A collection of ideas from friends and family for eating well for less.
Collect recipes that are easy and have less costly ingredients.
“What follows from budget grocery shopping is budget cooking, and social media offers videos of creators whipping up all manner of meals on the cheap. One of them is Kiki Rough, who posts popular videos of herself cooking Depression-era, recession-era and wartime recipes on Instagram, TikTok and Facebook. Recent dishes include a “meatloaf” made using beans and a French Toast casserole without eggs.” NPR
Plan your meals for a week ahead for efficient shopping.
Consider changing a more expensive ingredient with a less expensive one (Replace beef with hamburger in a stew or soup).
Sign up for stores’ weekly sale list and use it with your meal planning.
Create a staples list (canned tomatoes, rice, chicken broth) on excel or word or whatever program you use. Use the Navy’s supply system for families: Always keep at least two on the shelf. As soon as you use one, put it on your shopping check list.
Shop store brands as much as possible. Shop sales only if it’s on your staples list or is
“Shoppers are increasingly warming to store-brand items, too. According to the Private Label Manufacturers Association, sales of store-brand items increased nearly three times faster than sales of national name brand products last year.” NPR
Shop at discount stores such as Aldi’s, Lidl, Grocery Outlet, and discount warehouse clubs such as Costco, Sams.
“Some consumers may reasonably raise an eyebrow at claims of low prices. But recent data released by Consumer Reports comparing a basket of goods at dozens of grocers — and using Walmart as a baseline — found that prices at Aldi and Lidl were more than 8% lower than at Walmart. BJ’s Wholesale Club was 21% cheaper than Walmart, while Costco boasted prices 21.4% lower. Only six retailers were cheaper than Walmart, with the other two being WinCo and H-E-B.” NPR
Never forget your list. Take a photo of it with your phone just in case. Without your carefully planned list, you are more likely to impulse shop.
Consider shopping at least 2x/week for veggies and fruits that somehow get lost in the refrigerator and spoil. Search online for what can be: frozen (cranberries), pre-chopped and frozen (peppers) or pre-cooked and frozen: https://survivalfreedom.com/how-to-freeze-cooked-vegetables-without-ruining-texture/
To prevent cheese from molding and what to do if it has mold: https://kitchenbun.com/cheese-mold-inrefrigerator-prevent/
If you’re really invested in figuring out how much you can save, perhaps stop or pause eating out or buying store prepped meals (hot bar, salads) or ordering from meal services. If you do eat out, drink water.
Grow a vegetable garden and learn how to can what you can’t eat.
Much of the above sounds like a lot of work for the family chef and household purchaser. How about inviting the family to share in planning, shopping and prepping.
