The Chronicle Herald (Provincial)
Use your freezer to cut grocery costs
It's far too easy to spend a lot of money on groceries, especially on the East Coast, where grocery prices are high and are rising more every year, says Myra Hyland-samson.
Froman early age, the Isle Madame woman has considered herself a foodie, learning to cook fromher parents, cookbooks, or local classes in her native Cape Breton. So, when she and her husband Laurier Samsonmoved back to Cape Breton before getting married, they realized how much they missed all the food options of living in the city.
“Where we live, there are only a fewplaces to eat out, and while they all serve great food, they aren't super diverse so we try to cook really delicious and varied food at home whenever we can,” says Hyland-samson.
Even if the recipe calls for expensive ingredients, they found ways to do so without blowing their grocery budget.
Hyland-samson began showering her friends and family with ideas on how to save money while grocery shopping, which eventually led to the creation of the blog, Delicious on a Dime.
“Who wouldn't like to have extra money in the budget to put toward something fun or meaningful?” asks HylandSamson. “A lot of people experience periods when money is tighter than usual and it's great to not feel like you have to exist on beans and rice.”
Many people never think of how they can use their freezers effectively. She's focused on using her freezer as a tool that lets her buy groceries at a great price and store them in a way they aremost useful to her.
"There are a lot of things I will never have to buy at full price because I know I stocked up when they were on sale," she says.
Hyland-samson offers the following tips on how to better use your freezer to save money on groceries.
BUY MEAT WHEN IT'S ON SALE
Meat is usually themost expensive part of any omnivore's grocery bill, and by waiting for a good deal, you can save a lot of money.
Boneless, skinless chicken breasts and thighs are a great staple to have on-hand. When they go on sale, Hyland-samson suggests buying several packages and packaging them up in portions for your family.
"It's really useful to be able to pull out exactly the amount of chicken you need for the recipe you're making. Plus, it thaws much faster than a big brick of frozen chicken."
AVOID FOOD WASTE
There are a lot of things we buy that we won't use up before they go bad if we just keep them in the fridge, she says. So, for example, if you buy a log of goat cheese and don't use it all, cut the remainder in chunks and place each section in a freezer bag. When you want some goat cheese for pizza or pasta, just take out a little package and after a couple of minutes it is ready to use.
"This way I always have goat cheese when I want it, and I also avoid paying the full, premium grocery store price and then throwing out the end of it," she says.
STORE LEFTOVERS
"When I've made too much of almost anything and we're sick of leftovers after a few days, I'll freeze the rest," says HylandSamson. "In a month it will feel like a treat again."
SAVE TIME AND MONEY BY PREPPING MEALS
"We have a few busy periods every year, and before they arrive, we try to stock our freezer with easy, healthy meals that we can get on the table quickly."
This way, she says, her family can avoid eating too much junk food (which is unhealthy) or too much takeout (which is expensive).
Sometimes it's fun to spend a whole day making freezer meals, or other times it's as easy as making a double batch of something you're making for dinner anyway (like a spaghetti sauce, or chili, or pasta bake) and freezing the rest in whatever size portions are the most useful to you, says
Hyland-samson.
COVID-19 LOCKDOWN PREPARATIONS
"I found it incredibly reassuring to have a well-stocked freezer during the first COVID-19 lockdown," says Hyland-samson. "I liked knowing that we could still have a delicious meal, or still make healthy food for our family. It made the lockdown feel a lot less stressful."
Her kids eat a lot of fresh fruit and she worried how their family would manage that without frequent trips to the grocery store.
"We stocked up on a lot of frozen fruit for smoothies, and we also found that they love eating frozen fruit as a treat," she says.
She's also been stocking up on things like mushrooms and peppers when they go on sale and freezing them.
"This way we can enjoy them months after they're purchased, without having to make a trip to the grocery store."
Now that COVID-19 cases seem to be picking up again, Hyland-samson is getting her freezer ready, watching for deals on ingredients, especially the pricy ones like meat.
For people who have extra freezer space, it's worth thinking about what their go-to ingredients are, which ones are the most expensive or hard to access during a lockdown, and then stocking up on those items now.
Even if you only have a small amount of freezer space, prioritize the most expensive ingredients. You can often save space by repackaging them, like individually packaging chicken parts instead of trying to fit a big Styrofoam container in your freezer, says HylandSamson.
These tips, says HylandSamson, aren't just great during COVID-19, they work all the time to save youmoney on your grocery bills.
A lot of people would be surprised how much they could trim their grocery bills and they can do it without feeling like it's a great hardship because they can enjoy just as much delicious food by being intentional with their shopping habits and save the extra cash for something else, she says.