How to be Cheap – Part 3

Purposely spending – store and repair

You already spent precious money on food. It would be a shame to have to throw away some parts of it.

1. Buying only what you need

This might seem obvious. However, grocery shopping is incredibly time-consuming – especially when you need to go to several shops to have the cheapest prices for all of your goods. You may be tempted to buy huge amounts at once so it is done for a while. Nonetheless, by doing so, you risk having to throw away part of your fresh products. The best advice would be to plan your meals either in advance or while shopping. You can know by purchasing a box of mushrooms that you will eat it for lunch and dinner the following day. That way, you already plan two of your coming meals. Another fundamental point is to never buy more than about a week in advance. This prevents your fresh products from rotting.

2. Freezing

If you are lucky, you might have access to a freezer. In that case, you can buy food for a longer period or cook bigger portions and simply freeze them. This is particularly useful if you decide to cook your own tomato sauce or prepare important amounts of soup. You can also freeze some veggies, though you might need to clean and dry them first – clean so you can directly use them when taking them out of the freezer, dry so you avoid having ice crystals all-around your veggie.

3. Other storing techniques

If you have a lot of motivation and time to put into this enterprise, you can always make your own pickles, which are super easy to store. You can also cook some jam or caramelized onions and then keep it in the fridge for up to two weeks – or even more depending on the technique you use to close the container. You can also simply experiment, look at what you find on the Internet and discover how chemistry and food are intertwined.

by Lu

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