Ways I Save in the Kitchen

I recently wrote a post about ways I am planning to save money in the kitchen this year, so I thought I would share one explaining some of the things I am already doing. Maybe these will be helpful to you or serve as a springboard for your own ideas.

Last year I had accumulated quite the stock of food, and this year I have been working through it all, not really seeing the full effect of rising costs because I have not had to buy a full week’s groceries in a while. Still, I am seeing an increase from what I was spending this time last year. I have noticed, as I have been buying things here and there, that almost everything has gone up, sometimes more than once per item, during my shopping days over the last couple of months. Let me just say how thankful I am that I had the amount of food I did, and that I am developing a new pantry plan for myself. I am a little hesitant, because I am aware of the rising costs more so now, but I want to get a rotating stock of food that more accurately takes my blood sugar issues into consideration. It is not going to be cheap. I know this, and I am trying to find ways to lessen the cost.

Some of what I do to spend less on my kitchen and food needs:

1. I have reusable containers that I pack meals in for work and outings. Three glass ones and a BPA free plastic one with three compartments each is perfect for most of my needs. I have various smaller containers, as well as a soup bowl with cover and a small thermos for hot/cold things. I utilize these on meal prep days for my own kitchen as well.
2. I have some fruit covers for when I eat half of something and want the rest later.
3. I have silicone and fabric bowl covers when something would otherwise call for plastic wrap.
4. I don’t buy plastic wrap or aluminum foil anymore.
5. I haven’t bought wax paper in years, but I do indulge in pre-cut unbleached parchment paper. To save money on this I buy in larger quantities from Amazon. I can get so much more for my money than at the store. And I really hate cutting the paper to fit my pans.
6. I also have a variety of reusable snack, sandwich, quart, and gallon bags. Some just for dry foods, many for wet as well. Some are just for shelf and fridge use, and others are for freezer use. These I use in place of the single-use plastic baggies whenever I can. However, I won’t use them if the food going in will stain or leave strong odors. These baggies are meant to be kept for years, not discarded after each use.
7. I do use the plastic zipper bags for food items that will stain or leave behind strong odors if put in my good storage bags. However, I wash and reuse each of these so-called single use bags as many times as I can so I am not constantly buying them. When I do buy them, it is only quart and gallon size freezer bags, and I get as big a box as I can afford when shopping to save more money in the long run. I also buy store brand, unless I can find a better deal online.
8. I use canning jars for fridge and shelf storage, but don’t have to buy new lids each year because I don’t process anything. You can get jars of varying sizes, lids, and rings at yard sales or while thrifting, or wait for store sales.
9. Something I always have in the freezer: A zipper bag for bits of fruit that I can later use in smoothies.
10. Another thing I always have in the freezer: A bag for any greens I have to freeze to save them from going bad. I am just me in the household, so I don’t always get to all the yummy greens before they start to wilt. I just throw them in the freezer and add some to a smoothie when I want one.
11. I also put celery and the leaves in the freezer. I don’t think they hold up any longer than about a week. But if I can’t get to them before they soften in the fridge, then the freezer is where they go. Even if it’s just one stalk, or the leaves from meal prep, those little bits help me to save on my grocery bill over time.
12. In the past, and I will likely start doing this again, I froze leftover bits of meat in a bag in the freezer as well. All I did was throw any bits of meat left over after meal prep sessions. Cooked. That bag could have quite the variety by the time I decide to use it. Beef, pork, chicken, turkey, and sausage can all go into a soup or casserole together, or even a skillet meal.
13. When I am also saving perfectly good vegetable bits, I can make an entire meal to last days when combining them with those pieces of meat. At no cost.
14. Today I bought four avocados at $0.70 each. I think that is a good deal. I am going to cut these up and freeze them to use as smoothie additions. They provide a creamy texture, and a healthy fat.
15. I already freeze chunks of banana. They also provide the creamy texture I want in my smoothie. I don’t always use them, as I usually already have fruit going into a smoothie and I do have to be careful how much fruit I take in.
16. Though all of my utilities are paid by my landlord, I will mention appliances here because others may pay for theirs. I rent a room in a house and only have a corner of that room as my “kitchen”. I do not have a regular stove/oven and fridge. If my landlord suddenly decided I had to pay my own electric bill it would be less than in a full apartment because I only have a toaster oven, a two-burner hot plate, and a dorm size fridge with just a small freezer. If I were paying my own electricity, this would save me money on that bill. I do also have two slow cookers, two small blenders, and an electric hand mixer.
17. I reuse pickle juice by slicing cucumber and adding it to the jar, making sure the slices are covered by the liquid. Leave this in the fridge for a week.
18. Once in a while I make kale chips if I have the leafy green to use up. This means that kale is not going bad, so I am not wasting money. If I still can’t use it all I will freeze it in the greens bag.
19. If I have an abundance of eggs I will crack them into a freezer bag, break the yolks up, and freeze. I just label with the number of eggs in the bag. I do bags of two or three if I’ll use them in a particular recipe, or 6 or 8 if I want to make an egg bake. The eggs can also be used when making French toast.
20. I am making it a point to use up what I have each week. Things open on the shelf, and things from the fridge and freezer. This means I am not doing a full shopping trip each weak right now.
21. Now that my food stocks are getting low, I am going to be planning my pantry stock up for a healthy me. This will be costly, but I always feel better when I have foods stocked for a period of time. Once this is done, I plan to actually cycle through everything, so I am using it, but then buy what I use each week or month to restock. I want to be open to finding deals on what I will be stocking throughout the year and will be looking into whether or not buying in bulk will save me any money.

I hope some of these ideas help you and am always interested in how others are saving in the kitchen. Feel free to leave a comment or email me at [email protected].

~ Shannon