1. Plan your weekly meals
Creating–and sticking to–a meal plan helps to avoid impulse buying and reduce food waste. Use our free My RICARDO tool as your trusted kitchen ally when it comes to selecting your weekday recipes and creating your grocery list.
2. Cook in batches
Batch cooking involves cooking large portions of food for future enjoyment. This allows for extras to be frozen, ensuring you always have meals available. Plus, cooking large quantities of food means you’ll need a bigger number of ingredients. Buying ingredients in bulk is therefore ideal, because they have a lower unit cost. You can also take advantage of foods on sale when cooking meals to enjoy later.
3. Repurpose leftovers
Transform whatever’s left in your fridge into soups, stir-fries and more. This is a great money-saving resolution, because not only are you reducing food waste (and not throwing out ingredients you’ve already paid for!), but you can practically put together a whole meal without having to spend any extra money using ingredients you already have at home.
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Waste Management
4. Choose seasonal and local ingredients
Choose produce that is in season. Not only is it more flavourful, but also more affordable. The reasons? Fruits and vegetables are harvested in larger quantities, have reduced transportation costs because they’re grown locally, and require less energy and other resources, making production rather cost effective. All of this means you pay less at the grocery store!
5. Eat less meat
Reducing your consumption will surely help you save on your grocery bill, as meat can be rather expensive. Alternative plant-based proteins include tofu, beans and lentils; these are not only more affordable, but also very nutritious.
6. Buy in bulk
Save money by replenishing your pantry with staples like rice, pasta, legumes, spices and flour. Buying in bulk reduces the cost per unit of products, minimizes packaging costs, and allows you to stock up on non-perishables, reducing the need to make frequent trips to the store down the road. You can also buy family packs at the meat counter and freeze for later use.
7. Order out less
Avoid those delivery apps (and their exorbitant fees!) by cooking more and more at home. This will help to save you money because by preparing your own meals, you can control the ingredients, portion size and overall expenses.
8. Track your grocery spending
Use whatever method works best for you, whether it’s an Excel spreadsheet, a grocery spending journal, monitoring your bank statements or using a budgeting app. What’s most important is setting your weekly or monthly budget and sticking to it! By being aware of how much you’re spending, you’ll be able to make adjustments as needed and prioritize the essentials.
For more ways to save in the kitchen this year, be sure to consult our selection of articles: