[Su-Bee]

What about food preservation? At this time of year, you can get BUSHELS of farmer's market veggies for very little money. I can tomatoes, freeze bell peppers, dehydrate some fruits... It's really not as difficult as some people seem to think it is!

[kaplods]

Our apartment is super tiny, and I still do a bit of food preserving. I don't can, because we don't have the space, but I usually do make a few jars of refrigerator pickles. That may seem insignificant, but pickles and condiments are expensive. I don't buy salad dressings or marinades (although I do get them free fequently at a "Big Lot's" type store that gives them away with a $10 purchase. I usually make my own, because salad dressings are so easy and cheap to make at home (and there's tons of recipes online).

I also make jerky once a year in my dehydrator. It's a Christmas treat, but it's so much cheaper than store-bought jerky (and 100 times better tasting).

And of course there's freezing. I freeze as much as my little freezer compartment will hold. We're talking about buying a small chest freezer.

[Su-Bee]

A chest freezer was one of the best investments we ever made (we have a BIG one, though!). We now buy a side of beef & a side of pork about once every 18 months. We figured it up once, and if you calculate how much it would cost in the grocery store, we are basically paying as much as we would pay for all the beef steaks. Everything else - roasts, ground beef, stew meat, and the entire side of pork - is essentially free.

[nancylmrn]

Great Ideas!
I don't know why I did not think to get out my dehydrator! My mom has tons of apples that are falling off the tree and I could fix them right up and save some money. I only buy my meat when it is on sale and wrap it for the freezer in small protions. and I only add it in small amts with our meals.

Pasta is a great value and we tend to eat that with a little olive oil or red sauce.
Another penny saver is I make our own pizza dough (whole grain and very thin) and use fresh veggies and herbs when in season and if not I use peppers I had frozen and just a touch of whatever else I have on hand
I also buy onion in bulk, 50lb bag from locals they last for a long time and I eat a great deal of them

[zenor77]

I agree that buying in season and locally is the best deal on produce.

I find that making a lot of things ourselves saves loads! You pay a lot for the little bit of processing, packaging, and advertising.

Dh and I are fairly hardcore DIY-ers though, I'm sure some people think we're nuts. These are the things we do at home to save money and eat better (plus we think it's fun):

Dh roasts our coffee~by roasting it we get amazing Fair Trade Organic coffee for less then half the price.

Dh also home brews~we got the equipment off craigslist for cheap and the ingredients are very inexpensive.

I make our yogurt, bread, tortillas (corn), salad dressings, jams, pickles, granola, other baked goods, kim chi, sprouts etc.

I only buy beans dry. I cook a big batch at a time and then freeze 2 cup increments in baggies.

I use vinegar and baking soda to clean.

I also stock up when there is a really good sale on things we eat a lot of. For example, I just bought a bunch of canned salmon for cheap.

I always buy my spices in bulk. I can buy a jars worth of oregano at my neighborhood co-op for 35-cents. Much cheaper then paying $4 for those tiny bottles.