Reducing grocery bills is a great way to save money and something that many are keen to explore in these recession-driven and cash-strapped times. It’s also a great way to reduce waste and the environmental impact on our households. The average family of four in America is said to waste $1,940 worth of food every year including up to 16 gallons of milk, 12 dozen eggs, 160lbs of chicken and beef, and 240lbs of produce; all because they haven’t planned their food requirements adequately for the week, leaving food uneaten and eventually thrown away.
This represents a significant portion of a household’s annual food bill, so reducing this wastage can make significant savings. When you add up the environmental cost of the energy and water required to grow and transport our food, then wastage becomes an even more serious issue to tackle.
By simply planning weekly meals it possible to consume all of our food before it spoils. This can save cash and the most effective way to do this is to have a strategy for weekly food shopping. Having a plan will enable bulk buying and help avoid expensive items that are left to go off in the backs of our refrigerators.
Taking stock of current eating habits is the first step; it’s time to start a diary of what food that your family consumes. Once you have three or four weeks of information you can use this in planning your weekly shopping trips.
Refrigeration is your friend.
The best way to avoid food spoiling is to keep it cool. Heat is the enemy of any kind of meat or dairy produce. You should always minimize the time it takes to get refrigerated fruit from the store to our home. So, start your shopping with the vegetables and finish in the freezer section. Freezer bags are a great addition to your shopping habits, enabling you to keep items as cool as possible in the travel home.
You can extend the life of your perishable goods by storing them appropriately. Temperatures can fluctuate when the door of the refrigerator is repeatedly opened, so store eggs and milk on a shelf.
Leftover night
The leftover night is a great way to sweep up all the items that haven’t been cooked, and can inspire some creative cooking. By doing this once a week you can ensure nothing goes to waste. Good recipes for the leftover night include pizzas, stews, and fajitas.
Clip those coupons
Coupon shopping is on the rise, helping families save a week in, week out. The internet has revolutionized coupon shopping, offering websites devoted to their delivery and providing Smartphone apps that allow savvy shoppers to never pay full price for an item. If you haven’t joined the Smartphone revolution, perhaps it’s time to ditch your old cell phone via a website like www.musicmagpie.com and snag yourself an upgrade for the New Year.
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