Food shopping – for the frugal

I want to say straight away that my name is NOT Scrooge, I am NOT mean, despite what people say, I am just careful with money (what little there is I want to hang onto for as long as possible and see that it is spent wisely (or not at all)). My childhood years were spent in the sixties and seventies and there just wasn’t the money around then. There were no credit cards to use if you were a bit short, if you didn’t have the money – you went without, and although times were tough I have to say that we never went without food, there was always something on the table, and that’s where I want to start on my frugal journey…

Food – the biggest expense for the majority of people. But a lot of money is spent buying the wrong type of food – the dreaded processed foods, and yes, we’re equally guilty on this one from time to time, but no more.

There are lots of things you can do when food shopping but the main one is not going unprepared, and by writing a list.

I have been trying, for years, to get my family into the habit of doing menus each week (and for a few weeks ahead too to save some time) so that shopping becomes easier, because if you know what food you’re going to be eating you know what food you need to have in the house each week! (And making the process of shopping easier has only to be a good thing surely!).

After the menu has been written, the list of ingredients automatically comes from that, but before tripping off to the supermarket – stop! Check the cupboards and see what is already in there because otherwise you may end up with duplicated stuff and that could mean waste!!!!!!!!

But this will only work if all food is fresh, dried or frozen (and I don’t mean ready meals from the freezer), we have always been big advocates of unprocessed food and very rarely resort to them – but occasionally!

You don’t have to sacrifice quality either, having a frugal lifestyle does not mean living a life of poverty and living on tins of 10p beans everyday – but now and again! Sometimes you do have to wonder what quality of food is in processed foods though when everyone along the manufacturing chain has to make some profit – it makes you wonder. But quite often it’s actually cheaper to avoid processed food and cook from scratch, that’s my aim anyway.

As usual there’s no one around so it looks like I’ll have to do menus myself, so I’m off to the kitchen to search out the recipe books.

Until next time: One of the key things is to monitor the product dates; use by date means just that, use the product by this date or throw it out (wipe away the tears, it’s not worth getting ill for but remember not to do it again). Best before date means just that too, but you can use after this date (providing it’s not gone off) but there may be some deterioration in quality.