Pocketmint

Tag: groceries

1. Eating cheaply and well: learn to be an improv cook

   26 February 2013

   I’ve waxed philosophical in recent articles, so I thought it was time to offer up something practical. Today I’m going to help you eat surprisingly well on just three to four dollars per day. First, a few numbers to establish my grocery thrift credibility: The USDA estimates monthly costs for food at different spending levels. […]

2. The choice between values and value

   31 August 2012

   Today’s Pocketmint topic was inspired by Dogs or Dollars, where there’ve been recent conversations about the frequent conflicts between one’s budget and one’s beliefs, especially as relates to food for both humans and pets. These are some of my beliefs: I believe in farms owned and worked by families or co-ops, not owned by corporations […]

3. The cost of food in Mexico: cheap

   31 May 2012

   Having looked at the groceries that are more expensive and about the same, we now come to the exciting part: what are the Mexico food bargains? Cheap The fact that fruits and vegetables are both plentiful and cheap in Mexico was not unexpected; in fact, it was one of the criteria I had in mind […]

4. The cost of food in Mexico: comparable

   28 May 2012

   Last post, I covered a few imported things that were so frighteningly expensive in Mexico that we will just have to do without. For a majority of items, however, prices are comparable to those in the States. This means that groceries are not going to be our primary source of savings — not given that […]

5. The cost of food in Mexico: crazy

   26 May 2012

   We’re hoping to reduce our expenses by moving to Mexico, but that doesn’t mean everything is cheaper there — not by a long shot. As a general rule, locally-produced items, including food, are cheaper than or at least similar to U.S. prices. Imports, on the other hand, are expensive … sometimes jaw-droppingly so. This article […]

6. Buying groceries, Mexico style

   20 May 2012

   Pocketmint is documenting a month of personal finance in Mexico. For the backstory, see this post. Now that I’ve described my usual grocery strategies, here’s how they apply to Mexican shopping: Price tracking: extremely useful in a between-store sense, much less so in an over-time sense, because … Weekly sale ads: don’t exist. There are […]

7. Frugal grocery shopping basics

   17 May 2012

   As I’ve started to write up my experiences grocery shopping in Mexico, I’ve realized that in order for the comparisons to make any sense I first need to give them some context. If you’ve been reading Pocketmint for any length of time, you’ve probably noticed that I place a lot of emphasis on food. From […]

8. The Conflict-Free Family Budget: Your Turn

   8 February 2012

   In creating the Conflict-Free Family Budget, I was striving to accomplish two separate but interlinked goals: reduce spending and reduce conflicts. I think these work best in tandem, but that’s not to say that you wouldn’t derive some benefit by implementing just one or the other. I’ll try to tease them apart here for that […]

9. Feed a crowd for forty bucks

   9 December 2011

   The calculations are complete. Total cost per person for our Thanksgiving meal (one generous serving each of six dishes and two desserts): $3.50. Note that I didn’t skimp on quality of ingredients — I used such expensive items as pine nuts, heavy cream, whole vanilla beans, and real maple syrup. I also did nothing different […]

10. On shrimp, or how to balance ethics and thrift

    19 November 2011

    Pocketmint now spans three and a half years, and while there are certain posts I would write the same today, other things in my life have changed over that time. I think this personal evolution is often meaningful, so periodically I’ll be highlighting something I said in the past and updating it with my current […]

11. Frugal feasting

    8 November 2011

    Thanksgiving is my very favorite holiday. I hear that some people have odd Thanksgiving customs like ‘watching football’ or ‘shopping’, but for us it’s pretty much an entire holiday about cooking and eating. These are two of my favorite things, so I’m happy. This week I’ve started poking around recipe sites looking for menu-planning inspiration. […]

12. Save those crusts: a yummy use for your extra bread bits

    11 December 2009

    For the past few months, my newfound love for easy homemade bread got sidelined by my difficulties with excema. Even easy bread sort of requires being able to use both hands. So it was back to the Costco multigrain loaves for sandwiches and toast. It’s always pained my frugal soul that a certain amount of […]

13. A visit to the Island of Misfit Foods

    4 August 2009

    The first of my two guest posts is up at Get Rich Slowly. GRS has long been my favorite personal finance blog, and was one of the main inspirations for Pocketmint. (Which is sort of a neat karmic circle, since JD credits my online personal journal of twelve years ago as the inspiration for his […]

14. One more for the ‘no-knead’ bread revolution

    1 July 2009

    I love fresh homemade bread. Once, in my early twenties, I made a loaf by hand. I had picked up the classic Tassajara Bread Book from a remainder table, and one afternoon I went at it for several hours, kneading and punching away. It made a glorious loaf which we happily devoured straight out of […]

15. Downsizing appliances to save money

    20 June 2009

    When we bought our house in December 2006, there was a surprise in the garage: the former owners had left us a huge old chest freezer. Now, Jak and I had a chest freezer already, a smaller model we’d bought at Costco about five years earlier. So this one was a bit superfluous, more than […]

16. Frugal foodie: agony at the farmers’ market

    21 August 2008

    I had a sort of mini-vacation last week; didn’t go anywhere, but took off work to hang with a visiting friend. I had every intention of posting during the break, but … I was too busy playing. And eating. Stacy and I are both unapologetic foodies, which means we spent much of our time bouncing […]

17. Grocery bag revolution

    29 July 2008

    I made a run to Safeway last night for sale produce: blueberries at $2.50/lb, tomatoes at $1.50/lb, summer squash and lettuce at $1.00. (I love summer.) At the checkout I put my nylon bag at the front of the conveyor belt, then unloaded my groceries. The checker gingerly picked up the turquoise cloth and dropped […]

18. Fillet or fish: picking the better bargain

    10 July 2008

    The weekly grocery fliers arrived yesterday, and when I saw the QFC ad for ‘Fresh Wild Coho Salmon’ I was reminded of a frequent shopping dilemma: should I buy whole fish or fillets? This week’s offering is $9.99 for the fillets, or $6.99 for the whole fish. I have no idea which price is the […]