Here are a few tips and tricks that should help you save money on groceries while reducing food waste.
Right now, more and more of us are looking to find ways that we can reduce food waste and save some money. We’re growing increasingly aware of the amount of damage human activity is having on the Earth and we’re looking for ways to stop the unnecessary waste of food that is perfectly good to eat.
At the same time, we’re living through a cost-of-living crisis that means money is tight for many of us and we really do need to be savvy with all of our spendings, including money spent on grocery shopping. To help you along the way with both of these ventures, here are a few top tips and tricks that should help!
Meal Plan
First, it’s a good idea to start meal planning. All too many people will visit the store on a daily basis, picking up ingredients for individual meals and throwing away what’s left over. Not only is this wasteful, but it’s costly too! Instead, by meal planning (the process of deciding what you’ll have for each meal for the upcoming week in advance), you can choose meals that use up all of the ingredients you have at hand, making sure that you use up all of each ingredient. This reduces waste and reduces the amount you need to buy too, so solves both problems at once. If you want support with this, there are plenty of meal planning guides and calendars to fill in online!
Eat Leftovers
If you don’t finish all of the meals that you have, it’s a good idea to safely store them and eat the leftovers later. They could serve as a good snack or lunch the next day, or if they can be frozen, they could even serve as a dinner next week or beyond. To safely store leftovers, make sure to read instructions online about the specific foods you’re trying to store. It’s a good idea to invest in some quality Tupperware designed for food storage, as this will be the most sanitary storage option. You also usually have to leave food to cool down before refrigerating or freezing it.
Buy “Ugly” Foods
We’ve come to life in a society where people expect foods to look certain ways. Perfectly round tomatoes. Smooth, straight carrots. Firm and plump strawberries. But the truth is that a lot of food goes to waste as a result of leaving the “uglier” and “less than perfect” foods on the shelf. By picking up the ugly-looking fruit and vegetables, you are ensuring that they are eaten and that they don’t go to waste. You may also find offers for foods that don’t look so great on sites like NetVoucherCodes.co.uk, by shopping stores’ “imperfect” ranges or with supermarket yellow label stickers. This means that you can save money by doing this too!
Donate to Food Banks
Have you bought some food that you don’t like? Or that you simply know you’re not going to get through before it reaches its use-by date? This is when you should donate to food banks. Right now, increasing numbers of people are struggling to put food on their tables and are relying on food banks to provide them with sufficient nutrition to get by and feed their dependents. Of course, you can’t hand over already opened food to food banks. But if you have unopened food that is within its use by date, this will always be much appreciated and will ensure that the food goes to somebody who needs it.
Compost
Of course, we’re all going to leave some element of food waste from our meals. There are certain parts of foods or seeds that we simply can’t eat, such as banana skins or apple cores and seeds. This doesn’t have to be something you throw away though. Instead, why not consider composting? Composting is when you use leftover ingredients, placing them in a composting heap or composting bin, to create plant fertiliser. You can then use this to fertilise the soil in your own garden or you can give it to friends, family or local businesses who may be able to use it in their outdoor spaces. This is a good way to make something out of the food you have no use for.
As you can see, there are a fair amount of ways to make sure that you’re saving food and saving money at the same time. Hopefully, each of the tips above will help to guide you on your journey and ensure that you eat well while saving all around!
This is a collaborative post.
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