Sagebrush & Solar

With prices skyrocketing, we’re having to work a little harder to stretch our grocery budget and build a house.

Here are a few ways you can save on your grocery bill.

1. Repurpose your food waste.

One of my favorite ways to make our dollar stretch is by roasting whole chickens. It’s cheaper than specific cuts of chicken, it’s easy to cook, and has enough meat for at least two dinners and some leftovers.

After we have roast chicken for dinner (usually with a veggie side and rice or potatoes), I’ll debone the chicken and reserve the extra meat for tikka masala chicken or a casserole. The leftover bones and cartilage go into the freezer until I’m ready to make a pot of bone broth with scrap vegetables (ends of carrots and celery, onion peels, wilted herbs, etc).

Though we don’t have the setup now, when we’re in our new house, all of our scraps will go to the chickens, worms or compost pile. For now, we set them aside for my mom’s chickens.

2. Bake your own bread.

We love sourdough around our house; in fact, we have to hide it from our 18-month-old son because he loves it so much!

I made my own starter from scratch (it took about a week) and continue to maintain it. We’ve used it to make artisanal sourdough, sourdough pretzels, sourdough tortillas, sourdough pancakes, and more. Why sourdough? It’s slow fermented, which makes the grains easier to digest.

We bake one loaf a week, which costs us about $2 in organic flour.

3. Make your coffee at home.

Back in the day — and I shudder to admit this — I would buy a coffee every work day. #treatyoself

At about $4-5 a pop, that’s $25 a week — $100 a month — $1200 a year. It doesn’t feel like much in the moment, but it adds up. Before Luke was born, we got ourselves a Nespresso machine in preparation for long, tired days. The pods are about $1 a piece. I warm up my raw milk on the stove, froth it with a hand frothed and top my espresso shot with it.

You don’t need a fancy set up — simply making your coffee at home can save you heaps of cash. You can even make your own clean coffee creamer!

4. Meal prep to avoid food waste and eating out.

We like to meal prep once a week to ensure we have some healthy lunch and snack options on hand to avoid the temptation of UberEats or eating out.

I plan my meal prep in advance to make sure I’m able to use the same veggie across several meals to avoid waste and use up things from the fridge, freezer and pantry.

One of my favorite weekly meal prep methods is Cassie Garcia’s Cook Once Eat All Week method. Essentially you prep your protein and various ingredients one day, and use them in three different dishes over the course of the week. This really helps if you’re someone who doesn’t like to eat the same thing everyday.

5. Keep staple items on hand for budget friendly dinners.

We always have our frequently used items on hand — either in the freezer, fridge or pantry. They’re inexpensive and can be used in a variety of dishes.

• Meat – ground beef, boneless/skinless chicken thighs or breasts, whole chicken, ground turkey
• Vegetables – frozen peas, carrots, onion, garlic, lemon, celery, potatoes, zucchini, canned tomato sauce
• Grains – rice, oatmeal
• Bone broth (freeze extra in mason jars)
• Dairy – raw milk and cream, a variety of cheese blocks (cheaper than shredded), plain Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, sour cream

Some of our go-to quick and easy budget friendly meals are beef fried rice, chicken noodle (or rice) soup, beef hash, ground beef and broccoli and burrito bowls.

6. Be creative about sourcing ingredients.

We acquire our groceries from several sources, including Walmart, Thrive Market, Imperfect Foods, Misfit Market, Natural Grocers and our local co-op. We buy our raw milk from a local farm. If you can work it into your schedule and have a drop near you, Azure Standard has amazing prices on organic bulk goods.

Misfit Market and Imperfect Foods often offer discounts to new members or returning members.

Thrive Market usually offers my staple pantry items for cheaper than my local Natural Grocer or Co-op.

Walmart has a surprising selection of organic produce and canned goods. We can’t afford to buy local organic produce, but we can make it work at Walmart.

HelloFresh, Home Chef, Blue Apron and other meal kit delivery services often offer major discounts for new subscribers to try out their meals. We’ve used coupons and have gotten 4-5 dinners for 2 people for less than $40 a box (>$10 a dinner).