Grocery Shopping 101

So one of the big challenges that we faced in our household was grocery shopping. We cook everyday almost three meals a day, so imagine how much we would spend on produce at the supermarket. Recently I have been reading tons of articles on how to save money during grocery shopping, most of them included coupons, but who has time nowadays to spend hours clipping coupons and comparing prices?. I certainly do not have that type of time, so I started experimenting on my own grocery shopping and finally cut down my final receipt from $100 to $60 almost 40% saved!. I know many of you out there would say that you have seen better and your right, I have heard stories of 60% saved, but as I said in my case this is amazing because it was done without coupons or much price comparing. Here a few tips that worked for me: 

1. Plan out your meals for the week. We have a notepad on the fridge with the dinners of each day. Based on this notepad we start off our shopping list. 

2. We tried a couple of supermarkets until hit the jackpot with one where meat prices were $0.50 to $1.00 lower than other supermarkets. (In our case meats are the most expensive item in our shopping list). 

3. Try to stick to the specials as much as you can, certain cuts of meats, in season vegetables, etc. 

4. Stick to items you can use in various dishes during the week. For example maybe one day you did mashed potatoes a few days later you can try roasted butter and rosemary potatoes. 

5. Reinvent your dishes this way you don't have to buy many items just a few and re-invent them during the week, check out my Beef Rice recipe on my previous post. 

6. Have basics always in stock like broths, spaghetti sauce, spices, condiments like BBQ sauce, salad dressings, etc. 

7. Stay away from the processed junk food this is way more expensive than making it yourself (in some cases) 

8. Non - Produce items like toothpaste, tooth brushes, shampoo, soap and other stuff sometimes is more expensive than getting it from your local department store or even drug store, so make that extra stop. 

9. Stick to the necessity of that week. Do not add items just because; Make sure your budget covers your daily meals, including breakfast and lunches. 

10. Finally review your list make sure you have everything. If you have items that were not on the list decide if you really need it and can expense it. 

Bonus - If you have space and time to start a garden in your backyard it'll save you money on produce. I myself have plans to start of with an herb garden. 

Hope these tips work for you as they worked for me. =)    

Turn up plain white rice

Living in Puerto Rico is a dream, especially when it comes to the food. The gastronomy of the island has to be one of the best untapped secrets the island has to offer. A selection of foods makes it into the typical puertorrican menu such as pernil asado, chuletas, arroz con pollo and many other. While I believe we make the best white rice; so good in many families around the island this side is served almost everyday. That being said it can get kind of bland, so experimenting in the kitchen I came up with beef rice and heres the recipe to share. 

Beef Rice 

Ingredients

2 Tablespoons of unsalted butter 

1/2  chopped medium onion

1/3 cup of sliced mushrooms

2 cups of good low sodium beef broth 

1 1/2 cups of medium grain white rice


Procedure

- In a saucepan melt the butter

- Sautee the onions and the mushrooms

- Turn the heat to medium and add the beef stock salt and pepper, bring to a boil

- When a rolling boil is achieved turn down the heat to low, add the rice. Mix and cover 

- Fluff the rice every 15 to 20 minutes. 

- When the rice reaches it's soft point you'll know it's done 

Your family will love you for turning up the volume on this classic side. Hope you enjoy as much as we did.