The Drought: Tips for Beating Rising Food Costs

after 29 years i did something i thought would never happen and i save me $200.00 a month. i stopped smoking.

2 easy money savers ... Old Fashioned Oatmeal (no instant) for breakfast and dried beans/legumes as primary protein at a meal on a weekly basis.

At my home we are extremely fortunate to have the time to make everything from scratch. It saves a bundle of money. The key words here are "have the time" and I realize that most people don't have that option.

Beans are a great source of protein and can be used in several ways. You can add a little bit of meat for flavor like ham or bacon but you don't have to. Use spices to flavor. Use left overs in burritos or enchiladas. Lessens the amount of meat you have to use for those recipes because of the beans replacing some of the meat. You can also just make a meal of beans and rice. Even though their prices may go up they won't be half as expensive as meat. Have a veggie meal once a week. My parents did that when I was growing up. It would be foods from our garden. Usually tomatoes, cucumbers on a salad with some homemade croutons mom made from just regular bread she toasted in the oven with spices. Dad made homemade "thousand island" dressing using ketchup and mayo with pickle relish. We'd have that with some cheese for protien or split a small can of tuna between all of us. Veggie soups and stews in winter. Mom canned or froze stuff from the garden. Too many tomatoes meant we had lots of canned tomatoes in winter. She'd make and freeze spaghetti sauce. Granted during this time mom was a stay at home mom. Because of this we didn't have any extra money. Everything dad made went to bills, so she was creative. We also had a small herd of cattle. They would take one to be processed each year. How they afforded that was giving the processor half and getting the other half for us. Best beef I've ever eaten. There are ways to be creative. If you live in a small place, garden in pots and containers. Got bad soil? Buy a cheap kids swimming pool and garden in it.

Oatmeal for breakfast is CHEEP and very healthy!

Buy locally grown produce. In the northeast the weather has been fantastic for growing. Good rain every couple of days. Corn looks and tastes great. everything is big and bountiful at the farms around me.

Can someone tell me why we burn 40% of the corn crop each year in Ethanol?

What we need more than anything else is some GOOD news.

catch all the rain water run off of your roof in to 55 gallon drums .

This is starting to look like Hunger Games.

I've gotten good at cooking "by the seat of my pants" I improvise.....ALOT. I use what I have
It's amazing how many dishes you can come up with using pasta noodles and cheese.
I make a quick visual inventory of what I already have and make a grocery list to "flesh it out", buying ingredients that will utilize my cupboard and refrigerator inventory.

We may see a dip in beef prices as farmers unload their cattle on the market. The best way to take advantage of this is to be able to buy a whole or 1/2 beef, have it cut the way you want, and put it in the freezer, but this involves the cost of the beef ($600+) plus the cost of processing (maybe .60/lb or more) and obviously you need a big freezer. If you CAN'T buy a 1/2 beef, you can still buy grocery-store beef in bulk. Take it OUT of the plastic and re-wrap it in real butcher paper (there are places online that show how to do this) and tape it up good. In a deep freeze it will last for 6 months to a year.

maybe a bigger worry would be the ability to even buy food. if there is a drought that means the food isnt growing it is dying.

With our so called Obeisety problem........Save money quit eating kill two birds with one meal...

All the way up into the 60s most people had some type of garden in their backyard. Backyard gardens are going to be making a comeback. They are at my house.

Does the USDA's estimated price increases reflect the fact that prices go up about that much every year, it seems, even w/o a drought?

Its either a good time to go on a DIET or start getting used to eating just the basics..looks like things are not changing in the near future..

That's a crock of bull. Food prices have been steadily rising along with gas prices. There is always some screwed up reason for things to be above the average american's reach. The real excuse is greed. Those farmers get a subsidy. The government pays them for that crop whether it comes in or not. Soybean farmers are getting 7-10.00 a bushel now, use to be 2.50 if that. Sole greed. And none of our politickans want to see the dole end.

The average American eats out at least 4 times a week. The number one thing that most Americans can do to reduce their food budget is to eat in more frequently.

Buy strawberries, blueberries, and other freezable fruits and veggies now when they're in season and freeze them in small freezer bags for use in winter when they're double or triple in price. Even better, grow your own and freeze. You can find info on how to freeze various foods by using a search engine (Google, Yahoo, etc..) or by calling your local cooperative extension center.