Let's face it, in a lot of places the cost of food is getting absurd. Prices are increasing, sometimes weekly. If you're looking for actionable ways to get the grocery bill goblins under control this tip may be helpful. The tip: The next time you need to go shopping and need something like sugar, flour, or rice, i recommend taking the time to do the price comparison between a large quantity like a 10kg/22lb bag and multiple smaller quantities, such as 2kg/4.4lbs. Sometimes bigger isn't always cheaper. Using sugar as an example, my local grocer has it for $15.97 for a 10kg bag (22lbs). However if I check the price of the smaller 2kg bags(4.4lbs) they might be on sale for $2.47 each, which happens often. If we do the math, 5 small 2 kg (4.4lb) bags of sugar at $2.47 each comes out to $12.35 for 10 kg (22 lbs.) of sugar. In the case of the smaller bags being on sale, the larger single bag is no savings at $15.97 That's a savings of $3.62. It might not seem like much, but if you can do this consistently, 3 or 4 dollars here, 2 or 3 dollars there, pretty soon you've saved enough to treat the family to a real pizza or some other goodie you couldn't have before. Just for comparison if we divided $15.97 by 5 ( the number of small bags we get) the cost per bag would be about $3.19. Certainly no savings over the 5 smaller quantity bags at $2.47 each on sale. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this tip in the comments below.

I call this Easy Peasy Squeezy (or spreadable) Cheese If you're a cheese lover, this simple, basic, 2 ingredient cheese recipe will be a hit for sure. It's a flexible and affordable option to those expensive store-bought brands. To get started, you'll need a few tools: Cheesecloth or lint-free cotton cloth 1 medium to large-sized strainer/sieve 1 large pot capable of holding 1 Gallon / 4L of liquid 1 large bowl capable of the same capacity as the pot. 1 wooden spoon for stirring A thermometer capable of at least 150 Deg Fahrenheit, a candy thermometer is ideal for this. A 3/4 cup measuring cup 4 wooden or plastic clothespins Jars for saving the whey For ingredients you'll need: 1 Gallon / 4L Jug of 3.25% milk or raw milk 3/4 cup 5% white vinegar. Your choice of herbs and spices. To make the cheese, follow these seven steps: Step 1 – Place the large pot and milk on the stove & bring slowly to a temperature of 120 degrees Fahrenheit, use low to medium heat. Stir constantly to avoid scorching milk. Step 2 – When milk has reached 120 Degrees Fahrenheit, remove from heat. Step 3 – Gently stir in 3/4 cup of 5% white vinegar. Let it sit for 30 minutes off the burner. Step 4 – Place a strainer or sieve in/over a large bowl and place a lint free cotton cloth, or cheesecloth in the strainer or sieve and hold in place with clothespins. Step 5 – Strain pot contents through the cloth/cheese cloth and strainer to separate whey from curds. Step 6 – Let the mixture sit until the whey stops dripping from the sieve/strainer. Bonus Whey tips at the end of the recipe. For thicker or firmer cheese, you can squeeze out more whey by hand. Step 7- When your cheese reaches the consistency or firmness you want, place it in a smaller bowl and mix in herbs and spices to taste. Let it stand in the refrigerator for 24 hours for the best flavor. Bonus tip: Save the whey! You can use the whey: - In pancakes - In soups - You can water your plants with it - If done with raw whole milk, you can try reheating the whey, add more vinegar, & repeat for more cheese! -

Quick tip: If you want to expand the refrigerator life of cream, transfer it from the carton to a sealable jar. When we get a liter of cream, either whipping cream or heavy cream, the first thing we do is transfer it to a mason jar with a lid and ring. We use those because we have tons of them from canning preserves, but any sealable jar with a good lid will work. Doing this will help keep the air from causing spoilage, and will create a barrier that will help keep the cream from absorbing refrigerator odors from other foods. After transferring the only thing to get in the habit of doing is wiping the jar rim after pouring to avoid cream crust which will interfere with the seal between the jar and lid. We've found that doing this can extend the life of our cream by up to a month, sometimes more.

I'd like to take a moment to welcome @Henry Hunter to the Pennywise Pantry. Henry is the Founder of Baking Great Bread at Home with 50K+ members, he is also a Cookbook author, and Creator of Crust & Crumb Academy here on Skool. Henry's community is a great resource. The lessons there, when applied, will give you a skillset to save money by baking your own goodies. You'll learn loads of stuff from Henry, I know I have! Glad to have you with us Henry, I'm looking forward to learning from you and sharing with you!

Shopping at dollar stores may be costing you more for some items than you think. As someone who frequents their local dollar store, I've noticed that certain food items are NOT really that good of a deal. Take our last dish of Tuna casserole. The recipe calls for one can of chunk or flake tuna. We had two cans of tuna from the dollar store. Great! Not so much, when we opened the can, we found that half the contents were unusable liquid. We had half a can of actual tuna. At a cost of $1.00 per can, or in this case half a can, we'd need 2 cans at a cost of $2.00. A single can of tuna at Walmart, with much less liquid and more actual tuna, would have cost us around $1.27. Consequently, the dollar store tuna robbed us of $0.72 because we needed 2 cans instead of 1. I know 72 cents doesn't sound like much, but if you lose 72 cents here and 72 cents there, it only takes about 13 times, and you've lost nearly $10. In today's economy, every penny counts. Or for Canadians, every nickle counts because we don't have pennies anymore... but you get the idea. What other food could you have bought with that $10? Milk? Bacon? Bread? See where I am going with this? The next time you're at your local dollar store shopping, ask yourself if you are actually getting a deal or not. Oh, and check your receipts for correct pricing on what you DO purchase, but that's a post for a future date. If you're reading this post in another community and want more actionable tips, tricks and information on how you can tame your food budget without sacrifice, check out The Pennywise Pantry