\u00a0(such as a single celery stalk). I can\u2019t tell you how many times having a cup of cheese or a few tablespoons of butter in the freezer have saved my meals!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Welcome back to the grocery budget series! Here is tip #2:<\/p>\n We learn do without. It sounds scary, but it’s really been a blessing to see things from a different perspective. Instead of thinking “I don’t have enough money for everything I want to buy” I break my list down into necessities and find ways […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.k7farm.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1680"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.k7farm.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.k7farm.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.k7farm.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.k7farm.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1680"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.k7farm.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1680\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1688,"href":"http:\/\/www.k7farm.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1680\/revisions\/1688"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.k7farm.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.k7farm.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.k7farm.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}