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
