Right, I see I have intrigued you with the title. I did this on purpose, I love ham, and I love how much use I can get out of one ham roast.

In the pursuit of a frugal lifestyle, we often come across tricks that make very good use of our money. Ham is one of those things. Vegans, read no further.

Every once in a while, I like to make a big dinner for no particular occasion. I do this for a couple of reasons; one, I like to feed people, two, its much cheaper to make a big meal than to go out to a restaurant and three, leftovers! A couple of weeks ago, a friend planted the seed for ham dinner, I couldn’t ignore it, and so a huge ham roast found its way into my grocery cart. I should have paid better attention to the price and the weight, but it was about 9 pounds and maybe $17. And now, here are my adventures with the ham!

First meal – ham dinner, complete with roasted potatoes and veggies from the garden I picked at my mom’s, dinner rolls and some exorbitant dessert the suggestive friend brought over.

Second – Rob used a few slices for his lunch sandwiches, since it was a spiral cut, the slices are perfect!

Third – I got the trusty knife out and got to work. With the leftover slices, I diced up some very tiny ham cubes for ham salad sandwiches, which are Rob’s favorite. With the chunky bits, I got to cubing it up into bite sized pieces, which yielded a quart sized bag worth. I left a good amount of meat on the ham bone and popped it into the freezer.

Fourth – mac & cheese with ham, using about a cup of the cubed up ham, I had everything to make it in the cupboards, so this meal was essentially free. Plus, I got to use up some of the party crackers that most likely would have gone stale before the next party.

Fifth – omelets, just grabbed a handful of the cubed ham and tossed it in for a great breakfast. Eggs are free from my mom, and we always have a bit of cheese on hand.

Sixth – pizza! We love Hawaiian pizza, so this was a no-brainer.

Seventh – ham bone soup, I haven’t decided which recipe I will use yet, but this weekend, the ham bone, water and a bunch of veggies are going to make love in my crock pot.

Wow, 7 uses out of one roast! I challenge you to find a similar experiment and watch your savings add up.

Tags: groceries

It seems like I make a variation of the same five meals, over and over again each week. It makes shopping rather easy, but it doesn’t challenge the chef within. I love to cook, so this is kind of depressing.

Since I needed a way to save money on groceries to fund our new savings account, I decided to start following the advice every article I’ve ever read about saving money on groceries told me. Here’s the short version: 1) shop the store flyers, see what the loss leaders are and make your menu around that. 2) write a list, taking into account what you already have on hand and what’s on your menu. 3) use coupons. 4) take advantage of store shopping “rewards” cards. 5) don’t shop hungry!

How I do it: 1)I peruse the flyers on Friday to get my brain working on a menu. 2)I write a list of the meals I want to make and then take a quick inventory of what I already have, fill in the list with the items I need. One of my downfalls with food shopping is that I buy things just to “have it in the house”, you know, just in case I feel like whipping up some chicken parm or something ridiculous like that. 3) I recently became a bit of a coupon whore when up until a month or so ago, I was totally against it. I hated clipping the damn things, only to find out I didn’t buy the correct item or combination of items when I got up to the register. Fooey! Now, I only clip the coupons of the items I usually buy, if I find it is not worth it when I get to the store {like the generic brand is half the price, even with the coupon} I toss it or leave it near the item on the shelf for some other frugal person to find. Since I drag Robbie with me shopping, he has become in charge of making sure I use the correct coupons as we go down the aisle. 4) I have every rewards card there is, but honestly, it only comes in handy when I actually shop the sales at the stores. Typically, I do all my shopping at Walmart because I find their prices better on the items I buy. Walmart also price-matches, but I have yet to be brave enough to bring in the other store flyers. Since I have 3 grocery stores within a 3 mile radius of my home, its not a burden to go to Shaw’s to get the deal on pork chops on the way home from Walmart. 5) Robbie and I try to make a point to eat a healthy lunch before we go grocery shopping. However, Saturday I spent $18 on nothing at Shaw’s because I was empty-stomached. 6) my personal addition: use whatever resources you have available to you. Where my mom lives is a working farm, I get free eggs as long as I bring my cartons back, and when the veggies come in, I pick whatever I want. The only expense is the time picking and prepping the veggies. This is nominal to me because I get to spend a little time with my mom and I’m outdoors, not in front of the TV or computer. She also saves the Sunday paper coupons for me, so I don’t have to buy it. Last week, I saved over $10 with my coupons, and I was able to stock up on some items, all while staying within my budget!

I have a menu calendar within my Google calendar. I set this up so I could stop asking the eternal question “what’s for dinner?”. It also helps me diversify the meals I make by seeing how long ago I made pulled pork, or spaghetti and meatballs. It saves me time looking through the cupboards and wondering what to make. I can also cook ahead if I’m time challenged later in the week.

Hope this helps, and I know you will save money if you use one or all of these tips! Happy shopping

Tags: groceries

I’ve struggled with grocery shopping since day one. After 15 or so years, I’m still not very good at it, but I’m better. I kind of loathe the activity itself, I’m not a big shopper, and I get frustrated easily when I can’t find something.

So anyway, Sunday is my normal grocery shopping day and I was in Brentwood making jam with my mom and Mo. I figured I would just wing it when I got up there, I didn’t take the 5 or 10 minutes to make a meal plan so I would know what to buy. Big mistake!

Not only did I go way over my budget, I spent nearly an hour and a half in the store because I had to back track a few times when I remembered items. Now, I probably did buy at least a week and a half worth’s of meals, so I won’t have to buy as much next week. Still, poor planning = poor Susie!

Duly noted for next time, always make a meal plan and take a quick inventory before heading out to the store.

Tags: groceries