Tip of the Week: Ingredient Clustering

January 30, 2008 at 5:32 pm | Posted in cost-cutting, Frugal Living, Grocery Shopping, Tips | 12 Comments

When we looked at the Frugal Foodie Challenge entries and tried to choose just three, the head judge (aka Rob) couldn’t pick just three – they all looked (and sounded) delicious! So … we’re making all seven entries!

And that brings me to my Tip of the Week. Since I’m cooking SEVEN full meals this week, I needed to buy a lot of ingredients. Thing is, all of the recipes use mozzarella, and some of them repeat on other things. So, I “consolidated” my grocery list – figured out how many of each item (for example, chicken breasts) I needed and purchased accordingly. If I had planned seven meals for the week that had no major ingredients in common, I probably would have spent $100+ dollars on the shopping trip – things like beef, chicken, fish, pork, etc all add up quickly.

However, because I was able to use the same ingredients in several different dishes (i.e. chicken), I spent less because I could buy in larger quantities.

Another great example of this is when I had first started the blog – anyone remember the Neverending Can of Tuna?? (To make a long story short, I made meals for almost 2 weeks out of a 5-pound can of tuna fish). Because I didn’t have to shop for multiple protein sources, I saved a TON of money!

The other area in which clustering can save a few dollars is on expensive specialty ingredients. For example, I never use pesto. Until this week, I’d never bought it before. The reason – it’s almost $5 in our grocery store and it takes a lot to eat it all. However, if I had three recipes (or even two) that called for pesto, I can split its cost out over several meals and use an expensive ingredient – without spending a ton or wasting food.

Have you ever tried clustering? Does it work for you? Why or why not? Leave me a comment!!