A not so secret money saving tip...

[mbsun]

I don't think this tip will come as a massive shock to anyone...it is pretty standard.

But I just cannot get over how much money I have saved by using a combination of meal planning and food management.

After rent/mortgage, the biggest expense for most of us is food. I often see people posting about ways to get cheaper food, but rarely see people talking about how they can minimise waste.

Personally, I have started doing much better meal planning for me and my family. Not actually with the goal of saving money, but so I can buy better quality food without actually spending more money.

...I actually kind of take a backwards approach - I buy quality food then force myself to plan to ensure I don't waste it.

A few tips I have found useful to do this:

- Buy quality meat in bulk and freeze it
- Create a meal plan with built in 'wild cards' to use up leftovers or to create something from the store cupboard
- Create lunches mostly from left overs that are close to going out of date (easier when you work from home)

Anyone have any more tips?

 

[gker]

Planning your meals goes a long way to saving money. I've been doing it for quite some time and I can't believe how much I spend on food in my home. There's less waste and most importantly I save on electricity bill.