I am lucky enough to have a good butcher nearby. He sells locally produced meat/chicken and gives a generous discount on bulk buys. Also we have a farm barn just a mile up the road - also mainly local produce. The veg and soft fruits are all grown within a 5 mile radius so is wonderfully fresh and tastes delicious. Obviously some fruit - oranges, pineapples etc., is imported, but is still cheaper and fresher than supermarket stuff.
So - every few weeks - I do a ‘bulk buy’ raid on both shops - then spend a whole day in the kitchen making ready meals, soups etc., for the freezer. Tiring - but worth it in my opinion - and far, far cheaper than commercially processed stuff.:-D:-D
Would not have worked for my mother - she loathed cooking!
We are learning to be more frugal when we do our food shopping. We get vouchers through from Sainsburys with £12 off a £60 shop. We make sure that, that is the week we are going to buy our meat and don’t go over the amount.
We organise what we are having for the week and then buy the food accordingly. One thing we do have to keep a watch on is if we are having a salad we have to make sure that what we buy, if it is going to last for two to three meals then arrange the meals around that.
We used to be so wasteful with salad stuff have it for one meal and then throw the rest away.
We are also learning to reduce the amount on our plates as well.
Sorry that is not clear at all - surely if she said “MY local super market” it would be local to her however “OUR local supermarkets” (as you so accurately quote) would include mine and every Australian’s supermarket.
I’m afraid that I dump a lot of salad and veges. This is mainly because we are given more than we could eat by our friends at the market garden. We tend to inherit the unsold produce from the Farmers’ markets and there’s only so much salad you can eat!
Hi, I’ve been exploring frugal living all my life. Mostly out of necessity, but sometimes stalking the next great bargain is just fun!
One of the things I do is have a kitchen garden. No, I don’t save a ton of money, but a penny saved is a penny earned. During the growing season, I never buy tomatoes, peppers, squash, scallions, carrots, radishes, or whatever else I’m growing. I’ve even had mild success with strawberries. I have also done very well with fresh herbs.
How about finding a nice fishing spot? What can be better than a meal that you grew and/or caught yourself? Picture this: a nice spring trout broiled with your favorite herbs, with some tasty vegtables on the side, with a bowl of strawberries and ( what you like, cream or milk ) as a nice finish. Yum.