Anyone heard of the Tightwad Gazette books??? I haven't heard many speak of these books here in HSB, but I have heard several mention them on Crystal's Message Board over at Homemakers Homestead.  I have all 3 of them and every so often read through them gleaning any bit of information I might have either forgotten or looked over from last time I read them.  Sometimes I read something and think, ok that is a little much....I don't think I could do that, even if it did save me $15/year.  LOL  Then the next time I read it, I am interested in trying it for our family and seeing how it works.

I have definately decided on a few things to try to save more money on groceries for our family:

1.  I plan on next grocery trip (end of Feb) to buy a box of powdered milk and try it half and half with whole milk (the book says it makes a perfect 2% milk) and see what my family thinks!!!  Milk in some places here in town are over $4.00 a gallon!!!! And we go through quite alot of milk with a toddler who drinks mostly mlik and doesn't really like juice. 

2.  We have ordered a whole hog (a friend has several hogs and they are selling them all asap beccause feed prices are so high) and a half a beef (from a different friend) and plan on buying a freezer to accomodate these.  Prices are great on both, and will save us alot of money in meat this year!!!

3.  Ok, I am finally convinced to buy dry beans and not canned.  What was I thinking anyway?? Conveience of canned beans is wonderful when you are a working mom and don't have alot of time on your hands for dinner maybe.  I don't know.  But for me, I have time to soak the beans and it will save us lots of money too!

4.  We have decided to try a few vegetarian meals a week.  We are a meat eating famiy, but Matthew won't frown if we have pancakes for dinner sometimes.  And I am going to try to work in a few meatless meals of other proteins such as beans and rice and see what happens.  It is worth a try!

5.  No more convenience foods.  Ok, this one is not that hard for me.  I am sick of buying such foods, but hubby is the one that falls for trhem every time.  He loves his single portions of mac and cheese in a styrofoam bowl for the nights when I am away and he is in charge of dinner.   And he loves hamburger helper too. LOL 

Ok, these are just a few that I can think of for now.  Maybe I can write more on this topic later.  For now, I am going to lay down and get some rest.

If any of you have some great tips on how to save on grocery bills, please feel free to share!!!

God's Blessings,

Amy Jo