A Hillbilly Housewife newsletter reader asked me a few days ago how to live frugally and save on groceries without a big pantry or freezer. That’s a great question.
I know I’ve been talking a lot lately about having a big pantry, taking advantage of sales and buying in bulk. While those are good strategies they simply don’t work for everyone.
If you are living in a small apartment, are traveling the country in an RV or simply don’t have the room for a big pantry, there are still a lot of things you can do to live frugally.
I sat down this morning and wrote a short little report for you with various ideas on living frugally without a big pantry or freezer. You can download the report below. My gift to you.
You are also welcome to share the report with family and friends.
Frugal Living Without A Big Pantry (PDF)
To save the report to your computer right click on the link and choose “save link as” or “save target as” from the menu that appears. Choose where you want to save the file and click on save or ok.
Please Note: You will need a copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader to read the book. Most newer computers have this program installed by default.
If you do not have a copy you can download it for FREE from
http://www.adobe.com
If you have a MAC computer, simply click on the download buttons and save to your desktop or hard drive
I live in a small apartment so storage space is at a premium. My lower cabinets are incredibly deep but even with my long arms it is very hard to reach all the way to the back. I went to the Dollar General store and bought four of those clear plastic tubs (two for the top shelf, two for the bottom). I use the tubs to store my canned goods, dried fruits, and snacks. It makes really good use of those deep shelves and gives me extra storage room. I also put one of these tubs and put on the other side of my cabinet for my small appliances like mixer, sandwich maker, nut chopper, toaster, etc.
I just read your report and noticed a link for shopping at Aldis. I clicked it to check it out. Pleae don’t take this the wrong way. Maybe it is just in my area, but there are very few items I buy at Aldis. I see people with sometimes 2 or 3 carts overflowing with items. I think to myself “I wonder if they know they can get over half of those items cheaper somewhere else? Sometimes half the cost, too!” I think we sometimes get a “false sense of a bargin” just because it is Aldis.
Mama Owl,
(Love the nickname
I think you make a very good and very important point here that’s actually true for any and all deal shopping. Do you homework, keep a price book and make sure it’s really a deal. For me, Aldi does have the best deals for things I buy on a regular basis, but that may not be true for someone else.
We tried shopping at membership wholesale stores (I.e sams club, costco etc.) And it didn’t work for ua at all. I ended up spending more and had quite a bit of stuff go bad before we used it. For others, this works great .
Take the suggestions I have given you, do a little research (yes, I realize it isn’t a whole lot of fun) and then choose the option that’s best for you, your family and your budget.
I will agree with you and mama owl (cute), my sister took me to aldi and swore by the store’s prices. I do find by comparing prices elsewhere that I can get a better deal for quality products by using coupons, BOGO (buy 1 get 1) sales, and just being money smart.
As far as the warehouse clubs, I understand the limited products and the bulk they come in. I share a membership with my sister so that cuts my member fee in half. I shop BJ’s and I recommend this store! They send coupons out in the mail about every 2-3 months for items in their store, you can then use a manufacturer’s coupon along with the store coupon. Lets use deoderent as an example: 4 tubes of Sure come in a packet for $6.99, one week I found 2 coupons (1.50) in my double suday paper and 2 additional coupons on line. I ended up getting the box of deoderent for .99 … I was able to use 4 coupons on the product because each item had its own barcode. They also give free 60 day memberships, so I reccomend just going in and talking to someone at customer service.
Now we get to storing the items (Yeah fun!!!) I use stackable storage bins that I am able to keep in my closet & under my bed. They contains personal items(Deoderent, tooth paste, soap, kotex, shampoos), and as I need them I can go retreave them. I also suffer from NO PANTRY SYNDROME, so to solve that I aquired a 5 shelf unit (found on Craig’s list for FREE) that slides right beside my fridge. I keep all food items and extra kitchen overflow on this shelf.
Being thrifty does take a little time, and storage can be tricky, but were their is a will one can find a way. Good luck in finding alternitives!
There are a couple of grocery stores within 4 blocks of my house and a Super WalMart less than a mile away. I plan my shopping accordingly. I do have a small pantry and stock it well. My Publix runs “Buy one Get one Free” and I take advantage of those when I pick up our prescriptions. I get most of our basics at the Super Walmart, but the one where I get most of our meats is a local store which is a branch of Food Lion (I know they got some terrible press several years ago, but when the company bought out these locally owned stores, they kept these stores in the local name, and I know the meat cutters personally.) I save a lot by taking advantage of these 3 stores’ best buys.
My husband and I live in a trailer, and it has the usual more-than-the-apartment-but-less-than-a-house storage space. We eat organic as much as possilbe, and I try to save all the left overs we don’t eat in the freezer – yes, in those wonderful Ziplock freezer bags frozen flat!
I shop at Walmart for most household items, and the national brand natural/ organic stuff. It’s usually cheaper – up to half price on some things. I get the rest at our local Safeway. They have a generic organic brand, which is great for me, plus they usually have a lot of meat in the clearance bin if you shop early enough. Who doesn’t want a whole chicken for $2, nearly a lb of wild fish for under $3, or a London Broil for $3? I stock up when I can get it!
I have a small freezer, but I take full advantage of it. That means rearranging and making use of those frozen left overs – not letting them sit for 6 months so they taste like the freezer!
I like the idea of a note book in your purse for pricing. I am forever wondering, Which toilet paper was cheaper at Walmart and which was better on sale at Safeway? How many rolls was that again? : )
I shop every other week, but I purchase a planner every year to write on the monthly calendar a menu at the end of the month for the next. I then write that on each day of the daily part of the book. When I look at Wed’s fliers, shop and find deals, I may move things around a little, but it really helps when trying to plan quickly.
Thanks for your early morning inspiration, it was a great read! : ) (Now if you could tell me how to store all the garden produce and canning I’m planning to do this summer…. Hehe)
I’ve noticed, too that a lot of things are more expensive at Aldis, or no cheaper than anywhere else. I have found that their oatmeal, pinto beans, ramen, cream cheese, and a few other things are cheaper there. One visit, powdered milk was a great deal there, but the next month, it had gone up again. Their price on muenster is cheaper than most other places I have found it, but their price on other cheeses is worse a lot of the time. Their devils food cookies are cheaper, and the holiday windmill cookies are cheaper than Archway.
Oh dear ones thank you for all the support and clues.
Tonya-even though thousands of miles between us we must be living in the same apartment building. Now I have a wonderful idea for how to utilize those dark portions of my under the counter cupboards.
Another way to think outside the box… I have a small upright freezer in my extra bedroom! I live in a small 2-bedroom apartment with a tiny kitchen. I did some rearranging in the extra bedroom and was just able to squeeze that little freezer in there. It sure does help with food storage, though!
I would also like to suggest something i learned from Amy Dacyzyn’s Tightwad Gazette, in thinking about places you could feasibly store stuff. Many people could store flats of canned goods under their beds, along with other things. Food does not necessarily have to be stored in the kitchen.
I also do not find it very helpful to get the email from there because their weekly specials are typically things i won’t buy, even at lower prices. Convenience foods still cost more than homemade.
I also adore shopping at Aldi’s, but i do treat them the same as any other store in double checking that they truly do have the lowest prices. I was recently disappointed to find out that canned veggies went up so now the chain store’s 20 for 10 deal is actually better than my beloved Aldi.
how ’bout dehydrating? easy to learn (library has the info), takes up little space, not much time and easy to rehydrate. some dehyrated foods last a long time without spoiling.
I enjoy reading your information and wanted to add this link to storing canned items under the bed as indicated in a previous post.
http://amatterofpreparedness.blogspot.com/search/label/Storage%20Space
Thank you for all your good information
I’d like to make a comment about Aldi’s. I actually save right at $60-$100 when I shop there. Which is twice a month. My family thinks the cereal, poptarts and yogurt they carry taste much better than the name brand items at grocery stores. I also save about $1.00 a box for cereal and poptarts. There are a few items I won’t buy, which is bread and meat. The bread has a tendancy to not be soft and I always wait for meat sales at my local stores. I do watch the flyers for other items, but all in all, Aldi’s is great. The kids love the soup and the fruits and veggies are wonderful and MUCH cheaper. I can get 3 bell peppers there for the cost of one at another store. Dry milk is $2.00 + cheaper at Aldi’s and I use a lot of it. Don’t give up on the store yet.
Aldi’s in my neighborhood became more expensive than the other stores. Meijer runs a lot of items buy one/get one or 10 for $10 and Marsh has a dollar isle. Payless/Kroger is always doing ads for items and makes them cheaper. You just have to look and compare and then purchase.
Of course gardening and canning is always healthy eating.
I turned my coat closet in the livingroom into a pantry. I put tall skinny metal shelves on each side and a bigger metal shelf in the middle. It sure has worked for us.
Isn’t it funny how we all have different needs for our families? While on the east coast I shopped quite a bit at Aldi’s and only bought those things that cost less and my family could eat. We are gluten free at our house so Aldi’s was our best source for tortilla chips (and my favorite chocolate) but there isn’t an Aldi’s on the west coast so I’m shopping at Winco and Grocery outlet and watching the ads. I’m lucky enough to have 4 grocery chain stores equidistant from my house in directions I have to go anyway for other errands so I just divide my list and pick it up as I go. I now have a huge house with oodles of storage, but I just left an apartment with not nearly as much. I too have put a small freezer in another room and for another suggestion–if you’d like to buy something in bulk for the price, but don’t have enough room for the whole order, try finding a friend or neighbor to split it with. I do that sometimes for my gluten free items as they are more expensive without the bulk pricing.
Stumbled across your blog and love it! I’m an apartment dwellerwith a small fridge freezer and manage fine. Square or rectangle (not round) containers & zip lock bags store all my freezer food. Meat, chicken pieces and sausages are repackaged into separate plastic bags (which I wash & reuse) and fitted snugly into containers for freezing. Weekly fruit & vege shopping at the farmers market fills up the rest of the fridge. Coping with a small fridge/freezer is possible – it just takes a little more thought.
After my husband was out of work for a year We really had to watch every penny.I had to sit down and really think about how to shop and get the best deal.Well when you are on a very tight budget buying in bulk worked for us.Beans rice powdered milk ham whole chicken.This web site really saved us we made alot from scratch.Big portions we ate on for the week.My husband got a job in September we finally got caught up.Now that I have a little extra to spend I want to get the most for my money!I shop the ads cut coupons and I am stocking up.Walmart will take copetitors coupons and price match so you are not running all over town(bring the ads with you).We still buy our flour rice bens milk etc in bulk and cook from scratch.But boy is it nice to get BBg sauce for .50 and free milk for buying cerear at $1.79 a box with a $1.00 coupon off!I bought a box of cereal for .79 exciting!!
I just read the report and liked the ideas. I live in a small house, but have a decent amount of food storage. We have cabinets, a small pantry, an upright freezer and a shelving unit. The latter two are in the garage.
I have a Walmart, Kroger, Jay C and Aldi here. I went to Aldi the other day and was not impressed with most of the prices there. The bagged, frozen chicken breast, herbs and spices and pure vanilla were the only things I would really go back for (fortunately, they are around the corner from me and on the way to everything). Jay C runs great sales on meats. I watch their ad and go down when they are running meats we eat. I get boneless pork loin for $1.69 a pound quite often. The rest is picked up at Kroger. We buy their brand of things most times. Very rarely do we buy name brands. I also buy toilet tissue and toothpaste, dishwasher and dish detergents (their brand)and diapers and wipes. I know they say that buying at the chain grocers is more expensive, but for us it is opposite. Walmart has lower quality store brands (esp diapers and wipes) and they are usually only cheaper by pennies. So not worth it for me to fight the mess.
Another frugal thing I do, that saves storage space as well, is to make my own cleaners. I use a 50/50 of vinegar and water in the kitchen and I have a disinfectant recipe for the bathroom cleaner.
Oh, I just bought some great little glass storage canisters at Dollar General the other day to store nuts, raisins and granola for the kids. The food is where they can see it and they are more apt to eat the healthier food. I also store my fruit in a glass cake plate (one that turns into a punch bowl. I store my taters and onions in bins in the floor of my pantry. I hope my long winded self was some help. Thanks for the article!!!
What is the recipe for the disinfectant? I’m really intrigued to start making my own laundry detergent too. I’ve been told it’s about the same as the Tide I buy. Trying to save money where I can. We live off a teacher’s salary. I’m a stay at home mom right now, but am currently trying to find a job. So all the help I can get will help. I love the idea of using the coat closet as another pantry. Mine is so small it’s not worth mentioning. (It’s the equivelant of a quarter width of a regular sized door.) So I have to use only cabinets and that’s all full with dishes and pans.
I use mason jars which I picked up for free through our local freecycle to store dried beans and peas. I found a sale on large bags of brown rice which I put in a small freezer, it stays fresh longer. Potatoes I put in a corner cupboard that is on an outside wall, so it stays cooler. I really like to take advantage of “clearout” sales, where the store is getting rid of a product. Have gotten some great deals that way.
I’ve found the previous comments interesting. Thanks for the overview of pantry ideas. One of my favorite places for stocking up my pantry is Trader Joe’s. The peanut butter (no sugar added), cereal, canned items and other staples even beat Aldi prices and the quality is great. I do shop at Aldi and the great thing about it is the easy in and out of the store and there is less of a chance of overspending with the big stores/superstores. My Aldi list is usually for dairy items and some produce – watch the in store savings! I also like the closeout savings on special purchases and have stocked up the pantry very inexpensively.
Aldi’s produce is only good if you know you’re going to eat it in a day or 2. I am not the only one who has found this. They don’t chill their produce at all, so its shelf life is very limited. I wonder if it even arrives in a fridge truck! Even the root vegs just don’t last.
Their junkfood-easy meal stuff is cheaper I have found (my husband only eats junk). Chicken nuggets, pizza, hamburgers, “Banquet” freezer meals (turkey n gravy, ribs and bbq sauce, etc), canned chili, hash, vienna sausages, hotdogs, bacon, cheese (allll the flavors taste the same though IMO, well the mozzerella does taste pretty good).
I choose to eat poultry without added broth/msg. So I don’t buy it at either Wally World or Aldi’s. I go to the expensive chain store in town and they have quite good prices due to Wally and Aldi’s being here. Go, free market-capitalism!
I got mason jars, both small and large, and all my saved jars. I justhad a mouse problem so had to do alot of rearranging. My kitchen cupboards so not go all the way to the ceiling, so I have all my jars, filled with everything. Beans, popcorn, icing sugar, flour, store bought scalloped potato mixes, cereals, just about everything, it looks OK, and I’ve used up space that just was sitting there
I find that shopping locally, even with slightly higher prices, saves money for me in the long run. It takes more in gas to go to the store that has cheaper prices. Sometimes I must run out there anyway, and definitely take advantage of the prices at that time.
We too had a mouse problem, and have very small pantry space. We changed all boxed or bagged items to glass. Cereal is in a plastic pitcher (easy pouring), beans, rice, potato flakes etc. are now all in mason jars. We also got rid of all of our plastic tupperware and turned to glass bowls for fridge storage and only use freezer bags for the freezer. I found that a head of lettuce, rinsed, lasts longer in the glass bowl than it did tupperware – weeks longer! My pantry is a floor to ceiling cupboard that fits one can deep, but has multiple shelves. I actually group my cans by vegetable, fruit, soups, bottles (dressing, ketchup, mustard), beans (refried, black, bagged) and the plastic skinny container that holds all my envelopes of dried stuff (gravy, ranch dressing, dried soups, etc.). Microwave popcorn goes way up top with bottles of Mayo and anything oversized I can lay down. This way at a glance I can tell when I’m out of something.
We too live in an apartment. I have 5 gal. buckets (free from the bakery dept, used to have frosting in them) for rice, beans, flour, oatmeal, things I buy in bulk. We do have a storage unit, about 4×10, off our porch. I can put items that will not freeze or explode due to the heat in the summer and cold in the winter. I also use the 1 gal jars that had pickles in for storing the bulk items inside. You might be able to get some of the jars free from a deli.
If you store lettuce in a glass bowl, do you put plastic wrap over it?
So many good ideas for this topic. Here are some things that have helped me spend as little as possible on groceries, yet eat healthy. I have a very small chest freezer. I took a large walk in closet & put in a double bookcase that’s 48″ X 48″. My apartment kitchen is VERY small and a big waste of space. My canned goods, canisters, potatoes and onions, TP, paper towels, etc. all go in there. I also use quart canning jars for the mixes I make. This is another area where you can save a TON of $$$. The internet has many sites where you can pick up mix recipes. I make ranch & Italian dressing mixes, white sauce mix, generic gravy mix, baking mix (similar to bisquick), bread mix, buttermilk pancake & waffle mix, pudding mixes, seasoning mixes (taco, sloppy joe, all purpose, “house” salt, onion soup mix, spaghetti sauce). I will bake up 4 dozen meatballs and freeze them in recipe size portions. Same routine for spaghetti sauce. I use powdered milk and Saco powdered buttermilk for some of these recipes.
I brown and drain 4 pounds of hamburger and divide in half pound portions and freeze so I can jumpstart dinner. Buy onions, celery, carrots, bell pepper when on sale. You can slice and dice and freeze in recipe size portions ( 2 Tb – 1/2 cup)to be used in casseroles, soups, etc. (It won’t work well for when you need fresh raw, crispy veggies). I also buy super valu packs of chicken and pork chops. I put them individually in sandwich bags, pour marinade over and put all in a large zippered bag. When thawing these in the frig they marinate and will be ready to cook. This method makes sure there are two plastic layers and it will cut down on your chances of freezer burn. I do my grocery shopping once a month and frequently do it online. It cuts out impulse buying, I have time to think and am not distracted at the store. I always check the weekly flyer and build a menu off of what is seasonal and on sale. They deliver my groceries to my kitchen and all I have to do is put everything away. I usually eat a lot of salad and other fresh produce the first couple of weeks after grocery delivery as it won’t keep a whole month. Then I switch over to canned and frozen items. I also freeze a jug of milk so I don’t even have to run out for milk. I bake bread in my bread machine. There’s SO MUCH you can do to save $$$. At first it’s a bit overwhelming, but I’ve been doing it for 30 years so it’s just routine for me! Get copies of “Make a Mix” and “Make Your Own Groceries”. They might be out of print but I was able to track down copies through the used book places on the internet. And the internet is full of recipes for homemade mixes. Print off those mixes, punch holes and put them into a categorized 3-ring notebook. So many ideas!
Thanks for the great ideas and I am so glad I am not the only one with a mouse problem. I to use plastic pitchers and mason jars. It also helps that these items give a conformity to your space.
THANK YOU ALL for all of your helpful hints. I began investing in and using mason jars in 1998 to stop buggy problems (no mice, thank God). Friends, neighbors, and relatives contributed, then they also began using them. Buying bulk to save money & storing in jars seemed a little time consuming but costs defintely outweigh the trouble – no more buggy flour or ants in the sugar. Everything, & I do mean everything, in my cabinets is stored in jars, including & especialy spices. I added extra shelves in some of the cabinets to accommodate different sized jars (jelly, pint, & quart). Canning came next: Soups, stews, & vegetables from my very small garden. You can easily can deer meat in masons & the meat cooks in the jar while in the canner! I haven’t used a dryer in many years. I hang most of my clothes on hangers up on a clothesline strung across my laundry room with clothes pins on the line separating the clothes. Small items are placed on a drying rack on the inside balcony or sometimes outside on the back porch. Large items are hung on the inside balcony (sheets, blankets, towels, rugs). I use a wood burning stove with wood cut from my own property, and donations from family & compost the ashes. I’ve done everything else I’ve read or heard about that I could possibly afford, including a hot water heater timer scheduled to heat for only two hours very early morning. The kw saving light bulbs installed & unplugging everything not in use, as I was told that even though turned off, there is still a little juice on & adding up. My electric bill is the cheapest of all of my friends or family. I separate my recyclables and instead of paying for high priced garbage pickup, I take my garbage once every month or three to the county’s incinerator. Garbage pickup = $65/3 months. I buy a ticket with 25 drop-offs for $15 & can haul all I use in the back of my mini-van. I have my own water well, but the water requires salt,the one draw back. I have used homemade laundry detergent from soap remains & even used it for dishes. I don’t have solar (yet), and pinch til I squeak, but when I saw the “Homemade Sanitary Pads”, I read the entire article, laughed, sobered up, & am now planning my own pads of sorts, but not for menstruation. I need a substitute for a “Poise” pad. I use a panty liner, but what could disguise the odor of urine? Any suggestions would be helpful.THANKS AGAIN FOR ALL OF YOUR HELPFUL HINTS!