NOTE FROM KELLY: Happy news! … My dear friend Tiffany at Don’t Waste the Crumbs is joining The Nourishing Home as an official monthly contributor. Each month, she’ll be sharing some of her favorite frugal tips for Real Food on a Budget. Many of you already know Tiffany via her terrific blog and the many guest posts she’s shared here, such as my personal favorite “Small Steps in the Right Direction.” It’s a joy to have her join me in this ministry to help you and your family live a more nourished life in service to the King. Welcome aboard, Tiffany!
As 2013 draws to a close, many of us are considering how we can “do better” in 2014. This short series on creating a frugal grocery budget inspired quite a few families to hunker down and reign in their food expenses for the New Year. But, if the idea of crunching numbers makes you cringe, here are five super simple, frugal ways to save on groceries – any time of year – without using a calculator.
- Save butter wrappers for greasing pans. Grass-fed butter is full of health benefits like weight management and gastrointestinal health, but it also costs a pretty penny. So instead of throwing away the wrappers, we save them for greasing baking sheets and cooking pans. It allows us to stretch one can of cooking spray to last nearly six months!
- Count bananas sold in bunches. Bananas are one of the most frugal fruits available year round, and are often sold in bagged bunches. The typical bunch includes seven bananas. In some cases, you can find a bag with eight or even nine bananas. Intentionally seek out a bag with ten bananas and you’ve essentially gotten three bananas for free!
- Weigh fixed-price, pre-bagged produce. Produce is usually sold in one of two ways: Either you bag it and pay per pound, or it’s pre-bagged and you pay a fixed price for the bag. If you weigh the pre-bagged produce, you’ll often find it’s heavier than the 3lb or 5lbs stated. Choose three to five “heavy” bags and weigh each, purchasing the heaviest bag out of the bunch. You can end up with up to two pounds of additional produce for the same price!
- Save overripe produce (and scraps) for smoothies. Got overripe produce? Don’t toss it. Chop and freeze it for use in smoothies. Likewise, when you’re chopping fresh fruits and vegetables for snacks and meals, don’t toss the scraps – save them to make smoothies! Strawberry tops, apple cores (minus the seeds), the ends of carrots, etc. all make excellent additions to smoothies. By saving overripe produce and scraps, you’ll reduce your waste, stretch your food AND enjoy the health benefits of real food smoothies.
- Eat like you’re going on vacation. No one likes to come home to moldy leftovers, or expired food, after being out of town. So we make a practice of pretending we’re about to go on vacation to ensure we’re making use of all the food we’ve purchased to eliminate any wasted, expired food. If you incorporate “pre-vacation eating” into your meal plan (planning meals around what you have left in your fridge and pantry), you’ll most certainly rack up the savings in your grocery budget. Plus, you just might devise a few new recipes in the process!
Can these 5 simple tips really save you money?
Absolutely!
I know I told you that you wouldn’t need a calculator, and you don’t! I’ve done the math for you just to demonstrate how little tips like these can really add up to big savings …
- A can of olive oil cooking spray is approximately $1.99. If you buy one can every two months (on average), you would save $8 a year by using butter wrappers instead to grease your pans.
- In my area, Costco sells bananas for $1.39 per bag. By seeking out bags with ten bananas, you can save 60¢ each week. This doesn’t sound like much, but over the course of a year that equates to saving more than $31 on just bananas!
- $1 per pound for fresh seasonal produce is a pretty common price. By weighing pre-bagged produce and choosing the heaviest bag, you can save anywhere from $1 to $2 each time. Over the course of a year, that’s nearly a $104 savings on produce!
- We spend good money on food, so throwing food away is really a waste of money. By turning food scraps into smoothies you’re creating extra meals without spending extra money. So if you blend a high protein smoothie using your produce scraps, instead of buying a smoothie from a local shop, you could save $4 with each smoothie you make at home, or $208 in savings per year! (Note from Kelly: Tiffany is being a little humble here in not tooting her own horn loud and proud … so I’ll let you in on the good news – she has a completely awesome new eBook launching in January full of terrific real food high protein smoothie and bar recipes. I’ll be posting a review on her book and sharing one of her delicious recipes next week! So stay tuned.)
- In the Crumbs household, our grocery budget is $330 per month, or $82 each week. By making it a habit of eating like we’re about to go on vacation every so often, we saved nearly $250 in one year!
Total savings for these five simple tips? $601!
Looking for more ways to save money in 2014? Subscribe to Don’t Waste The Crumbs weekly newsletter. It’s free, filled with exclusive content not found elsewhere on my site and it always includes tips to help you eat real food, on a real budget!
And while you’re at it, be sure to sign-up for Kelly’s new weekly The Nourishing Home newsletter, which launches in January 2014. She’s got some great budget-saving tips and other real food resources and recipes in store for you in the New Year as well!
#3 is a good one as I buy organic apples in fixed price bags, but I’m sure the store doesn’t have a scale that I know of. I’ve never seen bananas sold by the bunch instead of by the pound but I only pay $0.37 per pound for bananas anyway.
I’ve only seen bananas sold in packages at Costco, as Tiffany mentioned. But you’re so right, you can apply this principle to apples and oranges which are often sold by the bag at supermarkets. I can often find bags of apples/oranges on sale and if I do a quick count I find there are always some bags with more in there. 🙂 Blessings, Kelly
I love the tips, but I would have liked to see the price comparison on scraps vs no scraps smoothies made at home instead of or in addition to scraps vs restaurant smoothies.
One thing, I experimented with this year was with apples: I used an apple peeler corer slicer, but it leaves the ends with skin which I don’t want in my apple crisp and throwing the ends away seems like such a waste especially once you see the amount when peeling a bushel or even a half. I threw those ends into a crockpot, two actually along with a half dozen overly ripe apples and made applesauce. Ran it through the blender when done and it is great. I’m guessing it made about four quarts maybe 6. Could totally add other fruit scraps too for different flavors as you mentioned with smoothies.
Hi, Maria. Good point about the scraps for smoothies. It may not be as dramatic of a savings (using scraps vs not in homemade smoothies) but it would still be a frugal and economical way to utilize all the food you buy rather than throwing it out, thereby saving you money. (Since throwing away food is throwing away money.) I love your example of using the apple ends to make applesauce – that’s another great example of how scraps can be used to make delicious real foods. Think of the money you are saving in not having to buy applesauce. That’s exactly the mindset that Tiffany is talking about. Appreciate you sharing that tip! Blessings, Kelly
I don’t know of any store in my area that sells bananas by the bag, only by the pound. Even bags of bananas have a weight and price sticker.
I’ve only seen this at Costco, but if the Costco in your area doesn’t sell them bagged, it may be a West Coast thing they do. However, you can apply this principle to apples and oranges which are often sold by the bag. I can often find bags of apples/oranges on sale and if I do a quick count I find there are always some bags with more in there. 🙂 Blessings, Kelly
Hi Julie! I think finding bagged bananas may vary by location. On the West coast, I’ve seen them at Costco and Grocery Outlet. On the East coast, I’ve seen them at Sam’s, although they were bound and not bagged (yet the price per package concept is still the same). Keep an eye out as you shop at various stores – you just might spot a good deal when you least expect it!
Where do you store the butter wrappers? I feel like they would make a mess!
Hi Patina! I fold the butter wrappers in half and store them behind the condiments in my refrigerator shelf. Like a small “bookshelf” of butter wrappers behind the mustard. 🙂 This way butter doesn’t get everywhere and they’re somewhat hidden if company comes over and opens the fridge for something. Although them finding butter wrappers would be a fun conversation starter!
I freeze them all together in a baggie. The butter warms up really fast when I use them to grease pans, muffin tins….
Great tip, Meg! Thanks for taking the time to share. You are a blessing! 🙂
Incorporating leftovers into our dinners saves me both time and money. For example, I’ll make a double batch of rice and serve the rest later in the week as part of another meal. I do the same with sauteed veggies.
Each person needs to look at whether this advice will work in their situation. The bananas are one example. We pay by the pound here, not by the bag but the point is well taken. When you buy produce by the bag, get the biggest bag possible for the same amount of money. Use what you have in hand to minimize waste, and try doing things for yourself instead of purchasing them at retail( the smoothie example). Use these big ideas to scout out what you can do in your own situation.
Thank you Ann! 🙂
I like to save veggie scraps such as onions, garlic, celery and carrots (and anything else I have) and freeze them until I have enough to make either chicken or vegetable stock. I have a compost pile but the scraps work great for stock since they are strained out after they are done cooking. It’s not the most beautiful stock and I wouldn’t be winning any awards with it but it works and it’s free.
Sounds good to me, Julie! I couldn’t agree more about using veggie scraps for stock! Great idea! 🙂
I’ve recently started switching to more wholesome and organic food for my family. Not everything, but milk, eggs, chicken, and some produce. We’ve been averaging $800/month for just me and my husband and our 8 month old (who isn’t eating much!). I’m feeling really discouraged because I want to feed my family healthy, real food but the cost is overwhelming. I’m trying to be wise and incorporate the tips and tricks I’ve heard but it’s hard.
Hi, Katherine. I am right there with you, it can be really hard to balance the budget and eat healthy. I recommend looking into co-ops as well. I wrote an article here that might help a bit: http://thenourishinghome.com/2012/03/real-food-on-a-budget-part-2/ as well as this one that talks about creating healthy living goals and a budget: http://thenourishinghome.com/2012/03/8-tips-for-real-food-on-a-budget/
Remember, this is about doing the best we can with the blessings God has given us. Eating healthy should never be so restrictive that you’re filled with anxiety over it or are tempted to break the bank to afford it. Living a healthy lifestyle instead should be centered on keeping priorities where they should be … seek first the kingdom, be a good steward of the blessings God has given you and enjoy the life He has given you for His glory and in service to Him. 🙂
Thank you! I really appreciate your encouragement! Great perspective 🙂 I had just come back from the grocery store so I couldn’t see the forest through the trees at the moment haha. Thanks again!
My pleasure, sweet friend! 🙂
But let me not seem like such a Debbie downer and follow that up with I have thoroughly been enjoying your blog! Thank you! 🙂
LOL, Katherine. You are definitely not a Debbie Downer. Your honest comment is completely one we can all relate to and you certainly are welcome to share your opinion here. Thank you for your kind words. Blessing to you! 🙂 Kelly