If you are a nibbler, snacker or grazer like I am, you find that a lot of your grocery bill goes towards SNACKS — things you can grab in a pinch, eat quickly and feel satisfied without having to get sweaty and dirty a billion pots to cook a meal.
I tend to only cook twice a week for my lunches and dinners, but in between, sometimes I don’t want to eat the same thing over and over again.
So stock your fridge like a vending machine!
I like to stock it with healthy foods that are still tasty, and won’t break the bank or make me fat, so here is a short list of my rules:
Don’t buy it in the first place
I don’t buy chocolate or ice cream unless it’s once every 3 months. If I do, I’ll eat it. And I’d rather not spend the $6 on a tub of quality ice cream unless it’s a one-off treat for the summer.
Don’t shop for food when you are hungry or thirsty
Going grocery shopping when you are starving or thirsty is not the best strategy.
I went to the supermarket last night and bought 8 bottles of drinks JUST because I was thirsty.
Bad, bad idea.
Prep everything
When I buy vegetables or fruits, I bring them home, set aside an hour or so, and clean them thoroughly, pack them in between paper towels, and chop them up for meals later on in the week, or just into julienne slices for snacks.
Another thing I do is also wash the fruit so that it’s all ready to grab and eat, because you KNOW that at 7 p.m. at night when you are feeling peckish, you are not about to grab a bunch of grapes and carefully wash them and dry them off to eat. You just want to grab and eat.
I also separate them into Tupperware boxes or individual portions so they are easy to grab and go.
Make them pretty and accessible
Did you know that we waste about $10 a week on average just because we didn’t see it in the fridge before it went bad?
With grapes and bananas or other fruits with a lot of water content, I freeze them.
Then when I eat the fruit, it tastes like I’m eating an iced sorbet, when it’s really just frozen fruit.
A very handy trick! They are refreshing and delicious.
Just a girl trying to find a balance between being a Shopaholic and a Saver.
I cleared $60,000 in 18 months earning $65,000 gross/year.
Now I am self-employed, and you can read more about 
I love the idea of prepping everything when you get it! That makes so much sense. Definitely going to try this next time I buy a lot of produce.
One thing I do is keep all of my vegetables front and centre in the fridge. I started this because I realised that my vetables were always going bad in the veggie drawer because I’d forget about them! Now I keep my mustard, garlic, etc. in the veggie drawer.
Stocking your fridge like a vending machine with healthy options is an excellent idea. I try to do that. I find that if I have ice cream in the house I eat it whether I am hungry or not. I went 7 months without it and last week I bought 2 pints of Ben & Jerrys and they were gone before my husband even had some LOL
I plan a menu for the week. Try and rotate meat selections for the week, make a ton of whatever so that I can take it to work for lunches. Hubby and I love meat sauce so I make a really big batch and freeze it and pull it out as I need it. Granted it is a day of cooking but I get two weeks of pulling stuff out of the refrigerator for an easy dinner
That’s my trick for saving money and not gaining a bajillion pounds. I try not to have any bad things (IE. icecream or chips in my house) so when I am wanting to snack on something, I’m forced to eat those rice crackers or celery sticks because I’ve got no other options!
Good tips! Very true about making things pretty & accessible – I’ve wasted my fair share of food in my freezer because it’s so disorganized & difficult to see things.
I always shop with a list (of course that does not mean that it is strictly followed due to the hubby and a 3 year old) but I do the best that I can and maybe give in to 1 impulse buy myself if it is on sale.
All good ideas, but I know when I pre-wash some fruits and veggies they spoil quicker in the fridge, even with a paper towel. How do you get around that?