Saving Money While You Eat

When researchers talk about the amount of food that’s wasted by Americans every year, the numbers range from $43 billion to $100 billion. The important thing is—it’s a lot. And that means some of that loss is out of your pocket. This FFEF newsletter contains ideas for ways to keep that money in your wallet. As with most things, there are plenty of viewpoints on what is the best way to save money on food. We thought we’d include several of those viewpoints and let you decide what will work the best for you.

The Ways We Shop

There are two ways to approach grocery shopping when you’re trying to save money. The first, and probably the one you hear about most commonly is buying in bulk. This advice usually runs along the lines of “buy as much as you can for the least amount of money you can.” This is good advice if done with careful planning, especially if you have a large family.

The second is advice you may not hear as often but it can be equally effective. This approach is based on the idea that you buy just the amount your family needs to avoid having any waste. Research done in 2005 indicated that Americans throw away about 14% of the food they purchase. If your grocery budget is $400 per month, research would indicate that you throw away about $56 of food per month. That’s more than $600 per year. It might be nice if you could use that $600 rather than waste it.

Ways to Avoid Waste

Shopping to avoid waste can require a time investment at first. Ask yourself what you have the most of—time or money? If your answer is time, it might be worth investing that time in some good meal planning and grocery shopping. Keep in mind as you plan your meals that the longer period of time you try to plan for, the less accurate you will be. It might be a good idea to try shopping every two or three days to begin with to make sure that you are only buying as much as you will use. The more practiced you are, the longer you will be able to plan for without throwing food away.

As you plan your meals, take into consideration how much time you will need to prepare your meals. Don’t plan meals that take an hour to prepare for a night on which you only have half an hour to make dinner because of other time commitments you have made. This is often a reason that food goes to waste. Because time is short, you may end up ordering fast food or take out and the food you thought you were going to cook goes to waste.

Each time you prepare your grocery list, take an inventory of what food is left from the last time you shopped. What did you buy too much of? What did you buy that no one wanted to eat? Each week you will be able to fine tune your plans until you reduce the amount of waste to a minimum. As leftovers accumulate, have a leftovers night periodically in which you make a meal out of your leftovers. See how creative you can be.

When storing leftovers in the refrigerator, mark the date you store them with a permanent marker on tape on the package. Keep a marker and tape near the fridge to make it easy to do. Glass containers make great storage containers because it’s easy to see the contents and they are easy to clean and reuse. Check out your refrigerator every day to make sure you don’t have food that will soon be outdated. If you do, make sure you include it in your next meal so it doesn’t go to waste. Do the same with the food in your cupboards. Check the expiration date on the packaged and canned foods you have so you can be sure to use them before they expire also. You can also take a week or other period of time now and then in which you don’t purchase any additional food until you’ve used all the food on hand. Instead of running to the store when you run out of something, force yourself to use what is left. This not only ensures nothing goes to waste, but it also makes sure that you completely rotate your food regularly.

Fresh fruits and vegetables make up a significant amount of the food that gets thrown away. People buy them in the belief that they want to eat healthy meals, but end up throwing them away because they don’t have time to prepare them. If you find that you’re still throwing food away, try buying food that’s frozen instead of fresh food. That way you will be able to keep food longer. You can also try to buy fresh fruits and vegetables that keep longer. Apples, oranges, carrots, squash, potatoes, and onions are all fresh foods that will store for longer than some other foods. Fresh fruits and vegetables are richer in nutrients so it is best to include them in your meal planning as much as you can. The longer food sits in your refrigerator, the more vitamins and minerals it loses, so if you have the time to shop every few days, your food will stay fresher.

Ways to Buy in Bulk

Buying in bulk is the opposite of shopping to avoid waste. Although both methods hope to have the same result—saving money on your grocery bill—it takes a different thought process to buy in bulk. What it will do is allow you to have what sounds good to you on any particular day, but instead of having to go to the store to get it, you can get it from your own cupboard.

1. Start with a basic shopping list. On this list put the food items that you usually buy. Think about the meals you cook most often. Put the main ingredients to those meals on your list, e.g., dried potatoes, pasta, ground beef, etc.

2. Once you have your basic beginner list, start checking out the grocery ads. If one of the items on your list is on sale for an excellent price, for example if the pasta is on sale at “buy one get one free,” buy as much as your budget will allow—even if it’s only one extra package.

3. You are now starting your food storage. Work through your list in this way until you have bulk quantities of all the ingredients you use most often. But make sure you only buy in bulk when the items are on sale. Grocery stores usually run the same item on sale about every 6 or 12 weeks so within the next three months, the items on your list should go on sale at least once. Each time you but items on sale, you are saving money.

4. You want to buy as little as possible at full price. If nothing on your list is on sale one week, you might want to consider changing your menu for that week. Sometimes an item is on sale for $1.59, the next week it’s $1.29 and the next it’s $.99. It takes awhile before you’ll get to know when an item is at a really good price. But don’t despair. You’ll get there eventually.

5. As the weeks go by your food storage will be building, some weeks faster than others. As you think of additional items you would like to store, add them to your list and watch for sales. Coupons can increase your savings.

6. When the going gets tough, as it can when you have a small food budget and your storage takes a long time to build, take a little tally to remind yourself of what you’re saving. For instance, let’s say your favorite pasta is $1.59 a package. This week it is on sale for “buy one, get one free.” This is a great deal so you cut something extra out of your weekly shopping trip so you can buy 4 packages. Normally this would cost you $6.36; however, this week it is only costing you $3.18 because you are getting two of the packages for free. These little savings add up until you are eventually making significant savings.

It will keep working like this until eventually, you will have a very well-stocked pantry and freezer with items all purchased on great sales. With careful planning, you shouldn’t have to pay full price for anything again. By creating a food storage that contains food you will eat, at great prices, you should be able to really lower your grocery bill.

7. Store your food properly. In order to make the most of your bulk food buying, you must store the food properly so it doesn’t spoil. Canned and packaged foods are relatively easy to store. Just make sure you rotate the cans and packages out so the oldest ones get used first and don’t just sit at the back until they go bad. Here is a chart indicating the amount of time food can be frozen and still retain its flavor and nutrients. Frozen foods remain safe indefinitely, it’s more the flavor and nutrition you need to worry about.