Arizona Farm Bureau Money Saving Tips to Stretch your Food Dollars

Arizona Farm Bureau Money Saving Tips to Stretch your Food Dollar

• Make a list and stick to it.
• Check the newspaper for sale items then make a plan where to shop.
• Use grocery store club cards and then compare prices to store brands
• Go through your pantry and keep it organized so you know what you have.
• Buy summer season fresh items, instead of processed items.
• Consider buying frozen vegetables, they are picked fresh, flash frozen immediately and are less expensive and will keep longer.
• When planning your menu think about what you already have then use coupons to springboard your meal planning.  If lettuce, tomatoes and bacon are on special, why not BLTs for dinner?
• Buy in bulk, but don’t buy more than you can eat.
• Clip and use coupons.  Put a ‘C’ next to items on your list that you have a coupon for, it will help you remember to use it at the checkout stand.
• Shop the edges of the store avoiding the items at the ends of the aisles.
• Keep tabs on spending by keeping a running tally of what’s in your shopping cart.
• When shopping meat sales items, consider stocking your freezer.

Tips to stretch your grocery dollar. Photo Credit: Flickr.com

Stretch Your Food Dollar Menu X

Arizona Farm Bureau put together a menu to help you stretch your food dollar by utilizing items that have gone down in price. This quarter’s items down in price are shredded cheddar cheese, eggs, orange juice and white bread.  Arizona Farm Bureau recommends building menus around eggs as they are ideally priced. To obtain actual recipes for the “Stretch Your Food Dollar Menu X” go to www.fillyourplate.org and click on the recipe tab.  Most of  recipes for menu X are from Arizona farmers and ranchers. You can find local farms, farmers markets, and recipes from Arizona farmers and ranchers at FillYourPlate.org.

Menu for the Week:

Sunday: Lemon Chicken

• Roasted Potatoes/with seasonings
• Baked Apples
• Milk or Iced Tea

Monday: Pulled Pork

• Wedge Salad
• Milk

Tuesday: Chicken Enchiladas

• Bread or corn chips
• Milk

Wednesday: Easy Mexican Casserole

• Mixed green salad
• Milk or Iced Tea

Thursday: Chicken Ala King over noodles or rice

• Mixed vegetables
• Milk or Iced Tea

Friday: Quesadillas (build your own)

• Chips and Salsa
• Fruit of the season salad
• Milk or Iced Tea

Saturday: Grilled hamburgers and hot dogs

• Grilled veggie kabobs
• Carrot bread with orange juice glaze
• Milk or Iced Tea

***You may adjust this suggested menu to your family’s likes and needs*

Shopping list

Dry goods:

• Hamburger buns
• Hot Dog buns
• 1 dozen Flour tortillas
• 1 dozen corn tortillas
• 1 bag tortilla or corn chips
• 1 package egg noodles

Produce:

• 5 lbs potatoes
• 4 ears fresh corn
• 2 heads iceberg lettuce
• 1 bag American salad mix
• 4 or 5 large apples
• 1 summer squash
• 1 bell pepper
• 2 oranges
• 1 bunch grapes
• 2 bananas
• 1 pint strawberries
• 1 medium yellow onion

Meats:

• 5 lbs pork roast
• 2 lbs ground beef
• 1 package hot dogs
• 3- whole chickens

Dairy:

• 2- gallons milk
• 4-cup bag of shredded cheese
• 1 dozen eggs

Pantry items you might have on hand:

Minute rice                              Flour

Corn (canned)                         Brown sugar

Bacon bits                               Baking soda

Vegetable oil                           Baking powder

Salad dressing                         Sugar

Cinnamon

Misc:

• 1 can mushroom soup
• 1 jar salsa
• 1 can Rotel tomatoes with chilis

The cost of all the items on the “Stretch Your Food Dollar Menu X” is about $72.25.  This is $22.50 less than the first quarter at $94.75.  Note that most of the shopping list items for this quarters menu are non-processed…keeping costs down.

About the Arizona Farm Bureau

Arizona Farm Bureau began a quarterly Market Basket starting the fourth quarter of 2006. The Arizona Farm Bureau is a grassroots organization dedicated to preserving and improving the Agriculture industry through member involvement in education, political activities, programs and services. Go to www.azfb.org to learn more. To obtain “Stretch Your Food Dollar” menu and nutrition information go to www.fillyourplate.org.

As a member services organization, individuals can become a member by contacting the Farm Bureau. For information on member benefits call 480.635.3609.