The Musical Fruit: Saving on the Grocery Bill.

Our single largest expense, by far, each month is our grocery bill. It eats up about 15% of our income--net income. That is more than we should be spending--even given the higher price of food in Canada. (source)

So, one of the first pieces of advice you get when you ask "how can I save money on my grocery bill?" is "Buy dried beans. Not canned!" But how much do you save, soaking, cooking and freezing your own?

And so, needing kidney beans and chick peas (alias garbanzo beans), I bought a two pound bag of each.

I was so excited about cooking my chick peas, I forgot to get a picture!

I asked Google how to cook them, and ever helpful, it offered me several methods. I portioned out a pound. Then, I chose to rinse them, boil them for 10 minutes on medium, change the water and then bring them back to a low simmer until they were done. (I tasted them.) I was anxious to get this done.

Then, I carefully measured them out into a pint mason jar (in the past, I figured out that a pint holds the same amount as the cans I usually buy.)

I would have preferred to freeze them in the jars, but I don't have enough.

I got 3 "cans" from one pound.

So. The bag of chickpeas cost me $3.39 at Safeway.

Assuming I'll get the equivalent of 6 "cans" of beans this way, each "can" costs $0.56 1/2

I made sure to price check the can of chickpeas I usually buy. They were $1.79 at Safeway. That seems like lot.  (I rarely, if ever, buy them at regular price, though. I usually get them on sale and stock up.)

So, my "homemade" beans are 1/3 the price.

An instant 66% savings on our grocery bill!

I wish all of it could be that simple.