It's a fact of life: you have to eat three meals a day, 21 a week, which means you have to shop and cook often. If you want to save money, you will definitely need to find ways to do those tasks frugally. Fortunately, this article will save you a lot of headaches.
Steps
Step 1. Make a note of the required items by keeping a list in the kitchen
Write down the ingredients you need to prepare the meals. You should keep a separate list for items your family commonly uses - now you just need to check them next to them instead of trying to understand what is written. "Milk, there is. Cereals, there are."
Step 2. Check out the supermarket specials
Decide on the meals of the week based on the discounted products. Make double portions and freeze half of them - it will be a "free" meal for next week.
Step 3. Search the internet for recipes and menu ideas
Write the menu of the week. Aim to shop once a week, except for fresh fruit and vegetables.
Step 4. Prepare a shopping list that includes items missing from the kitchen and items needed to prepare the week's menu
Step 5. When shopping, buy only the items on the list
This will help you stay within your food budget. Don't shop when you're hungry; eat some protein before making it.
Step 6. Buy supermarket branded or generic products
Most supermarket branded products will guarantee you the same quality as branded products, and are generally less expensive. They are often produced by the same manufacturer. The only difference is the labels and the price.
Step 7. Purchase non-perishable foods in bulk if the price per unit is better
Buy dried spices and herbs in plastic bags rather than glass jars.
Sugar, flour and rice are often less expensive in bulk. Be warned though: some family-sized canned foods are more expensive than the smaller versions. Check the price per unit
Step 8. Buy seasonal foods, especially fruits and vegetables
Instead, buy off-season meats; roasts are generally cheaper in the summer because people tend to prefer steaks. Buy meats on sale and freeze them. If you buy a large piece of meat, cut it into portions so you can quickly defrost it in the future.
Step 9. Cook using lightly processed foods
- Buy a whole chicken on sale, and fry it or stir-fry it. Use the bones and meat that has stuck to it to make broth.
- Learn to cook and use beans, peas, and lentils. They are good for you, and are among the cheapest and most versatile foods you can buy.
- Consider making bread yourself. With a machine it's not very difficult, and you will get better bread for less.
- A quick check to evaluate the profit margin on processed foods is to compare the price by weight to that of the main ingredients. If a half-kilo packet of biscuits costs € 4, that's € 8 per kilo. Look around and you will quickly notice that few unprocessed ingredients cost that much. Shrimp might, but not butter, fresh vegetables, and certainly not the flour, sugar, and hydrogenated oils that make up the cookies you can find at the grocery store.
Step 10. Take advantage of the items the shop wants to get rid of
- Almost all supermarkets have a "deal of the day" section in the butcher section: take advantage of it. And cook the meat when you get home. You can save a lot of money by doing this.
- Buy a basket of bananas from time to time. You can use them to make banana bread or freeze them for use in smoothies.
Step 11. Learn which stores regularly have special offers
If you shop at the same store all the time, learn when they receive different goods and when their offers change.
Step 12. Purchase fresh herbs and freeze excess
Remove the rosemary needles from the stem. Chop fluffy herbs like basil and cilantro. Put them in an airtight plastic bag and write on the bag what it is (because you will never remember it) with a water marker (note: the coriander stems are as aromatic as the leaves; chop them finely and you will find no difference). You can find many good recipes online for using these frozen herbs.
Step 13. Freeze the excess vegetables as well
Chop carrots, celery, peppers, etc. that are about to rot. Most vegetables will need to be partially cooked before they are frozen. Consult a freezer recipe book to learn how to prepare fruit and vegetables this way. Peppers and onions do not need pre-treatment before they are frozen. Cut them and freeze them on baking paper. Then put them in an airtight bag, apply a label and put them in the freezer; avoid freezing them in large pieces. Use them in soups, sauces and omelettes. You can put tons of healthy vegetables in pasta sauces.
Step 14. Learn to make homemade snacks
Popcorns are easy to make and are usually cheap. Buy whole tortillas, cut them into triangles, and bake them for cheap, low-fat chips.
Step 15. Make homemade mixes
Look for recipes for mixes in cookbooks.
Step 16. Avoid canned cereals
Compare the prices per kilo of all processed canned cereals to those of regular bulk oatmeal, and you will see how much the packaging drives up the price. There are many ways to eat simple oatmeal, and you may find that you like them. You can also make muesli at home.
Step 17. Read ingredient labels on products or search for recipes online
You may be able to make the same products for a lot less expense without difficulty. Examples:
- Tomato sauce is made from tomatoes and water.
- A popular hot sauce is made from vinegar, chilli and salt.
- Another advantage of preparing the products yourself is that you will know what the foods you put on the table contain.
Step 18. Purchase rice in 10 or 15-pound bags
Rice lasts a long time and can be used for many foods. Bulk packs of rice will often cost just over twice as much as a one-kilo packet, for ten times the amount.
When buying wholesale foods, make sure you will use them. Even the grains will eventually spoil
Step 19. Avoid buying convenience foods
While they will save you time, they come at a very high price per kilo. Many also contain a lot of salt and other additives.
Step 20. Avoid the soda section
Buy 100% milk or juice if you need it, but remember that most sodas will contain a lot of sugar and that most of the price you pay for a can of Coke is advertising and packaging, not advertising. its content.
- The water in plastic bottles represents a great waste in terms of packaging and transportation, and frequently consists of little more than filtered tap water. In most developed countries, tap water is perfectly safe to drink. Use a bottle that you can reuse and refill it from the tap. A water filter can help if you don't like the taste of tap water.
- If you like tea or coffee, make them yourself at home. Get a coffee maker with a timer if you like; it will soon pay for itself.
- If you like sweet drinks, make your own lemonades or smoothies.
- Alcohol is expensive, so limit your alcohol consumption to special occasions. Or, if you like challenges, try making your own beer and wine.
Step 21. Skip the dessert
Candy, cookies, and ice cream will drive up the price of your grocery receipt (and your waistline) a lot, if you let them. If you love to eat sweets from time to time, buy the ingredients and make your own sweets.
Advice
- Quality matters. How much is up to you.
- If you have a laptop, take it to the supermarket with you. Before you leave, put your shopping list on a spreadsheet program. Titles the first column "Products", the second "Price", the third "Quantity". Set the fourth column to report the total price per item (price per quantity). Keep a running total somewhere on the screen that you can see. Enter prices and quantities while shopping: if you go over your budget, you will easily understand what costs to cut.
