Budget Cooking

As many of you know I am definitely a girl with budgeting in mind! I love to save pennies whenever and however I can. And, even in my weekly planning of food I will plan and carry out as best I can to make my small amount of cash go its farthest.

I am not a huge coupon shopper. The only places that will use computer printed coupons is Meijer and Kroger, and oftentimes the savings is not worth the travel to those stores. So I get around my budget in other ways.

When I do go shopping with coupons I get them from Coupons.com. They have coupons for those major chain, major company items which I cannot do without.

Instead of purchasing ready made mixes, I will make mine from scratch using recipes I have found at Mom Advise. ie why buy Bisquick when you can make it cheaper at home? Another great site for make at home items is Budget101.com.

Sign-up for Kraft First Taste, which will allow you to try never been seen before Kraft items, often free or with a huge discount.

But my number one thing is to stock my pantry with basic staples which will help you down the road when shopping. I have all of the things that Paula Deen says are 'necessities' and a few more of my own to suit my family's taste buds. Then when you go shopping, you really only need to pick up any special meats or veggies and any pantry basic on which you are running low.

Another great thing is to shop at Aldi. Aldi is an off shoot, with low prices, of Trade Joe's. Their foods are fantastic, and they offer a Double Guarantee... they will replace the product AND refund your money. I have never taken them up on this, as everything I have purchased is wonderful! Just take your own bags and load up on the savings!

These are my means of saving money each week...

This is my way of stretching my food dollar...