Gas prices have gone up 50 cents per gallon in a month, Walmart has raised the price on apple juice by the same amount, and last week I saw a head of lettuce the size of a softball selling for $2 at my local grocery. I knew it was time to whip out my copies of the Tightwad Gazette. It's funny to see how many articles are obsolete these days--no one worries about writing a letter vs making a long distance call anymore. Now we have email or free long distance calling plans on cell phones. I am putting more effort into creating a price book, that is keeping track of sales prices and frequencies of items I tend to purchase. I'm using an excel spreadsheet I found free online. I can type in items straight from the register tape or the sales flyer and then sort by item and price to see who has the best deal on juice for example. Since meat is probably the most expensive category, I'm focusing on that now, but adding pantry staples as I have the chance to browse aisles. No one has ever stopped me to ask what I'm doing with pen and paper in hand, I guess they assume I'm crossing off a grocery list. I'll be adding prices from the farmer's markets as they start up this spring.
A second area I chose to focus on from The Tightwad Gazette was learning new money-saving skills. Last Sunday my husband, The Toolman, had a hankerin' for some KFC. Since we had been running errands in the town where that was located, we stopped through the drive-thru for an 8 piece meal deal. Up till now, I've always considerred this a reasonable deal because our family of three can make it last for at least two meals. This time as I looked at the $21 receipt, I thought about what made up the price. Looking in my price book I know I could buy:
2 Cans of green beans --- $1.18
10 pounds Potatoes --- $2.99 (the 2 or 3 potatoes to equal what I received were probably worth 40 cents)
1 Roasting Chicken ---$7.99
That's $9.57 for an equivelnt amount of food. That means I'm paying someone else over 10 dollars for their knowledge of how to fry chicken. And I keep repaying them every time we stop there. True, they use a pressure fryer which I don't have but I think I can make up for that by not having my food sit under a heat lamp until it's sold. So my first goal is to learn how to make a good fried chicken. Anyone with a good recipe? Please leave a comment.
2 comments:
Hi! I buy roaster chickens when they are on special. I take a stick of butter and rub the inside of the roasting pan, the outside of the chicken with it. I then stick the remaining stick of butter into the chicken's empty cavity. I sprinkle it with pepper and garlic powder and cook it according to the package directions. We either eat is as is for a meal or cut it up to save for one or two recipes that call for cooked chicken.
Melanie
Thanks Melanie! I really want to learn to fry a copy cat KFC recipe, but I'll keep this in mind when I roast a bird.
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