New Project! What's In Your Wallet Wednesday! Build a Pantry of Healthy Staples on a Budget and other Money saving Tips!

​This post contains affiliate links. I will be compensated for purchases made through those links at no additional cost to you. All views expressed are my own. Thank you for your support!
​

     There are a few things that I've learned throughout my life that I am going to share with you right now:

• Once prices go up, you will rarely see them come down again by very much.
• It is possible to live on a tight budget and still enjoy life! I raised 6 children on a tight budget, so trust me on this.
• It is important to have a pantry of staples in your home to get you through tight times.
• You can learn new things, no matter how old you are and no matter how much you already know.

     So, if you will stay tuned by clicking the Read More button, I will explain to you what motivated me to start this new project about building an affordable food pantry in your home! 

     Have you ever been on a road trip and driven through a small little town and wonder where the residents do their grocery shopping?  Or, do you live in a small town and can fill me in on what you do? The new buzz word about food shopping seems to be about living in a food desert.  Some small towns have very limited places to shop.  Some people have to travel over an hour or more to get to a regular sized grocery store.  For those people, a shopping trip really takes some planning! And, if they can't get there, they are relying on small stores or fast food that doesn't offer a lot of nutrition and are much a much more expensive way to get food.  
      Other people are simply on very limited budgets and if they are starting from scratch, trying to build a pantry, knowing how and where to start can be overwhelming! Accruing basic supplies to have on stock in your pantry can be costly and sensible shopping does involve a learning curve.  

      There is a YouTuber names Rebecca who has a channel called Dollar Tree Dinners.  I talk about her in my video and how she works under the premise that the people shopping have nothing but oil and salt and pepper in their homes.  She does a great job, but I decided to take it a step farther and show you how you may start with next to nothing in your pantries, but you can build up a food supply that will save money and keep you healthier in the long run!  

      To begin this new project, I learned something and tried something new!  (Get that reference back to my opening words?)  I went grocery shopping at Dollar Tree!  I had always assumed that shopping for groceries there would actually end up being more expensive , that they probably carried smaller sizes and that the brands were all weird ones that I had never heard of that would probably be of lesser quality.    WELL, that was not all true!  I found some great buys, some new products and I got pretty creative if I do say so myself!  

     Here are a few things I learned about Dollar Tree Groceries:

• They carry many name brands.  
• You do have to watch sizes, some items are smaller, but some are also bigger! 
• Some items cost more than $1.25, but some also cost less.  
• Dollar Tree does not carry fresh produce, so fruits and veggies have to be purchased there either canned or frozen. 

     Now, I don't want you to be discouraged by the first video. It will be the longest one as I explain my shopping trips to Dollar Tree and my local grocery store.  But it also shows some great food, take aways from this first part of the project and an edited shopping list.  I am going to post those below this video so that you can print them off or download them if you would like.   
      Also, every one of our blogs posts isn't going to be this project, we will still be putting up our regular content as well!  Watch for these posts at least weekly.  But, I will probably post recipes and other tips more often on our YouTube Channel.  

     I realize that if you are in a food desert, you may not have access to a grocery store that you can go to as easily as I can.  I have been looking at options for getting groceries delivered.  Here are a few options:

• Amazon delivers to over 2,300 areas in the US.  Some of their grocery prices are higher than a regular grocery store, but they do sometimes have special prices on items.  For example, butter is $3.67 on Amazon right now, and I paid $3.99 at my grocery store. A gallon of milk is $1.97.  I made a list of 21 items that came to $38.50.  Not quite everything that was on my grocery store list, but a lot of produce and some dairy.  Prime members get free shipping.
• Walmart may deliver to even more places than Amazon does, you have to check your area on their website.  Walmart's prices are more often than not very reasonable.  18 count eggs, for example are only $2.92 right now.  And their 44 count  Fisher Boy Fish Sticks are only $4.62!  If you are a Walmart + member, you get free shipping.  If your cell phone company is Straighttalk, you get  a Walmart+  membership for free! 
• Misfits Market is a mail order grocery market that saves groceries that would otherwise be wasted.  They say that they deliver to almost all zip codes!  If you use my code COOKWME-MX8PUVUEERFMNC   you can get $15 off your first order.  (And I will get $15 off as well, thank you!)  They deliver once a week, but you can skip orders and cancel anytime.  Shipping is free.

Here are the take-aways from the first video of this project in case you want to print or download them:
​

Here is the shopping list that if I had known then what I know now, I would have used! LOL! Of course you will tweak it to your own tastes:
​

Remember, the prices will vary each week, and from location to location.

*One last tip!  If you have money left over from your weekly (or bi-weekly)  grocery budget, be sure to be mindful about what you do with the excess.  Here are some good ideas:

• Roll it over to the next week's budget.  Then you will have a little extra money for the really good sales or the staples that you are hoping to add to your pantry.
• Allocate the money towards a debt that you are trying to pay off.  
• Put the money into your long term savings account.  Save it for something special in the future. 

The point is that a few dollars here and there can mount up quickly, so don't let those few leftover dollars just be nickeled and dimed away.  
If you take a look at the shopping list above, there are things that you might decide to delete or cut back on that could make your shopping trip come in under $99, giving you a little cash to put toward something else that comes up.  Do your kids need money for a field trip? Is there a birthday coming up? Plan ahead with purpose. 

     I'm going to be putting videos up all week on YouTube showing the meals that I've made with the food that I bought!  Be sure to click over and check them out!