If you do not want to ruin your finances, check out some ideas to help you save money on food, which in addition to rent, accounts for a big portion of our monthly budgets.
1. Eat smaller portions. This way will not only save you lots of cash, but at the same time you will keep your body slim. In some countries like the U.S. or Czech Republic, food portions served in restaurants are enormous! You can even order one meal and share with another person. If you cook at home, try to eat less every time, so your food supplies will last longer.
2. Eat together with your family. It can be a great opportunity to spend time together with your loved ones. Eating with your family members is not only beneficial for family bonding, but also for your budgets – lights on in one room only, no need for using microwave to reheat the meal a few times, nobody watching TV or playing computer games in another room.
3. Cook at home instead of eating out. Dining out costs a lot of money. If you are on the saving mission, you have to prepare meals at home. Home cooking can be as much as 50% cheaper than eating in restaurants. When cooking at home, you are using the same ingredients as chefs do. But, instead of contributing towards paying their salaries and profits, you are paying yourself directly into the piggy bank.
4. Cook cheaper meals. You do not have to eat expensive crabs or caviar every single day. Try cooking cheaper meals from time to time, for example, salads or vegetable soups which are not only cheap, but also very healthy. You will not even see any difference when you eat on the budget once or twice a week.
5. Bring lunch from home to work. Make yourself yummy sandwiches (using whole wheat bread is highly recommended), or a delicious salad before leaving to work instead of paying high prices in the company cafeteria.
6. Cook bigger portions. You can spend one evening a week to plan and prepare meals for the next few days, or even freeze some food such as spaghetti sauce or meatballs. Cooking bigger portions also saves money on utilities, dishwashing liquid, as well as saves you lots of time in the kitchen cooking and washing dishes.
7. Cook simple food. Cooking simple usually requires less ingredients, can be done with only using one pot or one pan, and does not take much time to prepare.
8. Skip morning coffee. Start a new day with a glass of warm lemon water which is not only refreshing, but also helps to nourish your brain and nerve cells, flushes toxins and protects your body against immune system deficiencies.
9. Check the expiry dates of all products in the fridge. Utilize soon-to-expire products to cook a delicious stew. Meat and vegetable stews are perfect to finish all leftover vegetables, sausages or beans. Stews will keep your stomach fool for the next few days.
10. Limit sweets and sodas. Your body will thank you. Drink pure water instead.
11. Do homemade jams or bread. At the beginning, you may not have bread-making skills. But, after practicing for a few times, you will be self-sufficient in producing your own bread and pastry.
12. Invest in a water filter. Instead of buying bottled water, consider spending some money on a high-quality water filter.
13. Buy a pressure cooker. If you lack cooking knowledge and spare time, you can buy a pressure cooker for a few hundred bucks and a cookbook. Apparently, even a person with no experience can prepare amazing dished to impress the loved ones by offering them a brownie from the pressure cooker.
14. Plan a menu for the whole week. Planning your meals in advance for the whole week, ideally a month, will allow you to optimize shopping, so you buy only what is really needed.
15. Try to make homemade wine. Initially, you will have to invest in a glass balloons, but with careful handling, they can serve you for a lifetime. The cost of raw materials is low, but the contribution of the work and the final result will give you a lot of satisfaction. I still remember when my grandpa was producing his own homemade wine using cherries and plums from his own garden.
16. Boil only the amount of water you need. Do not boil more water than you need. If you are preparing yourself a hot drink, ask other people at home whether they also need some boiled water.
17. If you boil too much water, keep it in a thermos. Instead of boiling water in the kettle every time, you can boil it in the morning and keep hot a 2-liter thermos pot for the rest of the day.
