Want to cut down on food waste, and spend less? The good news – with a few small changes you can make a big difference to your shopping bill – and your wallet will thank you for it. Here are my ultimate food and money saving tips to get you through every season.
1. Make the most of your ingredients
Making the most of versatile ingredients can be great for saving on food waste.
Did you know that you can make your own nut milk with pantry staples such as almond butter or whole oats? Not only can you use oats to make your own oat milk but pop it into the blender to make oat flour for baking too. Delish! Better yet, you can use the rest of your milk pulp to bake with – I love these simple nut milk protein bites.
You’ll always find these versatile ingredients in my pantry – and you can get them all from HealthPost’s growing food and drink range.
8 pantry staples to top up on:
- Oats – DIY oat milk, oat flour and baking
- Nut butter – delicious for spreads, baking, and adding to curries for a creamy kick
- Honey – a nourishing, nutritious sweetener
- Herbs and spices – for a flavour boost – your gut will love you for it too
- Apple cider vinegar – an essential for dressings, and is a natural probiotic
- High quality oil – packed with healthy omegas and essential fatty acids
- Miso – umami anyone? Miso gives any dish or broth depth and added nutrition
2. Make the most of your produce
Do you shop seasonally? If you’re not already, now’s the time to start.
Buying seasonal produce is the best way to get great quality and affordable fresh fruits and veggies.
If you have leftover greens sitting in your veggie drawer why not make a delicious green sauce or pesto? You can even use food off-cuts such as carrot ends and onion peel to make homemade veggie stock, which can then be frozen in ice cube trays to add flavour to next month’s meals – your future self will thank you for it.
Favourite recipe: 15 minute fridge raid greens pasta
3. Plan and prep
Ever arrived to do your weekly shop without a plan and overspent? We’ve all been there.
Planning ahead might feel like an extra task, but it’ll save you time and money in the long run – and I can guarantee you’ll end up loving the process along the way.
My top 4 tips to plan and prep:
- Pantry check: first up, check what ingredients you already have in the pantry and fridge – what can you use up this week?
- Similar ingredient savers: Write out your shopping list and use similar ingredients – can you use broth, lentils or seeds across several meals?
- Bulk batches: Cook in bulk and freeze the leftovers for the following weeks to make cooking easy.
- Shop staples online: save time and shop your pantry staples (like miso, nut butter, oats, olive oil) online to save time.
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