Anyone know any good ways to make money stretch?

[Monica]

Try using coupons. Places like dollar tree takes coupons (read the coupon policy first). I have gotten many free things from there.

It doesn't hurt to use the coupons to create a little stockpile of things you use on a daily/weekly basis. That way, you can use the money you would use for those items on other items that you need.

[MoonCat]

Definitely try the dollar stores for certain basics like pasta and plain rice. Don't buy the packaged dinners, though. As others have said, the more processed something is, the more it costs, and the less healthy it is for you.

Watch for sales on roasting chickens. Buy a big one. Two people can make at least three meals out of one bird, not even counting making stock for soup.

For pasta sauce buy tomato paste. It's concentrated...you can make a lot of sauce out of one small can of paste, adding water and spices as needed. Or buy tomatoes--they should be cheap right now--and cook a batch down for sauce to keep in the freezer.

Beans are a good sub for meat. They're protein and fiber...tasty and filling. Brown rice is better for you than white rice, but either one goes a long way.

See if there are any community gardens in your town that might need help with harvesting in return for getting some of the veggies and/or fruits.

Farmers markets can be good, sometimes the prices are higher than supermarkets but you can find great deals on some things this time of year, like peppers, tomatoes, squashes, etc.

Is there someone, a friend, relative or co-worker, that you can get to split a large buy of meat or something with? Sometimes stores will have special "meat packs" that might include, for example, 5 lbs of hot dogs, 5 lbs of burgers, a couple of roasts, rack of ribs, etc. If you can split the cost with someone, you both get a deal and you only have to store half (or a third, of whatever...).

[Mytical]

Bulk is pretty much always cheaper. Potatoes can be made MANY ways. (Fried, French Fries, Mashed, soup... you get the point). The bigger the bag, normally the cheaper per ounce it is. If you drink sodas (for example) two liters are better then cans or such. 12 12oz (144 oz) is normally around $4 (rounded and and this is around here, other areas may differ), 2 2lts is 67.5 oz x 2 (135 oz) is about $2 (the generic around here is about .89c each 2ltr). Even cheaper is going with coolaid, lemonade, and such.

[Kaylyn]

Always check the price breakdown if your store has it on the label. It will tell you how much something is per ounce, or by unit in some instances if it's a multi-pack of something. Store-brand isn't always the cheapest, though it often is. That price breakdown will tell you the cheapest per ounce of the different brands of product. Sometimes this means buying a larger can/package/etc, though, so you need to balance whether or not it's a product you will use the entire larger package of before it goes bad, or if you're willing to pay slightly more per ounce for the smaller package. No point in buying a 32-oz can of pasta sauce if half of it is going to go to waste before you use it all.

[fireheart]

As for the lactose-intolerant thing: just don't buy dairy that contains lactose.

Just a side note, this IS possible. My local supermarket stocks Pura tone (which has trace amounts of it) and also lactose-free milk that ISN'T soy milk. I suspect that I may be slightly lactose-intolerant, as having normal milk tends to give me the runs, while Pura Tone doesn't cause that issue.

Also take advantage of any specials that your store may have. When I used to work for the supermarket, we would occasionally do long-life milk specials. People ended up buying entire cases of the stuff to the point where I'd have the codes for all three variations that we sold (full, skim and semi-skim aka .1% and 2% respectively) memorized.

[wolfie]

TVP (texturized vegetable protein) is another meat substitute. In most cases, it's FAR cheaper than meat - but watch out for the So Soya+ brand, which is MORE expensive than the equivalent amount of meat.

TVP is a dried product, so you need to reconstitute it. Generally, you take 1 cup of boiling water, dissolve 1 boullion cube, then add 1 cup of TVP and stir to make sure it's evenly soaked (some brands will leave liquid behind - just add it to the recipe, others you have to be careful to avoid leaving dry spots) - replaces 1 pound of ground beef browned and drained. I'm assuming the dark TVP - the light stuff is made as a chicken replacement.

If you get a good bulk deal on hot dogs, go for the all-beef instead of the regular - more protein and fewer calories per dog. Of course, if you've got access to a place like "Almost Perfect" (Toronto-area chain), the veggie dogs have even more protein and fewer calories (and taste better). Note that other than at an overstock/discount chain, veggie dogs are more expensive than ordinary (meat) hot dogs.

Find out what time the deli counter at your local supermarket shuts down. At one close to me, they mark down their pre-sliced stuff by 50% when they shut down the deli counter.

[Eisa]

Jester--we live in Virginia, the Roanoke area, and our grocery budget is approximately $50 per week.

This all helps a lot, thank you. We're really leery of getting anything meat that's on clearance--because every time we've tried, we keep getting stuff that's gone really bad. Especially with anything red meat. Even if Rhay goes by what you're supposed to, it still ends up rotten somehow.

There's a Food Lion relatively nearby--the closest grocery store is Kroger, which we can walk to, and that helps a lot when the moped has decided to break...again.

I adore lactose-free milk, especially chocolate, but it's a lot more expensive, so we rarely ever get milk at all. For soda pop, I get the cheap-ass brand, which is like $2.50 per 12-pack and lasts a lot longer than a couple of 2-liters would. I've cut down on it, too, but I'm not willing/ready to give up my caffeine addiction when it also helps my migraines.

I'm not sure if we could buy whole turkeys and stuff. I haven't ever seen them, tbh. I think we could at least attempt to fit one somewhere, though!

We almost always get the store brand on everything, the only thing I can think of that Rhay really won't unless we absolutely have to is kroger-brand cheese because it tastes like plastic to her, even if it's melted. I can't blame her there. We've both got a lot of autistic-related texture/sensory problems that don't help with getting food ((like I can't have kiwis because of that...not that we get kiwis anyway... ))

But yeah, thank you, so many ideas that are very helpful.

[dalesys]

Whenever I try to stretch my money... it rips in half!

"Bulk" quantity doesn't necessarily mean warehouse store + 100 pound bag of table salt. I'd consider anything not in a single-serve "paquetté" to be worth examining.

Price per unit is very important. I find that the 4# bag of house brand (Krougar) sugar is cheaper per pound than the 25# name brag.

[KiaKat]

Honestly, being lactose intolerant makes this easier: Stop buying cheese. Dairy is one of the most expensive things you can buy, barring top cuts of beef/lamb.

Whole chickens, bulk pork. Bulk beans, rice, and other grains.

Hit up a garden or hardware store and buy an indoor herb garden. You'll be amazed at how that helps. Being in VA, your winters aren't that harsh - you could even start it in pots outside, then bring them in at frost.

Cheap veggies: Kale, potatoes, leeks. Tons of flavour and fiber in kale and leeks, and you can do so much with them. Look at allrecipes.com for ideas.

Vinegar. Make sure you always have at least two types on hand (apple cider and a dark vinegar are personal favourites).

Eat seasonally. Usually, in-season veggies and fruits are cheaper, due to availability.

[cleorose]

Have you thought about couponing? I have five people in our family. Three boys that eat nonstop, a dad just like the his kids and me. I have a strict budget of $400 a month for shopping. Thats food, tolietries (Paper towels, Toliet paper, dish soap, bath soap etc) And I use coupons to make it stretch. I used to be those crazy couponers with 300 coupons in checkout and then realized I wasted more time doing that shit than it was worth. Lots of processed stuff most was cheap or free. Ad matching is always good. Walmart will ad match up to 30 miles around here everything except beer.

[ComputerNecromancer]

Only issue with buying in bulk is that our food money is mainly from SNAP.

Places like Sams Club don't accept that. I could do a -lot- with being able to buy from there ((Because it's cheaper to buy in bulk and I know how to make it last.))

Winco isn't quite as cheap but they *do* take SNAP.

Also, check for local food banks. If you qualify for food stamps, you qualify to uuse the foiod bank.

Around here, it's St Vincent dePaul that acts as the clearinghouse. You call them, and they tell you which church or whatever to go to and when.

Heck, the folks at the office that you applied for SNAP at should be able to tell you how to get in contact with the local food bank.

I have a friend who uses the food bank regularly (her rent plus bills is pretty much equal to her SSDI).

She called using my phone the other day, and I piggybacked on the call. Later that day I got told to go to a church about a mile away, between 10 & 11 the next day (most of these are only open a couple days a week for a few hours).

The nice lady there *asked* if I wanted various things. So I could decline still more pasta or oil. and we checked labels for sunflower seeds as I'm *really* allergic to them, and they show up in the weirdest things these days (oddly, sunflower *oil* is fine, but a few seeds and it gets hard to breathe)

So while you may wind up with less stuff than a "normal" client would, at least the odds are good that you can *avoid* getting stuff that you can't eat.

[ComputerNecromancer]

Study dented cans carefully. If there's rust, or if the dent has actually broken the integrity of the can, don't buy it. Canned goods only remain preserved while the interior is perfectly sealed.

That said, if it IS sealed, it's still fine.

Not necessarily.

Take a good look at the lid. It should be flat or dimple *in*. If it bulges out (unless it's something like soda) toss it.

I've gotten a couple of cans from food boxes that either bulged out a little (mind you, I think I was the third or fourth person in the building to have them, as they'd gotten put on the table in the hall where folks would toss stuff from pre-made food boxes that they didn't want).

Also listen when you start the can opener on the can (manual is best for exactly this reason), If the can hisses when it gets punctured, toss it. And bleach and wash the can opener.

Gas buildup in a can is a sign of bad things. Botulism is just one.

On the other hand, the dates on moist cans are usually "best by" dates. They are (if you observe the precautions above) still good for a long time after those dates.

My friend Fay and I wanted to strangle a mutual friend who got given a bunch of food by someone who was moving and tossed most of it because of the dates on the cans.

[Jester]

$50/week is tough, but not impossible.

Below are some off the top of my head suggestions. Also, if there are particular things you like, but don't have recipes for them, you can find plenty of recipes online, such as in foodnetwork.com, allrecipes.com, epicurious.com, etc. Or you can message me. One small bit of advice: if you don't have olive oil, salt, or black pepper in your kitchen, spend the money to get them. It may not be cheap, but a little goes a long way, and these three items are necessary in so many recipes. Salt and pepper can make drab meals exciting merely by adding them. And olive oil is, well, olive oil. Its uses are innumerable. One thing I've discovered recently, though....you can sweat things like onions, peppers, and garlic in a skillet without bothering with olive oil; they'll cook just fine without it. Especially if you pray a little nonstick spray before cooking.

Pasta can go really far, and leftovers are tasty cold or hot. Down here in expensive Key West, I can buy a pound of whatever style Barilla pasta (my preferred brand, but you can often go generic or get cheaper brands) and a large jar of Prego Meat Sauce or Traditional Sauce (or other flavors) for about six bucks total. That amount will feed me four times, so should feed you guys twice, or maybe more, since I'm pretty much a pig. And there is no limit with what you can do with pasta. You can brown meat and add it if you prefer (better than, but not more economical than, the jarred meat sauce). You can add sautéed or raw vegetables, such as onions, bell peppers, mushrooms, and/or tomatoes, which are relatively cheap. Garlic is dirt cheap, me you can add that, either raw, sautéed, or even oven-roasted. Onions are cheap too, as are green beer peppers. (The orange, yellow, and red bell peppers tend to be more expensive.) If you don't want to chop up garlic or onions for whatever reason, but like the flavor, you can always pick up garlic powder or onion powder. Make sure to check prices....some spice brands are outrageously expensive, even though their spices are no different than other brands' spices.

Eggs can make tasty meals, too....my parents will often make omelettes for dinner.

If you like beans, they're a great source of protein, and can be used in a variety of ways. And you can buy them canned or raw. I'm lazy...I buy the canned ones. Either way, though, make sure to rinse them.

As far as particular cuisines, Mexican and Italian both have many recipes that can be made relatively cheaply.

I myself have a quick-and-dirty jambalaya recipe that is easy and relatively cheap.

Meat-wise, chicken and pork are relatively cheap. In many recipes that call for ground beef, you can substitute ground pork. Just remember that, because of the higher collagen in pork, ground pork will stick together more than ground beef. Still tasty as hell. You can also sub ground turkey in such recipes. Also, sometimes it's cheaper in the long run to buy a large cut of meat. It's not cheap, but you can butcher it and freeze most of it, and use it over the long term, thawing what you need when you need it.

If you have a crockpot, the amount of meals you can make, and have it cooking throughout the day, is astounding

One of the best ways to make something that goes really far is to make soup.

Stews, too. Heartier and more filling, and easy to reheat.

Look for the grocery store where all the poor people shop, and shop there. Learned that one in college.

Adding to this, a great way I learned to eat on the cheap in college came surprisingly enough from my mother: happy hour! Now, Mom didn't drink, but she knew that there were often stupidly good deals at happy hours. Some places even offer free buffets! You'll have to check around your local area to see who offers what, but there was this one place in my college town that had such a buffet, and as I was underage, I could only order soda. So, for the price of a soda and a good tip, I ate like a king on many occasions. Just something to consider.

For soups and stews, hang onto bones and scraps. When you make a roast or whatever, toss the leftovers into a soup or stew for the next day.

You can also use carrot tops, celery tops, leek tops, and other edible-but-not-tasty bits of vegetable in making stock. Do your research, though: some parts of vegetables are toxic.

This probably isn't relevant now, but the same goes for seafood. When cooking shrimp, cook them with the heads on, as it gives the tails more flavor. And/or use the heads in seafood stock. Ditto for other seafood....use the parts you won't eat to impart flavor in the dish, or use the scraps to flavor stock.

For breads, many bakeries will sell day-old bread at cheap prices.

This can't be overemphasized. Also, hearty breads like rye or sourdough will last a while, and if you can get them discounted for only being a day old, so much the better. Be advised with the rye, though...the fresh-baked rye (as opposed to the prepackaged) often gets very hard after a few days.

Definitely try the dollar stores for certain basics like pasta and plain rice.

I will respectfully disagree with MC here...I will never buy any kind of food product from a dollar store. I will, however, happily buy food storage products from them. Just my opinion.

Or buy tomatoes--they should be cheap right now--and cook a batch down for sauce to keep in the freezer.

Even when cheap, I've found that the amount of tomatoes needed to cook down to sauce is actually rather expensive. It's definitely healthier than a pre-jarred sauce, but for your current situation, I'd stick to the jarred stuff. This is one of the only scenarios where I advise against going fresh.

[Rock Lobster]

Aldis is literally half the price of the grocery store across the street. 4 head of specialty lettuce for $1.49 vs. $3.00 at the grocery store. Butter is the cheapest of anyplace at Aldis. You can buy a ton of food there. Dollar Tree sells groceries for $1. Dollar General and Big Lots are also good yes. Check the grocery for carts that contain half price items. Buy generic when possible. I buy a pound of hamburger and make fresh hamburgers, tacos, taco salad out of it. I buy lunch meat and buns and have sandwiches for dinner. Noodles and spaghetti are cheap, hot, and filling. I once lived for three months on grilled cheese and pepperoni sandwiches. Good luck.

[mathnerd]

I feed 7 people on $463/mo. Breaking down the math, that's $15.38 per person per week. We eat pretty good, if you ask me. It did, however, take me quite some time to learn how to do it.

You've gotten some really good advise so far. I agree with most of it. The one thing I will add is to quit buying soda, or any prepared beverages unless you have some money left over at the end of the month and you want to buy yourself a treat. A box of 100 tea bags (store brand) is less than five bucks and using 6 bags per gallon (I let it steep for a long time), that's 16 gallons with a few bags left over.