In this video Chelsea breaks down the reasons why your grocery bill might be "eating" into your budget. For more tips on how to save and "store" those funds check out this video : ruclips.net/video/DZ6MqyQwnBg/видео.html
I think a huge reason I have started saving more on my groceries is that I have gotten more confident with cooking. The more you are willing to go off-recipe the more confident you feel swapping an expensive ingredient out for a cheaper substitute, or just whipping something up based on what produce is on sale and what you already own.
Cooking ,much like mastering your budget, takes practice to build that confidence and skill. If you stick with it you get your just "desserts" in the end.
Yes, totally agree. Our meals are based are what we have in house that needs using first. We have learned over time the spices/ flavours etc we tend to reach for and keep those in all the time. I taste as I'm cooking and most of the time we eat tasty meals. Occasionally an experimental meal goes a bit wrong but it's never inedible.
#1 A lack of planning #2 Not getting deals on Staples #3 Maybe you're a meataholic #4 Fridge or freezer neglect #5 Overstocking #6 One time events #7 Ignoring the seasons #8 You don't have any back pocket recipes #9 Following deals too often
Fun fact: I initially became a vegetarian for ethical reasons, but the financial and mental health benefits have been the reason I remain one to this day. As a single person living alone, I had to trim a lot of things from my budget, including the amount of money I spent on takeout. Becoming a vegetarian simplified my shopping list, made it cheaper, and massively trimmed down the amount of mental and physical labor needed to cook for myself at home. I grew up thinking that meat was essential for a meal to be a meal. But meat is not only expensive, it's a labor intensive part of a dish as well. It needs to be used immediately or frozen and thawed upon use. This takes time and effort to plan for. It also usualy needs to be stored, chopped, and cooked separately due to cross-contamination concerns, which leaves you with more time invested in the cooking process and more dishes to wash at the end of the night. And it's expensive. Becoming a vegetarian or a vegan is not for everyone, but what IS for everyone is taking a good hard look at what they THINK they need to put in a meal compared to what they realistically can accomplish both financially and mentally. Reframing the way I look at meals and what ingredients I incorporate into them has made cooking a cheaper and more enjoyable experience for me now. I cook in the way that's best for me, and I'm far less tempted by takeout because I'm no longer trying to fulfill someone else's idea of what makes a meal a meal.
Yeah! No worries about sanitation, separate cutting boards, no doing dishes separate anymore. Vegan egg replacement for baking is equivalent to 34 eggs! And I've seen it in stores for only $3. High protein plant foods are so much cheaper. You can also buy plant milks that do not need refrigeration until opened, so you'll always have it on hand and dont have to worry about spoilage. I save so much money being vegan, even though I do buy vegan snacks and treats sometimes! It makes me more selective so I get the snacks I really want
I agree meat needs to be cooked sepereately but it doesn’t need to be used the same day or freezed to last. At least if you buy from a grocery store where it is packaged in plastic etc then it is at least a week sometimes several. Or maybe your country is different? I always eat pork when I eat meat except when I buy minced where it is 50/50 pork and beef... so maybe there’s a slight difference because of it but not much. But, despite this note I am glad you found something that worked better for you. Personally judging by what my grocery stores have if you want meat /chicken substitutes included in your diet compared to the real thing going vegetarian would be more expensive but I guess things made from scratch yourself could be way cheaper.
I was vegan for a year then decided to go off the wagon. Well, I’d forgotten the mess, the smell throughout the house wasn’t as clean and fresh as I’d gotten used to, and the hassle of rushing home with the purchase and finally cleaning up the grease. Won’t do that again!
Wow. Meat is literally the simplest food to cook. You can literally cook it in a hot pan for like 5-10 minutes and it's done. The only other ingredients you need are salt & optional butter, or oil No chopping, no cutting board, throw the package in the trash, wipe the pan I was vegan 3 years. Vegan meals are very time intensive & absolutely take more planning.
One suggestion is to shop in ethnic food stores for spices, sauces, rice and beans. Buying these items at a regular grocery store is expensive. Great places to shop for these items are Asian, Mexican and South Asian (Indian) food stores. My wife and I eat a lot of chickpeas. We buy them at an Indian food store for $2/lb. a great food value. For the uninitiated it may seem intimidating, there are always fellow shoppers and employees to help you. Keep in mind that some of the items are not packaged in a fancy way, it's contents that really count. A pressure cooker to cook dried legumes is cheaper than buying canned canned beans. As Jaques Pepin says "Happy cooking!".
@@user-ww6ii6zn8m Great! The dirty little secret is that grocery chains cost more because they buy from distributers, which is just another middleman and vendors have to pay the store slotting fees which consumers pay for.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slotting_fee All this doesn't add value for food shoppers. Only lines the pockets of businesses.
Even sometimes in the same store you can find it for much cheaper in the "international" aisle. For example, McCormick spices might be a few bucks for a small canister in the spice aisle- you can find a restaurant sized jar of chili for less near the Mexican food.
To reduce food waste, we have found having a use-it-up meal each week helps. On Fridays I make pizza dough and we top it with stuff we have on hand so one week it might have just things out of jars, another week I might whizz up some pesto from leftover greens, another time it might have leftover roast veggies and cheese, whatever. But you could also do a similar thing with pasta salad, stir fry, or just an "appetizer buffet" depending on what types of leftover bits you tend to have at the end of the week.
@@deniseeldred5525 I make something called "scramby surprise" because it's scrambled eggs with whatever vegetables or other ingredients we currently have in the fridge!
Every few weeks, I try to skip the grocery store for one week and clear out as much of my pantry and freezer as possible! It’s no good to have a stocked kitchen if you’re using let those 3 cans of mushrooms and tomato purée just sit there indefinitely. Having a week dedicated to using up my pantry staples and frozen meats and veggies is a fun challenge to whip up creative recipes and saves $$$!!
An extra tip for the day of the big shop: buy something that you can eat straight away, or that just needs heating. This will stop you ordering a takeaway because you can’t be arsed to prepare the proper food you just bought.
Joyce Gonzales yup, on grocery day I get a rotisserie chicken with fresh French bread too. I’m usually too tired after putting everything away to properly cook anything.
@@joycegonzales4994 rotisserie chicken are great because you can have chicken as an entre one night, save the rest of the meat for other meals, and simmer the carcass for homemade stock!!
And learn where things should be stored in order to last the longest! For example, onions tend to do better if you store them outside the refrigerator (they get too moist inside the fridge and go bad faster). Firm fruits (apples, peaches, oranges, even technical fruits like bell peppers) do well inside the crisper drawer of your fridge where moisture will be trapped and help keep them firm, but leafy greens need to be stored out of the drawer because that extra moisture makes them wilt and rot faster. Figure out where the coldest part of your refrigerator is (typically along the back near the cooling unit) and store things that go bad quickly in that area (berries, mushrooms, etc.). If you know where things like to be stored, you don't have to stress quite as much about using them up quickly. Also, if you are willing to take on a houseplant or two (or three, or more!), growing a few of your own herbs is a big saver. I bought a basil plant for $7 early this year. I have dried an entire mason jar's worth of basil leaves off of it (which would cost me, like, $25 or more in the dried herb section of the grocery store), as well as used fresh leaves from it on numerous occasions. And there's still lots of leaves left as it keeps growing back! Same situation with my parsley and rosemary plants. If there's an herb or two you tend to use a lot, consider just growing your own in a windowsill.
Re: the apple situation, make a crisp! Cut the apples, season with lemon juice, sugar, pinch of salt and preferred spices. Top with flour/oat mixture (3/4 cup flour, 1 cup oats, butter) and bake. Easy non-baker friendly option :)
As a piece of advice I would suggest not to put anything in a freezer without labeling. You’ll have very vague memory what was that and when it was frozen, so most likely you’ll just toss it.
Before I had my baby I did a bunch of freezer cooking. It sure saved us a lot of money when we were sleep deprived and the last thing we wanted to do was cook 😊🍴
I love #3!! We didn't start eating meat so much until the mid-twentieth century. I asked my mom and a few other older adults what they used to eat and a lot of it was beans, cornbread, and veggies. They ate chicken maybe once a week and deer meat during hunting season. We don't NEED meat in our diets all the time!
That's because back in those times you actually had to kill and butcher animals yourself. It was a pain in the ass, so people had to plan out their slaughter. This is why fairs are still traditionally held in late summer/early fall; that was the season animals were killed and meat was stored for winter. - Disclosure: I'm not claiming that meat eating is good. I'm a vegetarian and encourage everyone to be responsible about their meat consumption.
Great tips!! I dont plan my meals, but I plan my grocery shopping. I buy the same ingredients and cook them in different ways. You'll be surprised how many meals one can come up with the same simple ingredients. Budgeting is very important! Thanks for sharing.
Great video! One comment about the full fridge, though. A full fridge actually uses LESS energy than an empty one. Once the food is at fridge temperature, it holds that temp more efficiently than empty air in the fridge. Let your leftovers cool to room temp before putting them in the fridge to use less energy to cool them.
My secret weapons to avoid food waste: 1) label everything in the fridge, 2) transfer leftovers into fresh, smaller (labeled) containers as the old container starts to look crusty; this makes leftovers feel fresh and tasty again 3) I designate the fridge shelf at eye level for (well labeled) foods I want everyone to eat so no one has to hunt when they're hungry. My food label hack is to cut labels out of "white board" vinyl sticker sheets which I write on with a wax pencil (like they have in the bulk bins). I peel the stickers off and reuse until they've lost their stickiness.
I recommend planning your meals 1 week in advance, and then creating your shopping list from there. I have a few different lists of meals we enjoy, categorized by protein type. I typically cook 3-4 meals a week, and usually cook every other day. I try to have 1 meal with chicken, 1 meal with beef, and at least 1 vegetarian meal per week. This keeps me from making any one recipe too often, and helps us to vary our protein sources. I also keep a separate list of those "staple" items and how quickly we use them up. For example, I buy milk and yogurt every week, pasta and oats every other week, and rice and beans every month. Of course I always check that I have everything I need for each recipe on hand when I plan the meals for the week, but having that list and knowing when we are likely to run out of things helps a lot!
A tip my mom gave me very young was to make sure to clean out/pull everything out of your fridge and cabinets before you go shopping. That way you have touched everything in you kitchen and will know what you actually need.
"people think badge cooking is very depressing" - that few months of my life when I didn't have a freezer and had to cook one single portion just for me almost every night were the most depressing months in my life. Now, when I feel like it, I cook badges almost every night that I can freeze so I have all my meals ready for next week when I might not feel like it.
hi from the uk, family of 4, so plenty of fruits and veg here. I really recommand to invest in a slow cooker as you can buy cheaper cuts of meats and because you slow cook it it , it is not tough. also when I do a cauliflower cheese for 4 I do a second one for the freezer and sometime add 2 individual one. I bought few size of pyrex so I can go from freezer to oven. I bought lot of peaches tins and pears one when 35p as around xmas they will go to double the price . basically buy your tinned fruits when in seasons too and keep them for out of season. the other thing I am doing is training the kids and making a folder for each of them with 14 diners receipes for each seasons, easy cheap stapple mostly freezable too and 4/5 pudding one per seasons. teach your kids guys, show them how to portion curry and freeze it and show them batch cooking. the other thing I do is watching for clearing item my last shopping trip I bought quite a few of peppers, cooked them straight away in the oven and added them to coucous salad in theit lunch boxes, to rice diner and pasta and froze some already cooked to add to passata when we have pasta. I really beleve if you invest in few good tupperware, mine are lock and lock it will help. the other thing I buy is those disc that you put in your veg drawer and fruit bowl , they absorbe the methane so the fruits and veg last longer I use ecoegg ones they last 3 months each. educate yourself with food conservation , like washing strawberry with white vinegar may keep them longer /2 days more than just storring the punnet directly in the fridge
Make applesauce with those apples! Not only can you use either a slow cooker or a pot to make it, its super easy to make. You can freeze the excess to use later and it won't go bad for a while. My family has applesauce in the freezer that was prepared a year ago and use it as an egg substitute for baking. Another simple thing to make with apples is to slice them ring style, sprinkle some sugar and cinnamon on them, bake for a few minutes to make apple crisps.
My husband and I got SUPER strict around meal planning while we were both at new jobs and in the at delay period while waiting for our first pay checks. £10 per WEEK. After the money started rolling in again we kept it up. Our grocery bills are pretty low now and we have NO food waste at all. I love it. I'm a meal planning evangelist!
One thing I have found that is really helpful is buying in bulk and freezing, especially for hardy veggies/herbs, veggies in season, or meat. This can work for homegrown veggies as well! For example, I will buy carrots and potatoes on sale, and cut and blanch them to prep them for freezing. This way you're not spending extra money on staple veggies as often because you already have them around, and you can portion/gauge how much you actually use a lot better. Plus, they don't spoil! This is also great for those veggies like hot peppers that you may not use as often, but are still necessary to have around. Cutting up and freezing a few that you picked up from the reduced rack will keep you stocked for months! I have even made my own custom frozen veggie mixes that I would have otherwise spent a lot of money on if I went out every couple of weeks to buy those packages.
I keep a sharpie by my pantry and a dry erase marker near my fridge. I put the date on packages when I open them so there's never any guesswork. Leftover ingredients and food go into reusable/washable/microwavable/freezable containers with what they are, the quantity, and the date written on the lid with dry erase marker, then straight into the fridge or freezer. Easy peasy.
I think a budget-friendly meal kit service is a great option too. I use Dinnerly which is already inexpensive, and most of the meals catered to 2 people feeds me for 3 because I don't eat large portions. It also eliminates food waste and you aren't buying unnecessary things in the grocery store.
The staple we always buy is butter! If it’s on sale at all I always pick it up. I might have multiple pounds in the freezer but when we bake, we absolute need a back stock. But we meal plan and I very rarely blow my food budget.
My back pocket soup recipe is very flexible. I saute diced garlic, onion, and a jalapeno pepper, then add vegetable broth and chopped fresh vegetables. I either add a can of tomatoes with the other vegetables, or at the very end toss in a stick of butter and half a pint or so of heavy cream. Oregano is my go-to herb. The more fresh ingredients, the more wonderful it is. It's a lot of dicing and chopping, but it lasts 3 happy days.
I love this! I definitely agree that you need to respect your cooking abilities and cooking time when selecting food and recipes. For example, I'm well into my 40's and have tried for 20+ years to learn to like cooking - or even be decent at it. A graveyard of wasted veggies, meat, and "special ingredients" has been the result. So, a few years ago, I just accepted my cooking ineptitude and stocked up on frozen food, frozen pre-cooked meats, canned fish and beans, frozen healthy meals, and microwave rice and pasta. I hate the fact that everything I use is packaged and that it's more expensive, but if it gets more fruits, veggies, and fish into my diet, it's a small victory. Plus, I'm MUCH more likely to use what I have and not waste food. :)
I had just looked at the price of Honeycrisps and happily added it to the grocery list. Less than an hour later your video had me adding a mental note to self: not too-too many!!
I eat multiple honeycrisp apples a day in Fall. They are cheap, delicious, sweet and full of fiber. A good way to avoid the office Halloween candy bowl.
I play "my drunk kitchen" which my sister created which is just mixing reasonable ingredients into a dish(tiredness is a form of drunkness). I only buy veggies with the thought that daily I have to do 400g per veggies per person. Otherwise I bulk buy any legumes and rice. Any seasonings I have are the entire flavor of the dish and make it so similarly designed foods but with different tastes entirely. Otherwise I only stock up on junk foods and emergency foods and stuff for making bread related items like pancakes from scratch and pita bread. Maybe sometimes buy some vegan meats since it's an easy 30 min meal to cut it up and mix with rice and sesame seeds
Investing in the right cooking equipment and tools can really reduce your food bill, improve your cooking quality, and increase your frequency of cooking. * If you eat soups, grains, and beans often... get an InstantPot (or other electric pressure cooker). * If you bake and/or count macros/calories... get a proper digital food scale (much more efficient & accurate than measuring cups). * If you eat eggs often... get a non-stick pan & take care of it. * If you do quite a bit of chopping or make salad dressings, sauces, or nut butters... get a mini-prep food processor. * Heat resistant silicone spatulas and metal tongs are my go to cooking utensils. * A Lodge cast iron skillet (any size, based on your cooking style) is so versatile for searing, roasting, and baking. * Get a salad spinner ($5 at Ikea). Use it to wash & dry your leafy produce. You should wash all produce. Washing conventional produce will remove the bulk of surface pesticides. Clean & dry leafy greens will last longer in the frig.
Apple Situation! Love it! Go to your local farmers market. What is there is what is in season. Support your local farmers, even if their produce costs a bit more.
LoVe garlic too! To make meal prep and batch cooking simple I smash several bulbs of garlic with a meat cleaver, chop finely then store in a mason jar with olive oil inside the fridge. This eliminates the mess of peeling and chopping garlic every time I cook. I just scoop out the desired amount for each recipe. Enjoy!
One of our back-pocket recipes is "Curried Leftovers". It's basically whatever we can glean out of the fridge jazzed up with some coconut milk and sambal olek or something of that sort. All of our bones and things like celery tops get turned into soup stock once or twice a month. We do spend a bit more to get local, pasture-raised chicken and eggs and splurged on a quarter of pastured pork last fall. The difference was unbelievable (in the taste as well as the animals' welfare).
I'm like Chelsea: love to cook, hate to do it multiple times a week. On the topic of having a few back pocket recipes on hand wherever I am, using Trello has changed my life. Apart from keeping my recipes organised and easy to update (ie, I convert amounts to metric so I'm not having to guess every single time I make the recipe), the phone app is really easy to use so I can pull it out when I'm at the supermarket and double-check what ingredients I need for whatever I'm making. It saves me from having to go home first to check the recipe book, or trying to search Google for that one recipe I saw two weeks ago. I highly recommend it.
One more point that I noticed helps me immensely with staying on a budget is to be careful WHERE you shop. The way that works best for me is making sure I get my fruit and veg at the local street market (which is on a saturday morning. I have to throw myself out of bed, but I can get over a week worth of fresh produce for me and my partner for like 10€, and we eat LOADS of veggies. That's unmatched to any supermarket I know of). Then I buy most staples (pasta, grains, milk, eggs, tinned goods, the usual stuff) at the cheapest supermarket in the area, which is not the closets to me, so again it´s a once a week or even fortnightly thing. That leaves the pricier round the corner shop only for emergency things, or little treats that are extras anyway. I'll add that I don't own a car, so the temptation to shop more locally is there. But the price difference is very real!
The thing that has completely slashed my shopping budget is i have created a pantry and i "shop" from that barring a few fesh items a week milk and eggs,fruit and veg etc,etc...it takes time to create a pantry it really does but it is so worth it,but like you say if you get the deals on the staples flour,salt,sugar,rice,dries pasta,canned fruit and veg,tamoto sauce and spices all bought in bulk because all of these items will last a very long time...you will find that a pantry can really help you out and also keep a good track on what is in your pantry so you know when you are running on a certain item
My husband and I stopped eating all animal meat M-F for the last two months. Not only have we been able to save a TON of money we feel amazing! We are less swollen, bloated, and dropped a few lbs! One of the best decisions we have made in 2019!
As someone who loves meat, probably one of the biggest impacts I've made on my food budget / meal planning is regularly prepping cooked meat ahead of time. I do pork shoulder and beef roasts in the crock pot, and tend to go for recipes that are good shredded, which is easy to portion and freezes well. Then you just have to heat it up and pair it veggies, rice, beans, whatever. It's quick and tasty, and if you keep your portions packed small, it forces you to focus on veg and other proteins as the bulk of your meal. As a single person, having things in the freezer has seriously helped cut down on my takeout habit. My current favorite go-tos are carnitas, ropa vieja, and a five-spice pork recipe.
Your freezer is your friend. I used to not go thru celery but I learn different recipes through pinterest. Now I get rid of celery all the time. Yes, look in you fridge or freeze all the time. One of the things I do to get rid of stuff is if it doesn't need to be in a large containers, I put it in smaller container. When it's in a smaller container it meaning it's time to go out of my fridge like for lunch. I down size my fridge, freezer all the time and my pantry up to date. Having recipes on hand to make things moving out of my fridge is important. I just through out dill but later found out you could freeze dill in oil, water or by it shelf. Love your show......I've learned a lot. Let's all help each other. Thanks
You could totally make a pork loin with some sweet potatoes and a few of those apples. Or skip the meat and season both with some honey and cinnamon for an easy side. Just a thought. I love cooking too so this topic is right up my alley.
I only cook twice a week (Sundays and Wednesdays) when I will make one protein to go into 2-3 different dishes plus a few sides. If I'm making something that can't be cooked ahead of time I will prep it so it's ready to go into a pot or into the oven when I get home. If I know I'm going to have a hectic week I'll buy some ready meals for Thursday or Friday because it's cheaper and healthier than restaurants or takeout. I will prep all 3 meals and snacks. Overnight oats are a life saver and if you make it in a travel mug it's portable for those crap, I'm late, "eat breakfast in the car" mornings.
For me, meal planning has made all the difference! I’ve been making a two-week plan, then putting together an order with Peapod for the last several months (initially necessitated by knee surgery), and have found that this saves us so much money and time!
To make fresh greens last longer, wash and dry completely (salad spinner). In a large square or rectangular storage container, place two layers of paper towel. Add a serving or two of greens, top with another two layers of paper towel…keep layering till the container is full or you run out of greens. Top with another layer of paper towels, seal the container, and chill in the fridge.
We meal plan every week but cook each night. This then informs our grocery shopping along with staple snacks :) It has helped us be more reasonable about what to buy... knowing portion sizes also helps us reduce excess leftovers.
At the end of the week I make a hodgepodge soup by tossing in all the leftover produce I have on hand. Sometimes the mixture seems a bit strange but it's always nutritious and I feel good about not having to throw any food out.
Fried apples fam. They go really well with most breakfast items. Oatmeal, pancakes, muffins, just add them. Also, great with deserts, and they can be frozen.
I easily get bored from eating the same thing and used to buy food that I have nowhere to stock. Now I shop for groceries every 7 to 9 days. That’s when my fridge is totally empty aside from butter and pickles. The same goes for the food cabinet: everything must go before I buy new things aside from rice, pasta and herbs. This way, I learned to be creative and make new recipes with whatever I have. Life changing.
I went from spending approx S$70 every time I shopped for groceries to spending ~S$25 every weekend for food prep thanks for meal planning. It really surprised me how much I could save when I turned to meal planning & home-cook lunch boxes. Now I can still treat myself a good dine-out once a week and still keep my budget in control haha ❤️
My family has an apple and pear tree in our yard. A dehydrator is a staple in our house for making fruit chips--usually apple. You could also dehydrate in the oven, but with our stackable dehydrator, you just set the temp (usually 135) and let it run over night (or about 12 hours).
Another tip for preparing meals, is to purchase a lot of herbs and spices. Whipping up a dish is so much easier when you have some any different spices to add to a dish! I am a Nigerian-American so having these staples was a norm and helped so much when creating various non Nigerian dishes!
@The Financial Diet can you do a video on freezing dish tips - what can freeze, how long is it good for, what should I freeze separate from the rest of its dish etc.
Had the same problem with plums last month. I made plum sauce, chutney and jam. Applesauce is super easy too. Use it on oatmeal or pancakes, individual apple crisp, side for meat. It still works with fruit that's past its prime and surplus can be frozen or canned.
To combat a lot of this, I use an app called Out of Milk. It allows you to scan the items in your home and keep tabs on when they expire and how much is left; I also use it to keep price lists for every store and compile grocery lists. It’s especially useful for keeping track of spices. I canNOT recommend a Foodsaver enough. I live alone and can use that to freeze-and label-in bags or use Mason jars (BPA free and fridge, freezer, and dishwasher safe). I label by Mason jars-which can also be vacuum sealed-using a dry erase marker. Mason jars are also stackable and since they’re glass, you can see their contents. If you can see it, you’re more likely to eat it. Lastly, make sure you meal plan with overlap: if you buy cabbage, don’t buy it just for ONE dish-make sure you’re gonna be using it in at least three. Are you only gonna but oyster sauce for ONE dish and never use it again? Well...maybe don’t buy that oyster sauce. Can you borrow it from a friend or neighbor who may have a drawer full of it from Chinese takeout? Offer to take it off their hands. If not-don’t name that dish. If you aren’t going to use I ingredients on more than one thing, wait to make that dish.
I think learning how to preserve items like fruit or veggies or utilize them in different is such a great skill. I've made raisins with older grapes, you can canned apples, make apple sauce, use up miscellaneous carrots and green beans from a strew by pickling them, freeze herbs in broth, etc. Everyone knows the old banana to bread trick but you can take it further. Canning isn't as hard as you think, you can also dehydrate things for longer shelf life. This is what previous generations did before convenience and abundance. I hate wasting food, especially produce!
I've been meal prepping since 2014 but I've only been started paying attention to my shopping habits since I started going to Trader Joe's in 2017. It's not very close to my house and nothing else I need is in that area so therefore I only go to that area 4 grocery shopping. The one near my job I only go to if I need something quickly cause I won't have much time to shop for it before work and I'll have to travel with it to work then home that night. I live in Brooklyn and work in Manhattan so the distance always makes me think twice. I used to go the grocery store across the street from my gym so I was in the area at least 3 times a week. I would buy produce that would go bad before I could use it but since I would be in the area again that week throwing it out and replacing it would not be the biggest deal.
Late to the game so you probably won't see this, but with meal prepping I love making things that can be used in really different recipes (roasting chicken, making quinoa/ rice, roasting veggies) and then using these in different meals. This lets you meal prep without a freezer while still eating varied food.
My current favourite "back pocket recipe" is cooked tortellini (either expensive from the fridge or the vacuum sealed shelf stable stuff) with a tin of tomatoes with garlic and Italian herbs (or napoli/marinara sauce) a big hand full of spinach and 100g of cream cheese. Sooooo quick and easy to make, on the table in under 15 min and has a serve of veg which is a must whenever I cook. Edit: boil tortellini, simmer tomato, herbs and garlic, before serving add spinach and cream cheese, stir until you get a pink and creamy sauce.
My personal favorite for leftovers is stir fry or bastardized panaag curry. Stir fry, I start with a onion and saute that until it gets a bit of color, add garlic and (if I have it) ginger, then add an egg and cook that until just shy of finished, then add veggies and protein (I usually use tofu or hard boiled eggs, but you can use meat if you have it). Cook until soft/desired consistency and add rice, soy sauce, and mayo (if I have it) to thicken everything. Bastardized panaag: Start some rice. Then, same as above, I start with frying a whole onion until it gets some color. Then I add a panaag spice mix I like that I keep on hand for this recipe and stir until reasonably dispersed then add half a can of coconut milk (either normal or lite). Cook/stir until well mixed. Add veggies/protein cook until desired. Add leftover half can of coconut milk and thin with water if desired. Add either sugar or peanut butter (for peanut-y taste) and serve with rice/whatever I have.
I keep a running inventory of everything in my pantry, by food category. I have a menu plan that is basically a bunch of "suggestions" based off what I have in my pantry and the food safety principle: FIFO (First In, First Out) for rotation. That way I only need one or two items per trip in order to complete the list of ingredients needed for the recipes on my menu. I can go a long time in between trips to the store. I keep powdered milk on hand to use in things that don't require fresh milk (saving the fresh milk for my tea, etc.). I keep sour cream handy and substitute it for milk or cream in casseroles, quick breads, etc. As soon as I get my produce home I trim it all up, blanch it (if needed) and get it straight into the freezer to use when convenient. I repackage and freeze the meats right away, too. Because I am pretty strict about FIFO, I rarely have any waste. And with the running inventory for the pantry, I no longer end up with too much of anything because if it's already in the pantry I don't buy it (except for the things you mentioned like sugar that I can never do without, if they happen to be on sale -- but even then I keep stockpiling within reason, having only what is in use plus one or two for backup).
Risotto is a FANTASTIC back pocket recipe and super filling. And you don't have to make it the fancy way stirring for an hour - we make ours in the instant pot!
Being more aware of my meat consumption has really changed my grocery budget! I have also tried to limit my meat intake and instead have it be a treat that I spend money on. It is so true that good meat is expensive and it is so worth it! And it keeps me experimenting with eating more veggies for the rest of my meals :)
I cook three big meals a week (Monday, Wednesday, Sunday), eat leftovers at least twice and have cereal/sandwich/soup on low key Fridays nights. Saturdays we usually budget to eat out for a late lunch or dinner. It was a time and money game changer to only have to plan and shop for three delicious meals instead of 7.
The video started and I was all like "Hi, my name is Chelsea from The financial Diet and this video is brought to you by..." and that was the moment I realized my speakers were off.
Daniel Hammond Super easy to cook man, even if you don't have a grill or a cast-iron pan. About to cook mine for lunch. Just put some garlic and rosemary on it along with some salt put some avocado oil in the pan and hand at it. Same with lamb.
Agreed. Plus, with steak, you really don’t save a whole heck of a lot buying steak at the grocery store and frying it yourself. NY strip runs about $10 a pound in my local market, and if you want filet, get ready to shell out $20 a pound. Whereas you could get a 10 oz steak for $15-20 at a halfway decent restaurant, cooked by someone that knows what they’re doing (unlike me.)
These are excellent tips and I've learnt so much from the comments as well! Not a vegetarian, so I always buy eggs, tuna and egg noodles (for stir fry) - never goes to waste
Cooking batches is a great tip and you should consider that it does not mean you have to eat it in the exact same way. For example, I love homemade marinara sauce but making it takes a long time so I make multiple batches and freeze the rest. It also means I will cook pasta and I normally cook at least double and use the rest to make a quick pasta salad for lunch the next day. OR I have this great Indian lentil soup, I make twice the recipe I need and serve it with greens, other vegtables and a little bit of coconut milk stirred in a couple of days later as a curry. If the rice is precooked from the day before it is a 5-10 min recipe. Things like beef chilli can be very distinct meals whether you serve it in tacos, over rice with beans mixed in or use it as the base of a chilli soup with greens and veggies and broth.
I live alone, and find cooking for one to be extremely difficult, so I found a place near where I live that makes prepared foods. I buy most of my food this way, and then just shop for extras when I have to (think breakfast items, paper goods, cleaning items etc.) I find doing this allows me a more varied diet, and saves on food waste. Yes, it’s a bit more expensive-but in the long run, it’s totally worth it.
Great video! I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. One thing that’s been getting me recently is the awesome farmer’s market that’s two blocks from my apartment. It’s only open May-October so every Saturday I have this kind of FOMO/winter panic where I feel like I NEED to go to the farmer’s market OR ELSE. I end up bringing too much (delicious) stuff home, and then it’s a struggle to make sure it all gets used wisely. Especially because I feel like I can only dedicate the time to cook on weekends, and I tend to stress-eat non-healthy foods anyway.
@@ccap3211 I think it is! I bought two large butternut squash the other day for $4, for example. Granted, I've only been food shopping for myself for a few years, so I still don't feel like I have a great frame of reference for how much food should cost. And the food is soooooo much better than what I could get at Walmart, so I just pay whatever they ask without complaining.
Kim Edwards yeah I love shopping at my local farmers market but it can be pricey depending on what you buy. Like the eggs and artisan cheeses and pastas and meats and all that aren’t cheap. But the produce isn’t terribly priced I suppose. I mean I buy it all anyways but it isn’t good on my wallet. Lol
Oh my God! I already follow a lot of the advice in this video, but I am frustrated with my mom because she kind of does the opposite. She keeps buying food like she's still feeding 3-4 people and it's just the two of us. She's so obsessed with chasing sales that she spends WAY more money than I do when she shops. She'll make a list, but do all this impulse buying because something is on sale, and end up buying things that we won't eat in time. She thinks we need to be on food stamps because of the way she does grocery shopping, but I stick to staple foods and store brands and spend almost a 1/3 of what she spends. Sorry for the rant, this video just made me think of this.
I am single, and retired ....living on a low, fixed income. Rarely does any bite of food I purchase go to waste. I plan. I spend time when I first get home from the grocery to prepare food for the refrig and freezer so that I get the max out of what I have purchased. Every little bit of leftovers goes into the freezer to be used for another meal. I survey my refrig daily to make sure that foods are being used up before they go to waste. I believe that I need to be a good steward of what the Lord provides for me nutritionally. Whenever I let something spoil or go to waste...I feel I have failed to be thankful for His provision. I mostly buy organic and I buy the best food that I can buy. I struggle with allergies and chemical sensitivity so eating a clean diet is the way I need to go.
I like to make Apple chips when I buy too many apples. You just cut them into thin slices and bake them at 275F for about an hour (flip them half way through baking). I like to eat them as is, or break them into pieces for trail mix or as a salad topping.
I over stock, but I’m also trying to lose weight, don’t have tons of time to shop, and know how to cook and the easiest thing to do for healthy eating for me, is just having lots of healthy ingredients on hand :) somegets wasted every week, but I cook more now than ever AND am now 11 kg down in 2.5 months, so I’m doing it, slow and steady
I find no matter how much I plan and economize for grocery shopping, what $60 got me a couple years ago is now $100. The prices of groceries have gone up, and the size of packaged foods are shrinking. You just can't win.
Can't bake? Spend a near-future spare Saturday afternoon mixing up and baking shortcrust pastry. After two or three attempts, barely a couple of hours, you'll be able to make any simple pie, like that apple pie, pretty well.
If they’re anything like Granny Smith apples, then baking them might be the easiest option. Remove the cores and place them in a baking dish. Add a little water to the dish and stuff each apple with a mixture of butter, brown sugar, cinnamon and sultanas. You can even add rum or other spices. Baked till soft on the inside in a medium oven, they are delicious served with custard or ice cream. Apple crumble is nice and simple too. Chop the cored apples, add sugar and cinnamon. Cook in a pan till they start to soften. Pour into a bakibg dish. Combine flour, rolled oats, cinnamon and sugar and add butter till the mixture is, well, crumbly. Like damp sand at the beach that falls apart a bit when you pick it up. Top the apples with the crumble topping and bake till the apples are bubbly and the topping is golden brown.
My tip for keeping track of what's in my fridge is that I never put new groceries in without looking through and taking the older stuff out. Always empty the crisper drawer before you put new veggies in! You're already in the kitchen with the fridge open so it's a great time to do it.
‘I like to cook, but even I don’t want to cook every night’ So me!! I have a random mix of 20ish single serve leftovers in my freezer right now... in a mix of 6-8 dishes. Always have a selection for lunch or dinner ready.
In this video Chelsea breaks down the reasons why your grocery bill might be "eating" into your budget. For more tips on how to save and "store" those funds check out this video : ruclips.net/video/DZ6MqyQwnBg/видео.html
I think a huge reason I have started saving more on my groceries is that I have gotten more confident with cooking. The more you are willing to go off-recipe the more confident you feel swapping an expensive ingredient out for a cheaper substitute, or just whipping something up based on what produce is on sale and what you already own.
Absolutely this!
We love a versatile sister!
Cooking ,much like mastering your budget, takes practice to build that confidence and skill. If you stick with it you get your just "desserts" in the end.
She does cook eat more than I do! And I basically live on my 'back pocket recipes'. Making my own spag sauce might be nice, for example.
Yes, totally agree. Our meals are based are what we have in house that needs using first. We have learned over time the spices/ flavours etc we tend to reach for and keep those in all the time. I taste as I'm cooking and most of the time we eat tasty meals. Occasionally an experimental meal goes a bit wrong but it's never inedible.
#1 A lack of planning
#2 Not getting deals on Staples
#3 Maybe you're a meataholic
#4 Fridge or freezer neglect
#5 Overstocking
#6 One time events
#7 Ignoring the seasons
#8 You don't have any back pocket recipes
#9 Following deals too often
Thankd
@Fìfì Fẹ́mi same lol
+
Danke!
@Fìfì Fẹ́mi Me too, and I live in Texas
Fun fact: I initially became a vegetarian for ethical reasons, but the financial and mental health benefits have been the reason I remain one to this day. As a single person living alone, I had to trim a lot of things from my budget, including the amount of money I spent on takeout. Becoming a vegetarian simplified my shopping list, made it cheaper, and massively trimmed down the amount of mental and physical labor needed to cook for myself at home.
I grew up thinking that meat was essential for a meal to be a meal. But meat is not only expensive, it's a labor intensive part of a dish as well. It needs to be used immediately or frozen and thawed upon use. This takes time and effort to plan for. It also usualy needs to be stored, chopped, and cooked separately due to cross-contamination concerns, which leaves you with more time invested in the cooking process and more dishes to wash at the end of the night. And it's expensive.
Becoming a vegetarian or a vegan is not for everyone, but what IS for everyone is taking a good hard look at what they THINK they need to put in a meal compared to what they realistically can accomplish both financially and mentally. Reframing the way I look at meals and what ingredients I incorporate into them has made cooking a cheaper and more enjoyable experience for me now. I cook in the way that's best for me, and I'm far less tempted by takeout because I'm no longer trying to fulfill someone else's idea of what makes a meal a meal.
Yeah! No worries about sanitation, separate cutting boards, no doing dishes separate anymore. Vegan egg replacement for baking is equivalent to 34 eggs! And I've seen it in stores for only $3. High protein plant foods are so much cheaper. You can also buy plant milks that do not need refrigeration until opened, so you'll always have it on hand and dont have to worry about spoilage. I save so much money being vegan, even though I do buy vegan snacks and treats sometimes! It makes me more selective so I get the snacks I really want
I agree meat needs to be cooked sepereately but it doesn’t need to be used the same day or freezed to last. At least if you buy from a grocery store where it is packaged in plastic etc then it is at least a week sometimes several.
Or maybe your country is different?
I always eat pork when I eat meat except when I buy minced where it is 50/50 pork and beef... so maybe there’s a slight difference because of it but not much.
But, despite this note I am glad you found something that worked better for you. Personally judging by what my grocery stores have if you want meat /chicken substitutes included in your diet compared to the real thing going vegetarian would be more expensive but I guess things made from scratch yourself could be way cheaper.
I was vegan for a year then decided to go off the wagon. Well, I’d forgotten the mess, the smell throughout the house wasn’t as clean and fresh as I’d gotten used to, and the hassle of rushing home with the purchase and finally cleaning up the grease. Won’t do that again!
Strange I've actually tried to eat more meat as an adult because my health has actually suffered from the lack of meat in my diet.
Wow. Meat is literally the simplest food to cook. You can literally cook it in a hot pan for like 5-10 minutes and it's done.
The only other ingredients you need are salt & optional butter, or oil
No chopping,
no cutting board,
throw the package in the trash,
wipe the pan
I was vegan 3 years. Vegan meals are very time intensive & absolutely take more planning.
One suggestion is to shop in ethnic food stores for spices, sauces, rice and beans. Buying these items at a regular grocery store is expensive. Great places to shop for these items are Asian, Mexican and South Asian (Indian) food stores. My wife and I eat a lot of chickpeas. We buy them at an Indian food store for $2/lb. a great food value. For the uninitiated it may seem intimidating, there are always fellow shoppers and employees to help you. Keep in mind that some of the items are not packaged in a fancy way, it's contents that really count. A pressure cooker to cook dried legumes is cheaper than buying canned canned beans. As Jaques Pepin says "Happy cooking!".
Great tip! There's a Mediterranean supermarket near me that always has awesome deals!
@@user-ww6ii6zn8m Great! The dirty little secret is that grocery chains cost more because they buy from distributers, which is just another middleman and vendors have to pay the store slotting fees which consumers pay for.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slotting_fee
All this doesn't add value for food shoppers. Only lines the pockets of businesses.
Chickpeas in mexican food stores tend to be cheaper imo
I would never buy 2$ per lb 😨
That is a good idea. These shops even have the fancy stuff (coconut oil, Himalayan salt) with very good prices.
Even sometimes in the same store you can find it for much cheaper in the "international" aisle. For example, McCormick spices might be a few bucks for a small canister in the spice aisle- you can find a restaurant sized jar of chili for less near the Mexican food.
To reduce food waste, we have found having a use-it-up meal each week helps. On Fridays I make pizza dough and we top it with stuff we have on hand so one week it might have just things out of jars, another week I might whizz up some pesto from leftover greens, another time it might have leftover roast veggies and cheese, whatever. But you could also do a similar thing with pasta salad, stir fry, or just an "appetizer buffet" depending on what types of leftover bits you tend to have at the end of the week.
That's a great tip! I'm gonna try that out next week!
We do this too and call it "platter night" because we basically dump everything out and serve it buffet style.
Curry is a grate way to use it up too
Leftovers scrambled with eggs works well too.
@@deniseeldred5525 I make something called "scramby surprise" because it's scrambled eggs with whatever vegetables or other ingredients we currently have in the fridge!
Every few weeks, I try to skip the grocery store for one week and clear out as much of my pantry and freezer as possible! It’s no good to have a stocked kitchen if you’re using let those 3 cans of mushrooms and tomato purée just sit there indefinitely. Having a week dedicated to using up my pantry staples and frozen meats and veggies is a fun challenge to whip up creative recipes and saves $$$!!
That's a great tip! I'm gonna try that out next week!
ThatOneNPC wow, I could never!
Also known as the week before a long holiday!
No dish makes sense but just eat it and count down the days until relaxation!!!!!!
Yes ! Smart and cost-efficient !
I try so hard to skip the grocery store, but there’s ALWAYS something we need (milk, bread, coffee ran out, etc). Always.
An extra tip for the day of the big shop: buy something that you can eat straight away, or that just needs heating. This will stop you ordering a takeaway because you can’t be arsed to prepare the proper food you just bought.
HeleI love
A rotisserie chicken every now and then
I always do this! We normally opt for a frozen pizza.
Joyce Gonzales yup, on grocery day I get a rotisserie chicken with fresh French bread too. I’m usually too tired after putting everything away to properly cook anything.
@@joycegonzales4994 rotisserie chicken are great because you can have chicken as an entre one night, save the rest of the meat for other meals, and simmer the carcass for homemade stock!!
"Please don't shop when you're hungry or stressed out" My student ass just got roasted
LMAO same... so what you're saying is never shop?
If I go when I’m not hungry I buy nothing because I can’t look at food and then need to go back later in the week 😂
@@shaunaisaJellyBean I have the exact same problem. I can't shop when I'm not hungry. I don't buy anything.
@Hazel Wayne me too! Grocery shopping and checking out the isles is a guilty pleasure lol it destresses me out
Don't shop when you are thirsty, either
So glad to hear that I am not the only one going through 7 bulbs of garlic every week 🤗
It's not a meal without garlic.
Garlic is life!!
Garlic makes everything taste good!!
I always use more garlic in a dish than the recipe calls for 🤷🏼♀️
I feel attacked lol
And learn where things should be stored in order to last the longest! For example, onions tend to do better if you store them outside the refrigerator (they get too moist inside the fridge and go bad faster). Firm fruits (apples, peaches, oranges, even technical fruits like bell peppers) do well inside the crisper drawer of your fridge where moisture will be trapped and help keep them firm, but leafy greens need to be stored out of the drawer because that extra moisture makes them wilt and rot faster. Figure out where the coldest part of your refrigerator is (typically along the back near the cooling unit) and store things that go bad quickly in that area (berries, mushrooms, etc.). If you know where things like to be stored, you don't have to stress quite as much about using them up quickly.
Also, if you are willing to take on a houseplant or two (or three, or more!), growing a few of your own herbs is a big saver. I bought a basil plant for $7 early this year. I have dried an entire mason jar's worth of basil leaves off of it (which would cost me, like, $25 or more in the dried herb section of the grocery store), as well as used fresh leaves from it on numerous occasions. And there's still lots of leaves left as it keeps growing back! Same situation with my parsley and rosemary plants. If there's an herb or two you tend to use a lot, consider just growing your own in a windowsill.
Great contribution!
Re: the apple situation, make a crisp! Cut the apples, season with lemon juice, sugar, pinch of salt and preferred spices. Top with flour/oat mixture (3/4 cup flour, 1 cup oats, butter) and bake. Easy non-baker friendly option :)
Applesauce! Peal, core, slice, simmer. Tada!
Apple cider or Hot Toddy maybe?
Thank you!!!
As a piece of advice I would suggest not to put anything in a freezer without labeling. You’ll have very vague memory what was that and when it was frozen, so most likely you’ll just toss it.
Before I had my baby I did a bunch of freezer cooking. It sure saved us a lot of money when we were sleep deprived and the last thing we wanted to do was cook 😊🍴
I love #3!! We didn't start eating meat so much until the mid-twentieth century. I asked my mom and a few other older adults what they used to eat and a lot of it was beans, cornbread, and veggies. They ate chicken maybe once a week and deer meat during hunting season. We don't NEED meat in our diets all the time!
That's because back in those times you actually had to kill and butcher animals yourself. It was a pain in the ass, so people had to plan out their slaughter. This is why fairs are still traditionally held in late summer/early fall; that was the season animals were killed and meat was stored for winter.
- Disclosure: I'm not claiming that meat eating is good. I'm a vegetarian and encourage everyone to be responsible about their meat consumption.
Well we are omnivores so that makes sense. Yeah I think in the past it was mostly rich people who ate meat, at least in the middle ages.
Beans cornbread and home grown veg was what I ate at grandma's house, she was born in 1910😊🌷
Great tips!! I dont plan my meals, but I plan my grocery shopping. I buy the same ingredients and cook them in different ways. You'll be surprised how many meals one can come up with the same simple ingredients. Budgeting is very important!
Thanks for sharing.
Great video! One comment about the full fridge, though. A full fridge actually uses LESS energy than an empty one.
Once the food is at fridge temperature, it holds that temp more efficiently than empty air in the fridge.
Let your leftovers cool to room temp before putting them in the fridge to use less energy to cool them.
My secret weapons to avoid food waste: 1) label everything in the fridge, 2) transfer leftovers into fresh, smaller (labeled) containers as the old container starts to look crusty; this makes leftovers feel fresh and tasty again 3) I designate the fridge shelf at eye level for (well labeled) foods I want everyone to eat so no one has to hunt when they're hungry. My food label hack is to cut labels out of "white board" vinyl sticker sheets which I write on with a wax pencil (like they have in the bulk bins). I peel the stickers off and reuse until they've lost their stickiness.
I recommend planning your meals 1 week in advance, and then creating your shopping list from there. I have a few different lists of meals we enjoy, categorized by protein type. I typically cook 3-4 meals a week, and usually cook every other day. I try to have 1 meal with chicken, 1 meal with beef, and at least 1 vegetarian meal per week. This keeps me from making any one recipe too often, and helps us to vary our protein sources. I also keep a separate list of those "staple" items and how quickly we use them up. For example, I buy milk and yogurt every week, pasta and oats every other week, and rice and beans every month. Of course I always check that I have everything I need for each recipe on hand when I plan the meals for the week, but having that list and knowing when we are likely to run out of things helps a lot!
Planning meals is so important when it comes to saving money!
MariposaGal19 this is a great tip. Thanks!
In Texas, back pocket recipe is ALWAYS TACOS! Or burritos/ bowls.
Chelsea love how truly honest you are. You should like a friend giving advice.
ASMR Bisquit, can you share your version of a burrito bowl?
A tip my mom gave me very young was to make sure to clean out/pull everything out of your fridge and cabinets before you go shopping. That way you have touched everything in you kitchen and will know what you actually need.
"people think badge cooking is very depressing" - that few months of my life when I didn't have a freezer and had to cook one single portion just for me almost every night were the most depressing months in my life. Now, when I feel like it, I cook badges almost every night that I can freeze so I have all my meals ready for next week when I might not feel like it.
I think batch cooking is wonderful, too. I save time and money cooking in batches.
hi from the uk, family of 4, so plenty of fruits and veg here. I really recommand to invest in a slow cooker as you can buy cheaper cuts of meats and because you slow cook it it , it is not tough. also when I do a cauliflower cheese for 4 I do a second one for the freezer and sometime add 2 individual one. I bought few size of pyrex so I can go from freezer to oven. I bought lot of peaches tins and pears one when 35p as around xmas they will go to double the price . basically buy your tinned fruits when in seasons too and keep them for out of season. the other thing I am doing is training the kids and making a folder for each of them with 14 diners receipes for each seasons, easy cheap stapple mostly freezable too and 4/5 pudding one per seasons. teach your kids guys, show them how to portion curry and freeze it and show them batch cooking. the other thing I do is watching for clearing item my last shopping trip I bought quite a few of peppers, cooked them straight away in the oven and added them to coucous salad in theit lunch boxes, to rice diner and pasta and froze some already cooked to add to passata when we have pasta. I really beleve if you invest in few good tupperware, mine are lock and lock it will help. the other thing I buy is those disc that you put in your veg drawer and fruit bowl , they absorbe the methane so the fruits and veg last longer I use ecoegg ones they last 3 months each. educate yourself with food conservation , like washing strawberry with white vinegar may keep them longer /2 days more than just storring the punnet directly in the fridge
Make applesauce with those apples! Not only can you use either a slow cooker or a pot to make it, its super easy to make. You can freeze the excess to use later and it won't go bad for a while. My family has applesauce in the freezer that was prepared a year ago and use it as an egg substitute for baking.
Another simple thing to make with apples is to slice them ring style, sprinkle some sugar and cinnamon on them, bake for a few minutes to make apple crisps.
My husband and I got SUPER strict around meal planning while we were both at new jobs and in the at delay period while waiting for our first pay checks. £10 per WEEK. After the money started rolling in again we kept it up. Our grocery bills are pretty low now and we have NO food waste at all. I love it. I'm a meal planning evangelist!
One thing I have found that is really helpful is buying in bulk and freezing, especially for hardy veggies/herbs, veggies in season, or meat. This can work for homegrown veggies as well! For example, I will buy carrots and potatoes on sale, and cut and blanch them to prep them for freezing. This way you're not spending extra money on staple veggies as often because you already have them around, and you can portion/gauge how much you actually use a lot better. Plus, they don't spoil! This is also great for those veggies like hot peppers that you may not use as often, but are still necessary to have around. Cutting up and freezing a few that you picked up from the reduced rack will keep you stocked for months! I have even made my own custom frozen veggie mixes that I would have otherwise spent a lot of money on if I went out every couple of weeks to buy those packages.
I keep a sharpie by my pantry and a dry erase marker near my fridge. I put the date on packages when I open them so there's never any guesswork. Leftover ingredients and food go into reusable/washable/microwavable/freezable containers with what they are, the quantity, and the date written on the lid with dry erase marker, then straight into the fridge or freezer. Easy peasy.
I think a budget-friendly meal kit service is a great option too. I use Dinnerly which is already inexpensive, and most of the meals catered to 2 people feeds me for 3 because I don't eat large portions. It also eliminates food waste and you aren't buying unnecessary things in the grocery store.
The staple we always buy is butter! If it’s on sale at all I always pick it up. I might have multiple pounds in the freezer but when we bake, we absolute need a back stock. But we meal plan and I very rarely blow my food budget.
My back pocket soup recipe is very flexible. I saute diced garlic, onion, and a jalapeno pepper, then add vegetable broth and chopped fresh vegetables. I either add a can of tomatoes with the other vegetables, or at the very end toss in a stick of butter and half a pint or so of heavy cream. Oregano is my go-to herb. The more fresh ingredients, the more wonderful it is. It's a lot of dicing and chopping, but it lasts 3 happy days.
I moved to an apartment with a tiny freezer and very small fridge, and this has completely changed how I relate to food.
I love this! I definitely agree that you need to respect your cooking abilities and cooking time when selecting food and recipes. For example, I'm well into my 40's and have tried for 20+ years to learn to like cooking - or even be decent at it. A graveyard of wasted veggies, meat, and "special ingredients" has been the result. So, a few years ago, I just accepted my cooking ineptitude and stocked up on frozen food, frozen pre-cooked meats, canned fish and beans, frozen healthy meals, and microwave rice and pasta. I hate the fact that everything I use is packaged and that it's more expensive, but if it gets more fruits, veggies, and fish into my diet, it's a small victory. Plus, I'm MUCH more likely to use what I have and not waste food. :)
That's awesome to hear, I've definetly fallen victim to wasting food too 😂
I live with my parents rn, but I’ve been researching & trying out Great Depression & peasant recipes. Sometimes we can learn a lot from the past
“IT’S HONEYCRISP APPLE SEASON” 😂
🙈🙋🏼♀️
brenmmw Rennie I almost choked laughing on my honey crisp apple! Not lying 😆
I had just looked at the price of Honeycrisps and happily added it to the grocery list. Less than an hour later your video had me adding a mental note to self: not too-too many!!
I eat multiple honeycrisp apples a day in Fall. They are cheap, delicious, sweet and full of fiber. A good way to avoid the office Halloween candy bowl.
answer is simple. Applesauce.
I play "my drunk kitchen" which my sister created which is just mixing reasonable ingredients into a dish(tiredness is a form of drunkness). I only buy veggies with the thought that daily I have to do 400g per veggies per person. Otherwise I bulk buy any legumes and rice. Any seasonings I have are the entire flavor of the dish and make it so similarly designed foods but with different tastes entirely. Otherwise I only stock up on junk foods and emergency foods and stuff for making bread related items like pancakes from scratch and pita bread. Maybe sometimes buy some vegan meats since it's an easy 30 min meal to cut it up and mix with rice and sesame seeds
I take quick pics of the pantry and fridge, it doesn't solve all problems but it helps to answer questions!
Investing in the right cooking equipment and tools can really reduce your food bill, improve your cooking quality, and increase your frequency of cooking.
* If you eat soups, grains, and beans often... get an InstantPot (or other electric pressure cooker).
* If you bake and/or count macros/calories... get a proper digital food scale (much more efficient & accurate than measuring cups).
* If you eat eggs often... get a non-stick pan & take care of it.
* If you do quite a bit of chopping or make salad dressings, sauces, or nut butters... get a mini-prep food processor.
* Heat resistant silicone spatulas and metal tongs are my go to cooking utensils.
* A Lodge cast iron skillet (any size, based on your cooking style) is so versatile for searing, roasting, and baking.
* Get a salad spinner ($5 at Ikea). Use it to wash & dry your leafy produce. You should wash all produce. Washing conventional produce will remove the bulk of surface pesticides. Clean & dry leafy greens will last longer in the frig.
Apple Situation! Love it! Go to your local farmers market. What is there is what is in season. Support your local farmers, even if their produce costs a bit more.
LoVe garlic too! To make meal prep and batch cooking simple I smash several bulbs of garlic with a meat cleaver, chop finely then store in a mason jar with olive oil inside the fridge. This eliminates the mess of peeling and chopping garlic every time I cook. I just scoop out the desired amount for each recipe. Enjoy!
My go to meal is curry chick peas or lentils! I get a TON of leftovers with lentils and I bring it to work.
I always meal plan and make lists
One of our back-pocket recipes is "Curried Leftovers". It's basically whatever we can glean out of the fridge jazzed up with some coconut milk and sambal olek or something of that sort. All of our bones and things like celery tops get turned into soup stock once or twice a month. We do spend a bit more to get local, pasture-raised chicken and eggs and splurged on a quarter of pastured pork last fall. The difference was unbelievable (in the taste as well as the animals' welfare).
I'm like Chelsea: love to cook, hate to do it multiple times a week. On the topic of having a few back pocket recipes on hand wherever I am, using Trello has changed my life. Apart from keeping my recipes organised and easy to update (ie, I convert amounts to metric so I'm not having to guess every single time I make the recipe), the phone app is really easy to use so I can pull it out when I'm at the supermarket and double-check what ingredients I need for whatever I'm making. It saves me from having to go home first to check the recipe book, or trying to search Google for that one recipe I saw two weeks ago. I highly recommend it.
One more point that I noticed helps me immensely with staying on a budget is to be careful WHERE you shop. The way that works best for me is making sure I get my fruit and veg at the local street market (which is on a saturday morning. I have to throw myself out of bed, but I can get over a week worth of fresh produce for me and my partner for like 10€, and we eat LOADS of veggies. That's unmatched to any supermarket I know of). Then I buy most staples (pasta, grains, milk, eggs, tinned goods, the usual stuff) at the cheapest supermarket in the area, which is not the closets to me, so again it´s a once a week or even fortnightly thing. That leaves the pricier round the corner shop only for emergency things, or little treats that are extras anyway. I'll add that I don't own a car, so the temptation to shop more locally is there. But the price difference is very real!
I took some culinary classes at my community college as electives at 18. Still best purchase ever.
The thing that has completely slashed my shopping budget is i have created a pantry and i "shop" from that barring a few fesh items a week milk and eggs,fruit and veg etc,etc...it takes time to create a pantry it really does but it is so worth it,but like you say if you get the deals on the staples flour,salt,sugar,rice,dries pasta,canned fruit and veg,tamoto sauce and spices all bought in bulk because all of these items will last a very long time...you will find that a pantry can really help you out and also keep a good track on what is in your pantry so you know when you are running on a certain item
My husband and I stopped eating all animal meat M-F for the last two months. Not only have we been able to save a TON of money we feel amazing! We are less swollen, bloated, and dropped a few lbs! One of the best decisions we have made in 2019!
As someone who loves meat, probably one of the biggest impacts I've made on my food budget / meal planning is regularly prepping cooked meat ahead of time. I do pork shoulder and beef roasts in the crock pot, and tend to go for recipes that are good shredded, which is easy to portion and freezes well. Then you just have to heat it up and pair it veggies, rice, beans, whatever. It's quick and tasty, and if you keep your portions packed small, it forces you to focus on veg and other proteins as the bulk of your meal. As a single person, having things in the freezer has seriously helped cut down on my takeout habit. My current favorite go-tos are carnitas, ropa vieja, and a five-spice pork recipe.
Your freezer is your friend. I used to not go thru celery but I learn different recipes through pinterest. Now I get rid of celery all the time. Yes, look in you fridge or freeze all the time. One of the things I do to get rid of stuff is if it doesn't need to be in a large containers, I put it in smaller container. When it's in a smaller container it meaning it's time to go out of my fridge like for lunch. I down size my fridge, freezer all the time and my pantry up to date. Having recipes on hand to make things moving out of my fridge is important. I just through out dill but later found out you could freeze dill in oil, water or by it shelf.
Love your show......I've learned a lot. Let's all help each other. Thanks
You could totally make a pork loin with some sweet potatoes and a few of those apples. Or skip the meat and season both with some honey and cinnamon for an easy side. Just a thought. I love cooking too so this topic is right up my alley.
I only cook twice a week (Sundays and Wednesdays) when I will make one protein to go into 2-3 different dishes plus a few sides. If I'm making something that can't be cooked ahead of time I will prep it so it's ready to go into a pot or into the oven when I get home. If I know I'm going to have a hectic week I'll buy some ready meals for Thursday or Friday because it's cheaper and healthier than restaurants or takeout. I will prep all 3 meals and snacks. Overnight oats are a life saver and if you make it in a travel mug it's portable for those crap, I'm late, "eat breakfast in the car" mornings.
For me, meal planning has made all the difference! I’ve been making a two-week plan, then putting together an order with Peapod for the last several months (initially necessitated by knee surgery), and have found that this saves us so much money and time!
To make fresh greens last longer, wash and dry completely (salad spinner). In a large square or rectangular storage container, place two layers of paper towel. Add a serving or two of greens, top with another two layers of paper towel…keep layering till the container is full or you run out of greens. Top with another layer of paper towels, seal the container, and chill in the fridge.
We meal plan every week but cook each night. This then informs our grocery shopping along with staple snacks :) It has helped us be more reasonable about what to buy... knowing portion sizes also helps us reduce excess leftovers.
At the end of the week I make a hodgepodge soup by tossing in all the leftover produce I have on hand. Sometimes the mixture seems a bit strange but it's always nutritious and I feel good about not having to throw any food out.
Great video! I've definetly fallen victim to overstocking in the past 😂😂 Planning meals goes a long way for saving money
Freeze cubed apples for smoothies, I'm worried about those apples, I'm old lol
Fried apples fam. They go really well with most breakfast items. Oatmeal, pancakes, muffins, just add them.
Also, great with deserts, and they can be frozen.
I easily get bored from eating the same thing and used to buy food that I have nowhere to stock. Now I shop for groceries every 7 to 9 days. That’s when my fridge is totally empty aside from butter and pickles. The same goes for the food cabinet: everything must go before I buy new things aside from rice, pasta and herbs. This way, I learned to be creative and make new recipes with whatever I have. Life changing.
I went from spending approx S$70 every time I shopped for groceries to spending ~S$25 every weekend for food prep thanks for meal planning. It really surprised me how much I could save when I turned to meal planning & home-cook lunch boxes. Now I can still treat myself a good dine-out once a week and still keep my budget in control haha ❤️
My family has an apple and pear tree in our yard. A dehydrator is a staple in our house for making fruit chips--usually apple. You could also dehydrate in the oven, but with our stackable dehydrator, you just set the temp (usually 135) and let it run over night (or about 12 hours).
Another tip for preparing meals, is to purchase a lot of herbs and spices. Whipping up a dish is so much easier when you have some any different spices to add to a dish! I am a Nigerian-American so having these staples was a norm and helped so much when creating various non Nigerian dishes!
@The Financial Diet can you do a video on freezing dish tips - what can freeze, how long is it good for, what should I freeze separate from the rest of its dish etc.
Had the same problem with plums last month. I made plum sauce, chutney and jam. Applesauce is super easy too. Use it on oatmeal or pancakes, individual apple crisp, side for meat. It still works with fruit that's past its prime and surplus can be frozen or canned.
To combat a lot of this, I use an app called Out of Milk. It allows you to scan the items in your home and keep tabs on when they expire and how much is left; I also use it to keep price lists for every store and compile grocery lists. It’s especially useful for keeping track of spices. I canNOT recommend a Foodsaver enough. I live alone and can use that to freeze-and label-in bags or use Mason jars (BPA free and fridge, freezer, and dishwasher safe). I label by Mason jars-which can also be vacuum sealed-using a dry erase marker. Mason jars are also stackable and since they’re glass, you can see their contents. If you can see it, you’re more likely to eat it. Lastly, make sure you meal plan with overlap: if you buy cabbage, don’t buy it just for ONE dish-make sure you’re gonna be using it in at least three. Are you only gonna but oyster sauce for ONE dish and never use it again? Well...maybe don’t buy that oyster sauce. Can you borrow it from a friend or neighbor who may have a drawer full of it from Chinese takeout? Offer to take it off their hands. If not-don’t name that dish. If you aren’t going to use I ingredients on more than one thing, wait to make that dish.
I think learning how to preserve items like fruit or veggies or utilize them in different is such a great skill. I've made raisins with older grapes, you can canned apples, make apple sauce, use up miscellaneous carrots and green beans from a strew by pickling them, freeze herbs in broth, etc. Everyone knows the old banana to bread trick but you can take it further. Canning isn't as hard as you think, you can also dehydrate things for longer shelf life. This is what previous generations did before convenience and abundance. I hate wasting food, especially produce!
I keep leftovers in clear jars in the fridge so I can see at a glance what’s there. I also stick a date on the lid to tell me when they were made.
We do green apple pie smoothies in fall! Apples, apple pie spices, celery and a little spinach.
I've been meal prepping since 2014 but I've only been started paying attention to my shopping habits since I started going to Trader Joe's in 2017. It's not very close to my house and nothing else I need is in that area so therefore I only go to that area 4 grocery shopping. The one near my job I only go to if I need something quickly cause I won't have much time to shop for it before work and I'll have to travel with it to work then home that night. I live in Brooklyn and work in Manhattan so the distance always makes me think twice. I used to go the grocery store across the street from my gym so I was in the area at least 3 times a week. I would buy produce that would go bad before I could use it but since I would be in the area again that week throwing it out and replacing it would not be the biggest deal.
Late to the game so you probably won't see this, but with meal prepping I love making things that can be used in really different recipes (roasting chicken, making quinoa/ rice, roasting veggies) and then using these in different meals. This lets you meal prep without a freezer while still eating varied food.
Homemade applesauce is delicious, easy to make, and freezes well. Just saying. Plus your place smells amazing while it's cooking.
This is such an important post, thank you for sharing these points!
Can u share your “back pocket” recipes?
My current favourite "back pocket recipe" is cooked tortellini (either expensive from the fridge or the vacuum sealed shelf stable stuff) with a tin of tomatoes with garlic and Italian herbs (or napoli/marinara sauce) a big hand full of spinach and 100g of cream cheese. Sooooo quick and easy to make, on the table in under 15 min and has a serve of veg which is a must whenever I cook. Edit: boil tortellini, simmer tomato, herbs and garlic, before serving add spinach and cream cheese, stir until you get a pink and creamy sauce.
My personal favorite for leftovers is stir fry or bastardized panaag curry.
Stir fry, I start with a onion and saute that until it gets a bit of color, add garlic and (if I have it) ginger, then add an egg and cook that until just shy of finished, then add veggies and protein (I usually use tofu or hard boiled eggs, but you can use meat if you have it). Cook until soft/desired consistency and add rice, soy sauce, and mayo (if I have it) to thicken everything.
Bastardized panaag: Start some rice. Then, same as above, I start with frying a whole onion until it gets some color. Then I add a panaag spice mix I like that I keep on hand for this recipe and stir until reasonably dispersed then add half a can of coconut milk (either normal or lite). Cook/stir until well mixed. Add veggies/protein cook until desired. Add leftover half can of coconut milk and thin with water if desired. Add either sugar or peanut butter (for peanut-y taste) and serve with rice/whatever I have.
I keep a running inventory of everything in my pantry, by food category. I have a menu plan that is basically a bunch of "suggestions" based off what I have in my pantry and the food safety principle: FIFO (First In, First Out) for rotation. That way I only need one or two items per trip in order to complete the list of ingredients needed for the recipes on my menu. I can go a long time in between trips to the store. I keep powdered milk on hand to use in things that don't require fresh milk (saving the fresh milk for my tea, etc.). I keep sour cream handy and substitute it for milk or cream in casseroles, quick breads, etc. As soon as I get my produce home I trim it all up, blanch it (if needed) and get it straight into the freezer to use when convenient. I repackage and freeze the meats right away, too. Because I am pretty strict about FIFO, I rarely have any waste. And with the running inventory for the pantry, I no longer end up with too much of anything because if it's already in the pantry I don't buy it (except for the things you mentioned like sugar that I can never do without, if they happen to be on sale -- but even then I keep stockpiling within reason, having only what is in use plus one or two for backup).
One of TFD's best videos.
Risotto is a FANTASTIC back pocket recipe and super filling. And you don't have to make it the fancy way stirring for an hour - we make ours in the instant pot!
Yaaaassss Chelsea, Help me fix my Liiiife!
Being more aware of my meat consumption has really changed my grocery budget! I have also tried to limit my meat intake and instead have it be a treat that I spend money on. It is so true that good meat is expensive and it is so worth it! And it keeps me experimenting with eating more veggies for the rest of my meals :)
If you have too much pasta sauce etc, you can freeze the rest up in ice cube trays
I cook three big meals a week (Monday, Wednesday, Sunday), eat leftovers at least twice and have cereal/sandwich/soup on low key Fridays nights. Saturdays we usually budget to eat out for a late lunch or dinner. It was a time and money game changer to only have to plan and shop for three delicious meals instead of 7.
I have never felt so called out in the first 5 minutes of any video....you were just coming right for me!
The video started and I was all like "Hi, my name is Chelsea from The financial Diet and this video is brought to you by..." and that was the moment I realized my speakers were off.
A tip that really helped me is to designate a day of the week I grocery shop and only go that one day each week. No exceptions! It’s really helped
I only eat a steak at a restaurant. For me, harder to cook than a lot of much fancier dishes!
Daniel Hammond Super easy to cook man, even if you don't have a grill or a cast-iron pan. About to cook mine for lunch. Just put some garlic and rosemary on it along with some salt put some avocado oil in the pan and hand at it. Same with lamb.
Agreed. Plus, with steak, you really don’t save a whole heck of a lot buying steak at the grocery store and frying it yourself. NY strip runs about $10 a pound in my local market, and if you want filet, get ready to shell out $20 a pound. Whereas you could get a 10 oz steak for $15-20 at a halfway decent restaurant, cooked by someone that knows what they’re doing (unlike me.)
These are excellent tips and I've learnt so much from the comments as well! Not a vegetarian, so I always buy eggs, tuna and egg noodles (for stir fry) - never goes to waste
Cooking batches is a great tip and you should consider that it does not mean you have to eat it in the exact same way. For example, I love homemade marinara sauce but making it takes a long time so I make multiple batches and freeze the rest. It also means I will cook pasta and I normally cook at least double and use the rest to make a quick pasta salad for lunch the next day. OR I have this great Indian lentil soup, I make twice the recipe I need and serve it with greens, other vegtables and a little bit of coconut milk stirred in a couple of days later as a curry. If the rice is precooked from the day before it is a 5-10 min recipe. Things like beef chilli can be very distinct meals whether you serve it in tacos, over rice with beans mixed in or use it as the base of a chilli soup with greens and veggies and broth.
I live alone, and find cooking for one to be extremely difficult, so I found a place near where I live that makes prepared foods. I buy most of my food this way, and then just shop for extras when I have to (think breakfast items, paper goods, cleaning items etc.) I find doing this allows me a more varied diet, and saves on food waste. Yes, it’s a bit more expensive-but in the long run, it’s totally worth it.
Great video! I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. One thing that’s been getting me recently is the awesome farmer’s market that’s two blocks from my apartment. It’s only open May-October so every Saturday I have this kind of FOMO/winter panic where I feel like I NEED to go to the farmer’s market OR ELSE. I end up bringing too much (delicious) stuff home, and then it’s a struggle to make sure it all gets used wisely. Especially because I feel like I can only dedicate the time to cook on weekends, and I tend to stress-eat non-healthy foods anyway.
Kim Edwards I have one right by me too and I spend waaay too much there! Is yours affordable? Mine isn’t!
@@ccap3211 I think it is! I bought two large butternut squash the other day for $4, for example. Granted, I've only been food shopping for myself for a few years, so I still don't feel like I have a great frame of reference for how much food should cost. And the food is soooooo much better than what I could get at Walmart, so I just pay whatever they ask without complaining.
Kim Edwards yeah I love shopping at my local farmers market but it can be pricey depending on what you buy. Like the eggs and artisan cheeses and pastas and meats and all that aren’t cheap. But the produce isn’t terribly priced I suppose. I mean I buy it all anyways but it isn’t good on my wallet. Lol
Oh my God! I already follow a lot of the advice in this video, but I am frustrated with my mom because she kind of does the opposite. She keeps buying food like she's still feeding 3-4 people and it's just the two of us. She's so obsessed with chasing sales that she spends WAY more money than I do when she shops. She'll make a list, but do all this impulse buying because something is on sale, and end up buying things that we won't eat in time. She thinks we need to be on food stamps because of the way she does grocery shopping, but I stick to staple foods and store brands and spend almost a 1/3 of what she spends. Sorry for the rant, this video just made me think of this.
I am single, and retired ....living on a low, fixed income.
Rarely does any bite of food I purchase go to waste.
I plan.
I spend time when I first get home from the grocery to prepare food for the
refrig and freezer so that I get the max out of what I have purchased.
Every little bit of leftovers goes into the freezer to be used for another meal.
I survey my refrig daily to make sure that foods are being used up before they go to waste.
I believe that I need to be a good steward of what the Lord provides for me nutritionally.
Whenever I let something spoil or go to waste...I feel I have failed to be thankful for His provision.
I mostly buy organic and I buy the best food that I can buy.
I struggle with allergies and chemical sensitivity so eating a clean diet is the way I need to go.
Jordan Page has a few great videos on lowering grocery bills and food waste. Start your grocery list by looking through your fridge and pantry.
I like to make Apple chips when I buy too many apples. You just cut them into thin slices and bake them at 275F for about an hour (flip them half way through baking). I like to eat them as is, or break them into pieces for trail mix or as a salad topping.
Do you leave the skins on?
I over stock, but I’m also trying to lose weight, don’t have tons of time to shop, and know how to cook and the easiest thing to do for healthy eating for me, is just having lots of healthy ingredients on hand :) somegets wasted every week, but I cook more now than ever AND am now 11 kg down in 2.5 months, so I’m doing it, slow and steady
I find no matter how much I plan and economize for grocery shopping, what $60 got me a couple years ago is now $100. The prices of groceries have gone up, and the size of packaged foods are shrinking. You just can't win.
I plan my meals, sometimes, I eat the same 2 days in a row, I combine things and normaly works :)
Planning is key for saving money on food
U can take out core and possible peel the Apples then cut to size and freeze.
Can't bake? Spend a near-future spare Saturday afternoon mixing up and baking shortcrust pastry. After two or three attempts, barely a couple of hours, you'll be able to make any simple pie, like that apple pie, pretty well.
OMG, you are talking about my fridge and my kitchen! This is so helpful.
If they’re anything like Granny Smith apples, then baking them might be the easiest option. Remove the cores and place them in a baking dish. Add a little water to the dish and stuff each apple with a mixture of butter, brown sugar, cinnamon and sultanas. You can even add rum or other spices. Baked till soft on the inside in a medium oven, they are delicious served with custard or ice cream. Apple crumble is nice and simple too. Chop the cored apples, add sugar and cinnamon. Cook in a pan till they start to soften. Pour into a bakibg dish. Combine flour, rolled oats, cinnamon and sugar and add butter till the mixture is, well, crumbly. Like damp sand at the beach that falls apart a bit when you pick it up. Top the apples with the crumble topping and bake till the apples are bubbly and the topping is golden brown.
My tip for keeping track of what's in my fridge is that I never put new groceries in without looking through and taking the older stuff out. Always empty the crisper drawer before you put new veggies in! You're already in the kitchen with the fridge open so it's a great time to do it.
‘I like to cook, but even I don’t want to cook every night’ So me!! I have a random mix of 20ish single serve leftovers in my freezer right now... in a mix of 6-8 dishes. Always have a selection for lunch or dinner ready.