Imagine your sitting in your backyard or on the porch, it’s warm outside, the flowers and trees are blooming. The kids are playing and laughing in the yard. Maybe your working on a craft or reading a book. Suddenly, your throat feels dry. Nothing sounds better than an ice cold beverage. Here is the  dilemma: do you reach for an expensive soda, energy drink, or juice? Do you drink water, or could you make your own satisfying beverages for much less money than soda, energy drinks, etc? The answer is Yes.. you can! For years now I have been making homemade lemonade, sun tea, or drinking other inexpensive drinks.

Homemade Lemonade: 1 cup real lemon juice, 1 cup sugar or splenda, 2 quarts cold water. Stir to mix and enjoy! I can buy a 1 quart bottle of 100% lemon juice for between $1.00 and $1.50. A large bag of sugar sells for around $1.49.  This is by far cheaper than store bought juice, contains real lemon juice(which is good for you) and delicious.

Sun Tea: I use a re-used, clean milk jug. I fill this with water and put 5 to 7  Lipton orange-pekoe tea bags in through the top, leaving  the paper tags to hang outside the jug. Let sit in the sun for approximately 4 hours and remove tea bags. Refridgerate and enjoy. You can sweeten with sugar or artificial sweetener, add lemon if you wish or any other add ins. I drink this all summer long and it is very nutritious and delicious. You can use your favorite tea and adjust the amount of tea bags used for weaker or stronger tea.

Kool Aid:   I have been buying generic kool aid for years, usually on sale at 10 for $1.00. You can use real sugar or artificial sweetener, I have used both and recommend using slightly less artificial sweetener as it is stronger. You can’t beat this as it is extremely inexpensive. Obviously if you use sugar it is not “healthy”, however you can use this drink to make homemade popcicles, add gelatin and make homemade jello. It is far better than soda or other sugary drinks. A wide variety of flavors are available to please any tastebuds.

Juice from concentrate or ready made :  In my area a large bottle (around 25 - 32 oz.) sells for between $3.00 and $4.00. You can buy a container of frozen juice concentrate for less than $2.00 and it makes about 2 quarts. Do I need to say more?

I hope these ideas help make your summer most enjoyable and refreshing!

Thanks to all!

The Domestic Goddess

- check out the mark downs section of your grocery store. These are often filled with great deals that will save you serious dough on your food budget. Some items are over stocks or are close to expiring. Make sure if food items are about to expire they can be frozen or used immediately.

- Look at the store’s flyer for their current deals and sales. Try to incorporate the good deals into your shopping list and menu. Make sure to buy only items that you will use. It isn’t a good deal if it does not get used

- If you clip coupons make sure they are for goods you will purchase anyway. Do not be afraid to try a different product if you find a really good coupon or sale price. Most of the time change is a good thing.

- Try store brands. Most store brands taste just as good as the name brand and in some cases, better. If you are unsure if you will like a product, just buy one and try it. If you don’t like you do not have to buy it again.

- Avoid processed, packaged and otherwise low nutrition foods. While items like Hamburger Helper can be bought relatively cheaply, they have very little nutritional value, are over packaged, over processed and basically a drain on your budget. Do an internet search for do it yourself meals and make them from scratch at home. You will save big on your food budget this way. You can control the ingredients used, if you use natural, organic or “regular” ingredients. This also allows you to taylor the meal to your families likes and dislikes.  Throwing some pasta, a binder like cream of mushroom soup, meat and veggies in a pot and cooking it takes about 15 minutes with 5 to 10  minutes of preparation time depending on how organized your kitchen is. This also allows you to get creative and try new ingedients, use up leftovers and make extra for another day. Homemade food almost always, I have found in my household,  has leftovers.

- Stick to the perimeter of the grocery store. This is usually where they have the least processed and packaged foods located. The more “whole” a food is, the better that food is for you and your family. A potato in its natural form has much more nutrition than a box of mashed potato flakes. Just check out the label on the box for proof.

- Prepare as much of the food you and your family eats from scratch as possible.  Not everyone has time to bake batches of homemade bread or whip up a 5 course meal. Do what you can. Make a big pot of homemade soup and freeze the leftovers for another busy day. Casseroles are an easy way to use up leftovers and use ingedients you have on hand. I have weekends off and spend a chunk of time baking and cooking meals from scratch and freezing them to eat during the week  when I am to busy with school, work, and running my son around to have alot of time to spend in the kitchen. When that chunk of time is depends on what else I have going on that weekend. I enjoy cooking so it doesn’t take me long and I have fun getting creative. Even if you only make and store a few things, that is better than hitting the drive through or buying convenience foods at the store.

Meat is the most expensive buy in the grocery store. It comprises a large portion of your food budget. We all are interested in ways to reduce our expenditure for groceries, so naturally we should look at the meat department.

I have read articles that suggest buying meat with no bones, you get more meat for your money. I have also read articles suggesting to buy them with the bone because it is not only much cheaper, but you can use the bones to make soup stock. Some bones you can also give to your dog to chew. This would mainly be beef bones as chicken and pork bones splinter and could get caught in their throats and they could choke. I lean more towards buying meat with bones. It it cheaper per pound and I make my own stock for use in soups and stews. If I want a piece of meat boneless, I remove the bone myself with little effort. This is a very easy way to save some money in the meat department.

Obviously there are cheaper cuts of meat. Ground beef and chicken is cheaper than steak and prime rib. However, I do buy steak, if the price and the size of the steak is right. Steaks and roasts have many opportunities for other uses. When I buy a roast, I buy a cheaper cut and cook it in my crock pot. Let it cook all day along with your favorite spices and vegetables and you have a very tasty meal. You will probably have leftovers that can be used in a wide variety of recipes. I cut my own meat into smaller pieces for use in soups, stews, casseroles, fajitas, etc. Pay attention to the prices on all cuts of meat. I have sometimes found it is cheaper to buy already cut up stew meat rather than a larger steak. Always compare prices.

Some grocery stores have a section for marked down meats. A couple in my town have these, however this is a tip that most people are savvy to now and I rarely find good buys in these locations. Ask the meat department manager to find out when they put their marked down meats in that section for purchase and check out the marked down offerings then.

Always consider the amount of meals you can get from a package of meat. You can get more meals from a package of chicken leg quarters compared to a 4 or 5 piece package of boneless, skinless chicken breasts, for less money.

Avoid meats that have to much fat attached to them. This fat is very bad for you if left on your meat, and will significantly reduce the amount of usable meat purchased if removed.

Keep an eye out for coupns or in store deals that offer money off a meat purchase if you purchase another product in addition to the meat purchased. If it is a product you were going to buy anyway, it is a good deal. Especially if you have an additional coupon for that item.

Our food budget is one of the most flexible of all our expenses. We all need to eat and be healthy, but what we choose to buy for ourselves and our families have a huge impact on our food budget. We all need to explore all of our food options. Do not assume that the way you have always done your shopping is the best way. You will probably be pleasantly surprised.

The first thing I did when I wanted to lower my food bill was to think about the meals we ate the most, what I had on hand already and made a grocery list. Lists are invaluable tools. What you need is at your fingertips, you won’t forget anything and you can look at all your options for the items you need.

Next I looked at the sales flyers that I had for my local grocery stores. That way I could see what was on sale and if anything on my list was on sale.

To recap, I live in southern wisconsin. We have discount grocery stores here like Aldi and Save-a-lot. These grocery stores are much cheaper than your typical grocery store. They do not carry  much of a selection. It is typically their store brand and a few featured name brand items. I have found that in most cases their brands are just as tasty as the name brand, for at least half the price! An example would be their brand of canned vegetables sells for 29 cents to 59 cents depending on the vegetable. Have you checked out grocery store prices for a can of peas lately?

Our bodies need fruits and vegetables to be healthy. We need the vitamins and minerals that they provide. However, fresh produce can have a daunting price tag. I usually buy fresh bananas, apples, potatoes, onions, lettuce and cabbage because in my area those are always inexpensive. I love fresh produce. I have an affinity for organic and all natural as well and buy those products as I can afford them. However they are expensive and being on a limited income and being a single mom I cannot afford a 100 % organic diet.  So check out what is on sale at your local grocery stores in their produce sections.

The next best thing is frozen fruits and vegetables. They have a higher vitamin content than canned because there is less processing. They are also much less expensive than fresh produce. There is a wide variety available in the frozen foods section. Check it out. 

Buy fresh produce according to what is in season. If  you are trying to buy strawberries in january your going to pay more for them. Stick to what is in season.

Buy local produce. If you buy locally grown food you know it is fresh when it reaches your table.  Your food will have more vitamins and minerals, which will give you the most for your money and fuel your body efficiently.