With the holidays coming, I thought you might find it valuable to hear how we keep our food expenses in check. I know that most people spend significantly more during the holidays, but I don’t. A lot of what I’ll share will sound familiar to you, because I just do more of what I do all year round.
First of all, think ahead! Don’t wait until 1 – 2 weeks before the holidays, like everyone else. The stores will be packed, and in my area, the prices of everything seems to go up then. Think about what the most expensive/important items you’ll need are. For me, these are the meats and grape juice. Fruits and vegetables obviously have to be bought fresh, but if you bake, you can also stock up on flour, sugar, oil, spices, or whatever else you’ll need.
Once you know what you’re going to need, keep it in mind when you do your regular shopping. Do you have roasts on a super sale this week? Don’t sigh and think ‘too bad I don’t need them now’! Snap them up and put them in the freezer. I bought 24 bottles of grape juice last week (64 oz each), which will hold me well through the holidays, and should be enough until there’s another sale on it, when I’ll again stock up. I almost never buy grape juice that’s not on sale. I mentioned that I bought salmon last week – it’s not something I usually have, but when I saw it at a good price, I bought it for the holidays. Yes, there are 5 more weeks before we have to worry about it, but shopping ahead makes it possible to spread out the expenses associated with the holidays and significantly decrease your hassle and stress.
I mentioned getting a case of chicken – that will be enough for five weeks, but I’ll be ordering at least one more case in another month. That means that I’ll have some extra chicken from this month’s overlap that will be for the holidays in addition to whatever else I buy next month. In addition to that, I have ten lb. chopped meat from last month’s shopping that I’m keeping aside, and 15 lb of lamb breast that I bought when it was 1.99 lb. So even if there aren’t any incredible sales between now and then, I have two kinds of fish, chicken, lamb, and beef, ready to grace our holiday meals.
This is a large part of what makes it possible for us to enjoy the holidays, without the financial stress or extensive credit card use that seem to be pervasive at these times. It’s very freeing to know when the holidays approach that you have almost everything you need already on hand. No need for standing in long lines, rushing into numerous stores, and maxing out your credit card or energy!
Plan ahead, buy large amounts when the prices are low, and enjoy your holidays!
Avivah
Wow, I’m so impressed you find so many sales. I never see kosher items on sale here in Australia, unless the items are way out of date. Actually there are a few Australian-produced items do go on sale, but not by much. I always buy those things on sale and stock up until next time. Hmmm… I definitely want to start canning when I move.
Hi, Binah! Everyone around here is impressed with my sale finds, too! 🙂 Have you looked further back into my posts on how and where I shop? I’ve gone into detail about that. A number of my great deals are at salvage stores or small privately owned stores, where they mark things down to move them quickly (which big supermarkets rarely do). Also, I buy very little processed food, just basic ingredients, and those don’t require any kosher certification, so it’s available for the general population.
Thanks for your answer. I read through some (well, a lot) of your older posts, and I saw many good ideas. At the moment, I am rather limited, since we don’t have a car. I am also limited to what I can cart home in my double stroller. I hope to try out some of your ideas when I move. Also, since I moved to Australia, I have found that many things I would buy in the US without certification need certification here. For example, I found out that I cannot but split peas or red lentils without hasgacha! Can you believe it? Apparently, they were coated with some kind of questionable oil. Also, eggs here have tons of blood spots, so I can only buy the ones from the kosher shop. They are a kind that has much fewer blood spots. I do buy those in bulk around Pesach time, but the savings and not that great. In any case, I have been doing some thinking about things I can make from scratch. I try to buy mostly unprocessed foods, but I do rely on a few conveniences. Thanks again.