One way to reduce your grocery bill is to use fruits that are currently in season. Of course fall brings all the apples! Right now some of my favorite apples are marked to 99 cents in the grocery store, so this is the time for me to cook with apples, and also store some away for the winter.
Today I’m sharing some of my favorite apple recipes with you so you can reduce your grocery bill, and also enjoy this delicious fruit while it’s plentiful and in season!
Food prices continue to escalate, don’t they? It’s easy to get upset each week when when you walk the grocery store aisles. But if you know Christ as your Savior, you need to remember that there is no panic in heaven. Jesus said,
For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Matthew 6:31-33
God knows what we need, even better than we do. We can trust Him.
This was brought to my attention this weekend as I walked into Kroger, shopping list in hand. I knew there were items I was seeking that could be a bit pricey, but I prayed before I left home that the Lord would direct my steps.
We’re all on the alert for ways to save $$$ on groceries, aren’t we? It seems that prices are rising weekly! I will not bemoan or fall into panic mode. This is life. Our God is on the Throne. He can be trusted, even with my grocery bill! But I am the steward of what He gives us, so how can I be the BEST manager of our money and still buy groceries and eat well at home? Here are five simple suggestions ~
I have a favorite You Tube channel that I love to watch. White Cottage Company always leaves me encouraged and inspired! Mary has such great ideas for decorating her home. Recently she showed how she took Dollar Tree fencing and made it look like wrought iron! I couldn’t believe my eyes! I had been looking at Hobby Lobby for a piece like this and it was very expensive! After watching Mary, I wondered if I could replicate what she did. I knew I had to give it a try!
First I purchased four pieces of fencing from Dollar Tree. I clipped off the side pieces where it would attach together. Then I used a white trim paint to paint the front of the fencing. It took me ten minutes per section.
After it dried, I used a piece of sandpaper and roughed up the edges so it would look like the iron was a little worn.
I was gluing three pieces of fencing together, so I used clippers and removed the stakes that would be on the bottom row, but I left the other two with those long stakes. They are what I used to glue the pieces together. If you look carefully at my close up, you can see those long stakes. I used a hot glue gun to glue the rows together and clamped them while they dried. ** NOTE: I think I’ll purchase E6000 glue and reinforce it to make sure it’s sturdy.
The other touch I added in my living room was this framed wreath. I had a picture there that I knew was too small, but couldn’t find something I loved to put in its place. On the day when I was wanting to add the wrought iron fending and also “fix” this wall, I simply prayed, “Lord, would you help me to do this quickly and use things I already have?” I love seeing how God answers those little needs that matter to me. He helped me to know exactly where the fencing would look best, and then brought to my mind this wreath and also the frame – both things I had on hand!
Another project I’m working on is getting longer drapes so I can move my rods up higher! All in God’s time!
My addition of spring touches cost me only $4.75 and a little bit of time! I hope this will inspire you to
Craft something for your home.
Pray about how/what to add.
Use what you already have on hand!
What will you add to your home to freshen it for spring?
Last week when I shared about ways to save on groceries, my strong admonition was to buy what’s on sale. Today I want clarify and detail what that looks like.
The bread and avocados were grocery store mark downs and made for a delicious breakfast this week!
Of course you want to look at the store’s sites/ads and see what items they have marked down this week. This enables you to purchase items when they are marked at a lower price. You can establish a menu around those items, BUT WAIT!
When you’re at the store, go deep diving into each section of the store looking for their Marked Down items. This would be their Clearance aisle, the corner of the meat section for meat that’s ready to expire, and also items on shelves that have sale stickers on them. Kroger and Ingles are two places where I often see these kind of sales.
For example – A couple weeks ago I walked into Kroger’s produce section and found these bags in a large cooler…
The date was for a few days out! They also had the salad bowls for 25 cents! I purchased what I knew we could enjoy before they went bad. Obviously, I hadn’t known to add this to my list, but it was nice to incorporate that into my menu planning when I got home!
Often I find bananas marked down, or yogurt, or beef. Then I go home and make up my menu using those items. If I needed a cake and I found the bananas marked down, I’d make this Banana Cake, rather than one that calls for all kinds of extra ingredients that I would have to purchase at full price.
This is called Reverse menu planning (thanks for the term, Money-Saving Mom!). I’ve been doing this all my homemaking life, I just didn’t know what it was called!
This kind of shopping and PLANNING is totally opposite of not having a plan and then running to the store to buy needed items for a recipe.
Reverse menu planning is buying what’s on sale and/or marked to clearance, then using what I have on hand to make up the week’s menu.
Here’s a sampling of what’s on my menu next week because I went shopping and got these items when they were marked down!
Avocado Toast – I got three avocados for .99 and they were perfectly ripe!
I always have frozen and canned vegetables on hand for side dishes, though I do purchase fresh fruits and veggies at regular price.
If you are in a place where you only order groceries on-line, you can still get the benefit of the advertised sales, and that will help your grocery budget. But if you’re able to go into the store, keep your eyes open for those good mark downs and don’t be afraid of them. They’re still good for purchasing and consuming!
Have you heard of Reverse Menu Planning? Maybe like me, you’ve been doing it, but didn’t know what to call it?! Tell me about a deal you scored recently!
RefreshHer 