Top 10 Ways to Save Money on Food
Tips on How to Spend Less on Groceries and Still Eat Well
Mar 3, 2009
In the crunch economy it's important to be frugal - but there is frugal and there is miserable. This article shows how to spend less money and keep your food good.
There are many ways of reducing your food bill. Most of the included here are simple, easy and won't significantly add to your cooking or shopping time.
Avoid Impulse Buying
- Remove distractions. Many things are known to increase the impulse shopping, and you probably know them. The secret is to not let them get to you. Don't shop when you are hungry. Don't take children. Shop online for staples and non-food items.
- Use special offers, but use them wisely. Many special offers are designed to make you impulse buy. There is a reason why buy one get one free or three for the price of two are more common than simple price cuts. Only buy something on offer if you would buy it otherwise, or if it replaces something you intended to buy and offers better value. Don't be tempted by offers on non-essential, fun items. You might get double the amount of chocolate, but it will likely mean that it will be eaten at double the rate.
Bigger Pack is Not Always Better Value
- Bulk buying can work, but only for essential staples and for very disciplined people. Sometimes it's better to buy a smaller packet, with a lower ticket price, even if price per pound is higher. A smaller packet will do fine and if you buy a bigger one you are likely to use more.
- Consider using less of the key, more expensive ingredient and bump up the content with cheaper padding. Use half a pound of mince and add vegetables to your pasta sauce. Use three, not two chicken breasts and serve an extra vegetable side dish. Dilute fruit juice. Mix proper Greek yoghurt or creme fraiche with the supermarket value brand. Make conscious effort to cook just what's needed, to avoid throwing away half-portion leftovers.
Go Down a Brand
- If you buy premium brands, consider mass-market. If you buy mass-market brands, consider discount and value brands. Some of those are dreadful, that is true, but some are virtually indistinguishable from the more expensive products. Buy and try – the single costs are low, so you won't waste much even if you hate the product, but long-term savings are potentially large. It works particularly well for tinned goods (tomatoes, beans, tinned fruit), and simple packaged staples (porridge oats, cornflakes, salt – why ever buy branded salt?). Napolina tinned tomatoes cost three times as much as Tesco Value ones, but they are not even twice as good. Is it worth paying such a premium just for ring pull on the can?
- For many products, frozen versions are substantially cheaper than fresh and not significantly worse. This applies particularly to out of season vegetables and fruit, but also to some meat and fish: the quality is not superb, but acceptable enough for certain everyday or heavily seasoned dishes. On the other hand, in season always try to buy fresh and local.
Ready Made Food Made Sensible
- Ready meals are expensive when of decent quality, so cooking from scratch is the best option. However, not all processed food is more expensive. Unless you have access to cheap source of good flour, making your own bread may lead to great quality results but will almost certainly be more expensive than buying commercial products. The same is true with jams and condiments (unless you grow your own). Cheap supermarket pizza and fresh pasta, although of questionable quality, can occasionally replace a take-away at ten times the price.
- Cook in batches and freeze half of what you made. This is very economical as well as time saving and will work for soups, casseroles, pasta sauces and stews.
The copyright of the article Top 10 Ways to Save Money on Food in Personal Budgeting/Finance is owned by Magdalena Healey. Permission to republish Top 10 Ways to Save Money on Food in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
 |
