If anyone asks me the first thing they should do to start saving money, I always without fail tell them that the absolute first thing to start with is to look at their food shopping habits.
Meal planning is a must for me but I need to make sure I’m organised in order to do that successfully and make sure that our shopping budget is as low as possible, while still making sure that we eat well.
I make sure that I plan our meals for the following week before I go shopping and that I use food that we already have in where possible to keep my shopping bill down. To make sure I get everything I need I take a shopping list with me when I go which will cut down on last minute mid week trips to the shop where I ALWAYS buy more than I went for. Another thing that helps keep my shopping bill down is the fact that I’m always ready to adapt my meal plan on the go if I see something on offer or reduced.
Just by taking a little bit of time to plan, I can keep our weekly budget down which in turn means that we don’t have to do without and we can eat well for our money and afford treats.
But once you’ve done all of that, what else can you do to keep costs down?
We know you can try the budget brands and the value brands which is great and I’ve written about it in the past here and we also know there are lots of ways to save money by reducing the food you waste as you can see here. But would you be tempted to save money by eating food you didn’t like the taste of?
I’m asking because I read an interesting post on Facebook today and it made me think about where I would draw the line with being frugal. Basically, a lady had burned her toast but made herself eat it rather than waste the bread. She said it tasted awful but she really didn’t want to waste the bread and whilst I admire the frugal side of this situation, I would have just thrown the burnt toast away and started again. I was actually quite surprised by the amount of people who agreed with her so it got me think about how far people will go to save money.
What about out of date food? Would you eat bread that was out of date by a day or so if it looked OK or chicken the day after it went out of date it if passed the ‘sniff’ test?
I’d love to hear your thoughts as I’m genuinely interested.
P.S Not everyone agrees with me on meal planning though and you’ll see why if you have a quick look at Emma’s post here – she managed to get over £100 worth of food for under £10 which is amazing. In the past when I’ve managed to get similar (nowhere near as much of a bargain though) I’ve managed to make use of it all by freezing a lot of it and getting it out day by day ready for the next day’s meals.
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Shop for food with a list and stick to it.Individuals who do food shopping with a list, and purchase little else,spend a great deal less money than the individuals who choose what to purchase when they get to the food market.The yearly reserve funds could without much of a stretch be many dollars.
-)Megan Cole.
Such A great post Cass ! And food planning is awesome idea and surly helpful for reducing waste.I normally see use by dates on some products like milk,sweets and other liquid food products.
I do buy more and more budget stuff, and shop more at Lidls. I hate burnt toast though, so would have thrown it away! Kaz x
I ignore expiration dates I am much better at smelling what is fresh enough to eat. I try to use the first in first out process on canned goods but never throw them out unless I open them they smell off.
I don't eat bread but when I did I would've scraped the burned part off and ate the toast…Good excuse to add a yummy topping.
I try to can up or put things that are going off in the freezer or to the chickens. I do still have some food waste, sometimes rice that got lost in the fridge. Usually veg I can't feed the chickens,vas my college-age son and elderly mother don't eat as many veggies as they should. My husband only eats the veggies because I packed them up for him as he gets a short lunch break.
Protein is never wasted around here, as there's always college kids around to eat any excess. They make nachos out of any leftover or canned protein we have on hand.
I admittedly end up freezing quite a few things like fruit and veg.
Because my husband works a variety of shifts, meal planning is an absolute must. We use our common sense over best before dates and like to buy reduced items and freeze them so that they last a lot longer. We've also found that it's not a good idea to do the weekly food shop when you're hungry!
I'm not sure I'd go as far as to eat burnt toast but it's good to not be wasteful….and I really need to get better at meal planning, I'm much too impulsive with meals!!
Meal planning is an essential and so is ignoring best before dates and using your eyes and nose instead.
I'd have definitely binned the toast and made a fresh one. That's just because burnt toast is inedible to me. I always microwave my tea if I don't finish it, and eat out of date food (within reason) as long as it looks and smells ok xx
i buy lots of close to date items and tend to freeze them .. if its one or 2 days over it has to have the sniff test!
Being able to freeze things is such a help – I lived for 4 / 5 years in a flat that didn't have room for a freezer I don't know how I managed it lol
I go to a catering butcher once a month for our meat (although I can often make it last 2 months.) By buying in bulk and freezing in separate freezer bags we save a fortune on supermarket meat -especially as I don't feed my family processed foods-fresh meat from the big 4 tends to be too highly priced in my opinion. We have a "meat" freezer in the garage and just take out one pack of whatever we want the night before. having it all portioned up means its easy to calculate how many meat meals we have left and makes meal planning a doodle.
I would never eat burnt toast! I think meal planning is a great idea though and I freeze meat and defrost it the day before I intend to use it.
I save money where I can, but I do think you can go 'too cheap' with things like meat, where, if you buy the very cheap versions, you are paying for an awful lot of fat and gristle!
I'm careful with my foods and think how ,any meals I can get out of shopping I hate waste . I've scraped toast before
I tend to be cautious with foods with a “use by” date, this is used when foods are unsafe after this date. I will only use them if I know the production process and the risks or if I’m using them in a specific application. For example, I will use plain yogurt which is a day out of date happily in a tikka marinade knowing it will be cooked. I will use hard cheeses like cheddar after their use by date as long as there is no sign of mould.
I don’t do this with raw chicken because the initial microbiological loading could be very high and the cooking process might not kill it all off.
By the way, smelling a food rarely helps. Most pathogens produce no odours.
I use basic ranges for passata, tinned tomatoes, hand soap, fruits and vegetables but the one thing I’ve turned into a right snob about is yogurt. I am a Greek yogurt snob.
I use my nose on "out of date" food, and HATE food wastage. I know there is a programme on telly called Extreme Penny Pinchers, or something like that, and it's a real eye opener the lengths people go to to save money!
I think we all have our own personal line xx
I would have scraped the burnt bit off and eaten unless it was completely carbonised.
Also with out of date products I use my common sense, if it's only slightly over it'm probably good for use, I open, sniff and assess. It's all about using your common sense I think
I like good food so I don't think I'd have eaten the burnt toast. If it could be salvaged by cutting off the worst bits I'd have given that a go. Otherwise it would be out for the birds. I try to avoid wasting food by meal planning, but I'm happy to splash out on good quality ingredients now and again.
Hello, I have been an avid follower of your blog for sometime now and I have picked up several tips ..e.g the 80 ideas for your bored jar. For me, I scrap the burnt bit off the toast, slap on some butter or marmalade and bingo…it does have to be just a little burnt though, not totally.
I made some soup yesterday from packed vegetables that I got from the supermarket with a use by date of 12th March, it was good!
I would eat best before food but if it was use buy I would only if it was a day or so past the date and it smelt and tasted ok
I will buy reduced items and freeze them to keeo them fresh and I have used the sniff test on chicken many a time
I plan, plan, plan and aim to spend not more than £2.00 a day. It's just me so, with planning and making almost everything from scratch, it is fairly straightforward. I don't have to worry about children and whether they will like it or not.
I make my own bread and use half strong, half value flour when I need to. I look up recipes on the internet. I read frugal blogs and take ideas on board. I make double amounts when possible and then split into three (it's having a positive effect on my weight as well).
J x
I have to say, I am guilty of eating burnt toast on a tight week… but it was that or a tin of tuna or the like for breakfast at that point! lol Generally speaking though, if I end up with meat that needs to be used up that day and I know I wont get the chance it gets thrown in the freezer with a label saying it needs to be cooked same day as thawing.
I'm afraid I'm a bit of a food snob and my shopping bills are not frugal. With fruit and veg I'll go by smell and look rather than dates but not meat. I do find that meal planning and writing a shopping list is a necessity though, or my already high bill will give me hear attack.
I dont really go by use by dates on fruit, vegetables and bread products, I think they are easy to tell whether they are ok to eat or not just by having a quick look at it (also you can smell the change in bread too) other foods I do stick to use by dates though, best before dates on fridge stuff will generally be ok for another day and tinned or packet stuff with best before date is used as soon as we can but the date is ignored
Meal planning is an excellent idea and does indeed help with reducing waste I would not eat burn't toast however I would scrap it and blitz it to made bread crumbs to add to soups burgers etc so no waste at all.
I wouldn’t go as far as eating burnt toast but with regards to food dates I would go with using my common sense rather than going by the date. If it looks off or smells off then don’t eat it otherwise it’s probably fine and why waste money throwing things out that you don’t need to
oooh see this is why i freeze all my fresh meat and take it out on the day it being used or night before if its for dinner and a large joint
Me too. If you're lucky enough to have a freezer it really helps to eliminate food waste.
I am very aware of use by dates but I would probably use meat the day, maximum of two days over if it looked ok and didn't have any funky smell
A few days ago I made my husband homemade chili con carne to go on his hotdogs. I made that much it made another 2 meals. I like to do an online shop that way my meals are planned and I am less likely to buy things we don't need as the "offers" in store sometimes end up in my basket if I go into the shop and end up binned x