6 Food Economy Tips

Money is tight at the moment, with many countries suffering from vary degrees of economic crisis. Cooking for whole families can be very expensive, so whether your a Mother of a big family, struggling with grocery bills or just a young student looking to save costs on Food to spend them elsewhere, the following advice will hopefully be useful to you, some of which you are bound to already know but will stand as a good reminded to what you need to be doing and some of which will hopefully be something you haven't really considered much.

The greater the quantity you buy things in, the greater the value. Not only is it economically beneficial due to the lesser packaging required but also environmentally friendly. Here is a classic example, from my local store ASDA in England but the principle still applies in any country;

1 Pint of milk = 49p

2 Pints of milk = 89p

4 Pints of Milk = £1.18

If you multiply 49p by 2, you get 98p, yet you can buy 2 Pints together for 89p.

If you multiply 49p by 4, you get £1.96, for only 4 pints of milk; yet if you buy it altogether in bulk it'd be nearly half that price at £1.18.

Buy On Special Offer

If you see a product which you tend to buy on special offer, don’t JUST buy the quantity you would normally buy it in, buy as many as you can; (This will be dependant on your finances and also the expiration duration of the item in question). Once you get in the habbit of buying all your items months in advance at a cheaper rate, you will have saved money on them each time you WOULD have had to buy them at a higher rate; out of special offer. Here are a few examples of the benefits of buying on special offer.

Each and every store will price their items differently, its not always simply a case of one being cheaper than the other, sure some will on average be cheaper than others on the whole but in every place you will find one of your items cheaper than the other, now nobodies suggesting that you do your weekly shop split over several Supermarkets and walking a street or two just to save a few coins, is just a little OTT. The idea is to buy these cheaper items in bulk from each place whenever your there.

4x Can of Princes tuna from one supermarket = £4.00

4x can of same brand Princes Tuna from another supermarket near me = £2.50

So i buy months worth of tuna at once whenever i go there, Tuna is sealed in an airtight tin, surrounded by preservative Brine and so stays fresh for months if not years, therefore why not get at least a few months worth of Tuna at once, Saving 40p per can

What your looking at on your plate is not just left over food for the bin, its generally a good bit of nutrition that has a cost. Wrap it In tinfoil, clingfilm or whack it in a Tupperware tub and freeze it. If you have a family pet, put some on their plate, in the long run this will save on Pet Food.

Take your own food to work/college/school; you can pay up to $5 (£2.50) for your average sandwich. You could make this yourself and pack it in your bag for at least half as much, I would even go as far to say it'd be 75% cheaper. Another added benefit is that you will get to choose what goes into the sandwich for instance.

It tends to be your proteins which are expensive, the likes of your meats. If your gonna make meals heavy on the meat, then it might get a little expensive. Bulk your meals out with cheap Carbohydrates, such as Rice, Bread and noodles. When your cooking for a whole family, this becomes even more important, sadly a dish heavy in good meat and protein can end up being very expensive for several people, if a recipe suggests using 4 fillets of chicken, consider only using 3 or 2 and bulking the rest out with the rice and vegetables.

1kg Chicken = Roughly £10

1kg Rice = Roughly £1

A ten fold difference. If your still determined to get your Protein requirements cheap, your best bet will be to add Lentils, kidney beans and other pulses to your dishes.