12 Effective Tips for Saving Money on Food

Saving Money on Food: The Easiest Recommendations

Plan Your Meals

This is the most obvious, however, not so easy-to-follow, food-saving recommendation. Though, after a couple of weeks, you will be used to this. Aside from saving money on food, you will have no need to wonder about dinner every day after coming back home from work. Just imagine how useful it is to know that there is food in the fridge to cook your meal in the evening.

• Opt for simple dishes: porridges, kinds of pasta, vegetable salads, baked meat.
• Cook those meals that can be eaten for at least two days or quickly prepared. In such a way, you will not only save on food but also spend less time on cooking.
• While planning the menu, be sure to take the amount you can eat within the period. All the meals that are cooked should be eaten until the end, without any leftovers thrown away. Otherwise, instead of getting money-saving meals, you will be cooking money-wasting ones.

After the plan of dishes is made, prepare the list of groceries for a week. It is essential to save money on food shopping by limiting the budget to be spent weekly in the supermarket. Is your list ready? It is important to stick to it.

Do Not Disregard Snacks

Even if you are trying to cook the main meals at home, the feeling of hunger may appear between them. Be ready for this so that to avoid unexpected expenses that will increase your food money. Prepare nuts, fruits, vegetables or home-made cookies instead of buying chocolates in the supermarket. 

It is important to learn the difference between quick and useful calories. Quick ones are not only more expensive but also lead to overweight problems. Thus, tips for saving money on food will help to become slim and healthy.

Eat Before Going to a Supermarket 

When a person is hungry, each product looks mouth-watering and attractive. Just imagine how many delicious products are waiting for you on the shelves in a grocery shop. It is doubtful that you will stick to the weekly meal plan, as a result, your shop-saving strategy will fail.

Besides, this recommendation is also useful when you plan to eat out with a friend on Friday or Saturday night. Even though you are looking for ways to save on food, it does not imply refusing from all of your social habits. If you have dinner before going out, you will not want to order one more helping, thus, pay only for drinks and dessert. Meanwhile, you will not refuse from spending time with friends.

Be a Smart Shopper

Every supermarket and shop chain is often carrying out promotions and proposes hot deals. There are services like rabato.com that have collected all the information, coupons, flyers, and hot deals from the most popular stores in your region. Cheaper food shopping is possible even in online stores.

Scroll the website and check the best prices. Based on this info, you can make the list of groceries and, hence, a menu for the upcoming week. Besides, try enrolling in all the loyalty programs of the stores that you visit more often. Additional discounts and coupons/flyers published on Rabato are among the best ways to save money on food.

Additionally, every store may have special weekly deals to clear the shelves. For instance, Thursday can be the day of a 20% discount on fish. Why not buying it when discounted instead of at a full price two days earlier. Want to know how to spend less money on food? Get to know more about the local grocery stores where you usually shop.

Do Not Waste Products

Have you ever thought about the amount of food that is wasted and simply thrown away? In the first place, such consumerism is irresponsible with regard to the environment. Besides, if you consider how to save money on food shopping and waste a lot of food, this is at least inconsistent.

• While planning a menu for a week, remember about the quantity that you are capable of eating within these days.
• Even if you have miscalculated or by accident cooked too much, try to freeze leftovers before they get spoiled. Or at least share with a friend to avoid throwing food away. If you bring up eco-consciousness in yourself, you will learn how to save money and food.

Check Expiration Dates of the Products on Your Shelves

Once in a week or two, you can check your kitchen shelves if any of the content there is about to expire soon. The closer the date of expiration, the sooner you should include this product in your menu. Remember that one of the best ways to save money on food is not to waste it.

It is also essential to check the date of expiration before you buy groceries. The items closer to you are more likely to expire sooner. Check those that are in the remote corners. The freshest products are kept there.

Purchase in Advance the Products that Will Not Spoil

There are plenty of items that can be stored for at least several months: pasta, porridges, oil, etc. Finding a lucrative price or a promotion on one of the sites or stores, do not hesitate to buy these items in abundance. In such a way, you will not only spare money for food but also save time on your shopping in the future. Just prepare some space in your kitchen or pantry.

Do Not Abide All the Expiration Dates

One of the marketing tricks to make people buy more and more often is the date of expiration. Who will want to consume a product if it is already expired? Hardly, anyone. However, it is reasonable to think if a particular product can be used after the date indicated at the pack. Of course, it is necessary to be careful and attentive. For instance, no jokes with groceries for children or dairy products. 

Pasta, flour, porridges, chocolates, and a great number of other products we buy can be used longer than the due date. Besides, if you happen to find one of the products with an approaching expiration date in a grocery store, this is the reason to ask for a discount.

If you want to know how to buy food and not to waste your finances, do not hesitate to bargain if you see that a particular item will soon get expired. It is still more financially attractive for any store to sell with a considerable discount than to dispose of a product after the date of expiration.

Make Use of Spoilt Products 

Has the milk in the fridge turned sour? Is the bread already dry? Do not be in a hurry to get rid of them. There are plenty of recipes to cook pancakes with sour milk or use as a ferment for kefir or sour cream. Croutons can be done if your bread is dry. You can also make bread crumbs that are used in cooking plenty of meals. In such a way, there will be no wastes, while you will not have to spend additional finances.

Let the Freezer Become Your Best Friend

First of all, if you by accident cooked too much or had been treated with something, while there is enough food in your fridge, freeze it. Cooked meat, vegetables, and even soups can be frozen. When you have no time to cook, there will be a ready meal in your freezer.

Another way to save money on grocery shopping is to buy in advance even those products that cannot be stored for a long time. Meat, fruits, and vegetables can be frozen and kept for a much longer time. Found chicken at an attractive cost? Buy and freeze it. 

Find Out About Discounts in Restaurants and Ready-Food Stores

That is a useful tip for those who are not fond of cooking by themselves. Stores that sell cooked meals, as well as restaurants, have programs that foresee considerable discounts if meals are bought at the end of the day, after 10 p.m., for instance. There is no need to join the movement of freeganism to know how to save on food. Find out the nearest locations that have got such proposals and become their customer. Even if you don’t like late dinners, you have got your freezer.

Learn Marketing Tricks

Marketers are ruling the world and can sell anything. Have you ever thought of why you prefer a certain brand of pasta? Quite probably, that is the trick of smart advertisers. Get to know how the most expensive products are placed on the shelves, as well as how smartly the aisles in the supermarket are designed. You just need to buy a bottle of milk and a loaf of bread, and these two items make you wonder across all the aisles. Well, these guys are tricky to make you buy more. If you want to know how to save money on grocery bill, learn how these groceries are sold to you.

All in all, the tips on how to shop cheap and how to save money and eat healthy are mostly about becoming a rational consumer. When you learn to use all the groceries you buy and not to waste anything, you will not only save food money but also become an eco-conscious person. Thus, instead of flushing money on unnecessary purchases and irrational meals cooking, you will get an additional sum, which is significant enough to open a savings account in the bank. Shop reasonably and smartly, stay healthy, and save more.