Money saving tips for the kitchen and grocery shopping

Right now we’re all looking for ways to make our grocery money go further. Every little tip helps — from knowing which apps can compare our groceries to easy reminders about how to store and manage our food better to avoid waste. 

Here are our favourite tips to help manage the grocery budget and avoid waste. 

WHEN YOU SHOP: 

When you go shopping there are some easy tips to help you stick to your budget. These tips will help you save money by avoiding the usual pitfalls of shopping. 

• Plan ahead and stick to a list — to avoid impulse or unnecessary purchases 
• Check your pantry and fridge before you go — to avoid double-up purchases
• Never shop hungry — to avoid distraction and hungry choices
• Buy in bulk – if it makes sense for non-perishable items (oats, rice etc)
• Look for frozen (fruit and veg) or tinned (fruit, fish, veg) alternatives – they are cheaper and last far longer 
• Check the ends of aisle and catalogues — for specials and ½ price deals
• Watch for ‘end of day’ price drops — common for deli and BBQ items
• Buy whole — veggies, chicken, larger cuts of meat, blocks of cheese etc — you pay for other people to chop and prep items
• Be flexible with meat cuts — look for the longer cook, less prestigious cuts or bulk packs and think outside the usual mince, breast, chop cuts. Don’t forget a bulk pack of sausages can be used to make bolognaise or meatballs too.

ONCE YOU GET HOME, STORAGE IS EVERYTHING 

Now it’s about making those smart purchases go the distance. So, storage is everything. It keeps food in the best condition and avoids waste.  

• Check fridge settings — use the fruit and veg settings to keep food in the best condition and check temperature, moisture levels and seals to keep food fresh. 
• Remove plastic packaging — plastic causes moisture buildup in the fridge which causes food to go bad. Wrap veggies in damp cloths instead. 
• Learn how to best store each fresh item — use better boxes, water baths, paper towels etc. for different items. leafy greens need something to absorb moisture, while celery needs plenty of moisture to maintain cell structure and crispness, and herbs need to be treated like fresh flowers. 
• FIFO rotation — rotate what’s in the fridge to use oldest items or items that will go bad first. First In First Out is a good way to do it. 
• Eggs and milk don’t go in the door — the door is subject to the biggest fluctuation in temperatures as the fridge is opened and closed, so keep eggs, and milk further back in the fridge to help them last longer. 
• Get scrap sassy — not all offcuts and scraps need to go in the bin. Celery tops, wilted herbs, cauliflower stems and broccoli leaves are all perfectly edible. You can either save veggie offcuts to use in stocks and stock pastes OR turn green offcuts into epic salad ‘green goddess’ style dressings. 

Make it easy to use

Understand use-by vs best before-dates:

Use Bydates indicate that a food is safe to eat before that date when stored properly. It’s about food safety and should be the guide for disposing of food. Food outside of this date is no longer guaranteed safe to eat and should be disposed of. Best Before dates simply indicate that a food will begin to decline after this date, but is often still safe to eat, just not at its optimum. Use your sense to judge if the food is still good. Brands including Nestle are evening running awareness campaigns to remind us to Sniff, Look and Taste to avoid food waste.  

Pre-cut your veggies to make them easy to use:

If you prep your veggies in advance so they are easy and versatile to use, you are less likely to get to the end of the week and find a zucchini that’s now past its best and needs to go in the bin.

If you chop things up at the beginning of the week you’ll have them ready to toss in the pan at a moment’s notice. You’ll be more likely to use them, and at the end of the week, whatever is left can go straight in the soup pot because it’s already chopped.

• Carrots
• Celery
• Cauliflower 
• Capsicum

Turn old bread into crunchy croutons and more:

This is a neat trick if you’ve got some bread that has gone stale, or crusts the kids won’t eat.

Cut them up into cubes and toast them in the oven or a hot pan with a little oil and salt. Allow them to cool completely and keep them in an airtight container. The crunchy croutons make a great addition to salads to bulk them out, are a great topping for soups and can even be crushed up to make crispy chicken or fish coatings.

You can even go a step further and blitz them into crumbs and keep them in a jar. If you add some extra spices they make a great crumb coat, soup thickener or salad topping.

Save your herbs and stop them wilting:

Herbs are one of the most expensive things we buy, but more often than not we don’t get to use the bunch up before it’s wilted and past its best. There are some great ways to avoid this.

1. Treat your herb bunches like flowers. Place them upright in a glass with some water in the bottom, then pop a plastic bag over the top to protect them from fridge burn. This will keep them perky and fresh for a lot longer.

2. Wrap them. Wet a tea towel and wring it out until it’s just damp, roll your bunch of herbs in this and store it in the veggie drawer. The moisture will keep the herbs fresh and the cloth will protect the delicate leaves.

3. Freeze them. If you don’t manage to get to them in time, simply chop the herbs up finely and pop them into an ice cube tray. Cover them with oil and freeze them. This will stop them spoiling further and when you’re ready, just spoon one out into a hot pan to start off any frying and add flavour to your meals.

Portion items when freezing:

Often when we’re in a rush and we’ve bought items like meat in bulk, we just pop them straight in the freezer. Then when we need them, we have to defrost 2kg of mince when we only need 500g.

Make sure you portion these items up into usable sizes, that way you won’t defrost more than you need. If you flatpack the items it’s even better.