I have to admit that as I am new to this   purchasing and cooking for one person thing, I have had a few false starts with my food savings.  First I thought I could clip coupons, have them on hand and purchase things as they came up buy one get one free. But my supermarket always has the same few things BOGO and they are usually prepared foods or brands I don't necessarily use.  However, before I realized this, I had purchased quite a few things, so my pantry and, for a while, my freezer were full and I couldn't really justify grocery shopping at all.  I still managed to spend $40 every time I went to the store, but that included pet supplies and cleaning things, which I will begin to dispense with as well.

I have lost quite a bit of my sense of taste and had just started adding cayenne pepper or tabasco sauce on most of my foods, including soups. But after about 2 weeks of eating nothing but lentils and rice or beans and rice, I decided there had to be a better way to do things.

I mentioned earlier that I have been quite depressed about having the kids suddenly gone.  They are having a great time and things are going well for them. They are 19 and 17 and are enjoying traveling the country with their dad who hasn't been home much their entire lives! so I am pleased and proud that things are going well, but the entire expense of taking care of them and feeding them and entertaining them has fallen to him now in a way that he can actually see and feel, not just call me to moan about how much I spend every month.  That is why I am hoping if I can become net zero he will be able to relax a bit.

Anyway, earlier today I found several really good blogs about living frugally etc (something that was so uncool just a few years ago) and a woman recommended SuperCook.com.  This is a website where you can enter in what  food supplies you have in the house and it does the internet search for you to find out what you can make with those ingredients. 

It turns out I had all the stuff I needed to make over 2000 recipes right this very second!!!!!!!

It is a terrific site and I showed it to my oldest daughter who lives here at home with me who can never figure out what to make.  She had just asked me yesterday if there were a site like that and I told her I usually just google a few ingredients and it gives me some recipes, but this site gave me all sorts of entrees, desserts, and starter ideas using the ingredients I already have.  When I run out of the ingredient, I just press the X next to the food item and it removes that from the list as well as any recipe that relied on it.

It also tells you what you might need to buy to make a recipe for which you have most of the ingredients.

Fantastic!!!!

I have always used the Frugal Gourmet books and the $1.98 cookbook for the basis of my monthly food. That is to say I hardly ever eat out.

If I do, I don't order an appetizer, never order a drink and always bring at least half the food home with me. and I always tip 20%.

I enjoy making my own pasta and found a way to make the dough in my bread machine.  I made a bunch of pizza dough and precooked 8 pizzas with just the sauce on it.

the frozen pizzas I made using King Arthur bread flour each cost $.55 after adding the cheese (portion control) and had 335 calories. 

The Pasta I made cost $.40 a pound since I used cheaper flour that was on sale. 

This morning after I made some meals from the supercook.com web site, I portioned out the rice and the main dish and froze them, labeling them with the name of the food, the date made and the calories.

I use Calorie Count Food Log to track my daily intake and try to stay around 1300 calories.  I am trying to lose 15 pounds, but being over 44 doesn't make it happen too quickly despite the fact that I walk almost 27 miles a week.

When the kids are home I usually make home made waffles, pancakes or french toast.  My son doesn't like the home made maple syrup I was brought up on, but he will eat the store brand. I never add butter to any of them to save the calories and the money.

As I track how much I spend on groceries this week and this month, I will write it down.

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