Groceries for Less

I have been noticing lots of articles in magazines and on line with suggestions for lowing food costs. Advice ranges from coupon clipping to following specific food plans and recipes. All this advice may be helpful to some, but time consuming and expecting too much of a change for others (like shopping at 3 or 4 different stores to get the lowest price).

I would like to offer 1 easy way to lower your cost of groceries $20.00 or more every time you shop. STOP BUYING BOXED CEREAL AND COOKIES. For those adults in the group, stop buying "energy" or breakfast bars-- these are actually cookies enriched with vitamins and minuscule amounts of other esoteric herbs and phytonutrients.

Most breakfast cereal cost about $6.00 a box, with approximately 12 servings. This averages to 50-60 cents a serving, which you might not thing is a lot, but 1 cup of cooked oatmeal is about 4-5 cents a serving, when you buy bulk oatmeal and cook it yourself. Keep in mind that wheat flour, the main ingredient in many cereals cost you about 3-4$ a pound (less for bakers and cereal manufacturers).

Plain oatmeal doesn't appeal to everyone, but you can flavor it with a teaspoon of sugar or colored cookie decorating sugars for extra fun. Add a little pizazz with a little cinnamon and some raisins or other dried fruit. You can also try mixing in fresh fruit and nuts. You can even make it chocolate by mixing in some hot chocolate mix. If you just can't stomach hot oatmeal, there are many easy recipes for home made granola, a combination of oven roasted oats, nuts, and seasonings.

You can't buy most varieties of cookies for less than the cost of 5 pounds of flour, and how many servings are in that box, about 12? That's 25 cents a cookie. There are cookies that cost a whole lot more, but we'll stick with the lowly average chocolate chip cookie.

Replace cookies by making your own. Yes, actually bake them. It doesn't take as much time as you may think. I can make 4 dozen chocolate chip cookies from scratch in about 1/2 an hour. Once a week while my son is in the kitchen doing his homework (which he is constantly asking me to help him with) I make cookies. He gets his work done and I am available if he needs me. Not only do the cookies cost a lot less, I know exactly what is in them. I can use organic ingredients or not, replace some white flour with whole wheat, or use raisins instead of chocolate chips. A home baked oatmeal cookie with whole wheat flour, raisins and nuts would make a great substitute for a breakfast or energy bar at a fraction of the cost.

Just look at your next grocery bill and add up the cost of cereal and cookies. I think you will be surprised.