How I Shaved $200 Off My Grocery Bill – Part 3

We’ve gone over making a monthly meal plan and structuring your grocery list, thus arming you with the knowledge to make wise shopping decisions. At this point, you will have saved some money already. If, like me, some nights you still don’t feel like cooking even though you have something you can prepare, this next tip is for you.

Bulk cooking. Or, as some call it, once a month cooking. (It could also be split up into twice a month if your time or budget calls for it). With bulk cooking, you prepare all of your food ahead of time and freeze it. Each day, you check your menu and pull out the food from your freezer to dethaw and heat it for dinner later.

The benefits? You are more likely to stick to your menu if it is already cooked and less likely to stop at Taco Bell because it was ‘just one of those days’. Some argue that you also save on utility costs because instead of cooking ground beef 10 times in one month, you cook it once and can spend less energy nuking it in the microwave or heating it for 10 minutes on the stove. I don’t have the science or statistics to back it up so I’ll leave label that thought a ‘possibility’.

For me, the greatest benefit is that I actually save time. My days are freed from thinking about what to cook and then cooking and cleaning all the mess. I save time by dicing the whole onion once and splitting among meals instead of chopping it up each time for every meal. Plus, when I’ve had a bad day and would have previously just gotten take out I know have just as easy an option already waiting in my freezer. (And all the cleanup from cooking is essentially over but the dishes you eat on). That means I save money and I eat healthier.

Having done this for a while, I do have a few tips. Using a large skillet (or electric skillet) brown all the ground meat you need for all your meals at one time. Then, if individual meals call for spices, you can add those as you are putting that meal together. If you have recipes calling for sliced or diced chicken, you can boil or fry it up all at the same time. I usually put my chicken into a big glass pot with a little salt and pepper and boil it in the microwave while I’m cooking the ground meat on the stove. Then, I chop it up all at once and add to each meal as appropriate. And for any meals calling for rice as a side? I steam all the rice together and then divvy up the rice into enough for each meal and freeze them in plasic baggies. When we’re having a meal with rice, I pull out the baggie and put it in the fridge. By the end of the day – rice is already done. And it freezes quite well.

And – if you are making a meal of soup and know you will have leftovers (veggie soup, taco soup, zuppa tuscana are some of my favs), fill your container with what you know you will eat for one meal. Then freeze the rest separately and you already have an additional meal cooked. Sometimes, I even take individual servings and put them in a plastic bag. Then, voila, instant healthy lunch in a bag. Just defrost, heat and enjoy.

Since I actually do love to cook, the bulk cooking is fun. And, I know it helps keep me on track – with both my wallet and my waistline.

Tomorrow we’ll talk about how going vegetarian at least 1 or 2 meals a week can translate into even more savings – without feeling deprived!