Hey everyone! Today I want share with you 10 simple ideas for how to save money on food. I am sure that I’m not the only one who’s looking to stretch their grocery budget right now, and as much as I love the idea of “Grow your own food,” frankly, that is not really possible for everyone. During the pandemic, I lived in the heart of the city on a property ravaged by squirrels and raccoons (and occasionally, I know from past garden efforts, people).

So, as much as you might like to plant some seeds and hope for tomatoes, I know that for some it just doesn’t seem like it would work that way.

Scroll down to learn some simple ways for how to save money on food, even when growing your own is not an option.

1. Plan Your Meals

This might seem obvious. But for those of us who live in the city (on a normal day), meal planning seems to fall by the wayside sometimes. In the past, sometimes living so close to the grocery store has made me a little bit more lazy, but that’s not really a great excuse.

Planning meals ahead will help you to make better shopping lists and think through the cost of what you’re making more strategically. Oh, and side note- Running out to the store frequently is more money spent in gas if you’re driving. So, plan ahead!

2. Eat In; and Don’t Order Takeout!

It’s always way more cost effective to prepare your own food than to have someone else do it for you! Takeout can be so tempting, especially if you live in the city and haven’t been very good at planning… But cooking your own food is by far the better way to go, both for your expenses and for your health.

3. Shop No Name Brands

It’s true that sometimes no name brands are not as good as the name brand stuff. Yet, in my experience, 95% of the time, that isn’t the case. Your cheap grocery store brand items are often just as good, and you can save a fortune by shopping that way. So if you haven’t done it yet, try it out!

4. Plan to Use Inexpensive Fruits and Vegetables

Think root vegetables, lettuce, tomatoes, herbs, & cucumbers. Plan for apples instead of berries. When it comes to getting the healthy stuff, get it (and sometimes, yes, get something nice); but you can make some really great food with inexpensive fruits and veggies. So, save the asparagus for a fancy dinner, and opt for a green salad on a regular day.

Personally, I like to have some basics for making salad on hand all the time, and then stock up on root vegetables like potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, or beets. These can all be roasted, made into soups, or just cooked and seasoned how you like them.

5. Use Meat to Make More Than One Dish

Here’s a favourite of mine. Boil chicken, beef or pork in a large pot with lots of water, some salt and onion. (See my examples for detailed instructions). Now you’ve got a bunch of great broth for a couple of meals, and a bunch of cooked meat for something else.

Soup doesn’t need to have tons of meat in it, so I personally like to do this by making lots of broth with whatever meat I have. Then, I use some of it to make a soup, and I save some of it in the freezer for a future soup or other recipe. Finally, I divide the meat out and save it for something else. Here’s an example of how to do this, using chicken.

Example: The Multi-Meal Chicken

• Prep
  

  Place a whole raw chicken in a large stock pot with about 2 Tbsp salt, 1/2 an onion, and at least 1 gallon (16-20 cups) of water. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and cook until the chicken is cooked through and the broth has a rich colour (about 2 hours). When the meat is done, remove it from the broth, and clean the chicken off of the bones, saving the bones and fat for another soup.

  You can discard the onion, and put 2/3 of the meat away for another meal.

• Meal 1

  Put some of the broth and the 1/3 of chicken into a smaller pot; season it how you like it. For seasoning, I use a bit more salt to taste, and then place some peppercorns, parsley, a bay leaf or two, and allspice into a large tea ball to simmer in the broth. You can also add some chopped up veggies to make it more hearty, and then simmer it all with the seasoning for 30 minutes. Serve over rice or noodles.

  The extra broth, bones & fat, and remainder of the chicken can all be frozen for a future meal.

• Meal 2
  

  Use your extra broth to make a cream of potato or broccoli soup. It’s inexpensive, flavourful, and delicious.

• Meal 3
  

  Use the rest of the cooked chicken to make chicken curry, butter chicken, or stir fry to serve over rice or noodles!

• Meal 4
  

  Cook the bones and fat in your crock pot or instant pot, covered generously with water, with a bit of salt, a dash of apple cider vinegar, and another onion. Let this cook on low for 20-24 hours in the crock pot or at high pressure for 6 hours in the instant pot, and you will have a rich, nutrient rich bone broth for another chicken soup meal or to save in your freezer as a base for another recipe.

I think that’s pretty great; don’t you? One piece of meat can be made into 4 meals, at least! And, the best part is, all of those meals can be made to serve a lot of people!

This can be done with other kinds of meat as well; I’m currently going for a 3-meal version with some good Italian sausage.

6. Stre-e-etch It Out!

Here’s a great thing that we did a lot at home (growing up with 11 siblings helps with these kinds of learning experiences). Meat is expensive, so stretch it out with grains or veggies! If you don’t have enough meat for your curry dish, try adding some chopped potatoes or cauliflower in addition. Or, when you’re making meatballs or stuffed peppers, mix the meat with rice or quinoa to make it go further.

7. Cook Vegetarian Meals

I love meat, but I do try to avoid eating it every day – the cost adds up! Try making fried rice with bits of scrambled egg in there, or make beans your meal’s protein instead of meat. You can also serve pasta with a basic tomato sauce and cheese, or top it with a good homemade cheese sauce with some veggies on the side.

8. Stock Up on Cheap, Non-Perishable Staples

Pretty much everything is cheaper when you buy it in bulk. So, when it comes to buying things like rice, pasta, beans, flour, oats, etc – Get it in bulk! You’ll save money in the end, and those are things that won’t go bad for a very long time.

9. Eat Grains for Breakfast

Cereal and milk are both expensive, and serving your eggs with a side of bacon is pricey as well. So if you’re a cold cereal eater or a bacon lover, try switching it up by eating hot grains or toast for breakfast instead. Personally, I love making oatmeal in the morning with some homemade applesauce on top. Also, eggs and toast might be my favourite breakfast, which leads me to my last point…

10. Make Your Own Bread!

You can save so much money, and experience so much more joy in your life, by making your own bread! It’s not hard, and you can literally make a loaf of bread for under $1 in cost to yourself. If you need some direction, I have some recipes that might help. Here are some personal favourites:

• Easy French Bread
• Easy Whole Wheat Bread
• Easy No-Knead White Sourdough Bread
• Montreal Style Bagels
• Sourdough Sesame Montreal Style Bagels

These simple recipes are worth every second of effort, and your budget (and your family) will thank you!

I hope you found this helpful! Let me know if you think there’s anything I missed: What do you find to be effective ways of saving money on food? Let me know in the comments!

Back soon!

–Naomi

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