HEALTHY HACK: Eating on a budget 2.0

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My first blog on this topic is getting a lot of clicks and interest with everything going on at the moment. So, I thought there is no better than now to provide some more easy ways to SAVE SAVE SAVE on your groceries.

Want to start at the beginning? CLICK HERE. Otherwise, cast your eyes down the screen and soak up my next Simple Seven Steps to SAVE!

1. CARBS CARBS CARBS

  • Quality, low GI carbs help to keep us feeling full and satiated. Many carb foods are also very cheap and great to add to bulk out meals. This is particularly true for hungry boyfriends and partners (Ross would eat a similar amount of meat and veg as me, but probably three times the amount of carbs at dinner!)

  • Choose mainly brown rice, quinoa, sweet potato, potato, and pasta. These are all strong sources of carbohydrate that offer other key nutrients and fibre for good gut health.

2. FIRST IN, FIRST OUT (FIFO!)

  • Anyone who had a hospitality job in school knows what I’m talking about. But basically, FIFO is an easy way to stay on top of stock management. It helps you know what you have in your kitchen and prevents multiple packs of the same food being open, or foods getting kicked to the back and left to rot in the fridge.

  • So, when you come home with your week’s worth of groceries, pull out the open packets and older food and then put your new shopping in first. Then put the open packs and food from previous weeks shopping back in front. This will ensure you’re staying on top of things and eating what you need to first.

  • Consider making an EAT NOW section of your fridge or pantry. Pop those open packs or older produce there and then every time you open the door, you’ll be reminded you need to EAT. THEM. NOW. Back a soup with old veggies, cook up an omelette or bake some banana bread.

  • But, before you implement this system it’s best to clean the pantry out: check out my guide for a PANTRY CLEANOUT 101.

3. ONLINE CATALOGUES ARE FABULOUS

  • Do yourself a favour and set aside 20 minutes each monday night to plan your next week of groceries. Coles and Woolworths release their online catalogue each Monday for the next shopping cycle that starts the following Wednesday.

  • Jot down which items you usually purchase are on special where and if you have the time, get to both stores to lap up the savings. Otherwise, choose the store (if possible) that has more of what you need cheap. Seriously, this can easily save you $50 a week!

4. USE GOOGLE ALERTS

WAHOO. Half Price Laundry Liquid.

WAHOO. Half Price Laundry Liquid.

  • Sick of having to fork out cash for full-priced fake tan, laundry liquid or cosmetics and beauty products? I hear you. Use this trick and you might never have to again.

  • Make a little list of everything you buy at the grocery, department store or pharmacy that you buy on an adhoc basis that is roughly $15.00 or over. Then, pop the name of these brands and the item into a Google Alert. You’ll then get an email notification each time the product you’ve saved is on special/half price etc. Make note of this and then visit that store and stock up, maybe get 2-3 packets to last for a while. Amazing. Have a look at the screenshot here for an example.

  • To set up your own, click here. 

5. DON’T BE SCARED TO IMPROVISE

  • There is nothing more annoying than finding a recipe that asks for 1 tablespoon of fresh parsley. 25g of feta cheese or 1/6 cup of canned tomatoes. Don’t be afraid to skip out the ingredient or use something else. There is not much point forking out $3.00 for a whole parsley bunch to only use such a small amount.

  • In some recipes, it is suitable to replace fresh herbs with dried, fresh fruit for frozen or in some cases, or in some cases just leave the ingredient out. If you do open something up especially for a recipe. Pop it on that EAT NOW shelf to make sure it gets used in the next day or so.

  • That also reminds me, don’t be scared of Frozen or Canned food. These are life-saviours and should always be on stock Find out why here.

6. COOK ONCE, EAT TWICE

  • Cooking can be a bore for so many of us. So, make the most of your time and cook once, eat twice. I get that eating the same dinner for lunch the next day mightn’t be SUPER exhilarating, so here are some ideas; 

    -       Freeze the leftovers for next week, eat the previous week’s leftovers.

    -       Make it a little different

    i.e. if you roasted vegetables for dinner, toss them through some spinach leaves with a dressing/avocado/cheese to make it different, Wrap last night’s salad up in a wrap and add some ham, or serve last nights tacos with brown rice and veggies for a burrito bowl.

7. LOOK FOR THE YELLOW LABEL

  • And find it on things like bread, meat, some dairy, and baked goods. My local Woolworths seems to start reducing bread and baked foods around 6PM each day. If you can, try to shop around this time, or pop in on your way home if you need these things.

  • I find that meat can sporadically go on special, so try to walk past the meat section for a quick glance each time you are at the shops. We buy the majority of our meat this way and for some reason, the leanest cuts of beef and red meat seem to always be reduced (?) Go figure.

  • Roast chickens seem to always be reduced around this magical 6PM timeslot. So grab one if you ever see it as cheap as $2.00! Take it home and remove the stuffing, rip off the skin, chuck that in the bin and any obvious residual fat. Then shred up the rest (easiest to still do whilst it’s hot) and then either keep it in the fridge for easy lunches or freeze to use later.