Five Ways I Reduced My Food Costs Without Starving My Family

One of the major downsides of working on commission is, in the winter months (when my customers are thinking about the holidays and the new fiscal year), sales are always down. This means my pay checks are usually smaller and, as a result of that, our budget gets stretched tighter.

This is especially true when it comes to our food budget. I have four mouths too feed (not counting the cat) and food prices almost always seem to increase in the winter months.

For some time, this has created some problems with me not having enough and often having to "borrow" money from my parents so my kids didn't go hungry. This is why I recently decided to take an honest look at what I was spending and made five simple changes.

The first thing I did was start visiting our local scratch and dent store. I know not every community has one of these. But, if your community does, I recommend visiting it. I can usually find some well-known brands for a fraction of the cost and the only thing wrong with them is the can might be missing a label or has a big dent in it. However, if you do this, I do recommend taking a close look at expiration dates when you can because I have found some items that were either expired or going to expire in a short amount of time.

Secondly, I started visiting the produce section more. One thing my family goes through a lot of is frozen vegetables, which we prefer to canned. However, with most bags of vegetables costing around $1, it does get somewhat expensive.

One thing I figured out (with a calculator) is, if I take advantage of produce sales, I can pick up things like carrots and green beans in bulk and freeze them myself for less money. It's not a life changing amount. But, even with adding in the freezer bags, it's saving me about $20 each month. And, I also discovered plenty of Web sites that explain the freezing process for individual vegetables in detail.

The third thing I did was follow my dad's advice and start watching for meat that is about to pass its "sell by" date. A lot of times, I can get this meat marked down significantly simply by talking to the store manager or the department manager. As long as it is frozen right away, it's still good to eat.

Fourth, I started buying a lot of pasta. Yes, I know there are some diets out there that tell you pasta is bad for you. But, when you have kids, it's a great way to feed them without spending a great deal of money. I can buy a box for under $1 and it's enough for two or three different meals. All I need to do is buy some sauce or just serve it with butter.

Fifth, I started growing my own food year round. I have a garden every summer and get quite a bit out of that. But, I also started having a window garden during the winter months. Even though I don't get a ton out of it, I do manage to grow enough onions and lettuce to make it worth my effort. It's too late to do it this year but I'm thinking about trying to grow a cherry tomato plant next winter so I don't need to buy salad ingredients.

These changes have allowed me to cut my costs without starving my family. If you find yourself struggling when it comes to buying food, I recommend taking these steps.