Saving money on food is a necessity whether you have a family to feed or not, or you are a student in college, you need to learn the tips on how to save money on food. Since everyone eats food, it becomes a necessary and should be the first item on our budget whenever we need to write out our expenses and know how to save money. There are different ways to save money on food each month but I am going to show you the easy way I use to save my own money.
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Write out the necessary food stuffs you need
When saving money, Food is a necessity but even when writing down the food stuff you need, there are also necessary food items and there are some that are not necessary. Among the food items needed each month include:
- Source of cooking fuel: this could be gas, electricity, kerosene or even fire wood. Whatever your source of cooking is, you need to keep money for cooking.
- You need a source of Protein: you do not need just every food because some are not healthy and you need to stay healthy. Hence you need a cheap and good source of Protein such as Plant proteins (beans or nuts) and animal protein (egg, meat or fish). If you are a vegetarian, the plant protein is Ok but if you are not, animal protein still remains the best because it contains all essential types of amino acids which may not be complete in proteins. Get a cheap source of protein for your food.
- Grow your own vegetables: If you have a good space around your home where you can start a small garden, then it is best you do so. Maintaining the garden is pretty easy and it is fun at the same time. You can grow your own vegetables such as spinach, pumpkin, tomatoes, pepper, and onions. Whatever type of vegetable you use often, you can grow it instead of buying them always. This will help you to save money that would have been used for buying vegetable.
- Save energy or fuel: depending on where you are, in countries such as Nigeria where some houses pay their electrical bills based on flat rates (paying the same amount of money every month and not using electric meters); in such countries, get an electric stove that you will use to cook instead of cooking with gas always. This will help you save money especially when your community has stable electricity.
Save money on food by buying food items in bulk
No matter how small your income may be, you need to learn how to save money on food by buying in bulk. When you buy things in bulk, the prices are cheaper than buying in small parts. A crate of egg may cost 750 naira but when you buy in parts, it may be 850 naira by the time you buy 30 pieces on different occasions.
Save money on food by buying from wholesalers or directly from farmers
This is applicable if you live near farmers or when you are about organizing a big event that requires you buy large amounts of foodstuff such as tomatoes. If you want to organize a wedding, it is cheaper you get tomatoes, pepper and other items from farmers who sell to retailers because the retailers do add their own profit before selling to you. The same thing applies to buying meat: order your chickens from poultry farms instead of buying in the market. In essence, getting food items from wholesale is better than buying from retail.
If you really want to save money, then Do not eat outside, Cook your own Food
It is cheaper and helps to save money on food when you cook your own food at home than eating from restaurants. The money you will spend in a restaurant for a plate of food can cook food for you at home to eat three plates.
Dont buy anything when you are hungry
This may seem weird to you but it is true, I used this to save money a lot. Most times, when we become hungry, we may be tempted to buy anything in sight no matter how costly it is. Anytime I feel hungry, I would love to eat meat or fish or buy something I love; but whenever I eat immediately, I do find out that the craving for those things will varnish. So my advice for saving money will be to eat whenever you have strong craving for food that is expensive.
Save money on Food by Cooking for many people instead of everyone cooking individually
This is applicable to people with family. When you cook for the family at once, it is cheaper and you will always use small amounts of ingredients than allowing everyone to just cook at any time they need. If you want to make breakfast such as making pap (Custard) or tea and milk for everyone, making it at once and sharing it is better because you will require less sugar, milk or tea bags than when everyone is to serve himself.