Inflation has been a serious issue the past several years. The household budget is stretched and we cannot rely on someone else to reduce our food costs. There are many steps you can take to reduce your costs when grocery shopping, or food shopping, as some call it.
Simple solutions abound on the internet and are good pieces of advice in normal times. These are not normal times. Food prices are up. A lot. Simply saying make a list, avoid food waste, buy in bulk, meal plan, use coupons, buy generic, and other types of advice are things you are already doing if you are here. We need to roll up the sleeves and get serious.
Below is a list of ways to reduce food shopping costs rarely mentioned. I provide a comprehensive list so there is something everyone can use. Scroll to what works for you and bookmark.
Before we start, at the end of this article I include ways to reduce food costs when traveling. If that is your sole interest you can scroll to the end for that information.
Let’s get started.
Buy Local, In Bulk, In Season
When food shopping you often buy a lot of other things you are unaware of. Packaging, for example. Transportation of produce to market is another. We can avoid these costs when buying local.
Buying from local producers is not without risk. You still need to verify quality. And sometimes local farmers have higher prices.
However, opportunities abound in buying local, especially when food items are in season.
Local does not mean only small farmers within a certain number of miles of your home. For example, I live in Wisconsin and in late summer we have semis of Michigan peaches come our way. These peaches beat the quality found in local grocery stores and at a lower price.
Of course, buying in bulk when peaches, or any other food product, is in season creates another problem. You can only eat so much before the food spoils. I have three solutions to this problem below, providing food shopping savings all year round.
Buying locally grown or raised food eliminates many transportation costs. Always watch packaging. It is not free. Lots of packaging increases the cost or a shortcut must be taken on the product itself. There is no, ah, free lunch (if I can be allowed a small joke).
Bulk food purchases often have limited packaging, which is a big plus for keeping costs down.
Farmers need to move produce when it is in season and they are competing against other farmers with crops ripening. Shelf life on many fresh food products are short so the price is lower to move product fast. This is an opportunity to adjust your meal plans to reflect the lower cost food items. Plus, preserving these items keeps food costs down during the entire year.
Here is where we need to think creatively. Not all produce is grown locally. Oranges do not grow in Wisconsin. Pineapples either. But they do grow somewhere. And where they grow they often have a season. My example of Michigan peaches above is a good example. Those peaches are not local, but not from another continent either. In short, when a food item is on sale, load up! We will deal with long-term preservation of these items below.
Farmer’s Markets
I want you to look at farmer’s markets in a different light. Great opportunities are available at farmer’s markets; scams and rip-offs too.
At a local farmer’s market (I grew up in the backwoods seven miles from a small town) there was a lady that had a wide variety of produce. She had more than anybody else. People bought from her because she had such a variety and she claimed she grew it all herself.
Well, one day she was caught buying all her produce at Walmart. It was a massive scandal. Unfortunately, she was only given a reprimand and told to never do it again. Not cool!
My warning to you is that there are less than reputable people at farmer’s markets mixed in with all the hard working folks selling quality food. The problem is that you really can’t tell which is which.
I suggest you sample items at farmer’s markets. But when it comes to loading up in bulk, in season, or when there is a sale so the farmer can move product to make way for the new crop, visit the farmer’s site. You will know quickly if they are producing the fruits and vegetables, or not; raising the animals, or not. You can see their farm with your own eyes.
Often times you can pick what you want, saving even more. In my area we can pick our own strawberries, cherries, apples, and more when they are in season. Your area will be different. If you can, picking your own produce is a fun way to assure quality at a really good price. And you know it is fresh.
Visiting a farmer’s market is about building relationships, not purchasing. Sure, you can buy if you want, but the really good deals often come when you buy directly from the farmer at their farm
One last example when it comes to buying dairy products.
Local dairy farmers sometimes sell their milk and cheese directly to the public. They did all the proper handling like pasteurizing the milk. They sell their products in their own store. Milk goes for around $2.50 a half gallon in a glass container. But! You get $2 back when you bring the glass container back. That means milk costs around a mere $1 per gallon.
Now I know what you are thinking. I live in Wisconsin so of course there is ample dairy products at a very low cost. But here me out. There may be a similar situation where you live, only with a different food item. Oranges in Florida or peaches in Georgia or potatoes in Idaho. It might require a short drive, but remember, you are loading up so the number of trips needed is small.
The best ways to cut food costs is to find local producers. These are not small farmers limited to a 12×12 plot behind the house. Many are full-sized farms raising and growing food as a serious business.
Farmer’s markets are filled with opportunities and risks. Learn the tricks and secrets of farmer’s markets and you can put a serious dent in your food shopping bill while eating top quality food.
Save Money On Meat
No offense to people avoiding meat. I still need to cover the strategies for those who do.
Meat is expensive. And the meat you find in grocery stores is often modified to get more mileage from the meat they sell. That generally means poorer quality.
If you want high quality meat at a cost below the poor quality stuff found in the grocery store, you will need to change where you buy.
Again, depending where you live will determine how well each of these strategies work.
You are familiar with buying meat by the pound. (Sorry to all my non-American readers. We use pounds here in the U.S. A pound is just under 500 grams for comparison.) But did you know you can buy meat by the animal or portion thereof?
Yes, you can buy a quarter of a steer for beef. Or a half. Or the whole animal, but that is a lot of meat (800 or so pounds). Same for pork. You can also buy a half of a half. You can buy a front or back quarter. The back quarter has more meat and different cuts. The front quarter has ribs, for example and the back has roasts. But what is you want some ribs and some roasts? Well, you get a half of a half where the butcher separates the pile of meat products equally so everyone gets every cut.
There are two ways to save a lot of money on meat. First you can visit a butcher shop and buy a quarter or a half, etc. there. Or, you can visit those farmer’s markets again and find farmers raising animals. You can buy direct from the farmer. The farmer will have a butcher shop they already work with to handle the butchering. You pay the farmer for the animal and the butcher for the butchering and wrapping. You can save even more by wrapping the meat yourself.
With every middleman eliminated, you maximize your savings. It is not uncommon to pay less than the price of the cheapest cuts at the grocery store for all the cuts combined. That means ribeye steak for less than the cost of cheap hamburger.
Chicken and Eggs At a Discount
Eggs are usually a lower cost food item until recently. Bird flu has put a dent in the number of laying hens in the U.S. and egg prices are no longer all that cheap.
Chicken has been a go-to meat for people looking for a low cost meal. Along with eggs, this is not always true anymore.
However, you can get better quality eggs at less than the price at the grocery store!
Many cities allow people to have a small number of laying hens in town, usually capped at four. If this is an option you might consider it. Or! you may have neighbors that have excess eggs.
If you live in the country, as I do, you can raise your own chickens. Eggs are abundant. People with a small flock don’t always have a way to sell all their eggs so they keep prices low. At my church there are two ladies selling eggs for half the price at the store.
Of course this is location specific, not working for everyone. But where it does work, use the strategy.
Broilers, chickens raised for meat, are also up in price due to bird flu. That is why buying direct from the farmer can be such a great deal.
Something nonfarmers never think about is old laying hens. After a few years hens slow down production a lot. You can butcher these hens for meat but the meat gets tough because the hen is older. And there is less meat on the hens. Because of this, egg farmers often have a lot of old hens to sell for meat. They practically give the hens away.
So what do you do with the hen? Well, in the backwoods we call these old hens soup chickens. Yes, the meat is tougher, but if you throw them into the oven and cook them you can dice the meat for chicken noodle soup and you can’t tell the difference from a younger chicken. In fact, there is more flavor from the old hen. Something to consider.
Grow Your Own Food
I will not spend a lot of time on this since many readers have no place to put a garden or time to manage one. But here me out. I have a “no work” way to fill your freezer.
Tending a garden takes time and work. Many in town don’t have the space. You can have a very small window garden, but it probably provides very little produce over the growing season.
Instead, consider an indoor garden. Indoor gardens take only a few feet of space, providing fresh produce year round that tastes great, and requires almost no work. It is something anyone can do.
If you do have space, but limited time, consider this. Instead of a garden, plant a tree.
Here in NE Wisconsin mulberry trees grow nicely. A mulberry we planted five years ago produced over a bushel of berries last year (a bushel is about 37 quarts; a quart is a tad bigger than a liter). It should produce more this upcoming summer. You can buy a mulberry from a local garden center or here. By the way, I think mulberries taste better than blackberries. Not as seedy and easier to pick (no barbs like raspberries and blackberries).
Now let’s look at how we will deal with buying in bulk, in season, or from an abundant mulberry tree or similar abundance of food.
A Freezer Is Your Best Investment
We will cover three ways to preserve food you buy in bulk at a discount. The first is to freeze food.
A freezer is your best investment. They are low cost and taken almost no space. Even a small apartment can fit the new upright freezers with 6.5 cubic feet of freezer space and taking less than two feet square.
The real issue is learning how to freeze food right. Freezing is the fastest and easiest way to preserve food, but there are a few tricks for getting superior results. Rather than turn this article into a guide for freezing food I will share this link to a list of books on the subject. You can also borrow these books from the library.
Dehydrating Food
Dehydrating food is only slightly more involved than freezing. The best part is you can store dehydrated food almost anywhere. A dehydrator is usually less expensive than a freezer, too.
While it is easy to freeze meat for multiple uses later, a dehydrator can make jerky. And you know how delicious beef and other jerkies taste, and how expensive. With a dehydrator jerky is fast, easy, and no more than the cost of the meat and a few spices.
In my household we have freezers, but we also dehydrate a lot of food. For example, when bananas go on sale we back up the truck. Yes, bananas go bad quickly unless we dehydrate them, which we do. Tastiest candy ever with no added sugars.
The best part is you can store dehydrated food in your pantry. No electricity for a freezer. You can dehydrate fruits, vegetables, and meats.
Some foods require special care when drying. Most dehydrators come with an instruction book. You can learn more about dehydrating specific food items from the library or here.
Canning Foods
Canning is the most involved way to preserve food. We can’t cover many details in this article, but I will tell you that you can can fruits, vegetables, and even meats.
Here is a list of canning supplies you will need. Before you spend your money, know that different equipment is used for different foods. Some require a pressure cooker, others a water bath. Some people even vacuum seal their jars instead.
If you don’t have someone to teach you canning you will need to read up on the subject. The library is a wonderful resource. You can also buy books on canning here. Also consider a course at a local technical college. Canning is best learned from someone familiar with the process because improperly canned foods can be a risk.
Bonus: Fermenting Foods
There is a fourth way to preserve foods. Fermenting is used to make wine or sauerkraut. But fermenting can be used for much more.
You can visit your library for books on fermenting or buy books on the subject here.
Saving On Food When Traveling
If food shopping is expensive at home, it is worse when on the road.
No matter what you do, food costs will be higher on the road than at home.
When possible, bring some of your home dehydrated foods.
Because there is a limit to what you can bring, I have another trick I use to keep food costs down when traveling.
Most hotel rooms now have a refrigerator and microwave. In fact, I insist they do or I get a different hotel. Then I limit dining out when on the road in favor of a visit to the grocery store. In short, I do a small food shopping run every few days when on the road.
For the cost of two meals out I can eat for a week when hitting the grocery store instead.
Coda
Food prices are climbing and in a serious way. The current political climate could make the situation much worse. Keeping food shopping costs low is getting more difficult, yet more important than ever if the family budget is to remain solvent.
This article has plenty of tips to bring your food costs down. There are also plenty of links for additional reading and research. No one method is right for everyone. Some strategies are unavailable in certain areas. As a whole, there is something you can use to improve your finances and lower your food costs.
Share any tips your have on reducing food costs in the comment section below. Thank you.
