Whether you are looking to cut down on food expenses to simply save money or for more pressing reasons, there are plenty of ways to go about it.
Believe it or not, but there are plenty of ways to save money in the kitchen without necessarily forcing you to eat less or do anything drastic. In this article, we will be going over the top 10 tips for saving money in the kitchen.
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Top 10 Tips For Saving Money In The Kitchen:
1. Plan Your Meals Ahead Of Time
This is one of the most important things that you could possibly do if your aim is to save money in the kitchen.
Planning your meals ahead of time will allow you to purchase ingredients for a good price rather than have to buy something quickly.
By giving yourself plenty of time to acquire the ingredients, you will be in a position to look for deals on the ingredients that you do intend on buying.
Whereas, if you plan your meals on the spot, you might have to head out to the convenience store or to the grocery store and purchase an item for a much higher price.
2. Get An Additional Freezer
This is one of the best tips that can save you a lot of money over the course of a good amount of time.
A lot of people might go out shopping to purchase meat on a weekly basis in smaller quantities due to space constraints.
Without those same space constraints, you might be able to store much larger quantities of meat in your freezer.
By getting yourself an extra freezer or icebox, you will be able to purchase your meat in bulk which can cut down on the total costs by a significant amount.
We buy cattle by the half beast through a local farmer for significantly cheaper than the grocery store.
3. Shop For Ugly Produce
A lot of consumers are obsessed with finding produce that looks good. For whatever reason, consumers have grown accustomed to good looking produce to the point where it has even changed the way the produce is grown and prepped.
By being willing and able to purchase ugly produce that gets thrown away by the truckload, you will be able to cut down on the total amount that you have to pay by a considerable amount.
There are plenty of companies out that will sell you produce deemed ‘too ugly’ to sell at larger grocery chains for a fraction of the price.
4. Stick To Seasonal Items
Another thing that you should be looking to do is to stick to seasonable produce.
You want to try to stick to eating things that would be regularly available in the current season because the supply is going to be much greater leading to better prices.
You will end up having to pay more for purchasing produce or things out of season.
5. Start Your Own Garden
By starting your own garden, you will be able to save a lot of money whether you are planting your own produce or you have a simple herb garden.
Check out my gardening resources on my other site here.
6. Cook From Scratch
This is another big thing that can end up saving you a lot of money.
By cooking things from scratch, you will be able to avoid having to pay the normal up-charge for convenience.
7. Use Coupons
Become familiar with coupons and how they work in order to save a lot of money on whatever it is that you purchase.
You will be able to save a lot of money if you become an expert on using coupons to stack discounts.
In fact, by using coupons properly, you can get a lot of things for a fraction of the retail price and even get things free occasionally.
This is something anyone could take advantage of because coupons are always readily available.
I love the free coupon site Coupon Surfer
8. Do Comparison Shopping
While it would be convenient to have a store that offered the lowest price on everything, you will want to do some comparison shopping.
A lot of stores might utilize some ingredients or items as loss leaders in order to get you in the store.
They then hike up the price on other complimentary items in the hopes that you end up buying it while you are there.
By doing comparison shopping, you can avoid falling into this trap and save a lot of money.
9. Buy In Bulk
As mentioned above, you want to try to buy things that you consume regularly in bulk.
10. Eat Less Meat
Meat can really add up. By sticking to vegetables and fruit more often, you will be able to save a lot of money.
Overall, there are plenty of good ways to save money in the kitchen on a consistent basis. Follow the tips above and you should be able to save a lot successfully.