Episode 44: Meal Planning-Savvy Saving, Intentional Spending, and Reducing Food Waste
What You’ll Learn
Saving Money and Spending Intentionally (00:50)
Shopping the Sales (01:50)
Reducing Food Waste (09:05)
Recap (22:33)
Invitation (22:52)
This is part three of a five part series ALL about meal planning! Today we’ll be looking at the best ways save money, spend intentionally and reduce food waste. If you’re following us on Instagram @thedeliberateday, send us a DM with the word “bonus” and we’ll send you a link to our free mini meal planning kit which has a beautiful meal planning template in it that encourages you to put your schedule right on there, AND it’s an 8-day planner so you can work in that planning and shopping day!
Saving Money and Spending Intentionally (00:50)
Cooking from what you have on hand—in your freezer and your pantry—is one of the BEST ways to save! As we’re cooking from what we have, consider that you’ve already spent money on these things, so why not plan to use them. If you have something in your pantry that will work for a recipe (such as penne pasta vs. bowtie), use what you have!
Shopping the Sales (01:50)
When you shop the local sales, you’ll automatically get produce that’s in-season (which usually means it’s fresh). You’ll also find sales on pasta, breads, and center aisle items.
Check for sale meats! The caveat here is. . .look at the color of the meat. If it’s brown or gray, walk away! I’ve had great luck at Target with sale meat (they have these great $1, $3, or $5 coupons right on the meats!). This can have a positive impact on your weekly budget! Try getting the sale meats (when you find them) and keep them in the freezer to use at a later date!
You can make sales work for you, or you can work for the sales. Many things go on sale, but we don’t need ALL those things! Sales are a form of “loss leader pricing,” which means that the stores use them to get you in the door (so you’ll buy other, more expensive items. Make the sales work for YOU (not the other way around.
Coupons seemed to disappear during COVID, but they are coming back (at least a little). There are also cash back apps (like Ibotta), where you send in a photo of your receipt and they give you rebates on different items. They key is to make sure you’re only buying what you need!
According to nerdwallet, some of the cash back apps are Ibotta, Coupons.com, and Fetch Rewards. They are ALL dependent upon how you use them. Make intentional choices-because these apps are all gameified to get you to use them more. Look only for the items you know you’ll need, or staples you use all the time (like Kite Hill). Recently, we got $2 back on a $5 tub of yogurt. Pro-tip: put your Ibotta rebates back into your grocery budget! (If you PROMISE to be responsible and you can control yourself with gameified apps, our Ibotta code is NHOJAQU. You can find Ibotta in the App Store, and if you put the code in, you will get an EXTRA $10 back once you redeem your first receipt).
Reducing Food Waste (09:05)
There are several ways to reduce food waste. . .one of the easiest is re-imagining leftovers. One way Brittany does this is by taking a larger cut of meat, cooking it one day, and then planning different meals with it. Recently, she made a pork roast (Kahlua pork). On day one, they ate the pork with rice and ginger garlic green beans, day two they put it on bread rolls with enchilada sauce, and day three the pork became taquitos with cheese sauce. This is a great way to re-imagine leftovers. You can do this with many other meats too! If you plan ahead, larger cuts of meat can become casseroles, tacos, or burritos!
Another thing Britt does is turn leftovers into a soup! I tasted her last masterpiece and it was SO good!
If you have leftovers, you can always use them to supplement a meal. Dinner leftovers make great lunches! If you’re working on meal mastery, try letting your kids take a turn at re-imagining them!
Another way to reduce food waste is to know the life-span of your fresh foods. You need to put produce that’s going to go bad at the top of your menu, front-load it, so you don’t end up with icky spinach or cabbage at the end of the week!
When you get produce, there is one thing you can do to prolong its life. . .put your produce in a bit of a water bath and sprinkle it with a bit of vinegar and baking soda. (This works with strawberries, blueberries, cucumbers, and carrots.). When you’re done, lay it on a towel to dry, then put it in the fridge.
By reducing food waste, we’re really saving money!
Now, a few tips for the best food storage. . .
Most vegetables should go in the high humidity drawer of the fridge. (Leafy greens, carrots, cucumbers, broccoli).
Most fruits and also veggies that tend to rot, should go into the low humidity drawer. (Mushrooms, peppers, etc).
Some produce, like bananas, apples, pears, and avocados release ethylene gas as they ripen. . .making other produce ripen and potentially spoil faster. So store these away from one another. In Britt’s house, they either have bananas that go bad sitting on the counter or are gone in 24 hours, there’s no in-between. Also, it’s worth mentioning that timing avocados is near impossible, they’re either not ripe enough, or too ripe.
Pro tip: if you need an avocado to ripen quicker, put it near the potatoes (just don’t forget about it!)
Let’s talk berries, cherries, grapes, and the best way to wash them. . .Britt uses the baking soda bath, but you MUST make sure they’re dry before putting them back in the fridge (or they’ll go bad faster)!
Other produce, like potatoes, eggplant, winter squashes, onions, and garlic should all be stored in cool, dry, and well ventilated places (perhaps a basket in your kitchen, or a pantry). Wood *can cause your produce to ripen faster.
A few fun tidbits. . .
Watermelon can just start rotting and explode right on your wood countertop!
Also, 100% of potatoes that you put in your pantry and forget about will rot!
Your freezer is your friend in many ways! You can freeze foods like bread, sliced meats, deli meats, any other meats, leftovers, and casseroles (label everything). The best way to do this is to store from oldest to newest and label EVERYTHING!
Pro-tip: consider investing in a food-saver! It can provide you with fresher food, help organize your freezer, and keep things organized.
If eliminating food waste is something you feel strongly about, there ARE services that rescue ugly foods! Personally, I have used Misfits Market for years (if you’d like to save a bit on your first box, use this code: COOKWME-CH8OVA).
There ARE deeper values at play here. Eliminating food waste teaches your kids gratitude, a VERY adult-y skill, and gives them an opportunity to see the value of the food that you are purchasing and preparing. We are SO fortunate in our country to have such an abundance of choices. According to the EPA, the average family of four wastes $1,500 a year by wasting food.
Y’all, we could do so many things with $1,500! It would get Britt’s family a cabin for a week, and it would get my family half-way to Minnesota! When you begin reducing food waste, you may not see the entire $1,500 right away, but it DOES add up!
Recap (22:33)
Cooking from what you have on hand, shopping sales, and being coupon savvy will help you save money and spend intentionally.
Reducing food waste will save you money, and it will build good foundations for your children’s futures and for you.
Invitation (22:52)
If you’re following us on Instagram @thedeliberateday, send us a DM with the word “bonus” and we’ll send you a link to our free mini meal planning kit!
