Posted on 02/08/2022 8:46:39 AM PST by Diana in Wisconsin
Wasting food is particularly hard on a food budget. Think about it. You’ve already spent the money. And you get zero benefit from it when it hits the trash. Can’t get much worse than that if you’re a Dollar Stretcher.
How much do we waste? Good question. And, not an easy one to answer. According to data from RTS.com, “the United States discards more food than any other country in the world: nearly 40 million tons — 80 billion pounds — every year.” 43% of that waste is by consumers at home. Yes, we are throwing almost 35 billion pounds of food in the trash.
Additionally, an article on the American Journal of Economics website estimates “the average household wastes 31.9% of the food it buys, and this figure, using survey weights, translates to annual U.S. consumer-level food waste valued at $240 billion.”
How much of that $240 billion are you throwing in the trash?
If the average monthly food costs for a family of 4 are $1,120.90 (source: BalancingEverything.com), that means about $357 is getting thrown away. And that many grocery budgets have the potential to be cut by a few hundred per month if food waste can be prevented.
Fortunately for us (the Dollar Stretching consumers), much of the problem can be eliminated. It’s not terribly hard to do and doesn’t cost a bunch of money.
Just develop a few simple habits and you could reduce your grocery budget by as much as 30%. Begin at the grocery store.
Recognize that food has a shelf life.
Sure there are some canned goods that will probably survive a nuclear attack. But, most of the items we buy will go bad if not eaten. Some in weeks or months. Others in a matter of days.
Do you have a plan to eat whatever you buy before it goes bad? Many of us don’t like to do a weekly meal plan. OK. But be smart enough to not buy more tomatoes than you can use before they get overripe.
Learn proper food storage techniques.
Once you get your groceries home, do a quick inventory of the things that will go bad quickly (like raw fruits and veggies). Make sure that you store them properly. Check the settings on your vegetable keeper in the fridge. Consider using the “green bags” for storing fruits and veggies. Read up on how best to store produce.
Keep track of your pantry inventory.
Manage your pantry or wherever you store your groceries at home. Know what you have. It’s easy to push items that you don’t often use into the back of the shelf and forget about them. But that’s not frugal!
Keep a list of the unusual items in your pantry. Look for recipes that would consume them. There are many sites on the web that will let you search their recipe database for a specific ingredient(s). You’re bound to find a recipe that will be a family adventure.
And, if you can’t find a recipe for your family, instead of letting the item go bad on your shelf, give it to a friend or neighbor. Let them use it. Hopefully they’ll return the favor some day.
Rotate your pantry and freezer.
If you want to be able to grab the can at the front, you’ll need to put new purchases in the back.
Some Dollar Stretchers go so far as to mark on the package when they bought an item so they can be sure to take the oldest one first.
Don’t forget to rotate your freezer, too. Most fresh meats will last for months in your freezer. Other items have their own limit for time in the freezer.
Know what’s in cold storage and look for recipes that will use the older items. A written inventory on the freezer door is a good idea.
Become leftover savvy.
Use your leftovers creatively. I’m not sure when “leftover” became a dirty word. For the most part, they’re just as nutritious, just as filling and tasty as the first time out. If your family hates leftovers, you’re going to need to become an expert in portion control or you’ll waste a lot of food.
Fortunately the freezer and the microwave can transform leftovers into a real asset. Not only will you reduce your grocery bill, but you’ll spend less time in the kitchen or the drive-thru line at the fast food joint.
At the end of the meal, store your leftovers so that they’ll be convenient to use. Many families are using leftovers to create their own frozen entrees. They’ll take a paper plate and add a portion of each of the items served that night. No need to buy expensive frozen entrees from the store. Now you have great meals waiting for you in your own freezer.
Smart families stick an inventory of meals under a fridge magnet on the freezer door. Each item lists what’s in the meal and when it was prepared. Makes it easy to “shop” for just the meal you want.
Other families find that leftovers make great lunches. They’ll package leftovers to make it easy to put them in school or work lunchboxes. Many lunchrooms have microwaves, so it’s easy to reheat that special lunch you’ve brought from home.
Limit the use of restaurants.
And when you do eat out, make use of “doggie bags.” Most restaurant portions are too big, so unless you want to see your waistline grow, it’s foolish to eat everything on your plate (regardless of what your momma may have told you).
But just because you don’t want that food to go to your waist, doesn’t mean that it has to go to waste! Plan on taking it home. There’s nothing high class about wasting food. And, nothing to be ashamed of if you ask for a “to go” box. Just don’t forget that it’s in your refrigerator and needs to be eaten soon.
So there you have it. Most families can reduce their food bill by 10% or more without doing anything drastic and without depriving themselves. All that’s necessary is creating a few new habits. And, that’s something that I know you can do.
the above is just practical advice most of us already follow, but I'm always up for a REMINDER to do the best I can with my limited resources.
Bkmrk
We eat everything no matter how many years they are out of date, or how moldy they become in the fridge.
Seriously,though, we likely eat food beyond eat we should. We,eat almost all the leftovers, unless they are like 6-7 days old and all dried out.
UT with the price of food these days, we likely,will have to cut away the mold to finish most of what we buy for food, or resort to hunting squirrels and groundhogs in the not too distant future if things don’t start Improving soon. (Actually,squitrel is pretty good, just had some a little,while,ago. A little gamey, but I imagine something can be done to mitigate it a bit with herbs or something)
Oh, one trick to seal ziplock bags with very little air is to put food in it, and dunk the bag in water right up to,the zip point, then shut. You can work out more air by squeezing the air out, but the water pressure onmthe ziplock does a pretty good job getting most out
We shop Costco and vacuum seal and freeze fresh meat.
Do a rack of ribs and freeze the extra.
I can’t count the times I’ve heard coworkers whining that widdle Tyler and Madison don’t like anything but chicken nuggets and pizza so that’s all they eat. So here’s another tip - don’t raise kids who grow up to be Proud Picky Eaters (who don’t like leftovers boo hoo). Learn to plan, learn to cook, and stop letting your spoiled children run your life!
problem solved :)
“Oh, one trick to seal ziplock bags with very little air “
We put meal-size portions in smaller bags then put all in big bags.
There’s lots of good common sense in the article. My biggest problem is buying more fresh food than I can use before it starts going bad.
I’m surprised the article does not mention Expiration Dates on packages. My wife will throw things away the day after an expiration date. Sometimes the date says “Sell By” and other times it says “Use By” so you have to check that carefully. I find most dates are ridiculously short, so I go by sight and smell. The dates on cultured foods like yogurt are just silly.
Publix has a great website w/ their weekly circular on it. The circular usually runs Thursday through the following Wednesday.
Besides checking out all the BOGO’s (which makes Publix as affordable as Walmart for pantry items), they let you view the next week’s circular on Tuesday. So if you really need something, you can check to see if it will be BOGO or at least on sale in another day or so. I’m sure most other supermarkets offer the same conveniences on their websites.
Also, get a food saver (or at least a cheap imitation of one for $50). Sure, making a huge lasagna can cost about $25-$30, but you can get at least 8 large portions out of it. Cut it up, freeze it, and then vacuum seal the portions.
Same w/ some soups or chili. Make a big batch and freeze portions in containers (or even Fiesta Ware bowls), then pop them out and seal them up.
I can buy 5 lbs. of boneless chicken breasts at my local Italian market for $2.99/lb. I immediately clean them, de-vein them, and vacuum seal them individually or a couple together.
The only thing I haven’t found a solution to lately is getting my chicken wing fix. One thing I found is that supermarket wings in the deli (cooked) are the cheapest. They aren’t very tender, but if you steam them for awhile, then re-fry them and sauce them - you get a good product for much less than anywhere else.
A family of four that spends $1120.90 is doing something wrong. My wife and I spend under $300/month. We’ve got plenty of money, not rich, but we are in our late 60s and have very few bills outside of utilities, cable, cell phones, and insurance.
Single paycheck family that also needs to set food-stuff aside for "prepping", I have learned to cut nearly every food-related corner I've come across.
And helps that I eat almost anything, so I can pick up the slack from my picky wife and daughter.
Thanks for posting this.
Across the board, from households to restaurants to grocery stores, 40% of US food ends up in landfills.
Not this household or it’s budget. Rotate canned goods and the freezer. If you can’t eat it before it turns into a biohazard, put it in the freezer. Cook from scratch to save $$ and eat healthier. It isn’t rocket science to toss leftovers into a casserole or soup or top a homemade pizza.
Boil bones and you’ll never have to purchase broth. Run onion skins through a blender and there’s your onion powder. Grow fresh herbs on the window sill and use the stems for goodness sake.
Chop the white part and leaves of celery for the freezer instead of the trash. Save meat fats to use for gravies, seasoning, pan frying, to make masa for tamales, etc. When making jelly, turn the pulp into preserves.
Zest all citrus fruits, leave it to dry on the counter and there’s free zest. Drain canned veg into a large freezer container and you’ll never have to purchase veg broth. Most baked goods recipes work fine with less eggs and water can be substituted for milk or other liquids.
Instead of Starbucks, drink your own coffee. Drain canned fruit liquid into your tea or save up enough to make popsicles.
That annoys me, too!
When my boys were young, they ate what was in front of them most of the time. If they didn’t, they missed a meal and I wasn’t making them something else.
Same with snacks. I always had apples or bananas in the house, and veggies and dip and I would make a batch of popcorn whenever they asked. They always had water, milk or Kool-Aid to drink.
If they wanted chips and such, they had to buy them for themselves. Same with soda, other than on VERY special occasions.
There were many years when I fed three adults and three teen boys and still managed to keep everyone fed and healthy on a budget. One of my prouder accomplishments in life. ;)
If you are a senior, check for senior discount day at the grocery store. My mother always shops on senior discount day.
Another trick I’ve learned is to buy good coffee (like 8 O’Clock or McDonalds) at the Publix when it’s BOGO or on sale, then cut it w/ Maxwell House or Folgers (which are also on sale a lot).
Same taste for a lot less money.
That’s a nice service!
I just found out that Walmart has a meal-planning service. I’m going to look through it and steal some ideas and do the shopping myself.
I get burned out on meal planning at times (First World Problem!) but I usually rally. ;)
https://emeals.com/grocery-delivery-pickup/walmart-grocery/
Right now I am cleaning out freezers to make room for our steer who ‘goes to the spa’ in March. ;)
I cut our grocery bill in HALF for the month of January - just to see if I could do it. Beau was thrilled.
We’re just two, early 60’s. I switched to ALL store-brand items and just made more from scratch - no ‘cheater meals’ as we call any processed or frozen meals.
Those dates mean nothing but it’s a great gimmick to get you to buy more of their product. Follow the $$$. Heck, there are expiration dates on soap.
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