REIN IN your grocery bill

Save significantly by stocking up on certain ingredients when you spot them at a lower price

Ten-dollar cartons of eggs. Seven-dollar gallons of milk. Two-dollar apples. Everyone is feeling the pain of jaw-droppingly high food costs driven by inflation and a flurry of other factors. It’s scary to see your grocery bill skyrocket, but while no one can predict what’s going to happen to food prices in the coming year, stocking up on certain ingredients when you spot them at a lower price can help you save significantly. We talked to a few budget experts and several New York Times Cooking editors and writers about what items they buy and how they make the most of them.

Before you start

„ You may be new to budget shopping. If so, embrace grocery store circulars (you can use the Flipp app to track them). Make a list before you go, and if your grocery store has an online presence, compare prices.

„ Take a tip from Ali Slagle, a recipe developer and New York Times Cooking contributor, and stroll by your staple ingredients whenever you visit a store. You might discover a surprise sale.

„ Finally, the key to budget grocery shopping is being open to sacrificing convenience for a lower price. Consider visiting a couple of different stores to take advantage of sales. It can be worth it.

Dairy and eggs

Cheese: Can you freeze hard cheeses like mozzarella and cheddar? The answer is “yes” if you plan on melting it. (The thawed texture might be a bit weird for eating out of hand.) Krysten Chambrot, an associate editor for New York Times Cooking, chops up fresh mozzarella and freezes the slices on a sheet pan, then pops them into a resealable plastic bag for quick pizzas. Buy shredded cheese (or block cheese and shred it yourself ) and freeze it.

Butter: Genevieve Ko, a deputy editor for New York Times Cooking, freezes butter or, if she has the time, turns it into cookie or pie dough, or fully baked treats, and freezes them to enjoy later.

Milk: Consider ditching dairy milk altogether if you don’t use a lot of it to begin with. These days, alternative milks are typically cheaper, and “a half gallon of oat milk lasts longer than whole dairy milk,” said Caroline Lange, a writer, recipe developer and tester.

Eggs: Don’t be afraid to buy a few cartons if you spot them at a good price. They keep for three to five weeks in the fridge (or longer). You can also freeze beaten eggs in ice cube trays, then pop the cubes into a resealable plastic bag to thaw for later use in baked goods or for scrambled eggs.

Meat and fish

Ground meat: Alli Powell, creator of the Grocery Getting Girl, an Instagram account dedicated to budget shopping and cooking, buys ground meat in bulk or on sale, then divides it into half- or one-pound portions for freezing. Ko suggests making meatballs, samosas or dumplings, which freeze well and can be cooked straight from the freezer.

Stew meats: Stock up on bone-in chicken thighs, beef chuck, short ribs, pork or lamb shoulder. Ko makes big batches of stew and keeps containers in the freezer for future fast meals.

Fish: Nicole Donnell, creator of Black Girl Budget, a financial coaching service, buys a large piece of fish and cuts it into pieces to freeze instead of buying individual, vacuum-sealed servings. If you score a couple of pieces of fresh salmon, but you’re not quite ready to eat them, you can marinate them for up to two days before cooking.

Rotisserie chicken: Take it from Vaughn Vreeland, a supervising producer for New York Times Cooking. “Never underestimate the power of a rotisserie chicken (especially if you live alone).” He eats some for dinner, then shreds the remaining meat and uses the bones for stock. Half of the shredded chicken gets turned into chicken salad, and the other half goes into soup.

Produce

Fruit: Make muffins, cakes, quick breads or pie filling that you can freeze to enjoy later. Or slice and freeze berries, stone fruits, pineapple and mango on a sheet pan and store in a resealable plastic bag to use in smoothies or baked goods.

You can also make jam or preserves. If you have a surplus of apples and pears, which don’t freeze well, turn them into applesauce.

Hearty vegetables: Opt for vegetables with a long shelf life, like root vegetables, onions, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts and cabbage. Then, make quick pickles with past-their-prime sturdy vegetables: Submerge them in leftover pickle brine and refrigerate. In a few days, they’ll make a great giardiniera-like topping.

Dark leafy greens and herbs: If you spot them on sale — or you have a big bunch that are about to turn — Ko suggests cooking them down or turning them into sauce to keep in the fridge or freezer because they take up so much space otherwise.

Frozen foods: Look for deals on frozen fruit and vegetables, especially for produce that’s out of season. It’s flash frozen at peak freshness, so the taste is comparable especially when used in soups, baked goods, stews and stir-fries. And most are already chopped, so you don’t have to prep.

Lemons and limes: Buying a bag of lemons or limes is far cheaper than buying them individually. Set aside a few, but freeze the rest.

Pantry

Beans: “Buy dried beans,” Slagle said. They cost about the same as a can of beans but will yield four times as much. Drain most of the cooking liquid and freeze in airtight containers to use for future soups, veggie burgers, hummus and bean salads.

Canned tomatoes: A can of tomatoes goes a long way, so it’s never a bad idea to add more to your pantry. Make big batches of tomato sauce, minestrone or tomato curry, and freeze them.

Bread: Instead of leaving bread out on the counter, store it in the refrigerator or freezer. Use stale bread to make croutons, French toast, bread pudding or breadcrumbs. Chambrot revives old bread by spritzing it with water and putting it in the oven at 350 degrees for about five minutes.

Cereal: How can something made from mostly flour be so expensive? If you spot a good sale on your favorite, stock up! Unopened, it’s good for at least a year, and opened, for about three months.

You can also freeze any opened cereal in a resealable plastic bag. If you have an excess, make cereal treat bars or press-in pie crusts. You can also use crushed, unsweetened cereal like cornflakes as a stand-in for breadcrumbs.

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