In recent months, many families have had to verify their expenses. We advise you on how to rationally use your depleted food budget - so as to fill the basket of food products at a reasonable price, and at the same time not waste food.
In the first days of the developing epidemic, we rushed to the stores to stock up. Groats, pasta, flour and preserves have disappeared from the shelves, and meat from the cold store. What's left? Luxury products, sweets, wines.
As you can see, in an emergency, reason turns on: we collect relatively cheap products that can be stored for a long time, and those that are the basis of our diet. We ignore those that were the subject of whims.
But it's hard to live with groats and meat all the time, it's not only boring, but also not very he althy. Stocks have to be replenished someday, and maybe you can set yourself up for a "long march" with a reduced budget. This forces a change of approach - to cooking, but most of all to food shopping.Here are some practical tips on how to switch to the "cheap basket".
Browse inventory
If you have some durable products in your pantry: groats, rice, noodles, dry pods, flour, sugar, oil, canned food, spices, dried fruit, etc., it is worth checking them regularly, checking if their expiry datedoes not pass, Use them first - it's a pity that they would go to waste. Note immediately which ones are running out and need to be refilled. The same is true for inventory stored in the freezer. If they stay in it for months, they lose quality - the meat dries up, and the vegetables lose their flavor.
Plan meals
No more wondering "what's for dinner" and cooking something hastily out of junk food. Before you go shopping, plan at least a few dinners ahead and make a list of products that will be needed on a daily basis during the week: vegetables, fruit, meat, fish, dairy products. The point is not to buy too much fresh and perishable products, so that nothing is wasted. Let some of the products be useful to you for at least two dinners (e.g. you will cook a broth on a broth portion, on which you will make, for example, barley soup or tomato soup on the next day, dumplings or a casserole from meat, and thicken the sauce with mixed soup vegetables). You will save on energy by cooking more in one go.
Verify the list of needs
You save a lot by eliminating orsignificantly limiting products that you can safely do without, and which most often have almost no nutritional value: sweets and ready-made cakes, sweetened and energy drinks, alcohol, chips and other snacks (crackers, sticks), Chinese soups, instant dishes, sauces from a jar, white bread, frozen pizzas. Instead of bottled water, drinktap water- when boiled, you can season it with a little juice or make iced tea yourself.
Be sensible when shopping
Once you find out what the prices are, how much you spend on food - set a weekly budget and try not to exceed it. Following a few simple rules will help you maintain financial discipline - if you are consistent in this, they will quickly get into your blood.
- Make a shopping list and stick to it.
- Buy loose products, such as groats, rice, in large packages, not in cooking bags - it will be cheaper. Buy dry pods instead of canned or jars. Many durable products - e.g. spices, tea - can be ordered cheaper in wholesale packaging online.
- Look for a promotion, but be vigilant: check the price per kilogram / liter, not the packaging, and pay attention to the expiry date, especially for perishable goods - you may find that you don't have time to use them.
- Bet on quality: extremely cheap lettuce may already be wilted - it's not worth buying it, because you will throw away half of it.
- Be open to cheaper brands. Why choose the most expensive corn out of habit when there is a cheaper product of equally good quality next to it.
- Avoid ready-made meals, jar and bag soups. Do not buy mixed salads, ready-made salads. Bet on the least processed food. It's better to make a salad, muesli mix, sauce, soup or dumplings yourself, it will not only be cheaper, but also he althier, because you will avoid the excess of chemicals.
- Buy seasonal products - usually then they are the cheapest. But look carefully at prices, because there are exceptions to this rule - if there is a crop failure, sometimes bananas are cheaper than native fruit in high season. Sometimes it is also more profitable to buyfrozen foodthan "fresh" vegetables that have become hard to keep for a long time.
- Don't go shopping hungry - you won't be tempted to buy a bar or ice cream, which can cost as much as two loaves of bread.
- Carry your shopping bags - a disposable bag costs up to 50 groszy, which in the scale of monthly purchases may mean a loss of up to a dozen zlotys.
- ConsiderBuying Online- Many durable products (e.g. spices, tea, coffee) can be bought online for less.
Looka gallery of 9 photosThis will be useful to you
It may happen that you buy a larger quantity of, for example, yoghurts at a promotional price, and you realize too late that their expiry date is too short for your family to use them before that date. Then what? Don't throw it away, it would be a shameful waste! Share with your neighbor, or see if there is a diner nearby. This is a free food exchange point. Anyone can leave food they do not use there for the benefit of those in need. We leave dry and durable products (they cannot be expired) in the cabinets, perishable ones - in the refrigerator.
