What products to buy to save. How to save on food

The first advice, paradoxical: do not save too much on food. Buying rotten vegetables and low-quality expired products is not our method. Then spend a hundred times more on medicines than you save on groceries. So we save - but in moderation, without fanaticism.

Planning is a must

When it comes to food savings, planning is the most important thing. First you need to evaluate how much you are spending now. Where are the weak points? What expensive products do you buy and do you really need them? Be sure to highlight what you can refuse. Maybe you're into crackers and chips, you're crazy about soda, or you're consuming tons of ice cream. This is not only a serious hole in the budget, but also a blow to health.

You also need to highlight those expenses that you do not intend to give up: for example, your favorite coffee or dairy products from a good manufacturer.

Now think, maybe some products can be replaced with cheaper ones? For example, expensive yogurts produced by an advertised factory? Or very expensive juices of a well-known brand. In general, be careful with brands: often the products of a promoted company that are on store shelves in the best places costs much more than even better quality products of not so well-known brands. Therefore, saving is also a reason to study the market well.

Finally, it is advisable to draw up a menu for the week and make a grocery list for it. Approximately calculate the required amount, take it with you - and to the store. Just one piece of advice: take a little more than the required amount with you so that you have room to maneuver and not feel disadvantaged in something in the store. And whatever one may say, you also need to please yourself.

What products do we overpay for?

Very often there are tips for economical housewives to do everything at home and by themselves. Buy a yogurt maker, make dumplings in large quantities, and so on ... Yes, these tips are justified, indeed, homemade dumplings are better and cheaper than purchased ones, and much tastier. That's just to stick a lot of them will take half a day off.

Nevertheless, it is worth reconsidering your attitude to semi-finished products. For example, purchased cutlets at cost cost much more than homemade, sausages and sausages cost a lot of money, regular goulash you can buy much cheaper than a kilo of sausages, but goulash is meat, and not something incomprehensible fatty. And so on.

Preference - seasonal

We will not stop buying vegetables and fruits anyway. Of course it's winter now, so fresh food are quite expensive. Nevertheless, you can choose useful and cheap. For example, oranges. With them you can meet 40-45 rubles, tangerines, however, are already running out and becoming more expensive, but pears are still quite affordable, about 50 rubles. Don't forget about domestic apples. If we talk about vegetables, then we will give preference white cabbage, carrots and beets. You can also add celery root, a little pumpkin and fresh salads from the greenhouses closest to the city. In general, we choose those products that were not brought to us for a long time, but were grown and preserved in Russia or brought from our south.

We choose domestic

No matter how trite, but often not too beautifully designed products of domestic production are half the price of imported counterparts. And with the fall of the ruble, the difference will become more tangible. For example, walnuts from our south are exactly half the price of their Mediterranean counterparts at fairs.

Pay attention to new products

Here, for example, pearl barley - often does it appear on your table? What about millet? What do you make of it, except for milk porridge every six months? Meanwhile, cereals are an excellent and inexpensive basis for a winter diet. 15-20 rubles per kilogram, and this kilogram is enough for 5-6 meals for a family of three.

Take a closer look at new varieties of fish, especially domestic ones. For example, foreign salmon will be successfully replaced by domestic coho salmon, expensive beef by cheaper turkey or other poultry fillets.

A few savings ideas

• Buy whole chicken, not parts. Then you will cook soup from the wings and the back, and the rest will go into pilaf or chicken beef stroganoff.
• To save on meat dishes, do not cook them separately, but make casseroles, pilafs. That is, combine meat with a side dish in one dish.
• Don't make portioned meals. That is, fried chops for each family member (and often with an additive) can be replaced with beef stroganoff or lazy cabbage rolls. Meat will go less, but everyone will eat.
• Replace meat with offal. For example, beef heart is much cheaper regular meat, but it costs two times, or even three times cheaper. And the heart can make good goulash, stuffing for casseroles, etc.
• For holiday table can replace purchased smoked sausages and hams homemade pork. It is much cheaper and tastier.
• Subjective advice: refer to Jewish cuisine. For centuries, its creators were forced to save money and come up with cheap, but very tasty dishes.

You yourself will come up with similar tips - a thousand, as soon as you start, how saving turns into an exciting activity, dishes are invented by themselves.

Small menu for the week

Here are ideas for inexpensive and hearty meals. Perhaps you will cook some of them for two days, soups for sure.

Monday

Breakfast: Oatmeal with dried fruits and nuts
Lunch: Pickle with a heart. Rice with vegetables
Dinner: Potato casserole with beef heart and onions.

Tuesday

Breakfast: lazy dumplings or syrniki
Lunch: Shchi chicken broth. Boiled beets with walnuts and dried fruits.
Dinner: Chicken breasts stewed in sour cream, wheat porridge with onion.

Wednesday

Breakfast: Milk porridge with jam
Lunch: Shchi in chicken broth. Vinaigrette with sauerkraut
Dinner: Barley porridge with vegetables and meatballs

Thursday

Breakfast: Buckwheat fritters with mushrooms
Lunch: Soup from processed cheese, salad of green beans and crab sticks
Dinner: Chicken or pork pilaf

Friday

Breakfast: Hot sandwiches
Lunch: Vegetable soup (pumpkin, carrot, potato). Salad of boiled carrots, beets and nuts.
Dinner: lazy stuffed cabbage, boiled potatoes

Saturday

Breakfast: Potato fritters with sour cream
Lunch: Vinaigrette with herring, borscht
Dinner: Pancakes with meat, fresh vegetable salad

Sunday

Breakfast: Cheese omelette
Lunch: Olivier with chicken or meat, borscht
Dinner: Vegetable stew, beef stroganoff

04.02.19 378 317 523

There are five people in our family, and everyone wants the first, second and compote.

Svetlana Sirvida-Llorente

save on products

We tried to save money in different ways: we made large stocks, bought for a week in hypermarkets, raided vegetable bases. There was a period when we lived with an empty refrigerator and I learned to buy two cucumbers. All this worked, but I wanted more.

In the end, I came up with my own system. Now I spend 30 thousand a month on food, and I go to the store five times a week. If you know better, share your experience in the comments.

There is nothing supernatural in my system: a little math, common sense and the ability to cook.

In short, this is what I do

Shops close to home

We used to bet on wholesale prices. Every weekend we went to the hypermarket, and sometimes we united with other families and bought at vegetable bases.

We spent five hours a week, or 20 a month, on a trip to the hypermarket, but this did not save us from daily trips to the store for fresh bread and milk. In addition, it is the cost of gasoline. For example, a trip to Auchan costs us 60 rubles, to the Food City market - 110 rubles, to a wholesale depot in Mytishchi - 500 rubles.

And it’s also a shame to spend a lot of time hunting for cheap strawberries, and then find out that they were selling them all this time near the house for the same money - because at a discount.

Then we tried to buy groceries near the house. It turned out that it takes less time and gasoline, and wholesale prices are compensated by mathematics, discounts and loyalty programs. Now we go grocery shopping four to five times a week, one trip takes 40 minutes. It turns out 12 hours per month - 8 less than with bulk purchases.

In wholesale stores, groceries are on average cheaper than in supermarkets. But in different supermarkets products cost differently. If you count and compare everything, you can find places where prices for certain products are not much higher than wholesale prices. And taking into account discounts and loyalty programs, it turns out almost cheaper.

How to spend and save money wisely

How do I compare product prices?

It makes sense to compare kilograms and liters, and the cost of packages is often written on price tags. Therefore, you have to remember the math and recalculate everything. At first I took out a calculator, then I got used to counting in my mind. Simple math helps me.

For example, a 200-gram package costs 170 rubles. To find out the cost of a kilogram, the price must be multiplied by five:

170 × 5 = 850 R

But it's faster for me to divide by 2 and multiply by 10:

85 × 10 = 850 R

When there is a price for 400 grams, I first bring the problem to the previous one. If the package costs 290 rubles, my math looks like this:

72.5 × 10 = 725 R

To compare prices, it is not always necessary to calculate everything to the penny, so sometimes I simplify the calculations. For example, to find out the cost of a kilogram, if the package contains 900 grams, I divide the price by 10 and add the result to the price. It turns out not a kilogram, but 990 grams, but for my purposes this accuracy is enough.

Let's say if 900 grams costs 700 rubles, then 990 grams costs 770:

700 + 70 = 770 R

Milk, juices and household products are most often bottled in a liter or one and a half bottles. To compare their cost, I divide the price of a liter bottle by two and add the result to the price. If a liter costs 300 rubles, then one and a half - 450:

300 / 2 + 300 = 450 R

Width="1000" height="667" class=" outline-bordered" style="max-width: 1000px; height: auto" data-bordered="true"> On the bacon shelf, the best price seems to be 146 R . In fact, the best offer is 199 R, because 146 R is asked for 200 g, and 199 for 500 g. So, in this store, the cheapest bacon cut costs 398 R per kilogram

There are five chain supermarkets in our area: Auchan, Pyaterochka, Magnolia, Victoria and Vkusvill. When we decided to buy from home, we went around all the stores and wrote down the prices of products - in kilograms and liters. When we compared them, we settled on two supermarkets. In "Auchan" we buy groceries: cereals, flour, spices, tea. In "Vkusville" - perishable products: milk, meat, sausages, vegetables, fruits.

In order not to go crazy, we only compared the products that we buy most often. For example, I only buy figs a couple of times a year. Even if it costs five times cheaper in the conventional Pyaterochka than in Vkusville, you still can’t save much on it.

But milk is a different story: our family drinks 35 liters a month, so every ruble is important. We try to drink fresh milk that only lasts a few days. The cheapest is sold in Vkusville - 49 rubles per liter. The next in price is Magnolia milk at 55 rubles. We save at least 2.5 thousand rubles a year on milk alone. And when compared with the long-running one, the cheapest Lianozovo from Auchan will cost 10 thousand more per year.

2500 R

we save on milk at least a year

We compare brands of products that we usually buy and trust. For example, in some places milk is sold cheaper than in Vkusvill, but, in our opinion, you can’t drink it.

Sometimes quality can be determined by appearance or composition. I don't buy meat for 300 rubles per kilogram if it has yellow fat or looks old. Cheeses with preservatives are also not interesting to me. And if we find products of new brands, then we try and make a verdict: we buy or not. So it was with the same milk "Vkusvilla".

We are also looking for discounts. Discounts and loyalty programs are offered by all chain supermarkets. There are good discounts in Auchan, and in Vkusville, in addition to the usual discounts, there are discounts on products with an expiring shelf life and discounts on a loyalty program. These are all different things, and I use them in different ways.

Super discounts "Ashana"

At Auchan, I usually buy products from a list, regardless of discounts. But I look around - and if I see a big discount on an edible brand, then I buy it instead of the usual one. I got so busy last week Italian pasta with a 45% discount.

The main thing is to pay attention not to the color of the price tag, but to the numbers. It happens that the discount is only a few rubles, and sometimes products with yellow price tags are generally more expensive than usual ones.

How do I use Vkusvilla discounts?

Discounted shelf. The main source of food for the main courses is expired goods from Vkusvill. If a product has a day or two left to live, it is sold at a 40% discount. I look at the discounted shelf of this store first of all.

I have friends who are afraid to buy such products, because they believe that some of them may be spoiled. In my opinion, this is reinsurance. The store has no right to sell spoiled products, whatever the discounts. If cottage cheese from a discounted shelf turns out to be sour, the store is still obliged to return the money.

Another thing is that the products can have time to deteriorate before they are eaten. But when the family is big, they just don't have time. We eat even a half-kilogram stick of sausage in just three tea parties.

But sometimes a discounted shelf fails. For example, today she only has rabbit cutlets, two packs for 456 R. It's expensive for us, so for lunch there will be a freezer chicken, which I bought last week with a 20% discount on the loyalty program.

width="495" height="667" class="" style="max-width: 495px; height: auto"> Two packs of beef 40% off - 270 R instead of 440. It's beef stroganoff for lunch

Loyalty program "Vkusvilla" it works like this: if you have a store card, then at the checkout you are offered to choose your “favorite product” and make a 20% discount on it. The choice is valid for five days, but at the next purchase you can change it - and get a discount on another product.

The more “favorite product” you buy, the more you save, so it’s convenient to replenish stocks using the Vkusvill loyalty program. I go grocery shopping almost every day, so every day I can choose a new “favorite product”. Yesterday I bought three packs of butter, today - four chickens, tomorrow - six packs of dumplings. If you go grocery shopping once a week, you can only have one “favorite product” a week, and we have five. As a result, only on this program we save 2 thousand rubles a month - 24 thousand a year.

Since the discount is always 20%, the cost of the product also greatly affects the savings. I often observe how buyers choose every little thing as their “favorite product”, for example, bread or kefir. But the discount on kefir for 54 R is only 10.8 R. And the chicken costs 233 R, and the discount is already 46.6 R. For four chickens at once 186.4 R savings. They won't spoil in the freezer.

Vkusvilla grocery subscription. In addition to the loyalty program, Vkusvill offers discounts on product subscriptions. Every day in the mobile application and in Telegram, I receive messages with a new list of products that the store is selling me today with a 20% discount. I watch it before going to the store and adjust my shopping list.

My husband and I have separate loyalty cards, so we compare subscriptions and buy according to what is more profitable.

Restocking

At the beginning of family life, following the example of my parents, I stocked up more products. This is convenient: there is something to cook at home, and you can buy anything - sooner or later it will come in handy. Three years later, while my husband and I were on vacation, bugs appeared in the pantries. I lost two monthly salaries.

We threw everything away and lived with an empty refrigerator for a while: if you want to eat something, first buy and cook it. It was very economical. But then more children appeared and it became difficult without supplies.

Mindful of the bugs, we kept ourselves in hand. We sat down and wrote down everything that the family eats in a month. In this list, we have included everything, even coffee, children food and snacks on the road. The result was a list with taste preferences.

After that, we decided what we would cook ourselves and what we would buy ready-made. For dishes that we cook ourselves, we painted all the products. Got stocks of products for one month. Gradually, we bought them, mainly through the Vkusvill loyalty program, and now we are simply replenishing them. Usually we buy for two weeks or a month, but if we get on Auchan super discounts or additional discounts“Vkusvilla”, then we buy more.

Everything else I buy out of necessity and do not take for the future for a long time.

Our monthly supplies from Vkusvill

Product	Common price	"Favorite Product"
Chicken, 8 pcs.	1864 R	1491 R
Bottled water, 15 pcs.	1350 R	1080 R
Sausage, 4 packs	1320 R	1056 R
Beef, 2 kg	1120 R	896 R
Honey, 2 jars	940 R	752 R
Pelmeni, 4 packs	900 R	720 R
Butter, 800 g	576 R	460 R
Vareniki, 3 packs	510 R	408 R
Cheese, 600 g	396 R	317 R
Ghee, 400 g	340 R	272 R
Canned tomatoes, 4 cans	328 R	262 R
Cod caviar, 4 cans	300 R	240 R
Sunflower oil, 2 bottles	220 R	176 R
Total	10 164 Р	8130 Р

Chicken, 8 pcs.

Common price

1864 R

"Favorite Product"

1491 R

Bottled water, 15 pcs.

Common price

1350 R

"Favorite Product"

1080 R

Sausage, 4 packs

Common price

1320 R

"Favorite Product"

1056 R

Beef, 2 kg

Common price

1120 R

"Favorite Product"

896 R

Honey, 2 jars

Common price

940 R

"Favorite Product"

752 R

Pelmeni, 4 packs

How to save money on food.

Food prices are rising inexorably, wages are not rising, so many want to make their menu cheaper. Is it possible to save money on food? Of course! By studying the topic of saving on food, you can significantly reduce costs and learn effective management.

Shops cheat on products from 20 to 50%. For example, if the cost of stew is 50 rubles, then nowhere in the store we will find a can cheaper than 60. What can I say, to find stew at such a price, you still have to try. You can save money on grocery shopping from 3 to 5 thousand rubles per month. This money can be set aside, deposited in the bank at interest, increasing the savings every year.

If you set aside 3 thousand rubles every month at 15% per annum, in 10 years you can save more than 800 thousand rubles, and in 20 years you will have 4.5 million in your account. Good money, right? After all, this time will pass one way or another, but in this case, you will have more than 4.5 million.

Before you start saving money on food, you need to learn how to plan a family budget. Keep receipts - they will help you make all the necessary calculations. To do this, start a regular notepad or use the program excel. The easiest option is to create a table with three columns: "income", "expense", "total". In the first write down the data on your monthly salary, in the second - the amount spent on food, in the third - the remaining amount of funds.

After a few months, you will be able to estimate how much you are currently spending on food. Too much? Think about what products you buy and whether you really need them. In a separate line, write down the products that you can refuse.

For example, if you like chips, regularly drink soda, think - is it worth spoiling your health and spending so much money on it? Perhaps at one time the amount will not seem large to you, but within a month or three a decent amount will already be collected, and you would probably choose to buy something more valuable with this money.

Visit the store using the tips below. Keep recording your spending, and in a few months you will be able to track how much you saved.

Visual video on how to save on food

How do people save money on food?

We all visit grocery stores and supermarkets. They offer us a huge variety of products. Often, buyers lose their heads and spend a lot of money, acquiring, in fact, completely unnecessary goods. So, how to learn how to save on products using simple rules of conduct in the store? Follow the following tips from people who have successfully saved on food, they will help you get rid of a lot of expenses:

Before going to the supermarket, be sure to make a list of products and strictly follow it. There are apps to help you with this − myconomy and " Buy a banana!».

When walking around the store, resist the temptation to buy items that are not included in the previously compiled list. Yes, they can get your attention. Perhaps they are on discount - and only today! But trust me, you don't need them.

People save on products by shopping at wholesale depots and small wholesale stores. The disadvantage of this option is that such places are usually located outside the city or in an industrial area. If you have a car, getting to the store is not difficult. If this is not possible, choose supermarkets with a minimum markup - for example, Auchan or Tape.

• Wholesale depots usually do not sell goods at retail. Team up with your relatives or friends to shop together at wholesale points.

Make a list of the foods your family needs. Usually there are vegetables, dairy products, meat, cereals, tea. When you visit large stores, compare the prices of these products and write them down in a notebook. So you can understand which store you can save the most.

Pay only in cash.

When paying with bank cards, you will not feel how much you are spending - the risk of making unplanned purchases is higher. You can take a limited amount of cash with you to the store so that you are not tempted to spend more.

Usually the most expensive goods are located at eye level of the buyer. Pay attention to the bottom and top shelves.

Instead of a cart, use smaller baskets. They hold much less food.

People save on food by having a snack before going to the store. Don't go shopping hungry. According to statistics, about 20% of excess spending is due to hunger. This way you will buy a lot more products than you really need.

Discount system and promotions

The topic of supermarket discount cards requires separate consideration. This is a card with which you can reduce the purchase amount in the final check. Some supermarkets offer to issue them for free, for some you will have to pay a small amount. But they really help save money if you only visit one store. How to learn how to save money on products using discount cards?

Different supermarkets set carved discounts - usually they range from 3 to 10%. It is best to choose the cheapest store that has its own discount system. Sometimes promotions are valid only for a specific group of goods, but more often - for the entire assortment of the store. Each case has its own terms and conditions. To find them out and fill out a card application form, contact the cashier, the information desk or the store administration.

• Be careful with bonuses or points. The advertisement says: if you accumulate them, you can get a prize. This method is not very effective, unless you need an item from the prize list - in order to accumulate bonuses, you will spend a much larger amount on buying unnecessary products. Usually such promotions are beneficial only to the supermarket.

Cooking and saving on food: how to spend less?

Suppose you have chosen the perfect supermarket for your wallet. There is a great discount system, budget prices, have you made a list and go shopping? Excellent! The following tips will help you save even more:

1. First, replace expensive products to their cheap counterparts. Remove fresh fish from your diet if prices suddenly “fly up” on it - instead, try buying, for example, poultry meat. It is important to buy chilled meat and not frozen, where you overpay by weight for ice. Buy pink salmon instead of trout, change mozzarella for Adyghe cheese.
2. Think about by-products. From time to time, instead of meat, you can buy liver or heart - this way you will save money and improve your cooking skills.
3. Check cooking websites. There you can find interesting and budget recipes This will help you make a shopping list.

If you like kvass, cook it yourself. Make dumplings yourself, do not buy frozen pancakes - you can save a lot on all this! Try to prepare food according to the season - buy fresh tomatoes and cucumbers in winter are unprofitable, but cabbage and carrots can be safely put in the basket. Usually, domestic products are much cheaper than foreign counterparts. You can buy unwashed vegetables, they are cheaper and keep longer.

Greens can be grown independently on the windowsill, this will not only allow you to save a lot, but also decorate the interior of the kitchen.

Consider whether some products can be replaced. Often the products of the advertised company do not differ from the cheaper option in quality - buying them, you overpay for the brand. Study the market and the composition of your favorite products.

The main rule of how to save on food in the kitchen is not to cook a lot of food.

You either throw away what you have cooked or you overeat. And it was possible to stretch the products for several days. Pay attention to cereals - this is a tasty, healthy and inexpensive option. A pack of rice or buckwheat for 30-40 rubles can feed a family of three 6 times.

Study the volume and grammage of products. For example, one product may cost several rubles cheaper than another, but it is inferior in weight to the first option. Sliced ​​bread and sausage are usually more expensive than their " whole» analogues. You can cut a loaf yourself, right?

• Eat perishable foods first. Do you know the situation when you buy milk and a week later you suddenly find that it has gone bad? Pay close attention to the expiration date of purchased products.

We save the family budget on products

Another way to save money is to prepare a menu for 7 days in advance. How to save money on food this way? You make a list, go to the store, buy only necessary products thus saving on everything else. You can vary the diet to your taste, you can include your favorite dishes in the weekly menu.

Remember: eating delicious doesn't mean eating expensive.

An important point in planning is to draw up a menu for the week right away, so you will have a clear plan and you will go shopping less often and have fewer opportunities to go over budget. For example, below is the budget and useful menu for a week:

1. Monday. Oatmeal with raisins for breakfast, pickle with meat for lunch, vegetable risotto for dinner.
2. Tuesday. In the morning - pancakes with condensed milk, in the afternoon - vegetable salad and potato casserole, in the evening - buckwheat with meatballs.
3. Wednesday. Breakfast - pancakes, lunch - naval pasta and borscht, dinner - light carrot salad and cabbage stewed with meat.
4. Thursday. Milk porridge for breakfast crab salad and cabbage soup for lunch vegetable stew for dinner, jelly or cake for dessert.
5. Friday. Sandwiches with sausage in the morning, for lunch - salad and cheese soup, dinner - fried potatoes with meat.
6. Saturday. Breakfast: semolina, lunch: homemade dumplings, dinner - rice with fried fish.
7. Sunday. Morning - scrambled eggs, afternoon - soup, evening - lazy cabbage rolls.

Now you know the basic rules on how to save money in the family on groceries. Do it or not - it's up to you. Expensive goods - not necessarily useful product. Many nutritionists believe that it is possible to save on food without harm to health. It is only necessary to correctly distribute and plan the budget and adhere to the simple principles presented in the article. Spend your money wisely - there is never any extra money!

If you find an error, please highlight a piece of text and click Ctrl+Enter.

Food is a big expense in the budget of every family. It often becomes necessary to cut food costs somewhat in order to purchase something of value, such as large household appliances, or to save up for an apartment. In addition, even the wealthiest people use proven tips that help them save on food.

Can it be done

It's no secret that the foundation of health is nutrition. This is especially important for children.

If you are going to comprehend the secrets of saving, you should know what cannot be neglected:

1. Food should be varied.
2. Breakfast, lunch and dinner in total should serve as a source of a daily dose of vitamins and minerals for each of the family members.
3. Additional fats in food are not an urgent need for the body, but a minimum amount should be present.
4. Most food ingredients can be replaced with less expensive ingredients with minimal loss of flavor.

Basic rules for shopping

These rules should not be neglected, since strict adherence to them will protect against spontaneous spending:

1. Under no circumstances should you go shopping on an empty stomach. Be sure to have a snack, but it is better to have a hearty lunch. Elementary statistics show that people who are hungry, even slightly, spend 30% more on food than those who are full with the same requests.
2. Before going to the store, you should work on compiling a grocery list. Ideally, such a list would indicate the approximate weight of each product, as well as the price that should not be exceeded. So you can roughly calculate how much will be spent on food. And some advanced buyers start only from the amount that turned out in the calculation, and also manage to spend a little less.
3. A pre-compiled menu for the week helps in compiling a list of products. When there is an idea of ​​​​what to cook, the list is formed organically, without frills.
4. Discount cards are also designed to save the family budget.

Behavior at the time of purchase

There are some tricks that know experienced housewives. This information allows you to buy food in supermarkets economically.

So, you should pay attention to the following points:

1. The cheapest products are usually located on the lower shelves. This does not mean that they are inferior in taste or quality to more expensive products. They are worth paying attention to.
2. When buying bulk products, you need to study the packaging. Often the price does not match the weight. Frequent tricks of manufacturers - weight 800 or 940 g instead of 1 kg, while the cost is the same.
3. Good to buy groceries in bulk. This applies to both cereals, flour, sugar, legumes, and vegetables. Often an ordinary cardboard box for packing several units is reflected in additional numbers on the price tag.
4. prepackaged sausages and cheeses are usually more expensive. Also, when buying them, you will have to pay extra for packaging. Even the thinnest slicing tray has its cost.
5. Bulk purchases of products are profitable. If it is customary in the family to cook a lot of pastries, it makes sense to buy flour and sugar in bags. It will cost less than by weight in separate kilograms. It is worth analyzing your diet to highlight the foods that are preferred. It is profitable to buy at wholesale bases. In addition, many large hypermarkets offer good discounts for the purchase of large volumes of one item of goods.
6. Many have seen goods with red or yellow price tags on the shelves, which indicate an expiring shelf life. Such products can also be bought, but they should be consumed first. The only exception is fermented milk products - this type of product does not tolerate experiments with terms, as this is fraught with intestinal disorders.
7. Fruits and vegetables are best bought in season. Based on the volume of the home freezer, you can freeze the cheapest products at the moment, and then cook them out of season.
8. Some items can be bought economically at farmers' markets. But this is only beneficial if the sellers are small farmers who grow small amounts of vegetables and fruits.
9. Instead of buying a plastic bag, you can take a shopping bag with you every time you go to the store. One-time savings are not very clear. But if you calculate how much is saved, for example, for six months on packages, a decent amount comes out.
10. Children are the most persistent and demanding customers. If possible, it is better to carry out a large purchase of products without their participation.
11. For a clear distribution of the budget for food, you can follow the rule: one large purchase per week. Thus, on one of the selected days of the week, food for the whole family will be bought during the week. On other days, it is allowed to make small purchases, for which you can allocate a strictly defined amount.
12. When shopping, do not exceed the number of goods. Buying "for future use" is justified only if the product is a favorite on the dining table.

A fairly common situation is when food spoils in the refrigerator before it reaches the table. Money spent on goods of dubious necessity, which are simply stored until the expiration date, is sent to the trash. To prevent such waste, you need to buy only what you need, which you should think about before buying.

In addition, you can cook economically. As a rule, this approach to nutrition leads to a greater variety of dishes, so limiting the budget for food does not affect the saturation of the household in any way.

1. Store-bought pastries should be replaced with homemade ones. You can also experiment with the ingredients by taking instead wheat flour buckwheat or rye. Such goodies will not only cost less than in a bakery or supermarket, but will also be more useful.
2. Fashionable desserts from natural ingredients You can also easily make your own. The most popular today are natural marmalades and sweets made from fruit puree with the addition of various nuts and dried fruits. BUT homemade caramel has always been in the price of confectioners. Many desserts can be made from homemade jam.
3. It is worth abandoning semi-finished products. This applies to purchased items. Homemade dumplings and dumplings will cost less. And the hostess will be sure that she feeds her family quality products. The preparation of semi-finished products can be made a family tradition if children and a spouse are involved in this activity.
4. From meat products Don't give up to save money. There is a profitable option - to diversify the diet with offal. There are many recipes for how to cook tender liver, and the soup from chicken hearts in some countries it is a restaurant dish.
5. Greens are an indispensable tool for creating fragrant, varied dishes. It makes sense to prepare spices yourself by buying them fresh in the season when the price is low. Parsley, basil, oregano and a number of others can be dried for the winter or chopped with a knife and frozen in the form of portioned briquettes.
6. Meat tenderloin from different parts of the carcass differs in price. At the same time, a cheaper piece differs little in terms of nutritional value from expensive. You can also take note of this.
7. Various pickles are a kind of help in the kitchen. No wonder many generations have applied this experience in the household. Various jams, pickles, salad and soup preparations allow you to reduce the budget for food in the winter season.
8. A well-planned menu for the week protects against impulsive purchases and allows you to combine familiar products in an interesting way.
9. Various cereals can make an excellent base for the menu, as well as diversify the usual side dishes. So you can alternate views wheat groats with buckwheat, rice, and also cook tender corn porridge. The range is huge.
10. You can take a complex approach to cooking in order to save money. So, on the broth left after boiling chicken thighs, you can cook an excellent soup, and use the boiled meat to cook pilaf.
11. Sorting food in the refrigerator helps many people to manage their household competently. Additionally, you can introduce labeling for perishable dishes. In this way, spoilage of products will not be allowed.
12. In order to pamper your family with original and delicious dish You don't have to buy expensive products. There are many recipes that can be used to prepare delicious budget meals from products available to every family.

Budget Recipes

Delicious doesn't mean expensive. As well as economically, it does not mean lean. Many housewives who have decided to cut the budget for food note that their diet has become more varied and at the same time healthy.

To prepare this dish you will need the following ingredients (based on 6 servings):

• rice (full glass or 230 g);
• chicken thighs (500–600 g);
• carrots (2 pcs.);
• onion (1 pc.);
• garlic (1 head);
• salt (1 tsp), spices to taste;
• vegetable oil (2 tablespoons).

A cauldron is ideal for preparing this dish, but you can also take a deep frying pan or a saucepan with a thick bottom. First you need to chop and fry the vegetables until golden brown. Chicken thighs cut large pieces and place on onions and carrots. Then add spices, salt and fry the chicken. Put the garlic in slices at the moment when chicken thighs have almost reached the state of readiness. After that, pour the rice into a container and cover with water so that the liquid level is 2 fingers above the level of the cereal. Cook over low heat, stirring if necessary. If pilaf is cooked in a cauldron, there is no need to interfere with it.

Cabbage pie with fish

For cooking you need to take:

• cabbage (0.5 kg);
• flour (1 cup);
• soda and salt (0.5 tsp each);
• vegetable oil (1.5 tablespoons);
• kefir (2 cups);
• eggs (2 pcs.)
• canned fish(1 can).

To prepare this jellied pie, you will need an oven preheated to 180 ° C.

1. Cut the cabbage as small as possible, and then fry in oil. Leave a small amount of oil for greasing the baking dish.
2. Pour into stewed cabbage canned fish- this mass will serve as a filling. Separately, prepare the dough by mixing soda and flour with kefir and beaten eggs with salt. Perfect Dough should be moderately viscous, almost liquid.
3. Pour part of the dough onto a baking sheet, then lay out the filling. Cover the cabbage with the fish with the remaining dough and put in the oven for 40 minutes.

From the indicated volume of ingredients, 4 servings are obtained.

Pasta with meatballs

To prepare 1 serving of the dish you will need:

• pasta (60 g);
• chicken fillet (130 g);
• canned tomatoes (crumpled or in the form of a sauce - 2 tablespoons);
• onion (quarter);
• salt (to taste);
• water (0.5 cup);
• vegetable oil (1 tablespoon).

Process:

1. Grind the chicken fillet into minced meat, then add salt, spices and finely chopped onion to it. From meat dough form meatballs of small sizes, which are fried in a pan until cooked.
2. Meat balls, covered with a golden crust after frying, pour mashed tomatoes with water and simmer for about 10 minutes under a closed lid.
3. In parallel, boil pasta in salted water to the desired shape.
4. When serving the dish, put the meatballs on top of the pasta. And be sure to pour the pasta with gravy.

Advice! If you buy brisket on the bone for meatballs, it will be cheaper. And if you use pasta in the form of pipes, plates or large noodles, then the dish will look truly Italian.

To prepare 1 serving you will need the following products:

• potatoes (2 pcs.);
• chicken drumstick (2 pcs.);
• salt (0.5 tsp);
• garlic (1 clove);
• oil (1 tablespoon);
• sleeve for baking.

The dish is prepared quite simply, but requires an oven, which should be heated to 200 ° C. Spices need to be mixed with oil and grate with this mixture chicken drumsticks. Then place them in the sleeve along with the chopped potatoes. Cooking time is about 40 minutes.

Pot with mushrooms and buckwheat

To fill 1 pot you will need the following products:

• buckwheat (80 g);
• champignons (100 g);
• onion (0.5 pcs.);
• salt (0.5 tsp);
• vegetable oil (1 tablespoon).

First you need to cut the mushrooms and fry them. After the appearance of a golden crust, they can be salted, and then add the onion.

Rinse buckwheat with water, put in a pot and add stewed mushrooms. Before sending the container to the oven, heated to 180 ° C, pour the contents with boiling water 1 cm above the cereal and mix.

The dish will be ready in 45-50 minutes.

Advice! The contents of the pot, excluding water, should occupy no more than 50% of its volume.

Pollock with vegetables

To prepare this dish, which acts as a complete a fish dish with a side dish, you will need the following components:

• pollock - carcass (200 g);
• potatoes and carrots (1 pc.);
• onion (0.5 pcs.);
• vegetable oil (1 tablespoon).

Cut the fish into large pieces. Chop onions and carrots. Stew pollock in a pan with vegetables. Boil potatoes separately, cut into cubes and serve as a side dish.

Fragrant potato casserole

Dish ingredients:

• potatoes (700 g);
• eggs (2 pcs.);
• sour cream (200 g);
• garlic (3 cloves);
• salt (1 tsp);
• vegetable oil (1 tablespoon).

Cut into circles pre-boiled potatoes in their skins. Put it in a mold greased with oil.

To pour, chop the garlic, mixing it with the rest of the ingredients. Pour the mixture over the potatoes and place in a preheated oven (180–200°C). The dish takes about 20 minutes to cook.

The recipe is for 6 servings.

Cabbage meatballs

For 8 servings you will need the following products:

• white rice (200 g);
• chicken fillet (700 g);
• white cabbage (600 g);
• tomato paste (2 tablespoons);
• vegetable oil (1 tablespoon);
• salt (1 tsp);
• spices (to taste).

From chicken meat prepare minced meat, salt and pepper it. Then add pre-cooked and chilled rice. Mix. Form meat balls from the resulting mass.

Finely chop the cabbage and put a part on the oiled bottom of a cauldron or pan with a thick bottom. Then spread the meatballs and cabbage alternately in layers. After laying out, pour the entire volume tomato paste diluted in a glass of boiled water. Simmer for about an hour with the lid closed.

To prepare a dish for two, you will need the following components:

• potatoes (2 pcs.);
• chicken liver (300 g);
• egg (1 pc.);
• flour (20 g);
• cream (80 g);
• vegetable oil (2 tablespoons);
• onion (quarter);
• salt (1 tsp).

The first part of the preparation of the dish is the stewing of the liver. Cut into cubes, fry in a pan, then pour over the cream and cover with a lid, cook over low heat.

At this time, grate the potato tubers, squeeze out excess water, then add the chopped onion, egg and dry ingredients and knead the dough. Fry potato pancakes using oil. Serve sprinkled with stewed liver on top.

The recipe is for 6 servings.

Advice! To prepare this dish, you can also take beef liver. It is tougher than chicken, but if it is soaked in milk or cream before frying, which can then be used for stewing, the dish will turn out tender and juicy.

Fish sticks with green peas

To prepare a portion for 1 person, you will need the following products:

• pollock (1 pc. fillet);
• oatmeal (30 g);
• egg (1 pc.);
• frozen green pea(150 g);
• spices and salt (to taste);
• butter (5 g).

Cut the thawed fish fillet into pieces of the desired shape. The most popular option is in the form of thick strips. Batter for fish consists of a dry part - crushed in a blender oatmeal, and liquid - eggs, beaten with salt.

On a hot oiled pan, put the strips fish fillet, pre-dipped in a beaten egg and then rolled in oatmeal. Fry on both sides, turning gently when golden brown.

Green peas, used as a side dish, defrost and then fry in a pan. Oil can be added as desired.

Advice! If you fry green peas butter, the taste will be more intense, and ready meal- fragrant.

Our food life is not limited to one kitchen, so we should take care of the competent distribution of funds for food outside the home. The following tips will help with this:

1. You can bring lunch to work. Prepared in advance at home, it will not only save you from unnecessary expenses, but also allow you to get a full recharge during your lunch break.
2. Coffee machines are significant budget eaters. Going to work, it is worth taking with you a separate jar of coffee, as well as several servings of sugar and tea. This will allow you to enjoy a cup of aromatic drink without leaving your workplace.
3. Going on a long walk or to a fitness club, you should also take care of a snack in advance. You can take with you chopped carrots, an apple or even meatballs. You can stop for a small lunch in a nearby park. There is a chance to get aesthetic pleasure from the meal at the same time. In addition, such a planned snack outside the walls of the house will allow you to better resist the urge to drop into the nearest bakery or establishment where they cook. fast food of dubious quality.

Saving on food does not necessarily mean strict restrictions. It often happens that with a cut family budget food begins the path to a healthier and more rational diet. But you should not strictly follow the restrictions, since rigid limits often negatively affect eating behavior. Sometimes you can treat yourself to your favorite treat or go to an interesting restaurant.

« Important: All information on the site is provided for informational purposes only. Before applying any of the recommendations, consult with a specialist. Neither the editors nor the authors are responsible for any possible harm caused by materials."

Greetings! Today we have a burning topic: saving on food. I will note right away: the article was not written in order to teach someone to survive on one barley) It will not work with these tips to reduce food costs by 70%. Let's be honest: a significant part of the family budget goes to food. But still a little, by 10-20%, it is possible to reduce these expenses.

The article was born due to the fact that for a long time I myself wanted to somehow optimize my nutrition. And I decided to save on food. I wanted to do everything “in a scientific way”: conduct a survey of friends, turn to useful sources, sketch sample menu for a week… I am sharing with you what I managed to come to. So, how to save on food without sacrificing health? How to spend less on groceries?

Poll of friends: how to save on food?

Firstly, I turned to my acquaintances with the following question: is there a place in your life to save on food or do you not consider it possible / necessary? My acquaintances do not include millionaires - they are people with an average salary, men, women, families with one or two children. Let's listen...

“I have this attitude to products: once a week I go to the hypermarket and buy groceries. Then for a week I live only on them, forbidding myself to buy anything other than bread or dairy products.

“My husband and I calculated that if we take lunch to work, it will be much cheaper than eating every day at a nearby cafe. Of course, it takes a lot of time to cook, but it’s more economical.”

“I am not married, I live alone. At work, I go to the canteen every day, and after work I often have dinner not at home. It turns out expensive. 1/3 of the budget is spent on food, but what can you do? .. To save on food, I see only one way: to get a wife)))”

“I eat very simply: cereals, potatoes, seasonal vegetables, I freeze fresh zucchini, eggplant, pumpkin for the winter. For me, it’s better to eat simpler, but postpone. For me, travel is more important than food.”

“Food is life, my well-being. I think that you can’t save on food, and how? Do not spend money on fruits or buy spoiled ones? Or stop eating good fish, quality meat?

“I allow myself to buy everything except sweets and buns - and economically, and the figure is saved”

What became clear to me after this survey? Firstly, the fact that almost everyone has a desire to save on food - and such a desire is not at all reprehensible.

Secondly, not everyone knows what they can save on, considering the price of a product as an indicator of its quality. In many cases, this is true, but it's no secret to anyone that the price of a product depends not only on quality, but also on brand promotion, beautiful packaging. Pleasant impressions from a beautifully designed pack we transfer to taste qualities and usefulness of the product. Meanwhile, in that modest paper packaging an inexpensive product will be sold, not inferior in taste, but with a much lower content of "chemistry".

But let's not speak in general terms. I offer you tips that I managed to collect among friends, on the Internet and partially apply myself.

1. Helping you spend less on food product lists. By the way, not necessarily on paper - you can use mobile applications. It is convenient to make a shopping list and buy once a week, before that you plan what you will eat every day for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Before going to the store, check your kitchen cabinets: you may not need to buy something extra.
2. Get discount cards in grocery stores. Sometimes they are given for free, sometimes you need to pay - but by buying it once, you can save on food all the time: the card will pay off quickly, most importantly - do not forget to take it with you.
3. Go to agricultural fairs. Here you can buy potatoes, carrots, beets, zucchini and other vegetables very cheaply.
4. Buy seasonal vegetables and fruits. What is grown in your country and in season will be many times cheaper. Of course, in winter it is difficult to find domestic vegetables and fruits, but then you can find inexpensive ones: for example, apples and pears are inexpensive even in winter.
5. Can't live without meat? You are wrong: you simply cannot live without protein. A couple of times a week it is quite possible to arrange a weekend from meat: Other protein-rich foods will support your body, but will cost significantly less. I'm talking about legumes (beans, peas, lentils, chickpeas) or eggs. In extreme cases, you can replace expensive meats (for example, beef) with chicken.

Self-deception - to believe that you will not live a day without meat. Sometimes you can arrange green days for yourself or eat legumes, eggs and other protein-rich foods instead of meat.

6.Do not buy semi-finished products or products own production in shops. It comes out much more expensive! case from real life: four ready cutlets cost the same as a kilogram of fresh chicken fillet- but four cutlets are eaten by a family of two at a time, and fillet goulash can be eaten for several days.

7. Do you like herring? Refuse to buy it in jars or packs - cheaper to buy a fish with a head and butcher at home.

8.Muesli can be replaced with regular oatmeal, adding separately purchased raisins and nuts. The savings will be significant.

9.Instead of expensive teas, you can drink herbal teas., which will be uncommonly cheaper and often much more useful.

10.Write down recipes for economical meals- and do not forget to cook them every week. By the way, here for the preparation of the menu and dl. kitchen affairs.

11. Sliced ​​bread, cheese, sausage - always more expensive ... Probably, to Anyone able to cut a whole piece of cheese or a loaf?

12. Bottled water is a big expense. If you buy constantly, isn't it better buy a filter?

13.Freeze your greens for the winter. In summer, parsley, celery, dill cost a penny, but in winter you will pay three or four times more for a bunch. Be wiser: stock up in the summer, chop finely and send to the freezer.

Who would have thought that such a trifle as greens can significantly save the budget: buy in the summer and freeze for the winter

14.Pay close attention to product expiration dates. You can even allocate a separate shelf in the refrigerator for products that need to be eaten first.

15.To save on food, eat … less. Non-trivial advice, right?)) But it has the right to life: sometimes we eat more than we need, because we don’t understand when the body really wants to eat and when it wants to drink. Want to have a snack? Drink a glass of water - perhaps it was thirst. If you still want to eat, then you can already have a snack. It will also be useful to know how many calories you need to consume for your physique. Perhaps you habitually eat much more than you should?

Small, beautifully decorated portions on small plates are another way to save on groceries.

16. Save on food will help rejection of portioned meals: the meat will run out faster if you make chops or cutlets out of it for each family member, while goulash from the same meat will be consumed more slowly.

17.Pay attention to rare foods on your table. Do you often eat semolina, barley, millet? But from these cheap cereals you can cook a lot of dishes.

A dressing room will help you save on clothes - could you wear 33 things for 3 months?

These simple tips will help you save money on food. What tricks help you spend less on food ?