When Luke & I first moved into together about 5 years ago. Our weekly food bill easily topped the $300 mark. Our trolley was topped full of unhealthy food choices like multiple cartons of softdrink, potato chips, cookies, tonnes of processed ready made meals & we would get multiple take outs a week. Back then we were 2 fresh faced lazy cooks who happily chose convenience over real food & we had 2 incomes to support this. Oh how times have changed, now living on 1 income & adding a toddler to the mix, I meal plan & cook most meals from scratch. Yes its more time consuming for me & the dirty piles of dishes seem never ending but we save a lot more & eat way better. Plus hopefully teaching Kobe some healthier eating choices along the way (although he still begs for candy & chocolate most of the day...)
Last year I wanted to focus on cutting down on food wastage so for a few months I kept a food diary & wrote down what went to waste. Surprise surprise fruit & vegetables topped the list. Most went to compost or I just dug in my garden beds. With citrus & onion scraps put in with the normal garbage. Im quite lucky that my local council composts what can be to use on parks & natural reserves.
We stopped using our credit card 8 weeks ago (which I have now terminated) & now rely on taking out a weekly food budget from our bank account. Since I now pay for groceries on cash, I have managed to save $20 a week (which I have put towards an emergency fund/holiday fund). I budget to have 1 takeout a week cause I need a break from cooking in the kitchen:) I use the coupons we get in the mail.
I shared a few tips in this blog
post, one tip was investing in a decent coffee machine if coffee is your weakness. I also recommend checking out what you already have in your pantry which you can use to make a meal & having a shopping list to stick to when at the shops. I know people who stockpile on items on special but I like to meal plan around the catalogue specials for that week as opposed to hoarding. I also never do a big cook up & freeze as it never tastes the same BUT would save me a tonne of time in the kitchen. Do whatever works for you.
I try to do a thorough pantry clean out every month so any item close to use by date is used. I wont be buying corn relish any more as I have wasted the last 2 jars... Plus I organize pantry items via categories like cereal, spices, baking, soup etc so I avoid double ups.
If possible I shall save a shopping trip for the weekend so I can leave Kobe at home with daddy & get in & out the shops as quick as possible. Otherwise if I take him I have to pack snacks & avoid the chocolate/& bottled water aisle (which is his new favourite obsession?!?). The other day at the shops he demanded junkfood to which I gave my usual reply "we don't have enough money to buy that darling". On came a hissy fit "you never bring enough money!"
Welcome to the value of a dollar my lil darling... I started giving him little chores & giving him a coin (sometimes silver sometimes gold) to add to his piggybank & once a month we take that so he can choose a treat to the value of what he has earnt. Thus teaching him
nothing comes for free you have to earn it:)
According to
Ozharvest, in Australia alone $8-$10 billion worth of food is wasted each year. And yet there are 2 million people who rely on food relief.
Food bank is a wonderful charity who help those in need, I had a small group of family & friends help me raise over 10 cartons of food over Christmas to limit the amount of people going hungry over the festive period, I try to help where I can. And whats good about this charity is you drop the food off & you can see people come to collect it to feed their families:)
Open table is a Melbourne based company whose mission statement is "
We use surplus food to create wholesome community feasts, bringing together people from all walks of life. Open Table is based on two key ideas — food waste; and meeting the neighbours". Second bites is a company who rescues fresh food from cafes, shops & the big grocery chains that would otherwise go to waste & redistributes it to over 1200 food relief programs. If you made too much,
Leftover swap is a website you can swap/give your leftovers with someone.
Such wonderful concepts, you could always hold a "waste free" picnic with friends & bring excess food to swap.
If your Western Australia based the following links apply to you to help save money; fruit & veg is always cheaper at the standalone fruit & veg shops but you tend to have to eat them rather quickly. Every Saturday there is a
wholesale market in Canningvale, its worth it if you gather a few households together & split the produce as everything is sold in bulk. There is a small entry fee. A friends mum told me about
Fruit Loop in Pickering Brook which is open weekend mornings during the stonefruit season. If your gain,
Urban tucker is a foraging site where you can look up what fruit to forage where.
This war on food wastage journey is far from over & there are definitely areas to work for my family like instead of buying treats like cookies & ice cream I could make some for the week, grow more vegetables (successfully), buying the staples in bulk (like cooking oil & flour), bake my own bread, split excess food with friends/neighbours (if they are interested), make my own edible stock (it seems to come out bland every time:(), having a meat free night (websites like
Minimalist baker &
Veggie mama have lots of drool worthy vegetarian options), & shaving another $20 off the food bill.
Happy Wednesday friends!
Grace
