5 Ways to Save Money on Food

By altering the way you buy and use food, you can save tons of money while helping the environment at the same time.

Reducing food waste doesn't take much effort, and it can lead to a healthier lifestyle and a happier wallet.

Plan Meals

Plan out your meals ahead of time, write a grocery list of what you need, and stick to that list. This will keep you from buying excess food you won’t need.

Extra Tip: If you have the time, go to several different grocery stores to get the best prices on certain foods.

For instance: Trader Joe’s is really expensive over all but has great deals on cheese, and your local market has inexpensive vegetables.

Go to both stores to get the best deals on specific items on your list rather than doing one massive shopping trip at one store. You will save more money that way.

Small Dinner Portions

Serve small amounts of food at dinner with the understanding that people can grab more when they finish their plate.

Extra Tips:

This will not only help reduce the amount of food wasted, it will also help you eat only what you need.

When people see more on their plate, they are inclined to eat more. If they have less on their plate, they will only eat what they need until they are full.

Smaller portions will also force people to eat slower, when people eat slower, they tend to eat less because their body has time to register that they are full.

This is great for children who might not know their eating limits and are more able to develop new good habits.

Use Leftovers

There are many ways to use leftovers or food that is just starting to go bad rather than throwing them away.

For example:

• Use leftover meat and vegetables to make soup
• Leftover chicken can be made into chicken a la king or a pot pie
• Use leftover mashed potatoes to make potato pancakes the next morning
• If you need to use up eggs that are about to go bad, hard boil them and make deviled eggs
• Dried out bread can be made into croutons for salads or stuffing
• Browning bananas are ideal for banana bread
• Softening fruit can be made into smoothies

Freeze Food

Freezing food is a great tactic to reduce the amount of food waste in your home. 

It will allow you to only use what you need, and is perfect for those who live by themselves and can’t eat everything on their own. Let’s say you live on your own and can’t go through a whole loaf of bread in a week, but you still want to make sandwiches for work.

You should freeze your bread and thaw pieces you need for the day in the microwave. It only takes a few seconds and will save you from throwing out half a loaf of bread every week.

Composting

Build a compost bin in your yard for any excess food waste like fruit peels. 

After it decays, you can use the compost to create a garden for fruits and vegetables like fresh tomatoes and zucchini. In this way, you can put your food waste to good use and help produce more food for future use— saving money and the environment.