Save money week after week with these tips to slash your food costs. Eat well and healthily while sparing your wallet!
Reducing your grocery bill can be an adventure. Use your imagination, and above all, have fun.
- Get a really good, comprehensive, cookery book to enable you to plan your menus around bargain ingredients that you pick up unexpectedly. Learn to cook basic items such as real bone stock and sourdough bread, the ingredients are very cheap and the results are delicious. Sally Fallon’s ground breaking book Nourishing Traditions is packed with great ideas on how to eat well on a budget. Another excellent staple is The Joy of Cooking.
- Take time to shop carefully, and check out different stores and products. For example, discount stores such as Aldi offer good quality food at bargain prices, but you have to adapt to the limited range on offer, such as only one variety of each staple item. A local ethnic store may sell spices and pulses far cheaper than a chain supermarket, enabling you to add interest to good value basics.
- Grow your own vegetables; it could save you hundreds, if not thousands, each year. Enjoy good quality, nutritious food at its very freshest. If you grow organically you can save on expensive sprays and fertilizers.
- Plan your meals in advance so that you do not have to discard food, and always take a shopping list to the store to avoid tempting items that you do not need.
- Grow herbs in quantity. They really brighten up simple dishes when used with care, and if you buy compost and herbs seeds in bulk they cost very little. With a sunny windowsill you can keep growing summer herbs such as basil throughout the winter!
- Avoid pre-prepared meals; instead learn easy to prepare dishes that take very little time. This will also help you to avoid take-out meals and going out to eat too often, always an expensive option. Make sure that you have the ingredients for a simple meal available at all times: Tasty ham and a little parmesan cheese brightens up a simple pasta dish, along with homegrown basil and onions.
- Learn to forage for local wild foods. We have lost the art of gathering the hedgerow harvest in the modern world, and by relearning this ancient skill you will learn about our history, our natural heritage and gather delicious, healthy food that costs nothing! Buy a book on your local wild food plants that gives accurate identification tips and a good range of recipes. However, if you are uncertain about recognizing wild plants, err on the side of caution, especially when it comes to such items as mushrooms.
The copyright of the article Reduce your Grocery Shopping Bill in Home Management is owned by Joanne E. Brannan. Permission to republish Reduce your Grocery Shopping Bill in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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