Save money
Save hundreds of dollars by reading this post , we will start off with just 5 items you should never buy at a store. Later on I will implement more, therefore saving you thousands! Who doesn’t like saving money?
Save hundreds of dollars by reading this post
There are things you should buy at the grocery store because it’s more convenient and or maybe costs less at the moment but there are just some items that are So easy to make at home and costs way less than buying them. Here is a list of the five items you should never buy at a grocery store any more.
Number 1: Heavy Whipping cream (don’t get it confused with whipped cream) whipping cream is what you use in recipes, whipped cream is the yummy (not good for you at all lol) stuff you put on top of your pies, cakes, etc.. You wouldn’t believe how much a small carton of whipping cream is at my local grocery store! The cheapest I found was $3.08 and that’s only for 2 Cups worth!
I didn’t know how easy it was to make until I found a simple recipe on Pinterest saying that all you need to do to make your own whipping cream is to put 2/3C whole milk and 1/3C melted butter. I usually quadruple this recipe to make 4 Cups. I simply put 2 2/3C whole milk and I actually use only 3/4C melted butter. I found that 1 cup was too much butter and it was more buttery than milky.
Make sure you put this in a shake-able container I use THESE and they’re great for this. Shake each time you want to use. By doing this you are saving around $2.00 each time. I calculated it roughly and we are saving around $8/month give or take a dollar or so depending on how many recipes I make that month that call for it.
2. Chicken Stock/Broth, yes you knew this one was going to be on here didn’t you? The main reason this one is on here is because you use leftover pieces you were originally going to throw away, therefore reusing and that always helps! I am an avid believer in reusing and recycling anything you can.
So, making your own stock has a few benefits; not only is it way cheaper, (one pot makes me roughly 16 cups) but you know exactly what was put in it and it doesn’t have all of the preservatives and not nearly as much sodium as store bought stock)
Also, I love the fragrance it puts out when I’m cooking it. So, for organic chicken stock/broth it costs around $3 for 4 Cups. You would have to buy around 4 of these to equal the 16 Cups, so that’s $12 of stock you would be buying, plus you probably could freeze the cartons but with your homemade, you freeze in silicone ziploc bags (I measure 2C for each bag)
So, by using things you would normally throw out you aren’t even spending any money! So, that’s roughly $12/month (we usually go through more) that you are saving.
Here’s the simple recipe for making your own homemade chicken stock! (This can easily be just vegetable stock as well just leave out the chicken bones)
Ingredients are onion scraps, celery scraps, carrot scraps, potato scraps, garlic scraps, pretty much any vegetable scraps you have. ( I put my scraps in a big ziploc and keep adding until I have 2 bags full) and bones of your chicken you ate ( you can also put your bones in a bag and freeze until ready to use)
When you’re ready to make your stock simply put everything in a pot and fill with water, about 3 inches from top, bring to a boil then simmer on medium low for about 2 hours. After two hours strain (make sure you put a pot under strainer) I almost goofed the first time and about strained all my stock into the sink doh…
Then taking a mesh fine strainer strain again. Let cool, then measure out 2C (or how ever much you usually use per recipe) Place in These reusable silicone ziploc bags (they’re my absolute favorite) and freeze until ready to use.
What I love most about this besides all the amazing points above is that you don’t even have to wait for it to thaw to start cooking. Yes you can thaw if you remember but most of the time I don’t remember lol.
3. Ok, on to the third product, minced garlic! I recently started making my own instead of buying it and I have to tell you it’s been so much better. If you have a food processor this is soooo easy to make! I have a small food processor and find it does the job quite nicely. All you do is buy your garlic (or grow your own garlic! it’s super easy to do) and take about half of the garlic peel it, put it in the food processor and pulse until desired consistency. I don’t like mine too fine, I still like it a bit chunky.
I find that baby food jars or very small jelly jars work great for storage! You just wash out the container and place your garlic in it and store in the refrigerator. I found I was buying both whole garlic and minced garlic at the store. Three whole garlic were only about $1 and minced garlic for one small jar was $3.
BTW if you’re looking for a FREE great blogging group I suggest the Bloggers Traffic Community (BTC)! I have made some amazing friends and blogging mentors! Click here to check them out 🙂
I have also grown my own garlic in the process and love that! The flavor of the minced garlic that you make with the food processor is way more flavorful than the stuff you buy at the store any day! Make sure to read until the end to find out how much I’ve saved in one year by eliminating these 5 items you should never buy from my grocery list!
Almost done! Now onto number 4! Uncrustables!! Parents are you with me?! I am guilty of buying these suckers when my son was young because he loved the heck outta them. If you don’t know what I’m talking about it’s ok you’re not missing out on anything and you’re saving so much money by not buying them.
A small package comes with four sandwiches I believe, which didn’t last long at all! Guess how much that small pack of 4 is at my local grocery store…? Regular price is around $3.08 and I’ve seen them as high as $4.76! Talk about 5 items you should never buy, this should be at the top!
We were buying about 4 boxes every 2 weeks, so roughly spending $25/month just on uncrustables! Yea, I was baffled too when I crunched the numbers. So, instead invest in a one time purchase of this cute do it yourself uncrustable tool (you can freeze them too!) and make your own! It’s super fast and simple to do, your kids can even do them themselves and you can make a lot and freeze them.
So, a one time purchase of less than $20 that will last you years vs. $25/month..the choice is obvious. Plus you can even get them in different shapes like this one below!
Ok we are at our last product for your list of 5 items you should never buy and this one has been hard for me personally to not buy at the grocery store because I use this A LOT and sometimes love the convenience of having it pre-made. Yes folks, I’m talking about shredded cheese.
Not all pre shredded cheese, just cheddar and colby jack mainly because idk about you but I find it hard to shred soft cheeses so I still buy those pre-shredded if I need it. So, for a pound of shredded cheddar cheese you will roughly pay $2.89 for the off brand and around $3.75 for the Sargento or Kraft. Now, if you buy the pound of block cheese, you’re looking at around $1-$1.50 cheaper.
We buy A lot of cheese in our house…probably more than we should LOL considering most of us are lactose intolerant. It’s a small price to pay for cheesy goodness. Oh and get this, you can pre-shred, place in a ziploc bag and freeze! So, when you’re in the mood to shred, do a lot and freeze it for later. So, when you don’t feel like it, you already have it done. Talk about a win/win! This 5 items you should never buy has saved me so much money.
Ok, phew, I know that was pretty long but I hope you have learned something and I hope you save as much money as I have buy cutting just these 5 things out of your grocery spending. Now, for the moment you’ve all been waiting for…. Do you know how much money I have saved in one year by making these few things? $1,166 Yes, you read that right! Over a thousand dollars a year on just these 5 things. I was FLOORED! Which 5 items you should never buy has intrigued you to save? All? Just a few? Let me know in the comments.
If you liked this list of 5 items you should never buy please click below to read some more! Thanks for being here with me.
5 Things you didn’t know you could cook in your Instant Pot
2 Ingredient grilled Korean Ribs
Save even more money buy purchasing one of my pre-made meal plans! Choose from 11 different ones by Clicking here!
Major thanks for the blog post. Really Great.
Fantastic tips. As always ? I do love to stock and freeze a lot of stuf but I never thought of freezing cheeze ? That was a real surprise to me. Fantastic idea. We use a lot of cheese in our house and this is great to know.
This is such an interesting post! My husband loves cooking and he usually prefers making things from scratch and does not like using packaged stuff. But we do buy shredded cheese. But what you mentioned about buying a large pack and shredding it at home and packing it in zip-lock bags makes a lot of sense. Will switch to this now. Thanks for sharing, Felicia 🙂
These are wonderful and doable tips. I don’t use whipped cream much but yes to the rest. That’s how mom used to do too… And saving extra dollar whereever necessary. So much can be done at home and you also get amazing flavor ?
You have just changed my life with that whipping cream hack! Who would have thought?! Definitely going to give it a try. I also love to make my own chicken stock (when I have the bones, which is not often lately as I usually buy prepacked breasts). It’s so simple and just as good as the store-bought one and probably healthier without any additives and preservatives.
Start buying rotisserie chickens and use the bones. You can make many meals from one rotisserie chicken. I usually get around 5-6 meals for our family of 5!
Love this post Felicia! I love to cook from scratch and am always amazed at how easy it is to make most things, and how expensive they are to buy. Each one of the don’t buys you’ve listed is a gem and will definitely save precious cash. Thank you. And the Halloween posts are wonderful and fun! ❤️
Just a smiling visitor here to share the love (:, btw great style.
Hi Felicia! It’s so nice to read these posts. I love saving and every scent helps. I noticed that garlic is extremely expensive. Something interesting, I love gardening and there was a time that me and my husband grew lettuce, tomatoes, green beans, etc. I actually wanted to plant garlic but was too afraid that it wouldn’t grow.
Leana,
Actually garlic was one of the easiest things I’ve ever planted lol I just planted a bulb and it grew haha