Easiest things to cut out of groceries
It’s no secret that food prices are rising. With people having to spend more money on food, there is less disposable income for other necessities. It becomes necessary to find whatever means possible to save money at the tills.
To get some advice, top tips were garnered from Facebook discussions on the topic.
WHAT TO BUY
• Only buy meat on sale or cut out meat entirely.
• Cut back on bread, and don’t buy desserts or junk food.
• Buy local winter crops and then cook them from scratch. Make boiled turnip and cabbage baked potatoes and fry them up with some local hamburger.
• Downsize your portion but eat a good hearty breakfast.
• Buy home-grown produce from neighbours and family and friends. Buy privately grown beef, pork, chicken. Put your order in ahead of time.
• Portion control – don’t buy as big of portions to eat.
• Only pick up what you need, and no extras. Do not go shopping when you are hungry. Shopping online helps with this.
• Regularly shop the international foods aisles in the grocery stores. If you look closely, spices, tea, noodles, rice, dried beans, and other basic staples are much cheaper there than down regular aisles.
• Don’t be tempted to buy stuff you probably won’t use just because it’s on sale.
• Create a “broke” meal. For example, cook with rice and beans. Lentils are usually cheap. Canned chicken will cost you $22 to $24 (price will fluctuate) for 2 kgs. Mix in some spices or sauce and it’s cheap and filling.
• Buy whole foods not processed, except for fries. French fries are cheaper than potatoes.
• Kraft Dinner is expensive.
Buy macaroni and a block cheese and make it yourself. Healthy eating seems to be the cheaper option these days.
• Check the day-old bread racks. You can use these bread items for breadcrumbs/coating mixes, croutons, garlic bread or bruschetta. You can also revive day old and hard baguettes by running them under water and giving them a quick bake in the oven. Or if you use a paper bag, just wet the bag and put the bread into it and then in the oven.
• When cooking a chicken, turkey or bone in ham, always make soup from the carcasses or bones. Zero waste.
HOW TO BUY
• Do price matching across various stores.
• Shop the perimeter of the store first, get your healthy essentials. Most of the aisles are just fillers.
• Watch for the sales and buy more when things are on sale and have a well stocked pantry and freezer.
• Always check to see what is on sale in the store or look for marked down items.
• Check your items at the cash register to ensure it is the same price that was on the shelf. You may get that product free because of the error. Also, double check your receipts, some items scan twice or scan as different items.
• Double check sale prices on smaller boxes versus bigger boxes. If you buy boxes of cereal for example that are two for $9, it isn’t a deal when the box weights are 300g versus the $9.99 box of cereal that weighs 840g. Sometimes it is worth it but sometimes its still a rip-off.
• Try to go shopping only once every two weeks.
• Don’t take a cart, and only buy what you can carry.
• Combine coupons with sales. Some people can’t be bothered with that, but if you need to save money then that’s one way, even if it is an inconvenience.
• When going for groceries, or to a different city centre, go with a friend and split the cost of gas.
OTHER FOOD OPTIONS
• Grow your own food. Gather wisdom from our elder generation that had to grow their own food to eat.
• Go in with a few friends on animals to feed, care and butcher.
• Preserve as much as possible.
• Can, dehydrate or freeze food.
• Learn to make your own foods like broths.
• Go to local markets and farmers. Some farmers do the barter system.
• Contact your neighbours and family and start doing the barter system. Someone makes pickles, someone makes up cooked beets. Trade back and forth. Just keep a tally and at the end of the year, settle up the difference.
• Create meal plans. Try to have meals that you can get more than one meal from. Use items you already have in your pantry to form the foundation for your meal plan.
• Cook big dinners and get more than one meal from them.
• Get chickens. Eggs are expensive. It’s cheaper to buy chicken feed than it is to buy eggs. It is $21 for feed for 6 chickens, and this will get you 10 dozen eggs. Whereas $21 only gets you 4 dozen eggs at the grocery store.
• Buy dry beans and cook them in the slow cooker and then freeze them to use later. For instance, pintos can be used to make refried beans and other Mexican dishes. This is way cheaper than buying in cans.
REWARD POINTS
• Sign up for reward points and then cash them in and use them.
• For Sobeys, get your gas at Needs. There, you get coupons for money off your groceries and scene points for an extra $10 off now and again. You can also use Scene points and these coupons at Foodland, too.
APPS
• Use the Flashfood App. This helps you find deals at your local grocery stores.
• Use the Flipp website to shop for bargains. Here, you can browse weekly digital flyers from retailers near you, or search for the items you need. It saves time from flipping through fliers and can be used to create grocery lists. (Flipp. com)
• Join Facebook groups like Savings with Gail or Coupons, Deals in Nova Scotia
• Checkout 51 app is good for people who purchase brand items and want to earn cash back on grocery, gas, and online purchases.
• Receipt Hog is anther good app to use. You submit your shopping receipts and earn points towards an Amazon Gift Card or a prepaid Visa.
And remember, if you are still struggling to eat, please reach out for help to a local organization or food bank.