Let me just start off by saying here that it has taken a lot of time (years!) and effort to get the food budget to where it is now. If you told me what we spend now way back when we first got married I would have laughed and said it was impossible. I mean we used to spend over 10,000 yen a week on groceries when it was just the two of us!
That was only until I found out about 家計簿, which I have posted about before here and here, and read the stories in the magazine that came with it. I realised that we were spending way too much and that there were LOTS of 主婦 out there with 2 or 3 kids spending less and eating a lot better (and bigger size!) meals than we were doing at the time. Anyone interested should check out magazines like おはよう奥さん or サンキュ. You can see that they do articles on this kind of thing every month, and the people spend a lot less than what I do!!! 50 yen or 100 yen おかず, how to freeze properly, how to feed 4 people dinner with just 500 yen, and other mind boggling figures!lol
So obviously I can't compete with them, and I just do my own thing, but occasionally I get out some of the menu books and freezing techniques and 使い切り ideas that have come with magazines in the past, and put them to use!
Due to popular demand, our meals are usually Japanese style, a bit like a 定食 I guess. There is usually a main dish (some type of meat or fish with veges), and usually (but not always!) 2 subs (more vege dishes and other things like tofu), rice, pickles (たくあん, 梅干し and 高菜 are popular with B at the moment), and some kind of soup (usually miso). B and S nearly always finish off with 納豆 (nattou) or たまごかけごはん which I don't class as a sub (only cause I don't eat it!). Noone ever goes hungry, and that's the most important thing!! Most things are made from scratch, although I do cheat sometimes!lol I try to eat a little of a lot, and I also like using lots of different ingredients at the one meal.
Most of the things I'm going to list here are pretty much second nature for me now, but I guess they could seem a bit overwhelming if you've never tried to reduce spending before. Please keep in mind that generally speaking fruit and veges are dirt cheap where we live, and are no comparison for the price I was paying for them when we lived in Shizuoka.
So things I try to do, a lot of them just common sense:
- Don't overbuy. Usually I check the fridge and cupboards before going shopping and write a list of what I need.
- Before setting foot out the door I check the net for チラシ details, and decide which supermarket best suits my needs for that day. There is a great site here where you just put in your post code and heaps of pamphlets come up for your area.
- Buy frozen things on half price day (I use the site above to check out when the sales are on). Generally speaking I don't buy too much frozen stuff, but I do buy 和風野菜ミックス and 餃子(for the times I can't be bothered making them from scratch).
- Use point cards. I also find things to be a lot cheaper on the days that they have triple point days. So pay less, and get more points than usual. Win win situation!lol
- Use private brand things. Curry roux and juice I buy from 7-11 (the curries they sell are made by House and S&B by the way, and taste better than the 'real' stuff if you ask me!), tomato sauce or canned tomatoes I use supermarket own brands.
- I have a general idea in my head of what I buy, and where.
- I buy milk, bread, cheese, yoghurt and nappies at Cosmos (a drugstore but they sell food too, ice cream is always 30% off, frozen stuff is always at least 40% off), a 5 minute walk away.
- I buy fresh veges mainly from a 直売 place also 5 minutes walk away, a bit like a 道の駅 I guess. Just to give you an idea, you can buy a HUGE thing of spinach for between 80-100 yen. The supermarket which is next door (while not that expensive) would be at least double for the same size. Or 大根 for about 100 yen. I got half a 白菜 the other day for 70 yen, about 12 small mikans for 220 yen, and things like ネギ are usually between 90-120 yen, but the sizes seem to be more generous than other stores.
- I buy carrots (and usually onions and potatoes too) in bulk from a different supermarket about 10 minutes away by car, and then peel all the carrots, cut them in different shapes and sizes, half cook them in the microwave and then freeze them all. I pay 19 yen per 100g for the carrots, so if you do the math 190yen for 1 kg, as opposed to say 150 yen for 3 carrots which is how they're sold everywhere else.
- Think about and write out meal plans (not all the time though)
- Use the delivery shopping people which although a little more expensive in general, stops me from just buying stuff on a whim like I might do if I was at the supermarket, and also makes me plan meals better.
- I have a price in my head of what I think something should cost, and if it's more than that I think twice about whether or not I really need to buy it that day, or whether I can wait another day or two, and then be flexible about it. Maybe it's not such a good example, but just say I want to buy tofu for a nabe. I know I can buy a 3 pack of 豆腐 more often than not for around 100 yen (from a local maker that I like), but sometimes it might have gone up to 140-150 yen, so I'd skip the 豆腐 that day and check out the prices of 厚揚げ (atsuage) or something instead. It's still 豆腐, just a different kind. Either can be used in the nabe.
- I haven't really found anywhere that sells meat cheaper if you buy in bulk, but if it's on sale I usually buy 1kg or so of whatever it is and freeze it when I get home. If meat is marked down and looks ok, I would buy it and freeze it as soon as I got home too.
- Also I check the marked down sections for fruit, veges and dairy at the supermarket and if there's something there I was planning on using that night then I would buy it. It really depends on the supermarket though, sometimes I wouldn't poke what's in there with a stick!lol That said, there's one supermarket who has their dairy marked down, and ham and things too, even when there's still a long time before the use-by date. It's a 24 hour store, so I guess they just have a lot of stock. But I never buy marked down veges there. I have a different supermarket up my sleeve for that!lol
- I use a discount store to buy dry groceries. Things like packs of udon, furikake, nori, sauces, sugar, tea and lots of other things. There is a MaxValu supermarket next to the store I go to, but the discount store sells the exact same products a LOT cheaper. Like the furikake is 220 yen at the supermarket but 170 yen at the discount store. That's 50 yen on something that is only a little over 200 yen in the first place! So it all adds up. Seriously, it does.
- I also buy things made locally. I always buy hotcake mix, flour, tofu, nattou, udon, and pickles from Kumamoto makers (mainly because I like the taste, but also because that's what is mainly sold at the supermarket).
- To be honest though, I try not to buy things for the sole reason that it's the cheapest. Or because it's on sale. It's only any good to me if it's on sale and it's something I need.
- And lastly, some things I won't budge on, no matter what the price is. I buy what I consider to be relatively good eggs, I check labels, try to pick things which don't use preservatives, and just try to be sensible about things.
Wow that turned into an epic post!
Maybe I don't need a Part 2 afterall!lol
