Winter is here, and in many countries around the world, it's challenging citizen life. Higher inflation, higher energy prices, and higher food and gas prices create a situation where people can barely get by.
If you're worried about how to keep yourself and your family afloat this winter, we've got 100 tips to help.
Here you may find the third part of the list – Grocery and Food Saving Tips.
Other parts of this series
- Part 1: Energy-saving Tips
- Part 2: How to Prepare for a Power Outage
- Part 3: Grocery and Food-Saving Tips (this post)
- Part 4: Check Your Self-sufficiency Level
- Part 5: Transportation and Travel-Saving Tips
- Part 6: Financial Preparedness
27. Choose plant-based options as a protein source
Plant-based protein sources are a great alternative to expensive meat products. Pre-prepared plant proteins are costly, but legumes such as beans, lentils, peas, and soybean meal are still affordable.
28. Favour the season's harvest
When prices rise, it's worth picking up seasonal vegetables and roots in the shopping basket. When the selection gets smaller towards the winter, you can take help from the freezer supply.
29. Expand your fish repertoire
In many countries, salmon has established itself as a favorite of the nation in recent decades, but you should also try local fish species at the dinner table.
30. Replace foreign salmon with domestic salmon
Despite the increased price of fish, it is recommended to eat fish twice a week by nutritional recommendations, if the seafood fits into your diet.
The cost of salmon has risen the most, and it is cheaper and more environmentally sound to prefer domestic fish species.
31. Learn to use the whole fish
When you process the cheapest fish found at the fish counter, i.e., a whole fish, you get two fillets. For example, one fillet can be put in the freezer as cut up, and the other can be prepared for a meal immediately.
You can reduce the one-time portion and put more side dishes on the plate to save the fish meat.
32. Remember potato or sweet potato as a side dish
Potatoes and sweet potatoes are inexpensive, and there are many of them. It can be used, for example, as baked potatoes with an exciting filling, as a potato salad or as a side dish, as boiled potatoes, or sweet potatoes.
The price per kilo is moderate all year round.
33. Try to reduce waste
With good design work, there is also less waste. Only cook if there are still leftovers from yesterday in the fridge, and pour the extra filter coffees from the pan into a thermos to wait for the next coffee moment.
You can go a long way by putting only as much food on your plate as you can eat.
34. Bake at home
The price increase can be seen especially in the price of ready-made bakery products, as the energy cost is reflected in it. Baking at home should therefore be preferred over buying mass-produced products.
For example, you can make a larger batch of bread at once and freeze part.
35. Remember budgetary planning
Planning is one of the essential things when it comes to reducing food expenses. So, you should only go grocery shopping hungry with a shopping list; also, you should plan the food for the coming days well.
Two or three weekly grocery shop visits are good.
36. Check the price per kilo
The same product can be cheaper in a large package, but the rule sometimes applies. Sometimes it might be worth buying a more extensive package and freezing part of it.
You should also think about kilo prices in the fruit and vegetable department.
37. Compare product prices
In a hurry, the first product that catches your eye may fly into the shopping basket. It is worth stopping between the store shelves and researching whether there is a cheaper substitute for the product.
You should be careful when it comes to offers.
38. Prepare a more significant amount of food at once
You should remember to prepare one meal at a time. You should cook a more substantial amount of food at once. In the name of variety, you don't have to eat the same food every day, but you can freeze some of it. At the same time, time is saved.
39. Reduce ordering home delivery
The idea of a steaming hot meal delivered straight to your door after a hard day's work may sound appealing. However, you should avoid ordering takeout and prefer to prepare meals at home.
One 10-euro hamburger meal or pizza once a week costs more than 500 euros annually. Transport costs are often added to the meal.
40. Make your own lunch
You can save tens of euros weekly if you replace the daily restaurant lunch, fast food, and cafeteria snacks.
Spending 10 euros on lunch every weekday already costs 220 euros annually during the month. In a year, the amount rises to more than 2,000 euros.
41. Skip the expensive takeaway coffees
A bottle of soda can easily find its way to the shopping basket, and the working day starts with a daily takeaway coffee. If you leave drinks on store shelves and in cafes, you can save up to 1000 euros a year.
You should also avoid buying bottled water and prefer free tap water instead.
42. Save receipts and follow expenses
Don't throw receipts in the trash; save them instead. You can compare your weekly payments with the saved receipts and mark down the savings. It encourages you to keep more.
43. Do food inventory at home
Refrain from letting the dry goods dust, and remember to use all the food you buy. A good trick known from professional kitchens is to store food by date so that the oldest products are in the row first.
You can also make a list of dishes for which the ingredients or most can be found at home already.
44. Use can leftovers and shriveled vegetables
You should wash off the residue left at the bottom of the cans with a splash of water, and even shriveled vegetables can be added to sauces, for example. Even if the product is no longer in prime condition, it is often good for food.
45. Don't fall for bulk offers
The offers may be tempting, but it is sometimes worth taking them if they are fresh perishable products. Bulk requests should be skipped if the product is new goods that spoil quickly. Another option is to freeze some of the products directly.
46. Go grocery shopping in the evenings (or early mornings in some countries)
In many stores, meat, fish, bread, and dairy products whose expiration date is approaching are sold cheaper in the evenings or early mornings in some shops. At that time, you can get food at a 60 percent discount, for example.
Foods should be frozen immediately if they are not to be used directly.
47. Consider whether you can buy directly from the producers
Some products may be purchased more cheaply from producers, e.g., food districts. Eggs, root vegetables, and organic meat are sometimes cheaper when purchased directly from the producer.
48. Don't buy ready-made snacks
In a hurry, a ready-made smoothie or pudding can quickly be taken from the store. The price for snack purchases accumulates on a weekly and monthly basis. However, it is also easy to prepare snacks yourself.
Try smoothies, porridge, waffles, and omelets.
49. Do not throw away leftover food
The place for the leftover food does not have to be in the bio-waste container. For example, an omelet, and a casserole dish, are dishes to which the leftovers from the previous day can be added.
50. Do a regular inspection of your refrigerator
One of the other things is quickly forgotten and piled up behind the fridge. It is worth going through the fridge from time to time so that the products packed in the back can be saved from outdating.
51. Bake several portions at once
When the oven is hot, you should use heat to prepare several dishes simultaneously. Heating the range takes the most energy.
52. Take advantage of pre- and post-heat
When cooking in the oven, you should use the residual heat. Many meals cook comfortably in the residual heat. Preheating can also be used well for many dishes - although not baked goods.
53. Forget making homemade juices
Although homemade juices are tasty, making them yourself wastes a lot of suitable raw materials. It is better to eat the fruits whole.
54. Grow your herbs
Any kind of cultivation is a clear saving if there is an opportunity. Herbs give a lot of yield with little effort, and you can plant, for example, store-bought basil or chives in a pot. Basil, suitable as a spice, creates a delicious herb paste that tastes like anything else.
55. Braise the meats
Prefer less expensive carcasses, such as neck or shoulder, and braise them overnight. At the same time, meat broth is produced, which can be used in soups, for example.
56. Do not follow the recipe too closely
You should give up reading recipes too carefully. It is cheaper to replace the ingredients in the recipe with products that can be found at home already.
57. Remember food that doesn't require heating
For example, there should be food in the home that does not need to be heated in case of a power outage. During an outage, for example, the microwave and oven stop working.
There should be enough food for the whole family, including pets, for at least 72 hours.
