16 Realistic Ways to Save Money Cooking At Home

Last updated on September 21st, 2024 at 10:28 am

Making your meals can only be quite expensive when you don’t know how to go about it, but there are realistic ways to save money cooking at home that you can use.

And when you make your meals you’ll cut on making orders out with delivery platforms or walking to restaurants for meals even though it’s convenient.

Yes, sometimes you come back late tired and you don’t want to do anything home but saving it’s about commitment. That time you’re home should be effectively put to good use to make a simple meal.

I believe groceries and other items are getting expensive every day that goes by, the only way to work things out in your favor is through “Do It Yourself” to cut costs.

Food is something that you can’t go without, which means it’s hard to avoid spending on it being a basic necessity of life. This comes to a question about how much to spend on a food budget.

Managing food costs with best practices that work can save you a lot of money, without further ado let’s get into details.

Realistic Ways to Save Money Cooking At Home

1. Stick to Budgeting

Having a food budget is very important if you’re to manage costs but when you don’t stick to it nothing will work out your way.

To make the most out of the budget means you need to know what to buy, when to buy, how much to buy, what to cook, and how to prevent food from getting bad to avoid wastage.

It’s not as complicated as it looks to be, because when you get used it all becomes easy to work out on a budget to save money. Sure, if you’re to save you need to pay the price.

2. Bulk Buying

Like it’s said cheap things are expensive, it’s true. Normally when you buy in bulk you’re most likely to get discounted, which is not the case when purchasing a single item.

But this will work out best when you have good storage space for keeping your groceries safe and free from damage.

I don’t know where you buy food items but most stores give discounts to people buying in bulk which helps you to save money on food items in your monthly budget.

So, if it’s about lowering your costs on the food budget put into consideration buying in bulk to save more.

3. Use a Shopping List

Other realistic ways to save money cooking at home? Listing down the things you want to buy for preparing meals also saves you from impulse buying. A list will only contain the things you have planned to have for a certain period.

You don’t have to stuff your freezer with groceries and other food items that you don’t need, all this can be made clear with a list.

Listing food items to buy may not make sense to you in the first place, but you only buy what’s needed and since in the marketplace there are always deals you’ll always buy cheap quality food items for your meals.

4. Online Shopping

Online platforms make it much easier to check out different online stores to compare prices for food items to buy cheap but quality with convenience.

When you just walk into the grocery stores without comparing prices you may end up buying things at higher prices which may cost you a lot of money over time on food.

But also buying things online saves you time and transport costs lowering the food budget for the month. I don’t know about you but shopping online can reduce your costs when you use the right platforms.

5. Keep the Freezer in Good Condition

If the freezer where you’re keeping food is in good condition, you reduce issues of bad food hence saving you a lot of money on waste.

And when your freezer isn’t in good condition but with a lot of stocked raw food, you may end up losing a lot in the form of waste.

Immediately after shopping keep safe whatever needs to be preserved in a freezer like fruits, vegetables, beef, spices, and other food items. Keep a record of whatever you have in the freezer to avoid overstocking and shop for what’s required.

6. Consume Everything

If you’re picky about what to eat sometimes you might end up with a lot of unnecessary waste on food. But if you want to save then you need to reduce waste and eat everything.

With vegetables, you can consume almost everything hence you just need to stop being picky at them to save. Even if you’re allergic to some foods try out other healthy cheap alternative foods.

Before, I used to eat only vegetable leaves and never ate vegetable stalk but nowadays we consume it too as food. Yes, eating everything saves a lot, and cooking at home saves me a lot compared to eating out.

7. Look Out For Second Hand

Lowering the food budget requires you to make things yourself at home using specific equipment like a coffee maker, toaster, and pressure cooker. But if accessing a new appliance is quite costly then look out for second hand.

Many stores out there are selling second hand and these won’t cost you much yet good as new to use at home to cut costs buying out.

Though, when buying second hand ensure to use trusted platforms and stores that sell quality used items with value for money. It will save you money for a long time compared to buying things out which you can make yourself at home.

8. Cooking Legumes

If you want to buy legumes cheap, you should buy them dried since the tinned type is costly. But before cooking, make sure that you soak them in water for some good hours.

They get much easier to cook when first soaked in water hence reducing the electricity bills. Some legumes that need to be soaked before cooking include cowpeas and beans.

Therefore, if you’re going to prepare legumes it is better to work on them today and then soaked for tomorrow. Here you save both time and electricity bills.

9. Put Up a Backyard Garden

Some simple food crops which you can grow yourself in the backyard to cut costs buying out include green vegetables, onions, tomatoes, and more. These at times get costly in the market most especially during the off-season, but when you have a backyard garden you don’t get much affected by price fluctuations.

Even though you have a busy schedule, a backyard garden won’t take you a lot of time to manage after all you decide on what you can handle.

It’s worth giving a shot if you want to save more on preparing meals at home than using restaurants all the time.

10. Put Leftover Foods to Good Use

If you want to cut costs on cooking food at home, make good use of leftover foods while preparing a full meal for the day.

This means in case you can’t consume them as they are it’s better to make them into something different, for example, beef stew can be made into beef samosas, milk turned into yogurt, and vegetables turned into sauce.

Leftover foods save more on power consumption since they don’t take a lot of time to cook. Yes, they just need some small heating to make a ready meal for you and your family.

11. Eat Healthy Foods

This means you need to eat natural foods instead of taking junk to make you full. Junk food indeed tastes nice but not healthy and it’s what most people spend money on to skip cooking.

Processed foods are quite costly compared to local foods like vegetables and edible fats. If you spend money buying processed foods, why not prepare your vegetables or yogurt at home?

And eating healthy not only saves you money cooking at home but also reduces medical bills since nutritious food is medicine.

12. Use Energy Saving Appliances

Also when it comes to saving money cooking food, the cooking appliances you use matter a lot. Some might be consuming a lot of power while cooking which raises your electricity bill every month.

Use energy-saving cooking appliances that won’t cost you much even when cooking your favorite meal at home.

Some energy-saving appliances to use include a pressure cooker and a slow cooker but must be put to use where necessary or else might cost you too.

13. Prepare Coffee At Home

I know you might be a fan of coffee but buying it out costs you a lot of money for a year. Let’s say every working day minus weekends you spend about $2 on coffee for 261 days that’s almost $522 down.

You need to avoid convenience by making your coffee from home if at all you want to save money. When you make your coffee it won’t cost even half the money you use buying from out.

Sure, it won’t cost you a dollar to make that coffee at home with all the ingredients with you yet at times the ingredients are bought at a discount from the stores.

14. Make a Farmer Your Friend

I have farmers who sell me quality produce like pumpkins, onions, tomatoes, and milk at almost half the price I buy from the stores, whether am buying in bulk or not. Saving money cooking home is quite challenging but becoming a farmer’s friend can surely work.

Though sometimes you may buy from the grocery stores where prices are quite high, buying from the farmer evens out the cost.

I find making a farmer your friend a very good strategy to use to reduce costs incurred on groceries and other ingredients used in preparing meals at home.

15. Talk To a Friend

If you’re not good at cooking at home and spending a lot, you should talk to a friend good at it. Not everybody knows how to prepare meals hence you don’t have to be shy about it.

You have friends that survive on a very simple budget, you just need to be open and you’ll get tips that work to save. Trust me, you’ll find out that there are people who at times spend less than $1 for the day making their meals.

16. Prepare What Is Available

If what you have in the kitchen can make a meal, let it be enough for the day to cut spending. Doing so will save you a lot of money because you only buy groceries when it’s really necessary.

It helps to reduce waste from the freezer since almost everything is consumed. Shopping more yet you have what’s enough for some time it’s being extravagant unless otherwise.

If there’s a discount at the store and you would want more in less than a week, shopping can be done but wisely.

FAQs

• What Is The Best Strategy To Use To Save Money Cooking At Home?

Every tactic here counts but first and foremost you need to have a food budget for a stated period. It’s wise to know how much you need to spend on groceries on a budget.

You might not have a backyard garden but when you’re a farmer’s friend buying things cheap on a budget for the month to save.

• Does Sticking To A Budget Work?

Yes, it does. It helps you to do away with impulse spending since you only cook and buy things on a script. Without a plan, you end up spending more compared to a scheduled expenditure.

• Is lt Possible To Save Money Cooking At Home?

Sure, when you put into practice the things talked about, it’s possible to save thousands of dollars making your meals. But no matter how much you earn, eating out can be quite expensive.

Closing – Ways to Save Money Cooking at Home

If you can’t save money on food, at least save on drinks, and this way I would say something is better than none. Saving $1 every day for 261 days can buy you groceries for almost 2 months.

So, every tactic used to save money has a benefit attached to it accordingly.

• Budgeting – managing costs
• Bulk Buying – discounting
• Shopping list – reduces impulse buying
• Online shopping – eases price comparison