As to contamination in bulk bins, well I cook most of my food anyway.

We live on a fixed income and yes I can feed our family of three adults on $63.00 per week and eat good meals with a variety each day. In fact I actually do feed us on around $250 to $275 per month, I am fortunate to live near Aldi’s and can save 40 to 60% on groceries, we have a small upright freezer and I buy bulk meat deals from a local butcher, this includes pork and beef cuts and depending on the bundle I choose it can also have some luncheon meats and/or hot dogs. Depending on my decision to buy 43 lbs or 62 lbs bundles it can range from $1.45 per lb to $1.54 per lb., or I can go higher too all the way to the side of beef bundle at $1.59 per lb and spending $509.00…………that I can never afford. But my point is by shopping around, avoiding name brands, eating healthy and good meals does not have to cost a small fortune. I cook from scratch, I do not buy pre-package foods, such as Rice-A-Roni when I can make it myself cheaper and better. I make my scalloped potatoes from scratch, not a box mix. We don’t have to eat meat at every meal three times a day.

Remember back to how your grandmother cooked and how good it was. My grandparents who lived on farms, very rarely bought anything at a grocery store, but both my grandmothers could whip up some delicious meals from their home canned veggies, smoked meats and neither one owned a freezer!

With a freezer or a pantry area to store canned foods you can save money by shopping local farm stands in summertime and freezing or canning your own veggies, jams and fruits for the year.

I make a big turkey dinner every November, a big ham dinner every December 25th and again on Easter. Those are when our daughter, son in law and 3 teenage grandchildren come and eat with us. Leftover ham bones and cut up ham makes wonderful seasoning for good old fashion bean soup the week after the holiday dinner.

I also use my crock pot often to cook, you would be surprised at how a cheap tough cut of meat can become so tender it is falling off the bone when cooked in a crock pot. I have never paid for “stewing beef” at the store for soups or stews, I cut up my own from cuts of beef I have purchased for a much cheaper price. Couple times a month I toss pinto beans into the crock pot and a ham bone for seasoning, we have bean soup, use some of the beans for burritos, I never buy a can of refried beans when I can make my own with some of the pinto beans I have already cooked myself.
Then another day I cook a beef roast or maybe pork steak, take some of the leftover meat, add some pinto beans and we have meat and bean burritos, if I have gravy, I add some salsa, hot sauce, little cheddar cheese and we have wet burritos. It just takes a little planning, but no food goes to waste or gets tossed out. I learned from spending my childhood summers with my grandparents on their farm how to be a spendthrift and it is serving me well in today’s high cost of living.

And eggs are just not for breakfast folks………….we have breakfast supper sometimes, eggs, fried potatoes, or pancakes and if the budget permits a little bacon, sausage or ham slices also. Summertime omelets with fresh veggies are wonderful!

Hillbilly Housewife is a wonderful website for ideas for cheap meals, the prices have gone up since she put the menu online but you can still see how to feed your family cheaply and serve a variety of foods.

Oatmeal for breakfast is cheap, quick to fix and can have many different flavors depending on what you add to it, it is filling, besides it is high in fiber, and good for lowering cholesterol.

It amazes me how so many folks today have no idea how to budget their food bill and cook inexpensive meals for their families……….they all seem to think inexpensive meals means hamburger, macaroni with a can of tomatoes tossed in………..nothing wrong with that meal, but there are so many other meals to prepare on a small budget.

Fact is if we would all eat less, cook more of our foods from scratch, stop spending on high fat convience foods we would be healthier, skinny and have more energy and most of all less likely to have some of the health problems we have in todays society. Learn how to store your produce properly, wrapping your celery in foil will keep it fresh longer, drink more water, use more storage containers instead of plastic storage bags and wraps. Figure out how many different ways you can serve one large cut of meat to your family so you can have more than one meal from a roast, ham, or whole chicken. And trust me if you do your homework and research they won’t even realize they are eating leftovers.

One gap I noticed was in bread. Our day old bread store has two 10 percent off days a week as well as reduced cost for higher quality breads and other items. They also have a further reduced cost shelf. Then there is home made.

Staple items I have to reduce serving cost are old-fashioned oatmeal, whole grain bread with high fiber content, peanut butter, honey, spaghetti, and tuna fish and noodles.

Stock up purchases on reduced prices. Every items seems to have increased in price by 30 cents from fuel price increases getting goods to markets.

Animal suffering? I support PETA.
People for the Eating of Tasty Animals.

Think of the animal suffering you will stop.

I have a tip for Danielle: learn to like beans! They are very cheap and nutricious. There are many types and they don’t taste the same: chickpeas, black beans, pinto beans, kidney beans, etc…

Today I love not having milk products. My stomach is sure happier and so is my budget.

Kudos to those who know how to take inexpensive, otherwise boring veggies and beans and, through the use of spices and sauces, make them very tasty. You can eat very well and very cheaply if you have the skills.

I have followed it with my family as a part of a pantry challenge for two weeks and it was good. I didn’t actually have to spend the $20 a week, most weeks I only spent about $15 to top up the meat and fruit/veg.

You can also grow your own vegetables which saves heaps and even if you don’t have a yard for a garden a balcony with pots will do the job.

Milk powder is cheaper than fresh milk too, and that cuts the cost down considerably. Bulk grains and legumes are cheap and of course can be substituted for meat. I serve 4 meatless meals a week and it really helps to keep our grocery budget low.

Menu planning on such a limited budget is fun and you can serve some really creative meals. Eating well and healthily doesn’t have to cost a fortune, it’s just what we have been conditioned to believe. Most of us over-eat and eat all the wrong foods anyway.

If you put your grains and other dry goods in the freezer for a couple of days after you buy them, then you kill the larvae. Then store them in airtight containers and you won’t get bugs. I highly recommend doing this for all flours, grains, cereals, etc., whether you buy in bulk or packaged.

As for germs, well, there probably is a greater potential for germs in bulk items, but not more than you would encounter everyday on doorknobs, grocery cart handles, handrails, phones, keyboards, etc. Germs are everywhere. If you’re cooking it anyway, what’s the big deal?

The best part about bulk-bin buying, apart from the price, is that you can buy a tiny portion of something you are buying for a special recipe or experimentation, that way you aren’t stuck with a pound of an exotic grain that you will never use again.

Fabulous article and equally great posts. A wealth of information is here, and while I know that spending just $21 per person per week to feed my family of four will be a challenge (my athletic son is 14, so does he count as two or three people? LOL), I am excited to give it a try.