Look for ham (buy the butt and not the shank — more meat per pound vs bone and fat), turkey (often for 99¢ a pound), cranberries…

I’ve been trying to figure out the relative amount of wastage of butt vs shank, nice to know we came up with the same result. Also, if you’re using this to produce your own ‘luncheon’ meats, the butt is easier to butcher. Either way, the bones are nice to have when making pea soup.

Here in New England, cranberries are only available Nov-Mar. They freeze/thaw without issue, but if you want some in July, and you didn’t think to freeze some, well, if you’re lucky, your local grocer has them frozen (at a premium).

I’ve cut back shopping trips. The downside is that the produce dept has carts of ‘just replaced’ fruits and vegs — and that changes daily. Shopping weekly meant I was more likely to find bargains (in the sense of, yes, I want those, but the normal price is not what I want to pay).

If your family eats bread, you can save a lot by making your own. If you want the savings but not the bother, look at bread machines. You can find a decent one in a thrift shop for under $20. I did this for years, finally broke down and bought a Zojirushi, which has been going strong for years. (buckets and paddles wear out after about 1000 loaves but are inexpensive to replace). If you want to go healthy-ish, you can make 100% whole wheat bread. Here’s my recipe 1lb loaves

• 38g (1Tb+1tsp) Honey
• 28g (2Tb) Butter
• 164g (11Tb) Water
• 270g Whole Wheat Flour
• 5g (1Tb) Powdered milk
• 4g (⅔tsp) Salt
• 3.5g (1tsp) Yeast

Add wet ingredients first, then flour. Spread flour so no water shows. Add remaining dry ingredients, then yeast. Press “start”.

It’s a luxury to wake up to the smell of fresh baked bread — you can do this and save a bunch in the bargain. The only downside is that, without dough conditioners, it only lasts two days. This… hasn’t been a problem for us, but if it is for you, freeze the part you won’t eat in a day as just soon as it cools (hint: slice it first).