What to Eat When You’re Broke

Image – EatLocalGrown (with permission)

This is a seriously brilliant tutorial that could save you a serious amount of money – whether you are broke or not.

One of the biggest bills that a family has to cover is the grocery bill. It’s thousands of dollars per year – and many are of the belief that if you want to eat healthy food, you need to spend twice as much. This is absolutely not true! You can eat extremely healthy food at the same time as saving a small fortune – if you know what to buy and how to prepare it.

One of the big secrets is in buying high quality staples (that are typically low in price) and preparing them yourself – which seems time-consuming but there are numerous skills and tricks you can use to cut the prep time down to “quicker than driving across town every time you are hungry”. We’ve all done it.

There’s also something to be said for high quality storage and organization. This can save you a ton of money. A lot of food gets spoiled through inefficient food supply management. Rotating your stock so that new items go behind older ones in the cupboard is one very simple trick. Investing in good quality sealable storage jars – such as Kilner or these Fido Jars that I love and own several of. It may seem like you are spending more, but you end up saving a huge amount when your staples, dried foods and other supplies are kept in good condition. PLus these jars are BPA, phthalate and lead free and so keep the food more pure. You can also buy in greater bulk, which leads to further cost reduction.

As with so many things, it’s all about being prepared. Planning meals in advance saves money. It’s something of a lifestyle shift away from “buy-consume-discard” culture; but that’s a good thing. Being healthy serves you better in the long run – saving you time and money! It really does.

The other thing about having a good pantry is that you build up a stock when times are better – and then when cash is lower you still have an abundance of food. It’s a classic survival technique that we would still do well to learn.

As you can tell, I’m passionate about this subject. Here’s the excellent full tutorial from Eat Local Grown:

What to Eat When You’re Broke