Saving Money When Shopping

It was 4pm and I had only eaten two pieces of toast with strawberry jam and I decided to shop for my husband's lunches for work.  Thinking about carbon footprints, thunder thighs and actually trying to get LJ into his car-seat, my chosen set of wheels was the stroller...as I pushed it along.

I got to Safeway and found what I needed, and then some of what I didnt.  I'd forgotten to pack myself a bottle of water so I succumbed to a bottle of some red sweet drink from the fridge at the counter.  I also purchased three tins of baby food at full price!!! What on earth was I thinking.  First of all...full price!  Plus LJ wont eat tinned food.  I am so annoyed at myself.  Then, walking past a bakery, I saw that they had date scones.  I have been craving them for weeks, so I went in and got myself one, then looked at LJ and thought I should get him one too.  Then I thought it would hardly be fair if I went home without getting something for my darling, so I got him a cinnamon bun.  What I didn't realise is that it was full of cream, and he hates cream.  If I was to put a dollar value to my money wastage, buying unnecessary items today, then it would be in the vicinity of $18.  Two things could have prevented me from throwing away this money, first of all, I should have had a shopping list, and secondly I should have eaten and had a drink before I went out.

I did a big shop up this week at Costco, it was not really planned, though I did have a shopping list of needs and was able to meet most of those needs in bulk.  Of course that meant that my shop was $170 instead of about $40 because I bought in bulk, but it was cheaper in the long run.  I now find myself with 5kg of onions and 3kg of carrots that really need to be stored so they dont waste.  Both can be frozen and used later, so I dice or cut onions into wedges and store them in zip-lock bags, and julienne carrots and also store them in the bags, write the quantity and date on the bag and freeze them.  I have done that with many of my fresh ingredients, rather than throwing out vegetables that were not going to be used.  With these and other vegetables, I have been able to add them to stir fries, stews and when making baby foods or stock.

To make a vegetable stock, put into a large saucepan;

2 large brown onions, halved, coarsely chopped
2 carrots, peeled, coarsely chopped
4 celery sticks, coarsely chopped
cold water
6 fresh parsley stalks
10 whole black peppercorns
3 dried bay leaves

(I also add any other peels, leaves, heads of vegetables I have saved for extra oomph)  Bring to boil then simmer for an hour, then strain out solids and freeze in 1 cup and 1/2 cup portions in zip-lock bags or containers.  To make chicken or meat stock, add meaty bones into the water and bring to boil, then add the vegetables.

To make something for Baby Food, I chopped up some carrot, zucchini, celery, pumpkin, brocchili ends and added some chicken stock. Really any vegetables that complement each other would be fine for this.   I simmered them til soft then blended in the Bamix with some lentils for protein. 

With Christmas now less than a month away, and a number of large bills for our family, I have decided I am going to do the $21 challenge next week and use the rest of our grocery money for bills.  I'll let you know how I go.  For more information on the $21 challenge, refer to www.simplesavings.com.au they have some great ideas.