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Sunday, November 14, 2021

The Pantry Principle ~ Managing the Grocery Budget



Amy Dacyczyn describes The Pantry Principle on pages 172-173 in her book titled, The Tightwad Gazette II. Amy states that the idea of planning meals thirty days in advance in not the most frugal way to go about planning menus for your family. She states that planning meals in advance is backward and that stick-to-your-list thinking does not allow an individual to take advantage of unadvertised deals.

The best approach that Amy suggests is what she calls The Pantry Principle which she first learned about in a book written by Barbara Salsbury and Cheri Loveless called Cut Your Food Bill in Half. Amy claims that many families do not take the concept far enough to save the maximum amount of their money.

The basic idea behind The Pantry Principle is to stockpile your pantry with food that you are able to purchase at the lowest possible price. The purpose of grocery shopping then becomes a trip to replenish your pantry, and not a trip to purchase specific ingredients for specific meals.

Make an Inventory of what you have in your pantry and freezer and that will help you use up those items. After you’ve done that you can make a meal plan utilizing those items.

We have a lot of frugal tips in our toolbox such as drinking water, and making tea or lemonade and koolaid to drink instead of buying soda. We do keep Sprite on hand for medicinal purposes.

We make home baked cakes instead of commercially made ones, oatmeal made from old fashioned oats rather than instant packets

We shop the Crash and Burn sections of the grocery stores and will buy food with the yellow mark down stickers if it fits within our budget

We eat meatless meals, such as Bean & Cheese Enchiladas, or homemade Veggie Burgers, or Red Beans & Rice

We eat leftovers or reinvent them into a new dish. For example, we turned leftover mashed potatoes into Potato Pancakes.

We make soups, which can be very economical depending on what ingredients you use. 

We shop at discount grocery stores such as United Grocery OutletSave a Lot, and Aldi

We look for and buy discounted groceries at all the places we shop including the flea market

We peruse the sale ads online and make a list of items on sale and then stock up on those. We keep a price book to check prices. 

Another way you can save money on food is by using grocery rebate apps like IbottaCheckout 51Dosh, and Coupons.com. Just Google the grocery store app and read about them and do your research first.

We re-purpose food scraps to make other things like vegetable, chicken, or beef broth. 

We keep a well stocked pantry of food bought at the lowest price and we cook from scratch.

We search for recipes that are cost friendly. We don’t buy foods that cost more than our budget will allow. We don’t buy beef roasts, steaks, or expensive seafood or alcohol. We scour yard sales, used book stores, and flea markets for economical cookbooks. 

One online resource you can use is the online cookbook located here:  Recipes and Tips for Frugal Healthy Meals. 

There are multiple ways you can reduce your grocery budget and I've only scratched the surface here. 

Your way of saving on groceries may contain other ideas I've not mentioned here such as growing some of your food in a garden. 

Let's share ideas with each other.

Belinda
~ Living within our Means ~

28 comments:

  1. I'm probably a 25% solid pantry user, and know I overspend on many things. I did much better when kids were young as I had to.

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    1. We spend more now due to the pandemic. We mostly order from Walmart and have it delivered, so it is different for us right now too.

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  2. Now that I have a well stocked pantry I do find that I tend to shop this way - checking the flyers and walking the aisles - for sale items that I can add. Then I add fresh fruit & veg and dairy as needed. I rarely buy a specific protein except for special occasions like Christmas but rather take advantage of the sales to restock.

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    1. That is a wonderful way to stock your pantry, Margie. Have a well stocked pantry, so you only have to shop the sales. That is the best way to do it in my opinion.

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  3. I use my pantry daily. I do buy clearance and sale to keep in the pantry. I have never been a meal planner - unless you say from today till tomorrow! I fix whatever hits me at the moment. Using what you have just saves so much money.

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    1. We also shop a lot of the sales, Cheryl. And I agree using what you have saves so much money. I like planning on the fly sometimes too.

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  4. I need all the tips I can get! Thank you! I spend much too much on groceries. I rarely plan meals, just shop without paying attention and then I'm stunned at the check out by the amount due! Though I don't buy beef or pork, and cook from scratch, I seem to have expensive taste in veggies, fruit, cheese...I need to pay attention! Thanks, Celie

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    1. You’re welcome, Celie. We can all learn so much from each other. I love being a part of the frugal community.

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  5. I have always been amazed at government advice to plan meals and go to the store and buy nothing else. About 99% of my purchases are on sale, bogo, reduced, or priced wrong--in one way or another, I don't pay full price. Tommy is impressed that I have stockpiled so many items that I just get the food off the shelf or from freezer.

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    1. It’s a wonderful frugal saving way to get groceries. Going to the store and buying groceries to last a week with no planning would cost way too much money.

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  6. It took awhile, but now that my pantry and freezers are well stocked I can actually plan meals a month at a time. I then can plan how to use up all the leftovers in new and hopefully exciting meals using what is available in my stores.

    God bless.

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    1. That is great, Jackie. I’m so happy for you. :)

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  7. I think I apply that principle a little too much, judging by the state of the food shelves. :-)
    xx

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    1. LOL, Joy. That sounds like a good problem to have. :)

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  8. I’ve always shopped the weekly sales, too. I remember one night at work, several of us were talking about cooking ribs that week. We got tickled when we realized we had all shopped the same sale that week.

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    1. LOL, Penny...that is funny. Great minds think alike.

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  9. Amy's Pantry Principle has become a way of life for me. I know what I use, and so I buy enough of that when it goes on sale that I'm stocked up until at least the next time it goes on sale! I watch the sales flyers like a hawk and I'm almost never brand loyal, which helps to save money, plus I'm not afraid to try new things and come up with new recipes to try what's on sale that week.

    Soup is a year-round favorite here, though! It's frugal, it's total comfort food for me, and it's SUPER easy to make, whether it's from a recipe or what my son and I call 'garbage soup,' which is basically just surveying the leftovers in the fridge and turning them into an appropriately-spiced soup. No two batches are ever the same, which makes it fun. :)

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    1. Your soups sound delicious, Stephanie. It is definitely a money saver. I like how you use Amy’s Pantry Principle to your full advantage.

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  10. I have lived by this principle for years.

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  11. I shop for pantry too. The only thing I shop for weekly is fresh fruit and vegetables. I think pantry shopping is easier than meal prepping. When I meal prepped I spent slightly more and then I wasn't in the mood for the meals I prepped, lol. Pantry gives me such a variety. I love my clearance & "Hall of Shame" areas in the store. I find the best treasures in those areas.

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    1. I love those sections too, Safyne. I like your pantry shopping method too. That would work for me too. :)

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  12. Great tips on saving money at the grocery store! I've been spending more money lately, but I was trying to stock up on sale items as prices keep going up. I'm loving the weekly deals at kroger, so should be well stocked on flour, potatoes, cheese, canned tomatoes etc. I think I will get more butter tomorrow since it will be $1.77/pound. If I stock the basics, I can usually cook a variety of dishes. I'm getting low on vegetables though, so hopefully they will be on sale soon.

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    1. Thank you, Kathy. Hopefully the vegetables will be on sale soon. I also like the sales at Kroger. I wish it were closer than it is, their price on tomatoes is excellent.

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  13. Huh, I've shopped by that principle for years, but I'd never heard it named like this. The meat is always a huge one for us -- it's been years since I've bought a roast, and we make one large family pack of chicken breasts from Sam's Club stretch the whole month. I'll be curious to see if prices ever start going back down, or if this is the new baseline. Definitely a lot to think about!

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    1. Definitely a lot to think about, Torrie. I do hope prices will come down eventually at least back down to what we are used too. I like that you make the chicken you buy from Sams club last the whole month.

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  14. So glad to find your site. We have 8 children that we are raising on one
    income. I have used many of Amy's tips over the years. -Leslie

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  15. Get to know your Meat Man. I will let him know that I am running low on meats, and ask him if he can prepare a package of meats that he has not sold as fresh meat, so he has frozen it. He is clean and changes packaging daily. I will buy what he has on hand and figure it out how I can use it. Usually I give him about one hundred to one hundred and fifty dollars and he will call me when he has a variety pack for me. I have often walked away with meats I would not normally purchase because of the cost. We are open to what he has available and we eat it all. He shows me what he has and their is no obligation to purchase. I am delighted to continue this practice because we have had such a great variety. This will last us between two and three. It is a value pack of about two hundred and fifty dollars or more. We get ground beef, pork and turkey. Ham,roasts,chicken pieces, lamb,stew meat, some steak, pork chops or loins and some fish and turkey legs, bacon ends and sausage...his own large links and pork breakfast. It is not the same everytime, but it is a wonderful variety. Well worth it to us. I do like Amy's tips and I agree with all that is listed here today.

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