tips for making a meal plan that doesnt suck.

obviously, I'm a huge advocate for meal planning. it has a lot of huge benefits (saves time, money, stress and encourages healthier eating habits when done right) with a minimal time investment (i do mine in about ten minutes every wednesday morning). but the big potential downside with meal planning (well, any planning, really), is that if your plan sucks... the whole week sucks. you might end up eating too much of the same thing, spending too much time in the kitchen, eating meals no one really likes, or ending up with a ton of uneaten food. be been fine-tuning our meal planning system for a few years now and i can tell you that all of those situations have happened here at one point or another. but to save you from meeting the same fate, here are a few helpful hints for making a meal plan that wont suck: 

account for the nights you arent eating at home. 

i feel like i shouldnt have to say this, but dont make a five or seven night meal plan if you know youre only going to be eating dinner three or four nights that week. this will save you a lot of time and money and wasted groceries. 

dont repeat meals in the same week. 

some meals i make (like curry lentils or black bean chili), are HUGE and feed us multiple times. to keep us from getting bored/sick of eating the same thing, i only serve that meal once the week i make it, freeze the rest in one-meal portions, and only pull them out once each week until they run out. added bonus: most weeks my meal plan is halfway done from freezer meals!

if you do freezer meals, balance what you put in and take out. 

unless you have like, the worlds biggest freezer and dont mind eating food thats been frozen for three years, dont put more meals in the freezer than youre taking out on a weekly basis. this is just basic math. 

plan for a "treat" meal in every week. 

ok, i know typically the whole point of meal planning is to eat healthier/save money/save time/whatever and thats great and all, but pushing too hard for any one of those things gets old fast. so plan on one dinner each week being something good, even if its not the healthiest/cheapest/fastest thing there is. we typically eat really cheap and healthy, but every week i make sure we have something really nice like salmon (or in n out, if theres room in the budget...). 

balance labor intensive meals with easy ones. 

ill be honest: no matter how much i like cooking (which is more and more the older i get and more i learn to make), i do not like slaving over an elaborate meal (and the corresponding elaborate mess) every single day. so for every big, messy dinner like shepherds pie or mac and cheese, theres a meal that gets pulled directly from the freezer. 

get the whole family involved. 

even though the meal planning/grocery shopping/cooking is more or less my job, im only 1/3 of the people in this family that need to eat. so im always asking james and alice their thoughts on what were eating, what they like/dont like, and what sorts of new or different recipes they want to try. 

plan for "leftover night" if necessary. 

we dont end up with a lot of leftovers, and when we do, i typically eat them for lunch since im home all day. BUT if leftovers ever are an issue, we do what i like to call a "leftover extravaganza" and kill two birds with one stone: leftovers get used up and thats one less meal to shop/cook for. 

keep to one "new" meal per week. 

a great way to drive yourself (and your family) insane and spend all your money ever on groceries is to make your entire meal plan of new recipes that youve never made before. trying new recipes is an awesome thing to do (saying this mainly to myself because i really need to do it more), but they can use a lot of new ingredients and dont always turn out (or maybe you/your family just dont like them). so just to play it safe i recommend sticking to a once-a-week rule with new recipes: the worst case scenario is that youll have one lame night the whole week, but the best case scenario is that every week has an exciting new dinner. 

keep it quick, simple, and flexible. 

contrary to what pinterest may have you believe, meal planning should not involve complicated calendars or spreadsheets or eight hour days in the kitchen (unless youre into those kinds of things, then i guess go for it). heck, i dont even assign specific days for the meals on my plan. meal planning is supposed to make your life easier. if its not, then theres absolutely no shame in trying something else. 

when done wrong, meal planning can be a total drag (i have very un-fond memories of a few times my mom tried to do the "month of freezer meals in one day" thing...), but by keeping a few things in mind, you can totally put together a plan that makes everyone happy. 

6 steps to a meal plan that will ACTUALLY save you money.

***note: this post was originally published on 3/4/15, but since its very much relevant to the money saving series im working on right now, im going to re-post it with a few edits***

when it comes to groceries, the two things i mainly get asked about are meal plans and grocery lists. mainly thinks like "ok, i made the plan and the list and my grocery bill was still exactly the same!" which at first i thought was really weird, because meal planning and list making were what totally cut our grocery budget in half. but then i realized that "make a meal plan and list" probably way oversimplified the process. so today I'm going to share our method for meal planning, and hopefully, youll find at least some of it useful. because seriously, this method has been a lifesaver for us. i mean really, any weeks that we dont follow this plan (due to holidays, james working out of town, illness, laziness, etc.), our bank account really hurts. 

now, i feel like this needs a big fat disclaimer because i see SO many frugal living/personal finance bloggers talk about THIER way of doing things as though its the only way or that it is guaranteed to work for everyone/produce a certain result. because the majority of the advice ive read on such blogs has not been applicable/beneficial to our family and situation, im just going to come out and say it: that is a lie. 

this is by no means any kind of proven system and i can not guarantee any specific results or that it will even work for you/your family. 

however, the majority of this plan revolves around planning, efficiency, and reducing waste, which i do believe can at least help in most situations. so with all that out of the way, here we go: 

1. decide (in advance) where you will be shopping and how often. look, it really doesnt matter whether you go to three different stores once every few days or just go to costco once a month. in order for you to be able to effectively plan the groceries that youre going to buy, you first have to plan where/when you are going to buy them. this may sound silly but it will make a lot more sense in a minute when we get to steps 2 and 4. 

2. double check your schedule for the week (or two, or whatever the space between shopping trips is) so that youre only planning for the meals you need to plan. see, knowing how far apart your trips are going to be is essential, because the biggest money drain when it comes to groceries is buying more food than youre actually going to eat. looking over your calendar and accounting for the days/nights you dont need to cook (for example, family dinner, date night, birthday party, whatever), will keep you from buying supplies for meals that you wont even get to before its time to go shopping again. 

3. start your plan based on what foods you already have and aim to buy as little as possible. after youve figured out where youre going, when, and how many meals your preparing for, do a thorough search of all the food you currently have. got a bag of potatoes? cans of soup? chicken in the freezer? an absurd amount of cheese? start planning meals that will use up those ingredients. and if you have freezer meals/leftovers on hand by all means include those in your meal plan. do not just let them sit there taking up space. 

4. next, take a look at what's on sale. this is where its really important to know where youre going to be shopping. and while grocery sales are really there to trick you into buying extra groceries and spend more money because youre getting a "good deal", you can use this to your advantage by choosing your meals for the week based on what meats/produce/etc. are currently on sale at the store of your choosing. are pasta and sauce super cheap? make lasagna! huge sale on fish? put that on the list! doing this has the double benefit of not just saving money, but also keeping you from eating the same foods every single week (which was a really bad habit of mine for the first couple years we were married). 

5. FINALLY fill in the rest and add any extras/treats. ok, so lets pretend that im planning meals for the week (because thats how often i shop), and once i account for the nights we wont be home and leftovers in the freezer i have four dinners left to plan, using the foods that are on sale as inspiration. once i have that general plan, then i look over the pantry and fridge to see if were missing anything else: lunch supplies, cereal, condiments, spices, snacks, etc. you know, the kind of stuff that doesnt necessarily run out at the same time, that you dont have to buy very frequently but the meal plan cant go on without (in our house the #1 such thing would be olive oil), that stuff definitely goes into the plan and on the list. just, last. and only whats absolutely needed before the next shopping trip. 

6. once your plan is finished, make a detailed list (with quantities). so youve made it to the end, you know where youre going, how long youre shopping for, and what youre going to buy. now write it down (all of it). be specific ("1 lb shredded cheddar" not  just "cheese"). note the quantities (if you need three onions, then for crying out loud make sure you include that you need three onions!). the more detailed your list is, the less likely you are to forget something you needed, and the less likely you are to buy things that you dont need. trust me on this. 

and there you have it. thats how we plan our meals to save the big bucks on groceries. this plan also has the added bonus of reducing the wasted food we generate (either from things going bad before we can get to them or stuff just sitting around), and keeping out fridge and pantry from becoming disorganized and overcrowded (did i mention that the benefits of meal planning go way beyond just saving money?). 

i know everything i just wrote is the EXACT OPPOSITE of the generally accepted "start with staples and stockpile whats cheapest now to eat later and spend all day making a month of freezer meals" philosophy for thrifty grocery shopping, but you know what? thats never worked for us. and maybe it doesnt work for you either. thats ok, there are totally other ways of doing things and you can still save money. 

do you plan out your familys meals? whats your #1 tip? 

grocery shopping myths + the truth behind them.

everybody eats, so everybody needs to buy groceries. it seems like it should be a super straightforward thing, but in all honesty, learning to buy groceries (without going broke and/or eating junk al the time) was one of the hardest "adult skills" i had to learn not only are there about ten million variables when it comes to grocery shipping, there are a lot of "rules" and "methods" out there that are "supposed" to help make shopping faster/easier/cheaper/whatever. the main problem with a lot of these rules/methods/whatever, is that they dont really account for the fact that not all families have the same needs/preferences, and they definitely dont account for the fact that grocery costs/options vary widely depending on where you live (trust me, i could write a novel on the differences between buying groceries in rural arizona vs. southern california). 

over the past five years, ive tried quite a few of these different "rules" and "methods" that frugal living bloggers share promising huge grocery savings and frankly... theyre chock full of lies. ok maybe not like, malicious lies, more like well-meaning myths that got passed around without really checking how factual they actually are. so before i get started with sharing tips and tricks for eating healthy on a budget, here are a few of the most common "grocery myths" and the truth behind them: 

myth: you have to use coupons. 

truth: coupons are actually not an easy way to save money. can they be helpful? absolutely, but coupons alone will not solve your grocery budget troubles (trust me, its been over a year since i last clipped a coupon and were spending less on groceries than ever before). 

myth: you have to keep a database of prices and memorize "price cycles" 

truth: not really. if youve ever watched "extreme couponers" or read a lot of frugal living type blogs they talk a lot about these two things. frankly, both of these are HUGE time investments that may not be all that worth it (unless you live entirely off packaged foods). 

myth: you have to shop at a lot of stores. 

truth: nope (i only shop at one!) technically, if you wanted to get the BEST possible price on EVERY SINGLE INDIVIDUAL ITEM you ever buy, then yeah, youll need to go to a lot of stores, but will this save money in the long run? probably not. 

myth: you have to buy in bulk. 

truth: it depends. im going to be completely honest: there are a TON of benefits to buying things (food and otherwise) in bulk, BUT its not necessarily practical for everyone/every thing. weve gone through phases of buying a lot in bulk and not buying anything in bulk and... its kind of a wash. 

myth: saving money on groceries is hard and time consuming. 

truth: absolutely not. again going back to the extreme couponers and frugal living bloggers, they make it way more complicated than it needs to be. i promise, the more you simplify your grocery shopping, the less youll spend, and the less youll want to rip your hair out. 

myth: healthy food is too expensive. 

truth: junk food is actually WAY more expensive. i know packaged foods have better "deals", but thats because theyre marked up so much. when you buy fresh food, youre just paying for the food, but when you buy packaged, processed food, youre paying for the ingredients, the processing, the packaging, etc., typically paying more money for less, lower quality food. 

myth: you have to have a "stockpile". 

truth: its better to just buy what you need. even though "stockpiling" food when its cheapest to last until its cheap again sounds like it would save money, it really doesnt: first, you have to spend the money up front to buy the huge quantities, then you have to store all of it, then you have to make sure you actually eat it before it goes bad. its also super time consuming AND gets you stuck eating the same things over and over again. 

saving money on groceries has a reputation for being a complicated code that needs to be cracked, when really, with some simple common sense, anyone can do it. 

have you ever run into these "grocery myths"? what are your thoughts on them?

healthy eating on a budget. (a new series)

continuing my theme of introducing new topics that are really just things ive been wanting to blog about all along, today im starting another new series: healthy eating on a budget. 
this is a topic thats particularly near and dear to my heart, because feeding my family good food (and by good i mean healthy AND tasty) on as little as possible is kind of my deal. people complain about how much food costs and how poor people have to live on ramen noodles because they cant afford vegetables and trying to save money on groceries is just too much work im just like "hold up, absolutely none of that is true, because if it was, i wouldnt have been able to get a weeks worth of pescetarian, gluten free groceries for a family of four at sprouts with no coupons for literally $50*" (*actual real thing i did literally yesterday). if this were my little pony, id have one heck of a grocery shopping cutie mark. 
also, i felt like if i was going to jump back into blogging, i needed to tackle this topic. why? because theres a lot of "frugal living" advice thats just not practical, and theres a lot of "healthy living" advice thats just not affordable. somebody needs to find the balance between the two. that somebody is me. 
obviously i didnt just wake up one day go from being broke and eating junk all the time (true story) to eating super clean on practically nothing, its actually taken a lot of trial and error to get to where i am now (and im still learning!). and to hopefully save some folks out there from a lot of the frustration ive experienced in trying to get in control of our grocery spending (while still eating well, this part is just as important!) im going to start sharing (every thursday) lots of practical tips for eating healthier, saving money on groceries, saving money on healthy groceries, and not going insane while saving money on healthy groceries. 
because its totally doable. its not even hard. and im totally going to walk you through it step by step with simple, actionable tips to help you eat healthier and save money while you do it. oh, and the best part? i dont have some big complicated system that you have to do just like me in order to get results, i know this is real life and everybody has different needs and that there is no one-size-fits-all solution to healthy eating on a budget. so im going to break it down into tiny little pieces so that you can pick what works for you and just ignore what doesnt. how does that sound? are we excited? i know i am!
what are your questions about healthy eating on a budget? ask in the comments and ill do my best to answer in a future post! 

5 tips for making a grocery list that will actually save you money.

last week we talked about groceries and i walked you through the way we make our meal plans, which has totally saved us tons of money (and time!), which is totally awesome. now what if i told you that just the way you write your grocery list could help you save even more? well it totally can! and as an added bonus, being intentional and methodical with your grocery list will also save you loads of time, and who doesnt like spending less time running errands? 

so, are you ready? lets go!

(again i do feel the need to disclaimer that every single family and situation is different and i can not guarantee any specific results. however, i do firmly believe that these steps really can help control grocery spending)

1. start with a plan. remember last week when i told you how we make our meal plans? you can do that, or you could do whatever works for you. either way, make sure you know what you need. 

2. make it detailed. whatever you do dont make a super vague list that looks like this: "bread, cheese, fish, vegetables", that list is just begging for mistakes. expensive and time wasting mistakes like buying too much of one thing or forgetting another or the wrong kind of another thing. being as specific as possible with the brands, types, and quantities of the foods you need when youre making your list goes a LONG way in making sure that youre getting exactly what you need. 

3. organize it by section. ok maybe this sounds totally OCD, but hear me out: organizing your grocery list by department (meats, dairy, produce, breakfasts, etc.) not only saves you money but keeping you out of sections you dont need to go into, it also saves you time by keeping you from backtracking through the store when you realize that the random thing at the bottom of your list is clear on the other side of the store. its totally worth the ten extra seconds to keep your list organized. 

4. if you use coupons/price matching, pull that out in advance. look, nobody wants to be in line behind that person with the disorganized wallet full of coupons and flyers for price matching all over the place. if thats how you want to shop, get all that stuff together with your list and only go to the store with what you need. im serious, dont even take the extra coupons to the store with you. coupons arent saving you any money if theyre making you buy things that arent on your list. 

5. stick. to. your. list. look, i know that impulse purchases happen and sometimes theres just awesome stuff on that clearance rack. but at the same time, if it wasnt important enough to be part of your plan/on your list, how much did you really need it? yeah... didnt think so...

so yeah, by applying these five steps (and making them a habit), you can totally transform your grocery list from a measly scrap of paper into a magical tool for saving both time and money. how awesome is that? 

how do you feel about grocery lists? do you have anything to add? 

10 stupid simple ways to save money on groceries.

ive been meaning to go deeper into the whole "saving money on groceries" business, but since its such a multifaceted, complex issue that i could probably talk about nonstop for a few days, i never got started. because, well, i didnt know where to start. but then i realized that it doesnt need to be that complicated. most budget-living type blogs make it way to complicated. 

and it doesnt have to be like that. 

in fact, it can be simple. stupid simple even. 

so today, im going to share a few stupid simple ways to shave a few bucks off your grocery budget. small things. easy things. things you might not even notice or miss. now, im going to have to disclaimer here that not all of these tips will necessarily work in every family/situation, and no one thing in particular will magically solve your grocery budget problems (not saying you have grocery budget problems, but i mean, you are reading this blog), BUT every small change adds up, and in my experience, several small changes can get you way farther than one big step. 

here we go: 

1. only buy what you need to get to your next shopping trip. whether you go to the store once a week, once a month, or every three days, do not buy more than you know you are going to use up between now and that next trip. i know what youre thinking "but what about sales? what about stocking up?". well, with very few exceptions, those are lies that stores tell you to get you to buy more things. you will save way more money by just buying what you need when you need it than trying to play the price-cycle game. (now, pardon me while the entire saving-money-on-groceries community on the internet starts throwing things at me)

2. eat your leftovers. wasted food = wasted money. if you find yourself with (a reasonable quantity of) leftovers, for crying out loud, eat them before the go bad. im not saying save the bag of chip crumbs or the three green beans nobody ate, but if youre regularly throwing away half a lasagna because you forgot to eat it in time, then maybe you need to get better at eating leftovers. 

3. if you dont actually eat it, stop buying it. whatever it is that you have crowding your pantry or freezer not getting eaten, or keeps going bad before you get to it, no matter how healthy it is or how much you should be eating it, just stop. there is absolutely no reason to buy food out of guilt or obligation. if youre not going to eat it this week, you dont need it. 

4. drink water. this was one that really hit home for us, see, i used to drink a ton of soda, and james would drink milk or juice all the livelong day if i let him. at some point i actually looked at how much money we spent each week on beverages, and it was a good 10-20% of our total grocery bill. ON BEVERAGES. you know how water is free? yeah...

5. cut back on snacks/processed/packaged foods. i dont know where this idea came from that poor people have to eat crap food out of boxes because thats whats most affordable. this is a lie. if you take a closer look, youll actually see that per ounce/per calorie, processed/packaged foods are actually some of the most expensive foods there are. now dont get me wrong, treats totally have their place, but as treats. 

6. plan your meals. im not saying you have to make a detailed, elaborate meal plan or spend your entire day making a month of freezer meals, but i am saying that if you go to the store knowing what youre going there to buy, youre going to have an easier time resisting the endcap sales and impulse purchases. 

7. pack your lunch. i shouldnt have to tell you that throwing together a quick lunch is way cheaper than buying a prepackaged (or takeout) meal. you might spend $4-5 on an individual salad, but for the same amount of money, you could buy enough lettuce, toppings, and dressing for a few salads. or even better, if your work/school situation allows for it bring leftovers for lunch. kill two birds with one stone. thats always cool. 

8. check prices on fresh vs. frozen produce. generally speaking, youre going to get significantly more produce for your money by choosing fresh over canned or frozen. but depending on the season, frozen might be way cheaper. this one is always worth a quick check (especially where berries are concerned). 

9. stick to your list. you know what the biggest grocery budget killer is? impulse purchases. you know, "lets get some chips!" "oooh! cake mix is on clearance!" or if youre shopping with my husband, "can we get bacon?". if you want your spending to get out of control fast, start adding some fun little extras as you shop. or just stick to your list and bask in the glory of not overspending. 

10. when in doubt, go without. almost every time im at the store, no matter how watertight i think my plan and list are, ill have these little doubts, like, "are we out of x? am i sure we have enough of y", with x or y being some kind of pantry staple, usually under $5, so it never seems like a big deal. but after about a million times of buying another dozen eggs "just in case" and coming home to find ten eggs in the fridge, ive learned to just go on with my list and keep shopping. if i indulge all of those little doubts, the grocery budget is blown on extra food we dont need, if i wait it out, nine times out of ten were just fine. (the rest of the time i can send james over to dollar tree...)

see, saving money on groceries is NOT complicated. its NOT hard. and you dont even have to change where or how you shop to see a difference. 

obviously, these little tricks just barely scratch the surface of how you can take control of your grocery spending and keep all that extra money in your pockets. hopefully this post has opened up a pandoras box for this topic.

now these are just my favorite grocery hacks, whats your go-to tip for saving money on groceries? 

why you should totally make your own beans (or, the return of THAT mom)

a long, long time ago, back when my blog was terrible and the pictures were always ugly, i posted some recipes for different kinds of beans. in that post i kind of touched on my reasons for using dried beans over canned, but after making the full blown switch to never buying canned beans ever a few months ago, i thought id take a few minutes to elaborate on my reasoning behind this newfound eccentricity. 

because, as youre probably expecting now if youre a regular reader, im like, "oh my gosh homemade beans are the best and i cant believe i ever bought canned beans ever and everybody needs to always make their own beans! did i mention im totally stoked on making beans?" and now everybody else within earshot is like "OMG victoria SHUT UP and just buy your beans in cans like a normal person". 

but i wont. 

and heres why: 

1. theyre cheaper. obviously youd kind of expect this, since, contrary to what the food industry/american culture/michelle obama would like you to believe, fresh whole foods are just about always cheaper than their processed/packaged counterparts. while the price difference in most cases is marginal and id argue that its really a matter of preference/quality/type of recipe (for instance, in the case of fresh broccoli vs. frozen), but with beans, the difference is drastic. a single can of beans is usually about $1-$1.50. a pound of dried beans is about the same price (most dollar stores carry dried beans, so really you shouldnt have to spend more than $1 for a pound of dried beans) and makes FOUR TIMES AS MUCH BEANS. meaning, dried beans are 75% cheaper than canned. thats pretty significant when, you know, youre poor and eat a lot of beans like us. 

2. they taste better. you know how canned beans totally taste like they came from a can? and have that weird, slimy, starchy bean water on them that you have to wash off? well, for obvious reasons, homemade beans dont. and its awesome. 

3. you can totally control how they taste. maybe this is just me being weird and picky, but sometimes even the "plain" cans of beans totally have a flavor and its usually not compatible with what youre trying to make with them. for instance, i can NOT stand if black beans have any sort of caramelly, barbequey taste (which often the canned ones do, even if theyre not "flavored"), especially since usually use black beans for tacos which is NOT an appropriate time for caramelly beans. by making my own, i can always be sure that my beans taste exactly how i want them to. 

4. on a related note, you can control the sodium content. you know how theres "low sodium" canned beans? thats because the normal canned beans are usually totally loaded with salt. on the one hand, i guess this makes them more appealing and shelf-stable, but on the other hand its not so great for blood pressure (and its probably a big contributor to complaint #3). making your own beans lets you use or less or no salt at all so that way you wont end up with a chili that tastes like heart attacks (real thing that actually happened when we first got married because i didnt realize that the beans, the broth AND the seasonings i used were all loaded with salt. it was awful). 

5. its less wasteful. ok, so if you havent picked up on it yet, im really not a big fan of doing things that create unnecessary trash. i know cans are technically recyclable but in our current living situation recyclings not an option (also, its my firm personal belief that not creating waste is FAR better for the environment than any amount of recycling), so NOT throwing away several cans of beans a week (remember, were poor), is pretty cool. plus, with no cans, theres no worrying about BPA or whatever in the can lining (is that a thing people are still worried about?).

and

6. its not even that hard. im guessing about 95% of you are thinking something along the lines of "MAKE beans? aint nobody got time for that", which i guess on a surface level does seem valid because beans DO need soaked overnight and take a few hours to cook, EXEPT that almost all of that time (except for putting the beans into the bowl to soak and then putting them in the crock pot to cook) is completely passive so its not that difficult. also, if youre not the planning-in-advance-type cook, this method is way faster (and actually easier) than the crock pot. 

as you can tell, im kind of on a big bean-making kick right now, which is totally fine with me because now my freezers filled with rows of recycled glass jars each holding exactly one-cans worth of delicious homemade beans just waiting to be eaten on nights that i dont feel like cooking. which, granted, is most nights these days. 

bluff cove olive oil company.

wednesday we got to do something really special. we got to go to the grand opening of bluff cove olive oil co. obviously i was super excited about this, because if theres one thing i love more than fancy olive oil stores, its fancy olive oil stores owned by friends (and staffed by my mom!). 

this is the owner, jessica:

shes a church friend of ours, and also the owner of this wondrous place:

which not only features impossibly cute and cozy decor, thats just begging you, "please, stay here forever and taste all of the delicious oils":

but also carries literally dozens of THE most amazing olive oils and balsamic vinegars:

dozens of them. ALL OF THEM EVEN MORE DELICIOUS THAN THE LAST. 

and did i mention that my mom works there? well, she does: 

she taught us how to properly taste olive oil. and life will never be the same. 

now, maybe im a little biased, because generally speaking im really into this kind of fancy foodie stuff, and the store is owned and staffed by good friends (and my mom), but you have NO idea how hard it was to not buy one of everything in the store. and really, one bottle would have taken up our whole "completely frivolous food items" budget for the month. i did NOT want to pick just one. 

thankfully in addition to full bottles, bluff cove does custom mini-bottle gift sets, which allow you you mix and match four (or six!) miniature bottles, so we could pick four flavors instead of just one. 

which, granted, picking four flavors out of what felt like a million (and they were all delicious) wasnt really that much easier, but eventually our dear friend michaela was able to help us pack up our four choices:

(we ended up choosing tuscan herb, garlic, and while mushroom and sage olive oils, and a peach white balsamic vinegar, plus some truffle salt, because, truffles)

so, if youre in the south bay area, and youre into fancy olive oils, you probably already know that the closest olive oil stores are in santa monica and long beach. WELL NOT ANYMORE. bluff cove olive oil co is here for all your oil and vinegar needs. we will be back. at least nine more times (i mean, gotta get that free bottle, right?). 

(and no, i was not paid or compensated in any way for writing this post. i did pay for everything i bought and all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own. i just really love olive oils, ok?)

first quarter coupon statistics (+ i want to hear from you!)

after keeping track of our grocery savings for the entire year of 2013, i wasnt sure if i was going to continue for a second year. it was a lot of work to keep track of all my receipts, and it was a lot of math to figure out my percentages since most stores dont calculate that for you (math is NOT one of my strengths, i went to art school, and i dropped out), and really, compared to the year before, i had become a COMPLETELY different person when it came to shopping, i was buying less than ever, focusing on being less wasteful and being and more intentional with our meager budget in order to stretch our limited funds into the most comfortable lifestyle possible. 

which is a good thing. buying less stuff and spending less money on our necessities (so that we could have more money left to enjoy) has been a major priority for me, and im very, very proud of the work ive done in this department, but, our more minimalist, streamlined, absolutely-no-purchases-that-we-absolutely-positively-can-not-live-without shopping couldnt make for interesting coupon statistics, could it? especially compared to last year, which had some very exciting numbers. 

well, in the interest of science, i kept up the experiment to see how my new shopping approach compared to last years. 

and i was shocked. i know that were buying WAY less at the grocery store/target/etc, that were spending WAY less money, and im using WAY less coupons. but somehow, year to date, weve saved MORE money than last year, at roughly the same average percentage per transaction. how exactly did this happen? i have no idea. 

but the numbers dont lie:

last year i posted my first quarter coupon statistics, and at that point, i had a net profit (total savings - expenses such as newspapers and printer ink) of $775.72, and an average savings of 40% per transaction. now, at that time these were some pretty incredible numbers, but was using a LOT of coupons, and inadvertently buying a LOT of things we didnt need. 

and since then, our lifestyle has changed a TON. i found out i have a million food allergies and we stopped eating basically all processed food, so, basically no food coupons. i streamlined our weekly meal planning so that each week we (usually, sometimes i go overboard) ONLY buy EXACTLY what well consume in that week, so, no stocking up on deals (unless they were literally pennies). i decided we werent buying ANY toiletries/cleaning supplies/medicines/household consumables until we were COMPLETELY OUT (again, unless it was something we will eventually use, like toothpaste, and 50 cents or less), so, theres been a LOT less purchasing in general. 

so where are we this year? our cumulative savings for the year (again, minus what i spend on newspapers), was $802.51. EIGHT. HUNDRED. DOLLARS. over $25 MORE than this point last year, despite ruthlessly slashing any and all unnecessary spending. and my per-transaction savings? well that went down a tiny bit to just under 40%. but what matters is that so far were doing better than last year. and i did NOT think that would happen. 

so, thats pretty cool. 

OH! one more thing!

at the well boxed event last weekend, quite a few of the ladies i talked to said they wanted to know more about all the things i do to save money on groceries, and a long, long time ago i started drafting out a series called "the completely normal persons guide to saving money on groceries", but it never really went anywhere beyond one post about target, and another post about coupons. i really want to do more posts like that, because i REALLY want to help people eat better on less money (really if i can do it, on our budget, with my dietary restrictions, it should be easy for anyone else), and apparently, people want to hear about it. 

but "saving money on groceries"? thats a BROAD topic, covering a TON of information. and i dont want to make you sit through a novel just to get one or two tips that might work for you, so i want to break this down into really bite sized pieces. 

so i want to know, what do you want to hear about? budgeting? reducing waste? meal planning? list making? please let me know in the comments, so i can help you out with what YOU want to know!

spices. they dont have to be expensive.

spices. theyre pretty dang important if you want your food to not taste like crap. i mean really, have you ever tried cooking without spices (or eaten dinner at someones house that for some reason doesnt season anything)? without spices, EVERYTHING tastes like sadness and disappointment. this gets even worse when, like us, youre really poor and basically just eating rice and beans and eggs and potatoes all the time. thanks to the magic of spices, its actually pretty easy to take simple ingredients and turn them into a delicious meal. 

but heres the problem: if youve ever been down the spice aisle of the grocery store, you know that for some stupid, stupid reason, spices cost millions of dollars (ok, like, 4-6 dollars for each little bottle). any time one of my friends is getting ready to get married/move out i ALWAYS tell them "get ready for those first few grocery trips to be CRAZY expensive, because until you collect ALL THE SPICES, every new recipe is an automatic $20". 

but really, it doesnt have to be like that. there are actually quite a few ways that you can get around spending all your money on spices (while still, you know, having them so your food isnt terrible). basically, stay as far away from the spice aisle at the grocery store as you possibly can. but more specifically:

1. invest in an already-filled spice rack. 

heres a good one from target. now i know what youre thinking, its almost $50, and do you really need all of those spices. the answer is yes, eventually you probably will (though i think there are a couple of weird ones on our spice rack that i havent opened yet), and $50 for 20 bottles really isnt that bad when you consider that the average grocery store price is $5 each and buying each one individually would cost about $100. plus, now you have a handy little storage solution for all your little spice bottles. now, even the best spice rack wont have everything and you will have to buy spices sometimes, BUT its a good starting point. 

2. dollar stores. 

dollar stores really have a lot more to offer than we usually give them credit for, and most of them have a fairly decent selection of spices. theyre not always the best quality, but they work. since we have a dollar tree within walking distance of our apartment, a lot of our spices come from there. 

3. the bulk bins at sprouts. 

this is something i just found out about. im really not a big fan of buying new containers of things that im just going to use to refill the containers i already have (it just feels way too wasteful), so when our pepper mill ran out, i was really happy to find that at sprouts i could get just a bag of enough peppercorns to refill my grinder instead of buying a whole new grinder. also, since youre buying by the ounce, you only have to pay for what youre actually going to use. 

4. ethnic grocery stores.

if you live in an area that has them, and you have a little extra time on your hands, this is SO worth it. right after james and i got married i found out that the only curry powder available was $5 for a small jar that made lentil stew exactly twice. on our first visit back to california i made sure we went to the local indian grocery store by my old house and we got a HALF POUND bag of curry powder for $3.50. we still havent used it up. 

5. trader joes. 

ok, so trader joes doesnt have everything (actually their selection of spices is pretty small), BUT everything they do have is $1.99. which, yeah, its twice as much as the dollar store, but the quality is fantastic (and its still less than half of what youd pay at the "regular" store)

and last but not least, 

6. the "ethnic aisle" of the regular grocery store. 

I'm sure youve seen those little baggies of spices hanging on the wall over by the tortillas and stuff, right? well those are the exact same spices that are over in the spice aisle and there usually about $1 or so each (and usually theres more in the bag than in the little jars). the only thing though is that once the bags are open, theyre open. and you need to have some kind of container to offload them into (like, the empty spice jars youre replacing or baby food jars or small tupperware or really anything you can imagine so really there isnt much of a problem. 

so thats all i have to say about spices today. is there anything i missed? do you have any super secret tips for getting cheap spices? if so, id love to hear them!