We Are About to Learn Why Grandma Washed Her Tinfoil

Money Saving Tips to Stretch Your Food Budget

Gas prices are at an all-time high.

Inflation is at an all-time high.

Food prices are at an all-time high, and product size is shrinking.

We are in a modern age DEPRESSION. We, as a country, may not be ready to admit it, but that’s the cold hard truth.

Many who have never experienced hunger, or had to pinch pennies to make a meal, will have to figure out how.

We are about to learn why grandma washed her tin foil. Why she saved every scrap of food, and how she learned to make her food budget stretch. Necessity is the mother of all teachers.

With ever-increasing food costs, and product size shrinking, the average middle class family will soon have to make some cost cutting choices to keep food on the table. They will need to find ways to make their meat stretch out for more than one meal, and how to repurpose left overs into something edible for another day. Nothing goes to waste.

During the depression era, our grandmothers knew how to make their food stretch, and how to repurpose any left overs. They did not throw leftovers away in the way we see today. America wastes an average of approximately 200 pounds of food a year. The US is the leading country in food waste, and food waste takes up a majority of of our landfills. Just another reason we should learn to use leftovers.

With all that going on the in the US today, we need to learn to conserve. We need to learn to use everything that we have.

Waste less, use more. So what did grandma do that was so different?

1. Cook at home, and from scratch when possible. Homemade biscuits are much cheaper than buying tubes of biscuits or buying bakery biscuits.
2. Stop buying fast food. For the 20 dollars you would spend on feeding two people fast food or restaurant food, I could feed two for at least a week.
3. Buy in bulk. Things like rice, flour, noodles, and beans, are cheap to buy in bulk and can easily be stored in a cheap five-gallon bucket from Lowes/home depot. (Just make sure the lid is tight). Those items are the bulk of many budget meals, so having an abundance on hand is beneficial. And they are not that expensive to buy in large quantities.
4. Save everything. And i mean EVERYTHING. Do you have a few tablespoons of veggies, or pasta sauce left over, but not quite enough for a serving? No problem. Start a ziplock bag system in your freezer. Every time you have left over veggies, add it to the veggie bag in the freezer, the same with pasta sauce, or gravies, as well. Or just about anything. Eventually, over time, you will save enough to do something with. (think about all the food you’ve tossed because it wasn’t enough to save, I know I used to throw a lot away) Those veggies/gravies can be made in to casseroles or pot pies later.
5. Shop the deals, download the store apps, and shop at multiple store if necessary, in order to stretch your food dollar as much as possible. Don’t pay 3.00 for something that is 0.99 at another store. (unless it takes more gas, than you’d save.) Take the time to driove to more than one store to get the best deals. Gone are the one stop shopping days.
6. Use less meat and utilize other protein sources. Instead of using a full pound of meat for sauces, casseroles, and soups, use 1/2 or less. Use veggies, pastas, rice or potatoes to bulk it up, in place of meat. Then one pound of ground beef last two or even three meals instead of just one.
7. Use cheaper cuts of meats and crock-pots. Crock pots are awesome for tenderizing cheap meats, and if you don’t have one, you can find them at thrift stores for next to nothing. People are replacing them with air fryer/pressure cookers, so thrift stores have them in abundance, at least in my area.
8. Purchase imperfect produce. Stores often have produce that it is inconsistent in sizing, has surface blemishes or are misshapen, but they still taste the same, they just can’t be sold at normal prices. Utilize imperfections.
9. Start a garden. Grow what you can in the area/climate that you live in. Grow herbs on a sunny window, or potatoes in on a pot on your porch/balcony.

NOTE: Most places allow those who get food help (food stamps/tanf) to use their food card to purchase garden seeds. You can even use your EBT card on amazon to buy seeds. A bulk seed pack with 20–30 different veggies, only costs about $15.00–20.00 USD on amazon.

Times are changing quickly. The economy, once booming, has now crashed. Many will struggle to feed their families. Those who have never had to budget cook, will need to learn a new way to cook.

The frugal way of our grandparents.

Rowen Quinn

Rowen is a mother, Wife, Domestic Violence Victims Advocate, community volunteer, and nature lover. Most of her time is spent with her family or volunteering in her community. Rowen has a degree in Psychology, with a concentration in Family Counseling and Minoring in criminal justice. Writing has been her passion since high school, and she enjoys using it to help others.

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