Always save your meat drippings and boil the bones for broth. Pick every last bit of meat off bones. Most of our protein purchases are now down to chicken and eggs. More bean and rice meals.
Learn to cook to save tons from eating out. No one needs to give Starbucks $5 every day. Same goes for McD’s or Taco Bell 5 days a week for lunch or a $$$$$ steak place every Saturday night.
After nearly every meal, there is something that can be reused. Freeze the excess flour or cornmeal from frying chicken or fish for next time. Or turn the cornmeal mixture into hush puppies. Make savory pancakes from the chicken batter. Strain the oil to reuse or make gravy with that flour mixture.
Don’t drain the vegetables down the drain. Save the liquid in a large freezer container that can be added to. That’s “free” veg broth.
Give that last spoon of whatever leftover to the dog. Or freeze it in a continual freezer container for a soup or casserole or pasta dish. Or top a pizza with little bits of this and that. Or wisely combine the week’s leftovers into empanadas or meat/veg pies or quiche.
Try those canned beets in a beet salad for something different or process them into a chocolate cake. Use the liquid in a white cake to turn it pink. Same idea with those last two carrots in the fridge - salad or cake.
Too ripe bananas = cake. Can’t eat the still yellow bananas quick enough? Stick them on popsicle sticks, dip them in chocolate, add sprinkles and freeze them for treats. Or make a smoothie.
Bottom line is not to let even a spoonful of food get tossed into the garbage. That’s money thrown away.
When food gets scarce enough, people will do that.
In the meantime, my garden is going gangbusters and all my plants are open pollinated seeds, meaning they breed true and I can save the seeds.
The other thing folks need to do now is pay attention when shopping—if something durable is at a good sale price stock up, stock up, stock up....
Sometimes the retailers react slowly if they are overstocked—take advantage of that.
Save & freeze the ends/peels/scraps from veggies & add those to bones/carcasses for a very healthy bone broth. Recipes abound on the internet.
Or, you can put it all in a crock pot and keep it going for a week or so (when you take some broth out, add the same amount of water back in).
Find a good source for chicken feet, backs, necks and beef/pork knuckles, feet, marrow bones etc. Oxtail too, if you can find it on sale.
Small Asian & Hispanic markets will often have these cuts that you won’t find at the local supermarket - or find a local butcher/farmer/hunter for the win!
My parent's old Depression refrain will become familiar to a new, untested generation:
"Use it up, wear it out
Make it do, or do without."
yep only way to fight inflation is to reduce demand