Sustainable Tips to Save Money on Groceries

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The increase in grocery prices continues to hurt consumers. Food alone takes up upwards of 25% of the income of those who make the least money. Here are some ways to be kinder to the planet and make your money go further.

1. Make a meal plan​

Sustainable Tips to Save Money on Groceries

You can save the most money on groceries by meal planning. You can avoid spoilage by knowing what foods you want to prepare and getting the ingredients you need to prepare them. Having a meal plan also saves you time in the kitchen, making it easier to resist grabbing prepackaged foods or going through the drive-thru.

2. Before you buy, take stock​

Analyze what you have already at home. If you find spinach lurking in your crisper drawer, there's no need to grab more. Ideally, you should make your meal plan using foods that are likely to go bad before adding more to them.

3. Organize and stick to a list​

Having determined which foods you need to work with, prepare a grocery list. By shopping this way, you reduce the chances of making impulse purchases that don't fit into your plan and are thrown away. Make sure everyone in your family has access to the list.

4. Visit a store in person​

Sustainable Tips to Save Money on Groceries

The convenience of having groceries delivered is nice, but you can also take advantage of sales and heavily underrated discount sections when you shop in person. When you buy fruits, vegetables, baked goods, and shelved food off the clearance rack, you keep those edible goods out of landfills. Make sure you bring a reusable bag!

5. Buy Groceries in Bulk​

When you shop in bulk, you will make fewer trips to the store, which will lower your transportation costs. The convenience of bulk foods makes making snacks, smoothies, sweets, and more a breeze. If you buy anything in bulk, be aware of what you are going to use and how often you will use it.

What are the best bulk foods to buy?​

Bulk foods that fit into your meal plan are the best bulk purchases, and they include cereals, grains, beans, and spices.

6. Shop Locally​

Food transportation has become more expensive due to the rising price of fuel. Locally grown food is often more affordable than food purchased at commercial grocery stores because it does not have to travel as far.

Because local produce is picked more recently, it is usually fresher, which may extend the shelf life of the food. Eating seasonally is another benefit of shopping locally.

7. Make Your Groceries Work For You​

Sustainable Tips to Save Money on Groceries

By eating leftovers and turning trash into treasure, you can make your food consumption more mindful. Rather than removing the tops of fruits and vegetables and throwing them away, remove only the cores. You can make broth from any scraps you have. Don't forget to include your favorite soup or stew in your meal plan.

The final step is to compost the remainder of your food scraps.

8. The freezer is your friend​

Food that you've already prepared and stored in your freezer saves you money and trash when compared to eating out or consuming frozen food from a store. Also, you can store food that would otherwise go bad in your freezer. Then freeze wilting herbs, lemon juice, or even red wine for later use in your cooking.

Which of these are you already implementing in your home?
 
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baymule

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Buy a ham. First meal, ham with all the trimmings, sides, vegetables and yeast rolls. Leftovers until sides are gone.
Frittata- a big flat omelet-much easier than trying to flip half of an omelet over. Beat eggs, pour in hot greased skillet, load with chopped onions, vegetables of choice and chopped ham. Cover with grated cheese and bake 10 minutes.

Fried ham slices in a grilled cheese sandwich.

Ham chunks in hash browns

Ham bone in a big pot of beans with cornbread.
 

frustratedearthmother

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I also follow the ads. Krogers has a digital coupon promotion every week. I try to catch that if there's something I need on sale. It's generally pretty good savings. Butter is generally at least 4.99lb lately and with the digital coupon it was $1.99lb last week. There's 10 lbs living in my freezer right now. I hope they put it on sale again around Christmas.
 

Hinotori

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Learn how to cut and wrap meat primals for freezing. I get a lot of ours from the restaurant supply. It's much cheaper than buying at the grocery store.

A meat slicer is nice, but I've practiced cutting strip steaks enough I can do them perfectly by hand.

A meat grinder and some cheap chuck and you have good hamburger without the added water that's in much of the grocery store meat.

For example beef brisket is $3.25 a pound this week. It's choice but has it's fat caps. Trim much of those off and then render them to tallow for cooking. I smoke then freeze it for later. Prime at the Costco business center was about $4.50 when we were last there. Regular Costco card will get you in.
 

Hinotori

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Looks like I need to make some pulled pork. I don't care a whole lot for canned pork cubes. Would make some good ground pork as well.

Example of this week's sale.

Screenshot_20221126-102052_Chrome.jpg
 

tortoise

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Learn the sale cycles. Most items go on sale every 3, 6, or 12 months. Also learn how much you use in that period. Then, when you see the low price for the cycle, buy enough to last until the next cycle. You'll never pay full price again!

Caveats:
this requires enough financial stability/flexibility that you can spend a big chunk of money on food you won't eat this week or month. (Example: I buy about 50# of butter in one week, once a year, for $99.50. I save about $300 per year by buying butter at the lowest price of the year)

This requires space, such as freezer space for 50# of butter. You might need rodent-proof storage.

This strategy is limited by food preservation knowledge and equipment. It doesnt help if the food can't keep and get used.

If your preferences or dietary needs change, this strategy can break down. Dont project 12 months of food use from less than 3 months of eating habits - account for seasonal eating, vacations, and getting bored of a food.
 

tortoise

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We could add moredetail to meal planning. You can save the most money by mastering "piggybacking," or rolling leftovers onto a new meal.

@baymule shared an example in an earlier comment!

Experienced frugal cooks often start with a bone-in roast (or a rotisserie chicken, which might cost even less!).

Eat the choice meat the first day, and pick the rest of the meat off the bone. Save the picked meat. You can usually get 2 meals out of it. You can mix with rice or another grain to stretch it for tacos or sloppy joes. (Save the bones and all your veggie scraps, like onion peels)

Put the bones in a big pot of water and boil them all day or night. (Crockpot or instant pot if you're not home to supervise). Ladle off the broth. You can make soup, keep it in the fridge up to 5 days, add salt and drink it, freeze it, or pressure can it. Refill your pot with water and repeat. You can keep making broth from bones until you can smash them between your fingers. If you can't use or preserve that much broth, freeze the bones and make more broth later.

You can also piggyback in less obvious ways. I cook chili 3 to 5 days after spaghetti. Why? I can toss any leftover marinara into the chili. Adds bulk and you'll never taste the difference. Nothing wasted! Then in a few days when my family is tired of chili, I make mac n cheese and mix it in with the chili for an easy goulash.

Little bits of leftovers can be reincarnated as quesadillas or grilled cheese.

Leftover oatmeal can hide in sloppy joes or meatloaf (if its not too sweet), or in bread, muffins, or cookies.

So many ways to piggyback!
 

murphysranch

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Mooch off of friends and family.

DD is soooo wasteful. She always tosses the turkey carcass. I got it simmered yesterday.
She always throws out the giblets. Not anymore. I'll take them.
She throws away alot of food. Lots of rice. I bought her a large round foodservice bucket with lid from the Chefs Store and now anything that she wants to throw away goes in there, and placed in the extra fridge in the garage.. Purportedly for the 12 chickens, but sometimes I find things for us. (like half a cabbage yesterday).

Elderly neighbors below us let me glean their garden a few times. In exchange, I passed on some Harry & David gourmet items I had picked up from their Medford OR giveaways.

Another neighbor has a large apple tree. All the apples fell off. I asked and then got permission to pick up the fallen ones and so I made applesauce.
 

livinglandnz

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I make Tomato sauce in Summer/Autumn as a way to use up all the Tomatoes I grow, I love them and last year was picking about 2kgs a day. It's pretty cheap to buy sugar and vinegar for the sauce.

I like to make a HUGE pot of chicken stew from a whole chicken, by the time I add onions/potatoes, etc I usually have enough for 4-5 days eating, perfect winter food.

I also eat seasonally in regards to fruit and vegetables I grow as it hurts my soul to buy from the store.
And of course all my meat is free from my hunting/diving.
 
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