One thing that I get asked often is HOW do couponers’ families eat when it seems like junk food items are the best deal? And it’s true- the popsicles, the sugar cereals, the cookies- they are often what seems to be the best deals. Yet, if you stockpile- you can cook a great meal every night while saving money.
Here’s an example of what my family ate the last 7 days- I bolded all the items purchased this week. Everything else was in my pantry, fridge or freezer from past deals and I estimated the cost based on what I know the max I pay for things. You can see most of what I cooked with….wasn’t purchased this week.
The approximate cost of feeding 6 people for 5 nights was about $50.43! We spend more than that one ONE meal at a sit down restaurant…..with a coupon! AND we still have some lasagna that got put in the freezer in single portions and chili that got frozen for another night too.
Most nights there were fruit options on the table usually grapes and pineapples from past sales. Even being generous and adding $8 worth of fruit to these dinners means I’m under $58 for feeding 6 for 7 nights of dinners.
I post this not to brag about my culinary skills (we don’t like pink meat…sorry if that offends gourmet chefs) and my kids won’t eat anything they can’t pronounce (goodbye quinoa) but to show that every night isn’t ramen noodles or frozen prepared dinners. I use convenience foods (hello canned biscuits and seasoning mixes) and we aren’t organic but we eat well every night.
It takes time to build a stockpile large enough that it doesn’t matter WHAT is on sale THIS week because you have a grocery store in your house but it’s OH so worth it. I never have to worry about having to get something for dinner ….because I have a little bit of everything in my freezer and pantry.
I also shop around- many of the canned items came from Food Lion’s quarter back sale the past few weeks, the salad and potatoes came from Lowes Foods, the bread was mostly from clearance bread I buy at Walmart and freeze until I need it (those bakery racks are a gold mine!) and the pineapple (99¢ this week) and the broccoli was from Harris Teeter.