Frugal Meal Planning & Grocery Shopping Tips

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Just for fun and to see if there was anything new and exciting online for frugal meal planning and grocery habits. Even as a single adult, I have found myself spending WAY too much on groceries that I could be putting toward debt or vacations. I have really been trying to balance out eating simple/frugal meals with low calorie/healthy meals incorporating a lot of fresh produce, also with being ZERO WASTE and as environmentally friendly as I can be. Finding the balance can seem difficult. (How cheap would it be just to live off of boxed mac and cheese or spaghetti and sauce?) But one thing I am very guilty of especially in the past few years is making VERY involved meals with complicated ingredients, sometimes shopping at multiple stores to get everything I think I need. Sometimes things even as simple as tacos would end up being an $80 excursion with all the ingredients I believe I need to make the meal "complete". My goal is to stop doing this - make simple meals with simple, healthy ingredients, and to waste ZERO food in the process. Work is slow tonight so I thought I would share some of the tips/tricks I found online. Some are pretty obvious, others not so much! *Batch and Freeze! I have not conquered this step yet, but a lot of frugal folks will make large quantities of a meal and freeze what they cannot eat right away. Also, a lot of produce that is reaching it's end date can be chopped and frozen and used later on. (This seems like a really good idea for soups, I did this with zucchini but when I did defrost them, they were very wet...but maybe also because zucchini are super watery to begin with?) *Keep it simple. If you don't have an ingredient, find something to replace it that you have on hand or skip it. *GOAL: Use Everything You Buy. Economically but also environmentally this makes sense. Plan your meals. If you cannot use it and it starts to go bad, freeze it. Here is a cool website with some resources: *Some sources say a vegetarian diet is cheaper (beans are generally pretty cheap), but I think it depends on what you are buying *Stock up when prices are low on essentials, stock up your pantry and freezer so you are never in a "pinch". *Buy veggies and fruits that are in season. *Cash Only: some people say to use an 'envelope system' (encouraged by the Dave Ramsey people). Cash encourages you to keep a better eye on your spending. Give yourself a budget, and if it will work for you, use cash to pay for it. One day I want to try this, but haven't yet. *Avoid salad kits, meals in a bag, and snacks in general. It is said that you are usually paying for the convenience. -->I tend to disagree with some of this because the SALAD KITS I feel include a lot of ingredients and do save me some money-and at Aldi, a big salad kit is like $2.99. *Use ingredients that you get more bang for your buck (filling...rice, quinoa, beans, etc) *Get creative with what you have in your pantry and your leftover produce and make a mystery/garbage soup! *Try and use parts you normally wouldn't - such as broccoli stems, etc. I found an interesting article (below) about ideas on using turnip and beet greens (which I usually just compost) https://foodprint.org/blog/turnip-greens-beet-greens/ (here's an article about using beet and turnip greens, something most people would toss or compost) *Grow your own food / have your own garden! If not, look into it and see if your community has a community garden. Also, farmers markets are usually a great place to shop local and pay cheaper prices than some stores. *Shop at discount grocery stores like Aldi and Trader Joe's if you have them. *Make your own vegetable broth. I have never tried this but likely will at some point, so I don't have much information yet. My understanding is have a large freezer bag, and put vegetable scraps in it as you use them. Later, you can boil it for a long time (and probably add some salt) to make a home made veggie broth. *See if your community/city has a Buy Nothing facebook group. I LOVE these groups. Essentially, you gift members of the community your unwanted items (or, express interest/be chosen to take the free items). It's a great way to reuse/upcycle and get rid of things but keep them with your community. I have used this to get rid of many items such as a half-used bag of cilantro (who ever needs the whole bag?), unwanted pantry and freezer items, opened or expired items, etc. I have been on the receiving end of many pantry and food items as well! *(Disclaimer - don't know if these are available outside of the United States) - Download receipt apps: Fetch Rewards and Receipt Hog are two that I use, you get points back on grocery purchases. It adds up slowly, but better than nothing. I also have an app called iBotta downloaded - this app you need to purchase certain items and you get reimbursed for part (or on rare occasions, ALL of the price) of the item in the form of cash back in the app. Especially if you shop at Walmart, iBotta often has occasional freebies (this past year I've gotten a few free energy drinks, a big box of cheerios, a notebook, some instant mashed potatoes, a jar of peanut butter, a 12 pack of diet pepsi, etc). I always check before I go to Walmart if they have any "freebies" (again, by free, you do have to pay for it, and then you get the cash back into your app-which you can cash out at $20.00) Do you have anything to add? Any frugal living tips for eating, groceries, cooking, or meal planning? Please do share!