Hippie Method: Frugal Eating (2024)

A long time ago, in a far away place, I used to spend much less on groceries than I do these days. It was the golden years before the economic crisis, which brought the increase of oil prices. Which led to more expensive gas and thus, more expensive food.

Every shopping trip I'd lament the rising price of groceries. The former every day low prices are the new sale prices. It's crazy.

Yes, the golden days before expensive groceries, and before preteen boys who eat like a horse on a daily basis. They both have hollow legs.

Regardless of appetites and the price of groceries, I still have to stick to a budget. And my budget is to feed my family of 6 on less than $400 a month. Which includes cleaning and school supplies and diapers.

Hippie Method: Frugal Eating (1)

$400 may seem like an astronomical amount to some, but it is less than the food stamp allotment for a family of 6 in my area...

I remember reading an article 5 or 6 years ago about a newspaper reporter who decided to use only food stamps to buy food for her family of 4 for one month. She lamented how hard it was making those 550 dollars stretch. They even had to eat boxed mac and cheese and hot-dogs a few meals. I wondered what on earth she was buying. Because, back then, I fed my family of 4 on about $200 a month.

We eat good! We eat lots of fruits and vegetables. We eat lots of variety. We eat meat most dinners. We practice hospitality weekly and I cook bulk for potlucks. So, how do I manage to make $400 stretch so far?

-I cook from scratch. It is far more economical and healthier to buy ingredients not meals. I don’t buy any t.v. dinners. My most pre-prepared purchase is frozen ravioli. Imake my own bread. If I need pesto for a recipe, I make my own. For a pittance of the price of pre-made pesto, I can make anice sized batch that I can use for 2-3 meals, because it freezes well.

-I buy in bulk. I have a chest freezer, so I am able to buy in bulk and freeze things. This includes sale items or bigger quantities. Most things, except for produce (lettuce, citrus fruits) are freezable. I have frozen milk. I do buy family size trays of meat, and divide into recipe portions. I buy 50 pound bags of flour and oatmeal. I save at least $.07 a pound on oatmeal, which adds up in the quantities we use. Yes, it is only $.07 a pound, but if I save $.07-$.10 a pound on each item, that really makes a difference. I was taught to not only think of the cents saved, but the percents. $.07 on a pound of oatmeal is over 10%. 10% of $200 is $20. Who hasn’t wished for an extra $20?

-I buy and preserve fresh fruits and vegetables in season. Sometimes this isn’t actually cheaper than buying at the store, but at least I know what I have put into it. I can adjust sugar content based on my own fancies. Preserving your own food is definitely the healthier option.

-I price compare, I don’t use coupons, and I shop at only 3 stores. I know there are people who swear by cutting coupons. That is not my thing. Nor is running around between 10 different stores every week. I firmly believe my time is as valuable as money. So, I have 3 stores I shop at-Sam’s Club, Aldi’s and Meijer. I price compare between the three each shopping trip. Sam’s and Aldi’s tend to stay fairly status quo, but Meijer runs sales, which will often make it the cheaper option. I know what I buy and the approximate price, and I keep an eye out for fluctuations. I rarely buy name brands-thestore brand is often the same product, bottled at the same location-with a different label.

-I make a menu and always make a list. I give myself a budget, and mentally add up the price of my list before I go. I adjust my list/menu accordingly. A list limits my impulse purchases and saves me additional trips because I forgot a key ingredient.

-I shop less frequently. I try to do a big shopping trip every other Monday.This saves me money and time. The actual trip takes just a smidge longer than if I was going every week, but really, one trip instead of two is saving me 2 hours every other week.

That sums up my method for making my family delicious and healthy variety on a limited budget. What are you favorite tips?

Hippie Method: Frugal Eating (2)

Hippie Method: Frugal Eating (2024)

FAQs

What was the hippie diet? ›

The cuisine that the counterculture took to in the late 1960s, and then helped introduce to the mainstream in the 1970s, embraced whole grains and legumes; organic, fresh vegetables; soy foods like tofu and tempeh; nutrition-boosters like wheat germ and sprouted grains; and flavors from Eastern European, Asian, and ...

What popular food today was inspired by the counterculture movement? ›

Their food-centric forms of civil disobedience resulted in the popularization of many foods we still eat today: granola, tofu, soymilk, and maybe even the toast you had this morning.

Why were hippies vegetarians? ›

The hippies of the 60's and veganism

Turning away from inhumane mass produced meat was a real act of defiance to the mainstream and as Linquist states, “Vegetarianism as a recognized movement and lifestyle really blossomed during the 1960s counterculture era” ( Lindquist, 2013 pg 3).

What was a normal diet in the 70s? ›

1970s. The 1970s marked the start of a reduction in our intake of vegetables. The average person ate a pound of red meat each week, compared to just over half of that today. Fruit juice arrived in the shops but only one in ten people consumed it regularly.

What was the antebellum diet? ›

Meals often consisted of beef, eggs, hot biscuits, corn bread, hot cakes, porridge and seasonal vegetables and fruits. Coffee, tea, water or cocoa were consumed in “large quantities.” Whiskey, inexpensive and readily available, was the most popular alcoholic beverage, Cooper recorded, especially in the South and West.

Why do people look down on vegetarians? ›

Causes of vegaphobia

Negative attitudes against vegans and vegetarians are most commonly found in people with conservative and/or right-wing beliefs, especially the ones associated with Abrahamic religions, being often most pronounced in far-right individuals and groups.

What was the American diet like in the 1960s? ›

Fruit, meat, and pastry consumption was high in the United States; cereal and alcoholic drink consumption was high in Italy; and bread consumption high in Yugoslavians except for those in Belgrade.

What was the popular shoe of the hippie? ›

Birkenstock, the 250-year-old German brand best known for its flat, orthopedic sandals embraced by hippies and grandparents, is no longer the antithesis of high-fashion.

What was the drug of choice for hippies? ›

Hippies promoted the recreational use of hallucinogenic drugs, particularly marijuana and LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide), in so-called head trips, justifying the practice as a way of expanding consciousness.

What is the best diet for someone in their 60s? ›

Healthy eating habits
  • vegetables and fruit, including: dark green vegetables such as kale and bok choy each day. orange vegetables such as carrots and sweet potato most days.
  • whole grain foods, such as: oats. wild rice. whole wheat pasta.
  • protein foods such as: eggs. nuts and seeds. fish and shellfish. beans, peas, and lentils.
May 3, 2022

What was the human preagricultural diet? ›

Changes in tooth and intestinal morphology illustrate that animal products were an important part of human diets from the time of hom*o erectus onward (Baltic and Boskovic 2015; Richards 2002; Wrangham 2009). These animal products consisted of raw meat scavenged from carnivore kills and marrow from the leftover bones.

What was the diet of the early people? ›

  • Plants - These included tubers, seeds, nuts, wild-grown barley that was pounded into flour, legumes, and flowers. ...
  • Animals - Because they were more readily available, lean small game animals were the main animals eaten. ...
  • Seafood - The diet included shellfish and other smaller fish.

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