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 Sharing Ideas The Internet was not developed to make trade and commerce easier, but to allow people from around the globe to communicate and learn from each other. OpenIdeas.net was built for the business world on this philosophy. Their site encourages the free flow of business ideas. Breeze through the different ideas posted by visitors, and decide if they're works of pure genius or just the ravings of a demented Peruvian Llama herder. OpenIdeas.net Frugal Cooking Amy Dacyczyn, author of the Tightwad Gazette, uses this particular strategy. Instead of planning what her family wants to eat and then buying the ingredients, she gets the most bang from her budget by planning meals around the best grocery deals of the week. When perishable items are on sale dirt cheap at the supermarket, she stocks up and plans meals around them. As a true model of frugality, she of course has a large pantry and freezer stocked with nonperishables and staples, which makes it easier to cook on the fly. |
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About the Author:
Allison Van Norman runs Organizing Solutions, a San Francisco Bay-area business devoted to teaching people how to get organized. For more information, go to her Organizing Solutions web site organizing-solutions.net Inspiration "We trained hard, but it seemed that every time we were beginning to form up into teams we were reorganized. I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new situation by reorganizing, and what a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress while actually producing confusion, inefficiency, and demoralization." --Petronius Arbiter 
Thrifty Organizing High-tech palm organizers and custom closet shelving units are great for getting organized, but we don't all have that kind of money to spend on simplifying our lives. Go to garage sales on weekends to pick up some fantastic deals. |
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And of course, many main dishes don't
involve perishable items, so this method isn't as constrained
(or unplanned) as it first seems.
With this method, you do the menu planning after you do the grocery shopping, but it would work well with either the bulk cooking or quick cooking strategy, provided that you have a decent selection of recipes. It does require you to have the pantry back-up and to have a good sense for prices on produce and meat. 
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- Pros
This can save you a lot of money - especially if you also buy your dry goods on sale. Works with quick or bulk cooking.  - Cons You can't be too picky about what you eat - if broccoli is cheap, you'll be eating broccoli. Some perishables (salad greens, seasonal fruit) are rarely inexpensive and won't be a large part of your diet. You have to be fairly knowledgeable about supermarket prices. You have to have an extensive recipe collection and be skilled at altering recipes. |
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