When you think of ‘cheap’ groceries, you quickly think of cheap kilo-calls, private brands and large quantities of meat. And you don't easily link these purchases to sustainable shopping - although more and more private label products on the shelf also have good quality labels, but that's a side-step. Sustainable shopping can also be done cheaply. Yes you can! How? We'll show you now!
Cheap groceries that do make the earth happy
It is the best of both worlds: cheap grocery shopping and sustainable, tasty food. How do you do that? Because nice organic vegetables are often more expensive, the same goes for non-industrial (organic) meat and sandwich fillings are always a big expense anyway, even if you buy private label. So where is the profit to be made in a sustainable way? Not at the kilo-caller's shelf, but at initiatives that reduce food waste. Get those groceries and you'll be doing the earth and your bank account a favour. We take you through a list of cool ideas.
Ideas for cheap shopping, but better
Free groceries can be found in your pantry
You probably already have the cheapest groceries. In a lot of kitchens - guilty - pantry shelves are bulging with long-life products that don't last. We forget we have those cans, bottles and packets, don't know what to do with them or think it's ‘handy to at least have it in the house’. Clean it up! Believe me, it often really doesn't get around to it. So my first shopping tip is: start putting out all these products and don't forget the freezer too! We did it too, check out those cans of tomatoes! Then look for easy recipes and make a plan to really kill all those storage products. Do you find that difficult? Then I have a nice bonus tip: do the don't-waste-me challenge. I created this challenge myself and it works like a charm! Check out all about this challenge in this article.
Waste-me-not challenge in a nutshell
You know what's great about this challenge? The exact rules of the waste-me-not challenge are entirely up to you, as long as you keep your goal in mind: in one month, waste as little food as possible, starting with your own pantry. What you miss, you buy more, but again, you try to spend as little money as possible by avoiding waste in the shops.
- Set yourself a goal: a maximum budget you want to spend on groceries in a month. Look in your write-ups to see how much you spend on average in a month on groceries (don't forget drugstore items too) and go well below that. I would say halve the budget. At least that's a nice challenge and a good stick to really eat things and not buy too much extra.
- Stick to your sustainable diet: vegetarian, vegan, organic, local (whatever suits your lifestyle).
- You set your own ground rules, for example, we keep date-nights off the books.
Cheap vegetables via Too Good To Go
Fresh fruit and vegetables are important, you don't want to skimp on that. But wait... before you know it, you'll be back to your old spending habits. You can find cheap fruit and vegetables (and cheap bread, for that matter) via the app from Too Good To Go. This is a free app where supermarkets, restaurants, hotels and other shops can offer their surplus daily. If you are quick, you can score wonderful fruit and vegetable boxes from supermarkets nearby. Often a whole box for less than three euros. If you manage to get hold of such a nice box, you will suddenly have a large supply of fruit and vegetables. To avoid wasting anything, the tip is to always start with the soft vegetables that cannot be stored for long, such as lettuce, cauliflower and endive. The harder vegetables, such as beetroot, cabbage and tubers, can then be saved for later. Want to know how Too Good To Go works or how to increase your chances? Then check out this article!
Ideas for cheap and sustainable grocery shopping: take a close look at your own pantry, score fruit & vegetables in supermarkets via Too Good To Go and hunt for food in the discounted section.
The waste-me-not box at the supermarket
Every day I take a quick look in the waste-me-not section of our supermarket. Vegetables, bread, ready-made meals (vega) burgers: a lot of discounted products I get rid of here. It's not the best tip when trying to empty your freezer, because because of these good deals, my freezer is actually always very full. But I'm actually happy with it. You can find great products here for little money. The fact that the THT date is about to expire doesn't bother me. Because products with a THT date can still be used for days, weeks and sometimes even months, even if the date has passed. And what does spoil, you simply freeze. Because then it stays good for at least three months, regardless of the date on it. If you want to know more about the THT date, take a look at this article. We have it all figured out for you.
Cheap online shopping at Foodello
A great budget shopping tip I also find Foodello. Here you can buy online all kinds of long-life products whose THT date is about to expire. Think of bake-off rolls, coffee, sandwich fillings, pasta, soups and sauces. The closer to that THT date, the bigger the discount. For instance, I once bought a large pack of A-brand sprinkles for one cent. Foodello sells products that can no longer be sold in supermarkets, because of that date or another reason (a printing error on the packaging, for example). Want to know more about Foodello? We have also written out this experience for you.
Giveaway and exchange groups (on Facebook)
In my village, a lady set up a Facebook group where local residents can offer free food. As a result, I once managed to score a bag of bread as well as two ready-to-eat packages of chilli sin carne. So the tip is: check Facebook to see if there are swap and give communities in your neighbourhood. Here you can score lots of goodies for free!
Cheap, sustainable and tasty: dried pulses
Dried lentils, split peas, chickpeas: dried pulses are cheap - even the organic varieties - and you can do an awful lot with them. It is a perfect meat substitute and keeps forever. If you want to shop cheap, make sure you stock up on plenty of these little beauties. Could you use some inspiration? Red lentils are a super tasty substitute for minced meat in red pasta sauces.
Don't waste spices
Maybe just a little tip, but I want to share it with you anyway. You can freeze a lot of herbs, so nothing gets lost on the kitchen counter or in the vegetable drawer. As soon as you start cooking, take only what you need from the freezer and the rest stays nicely frozen. Then take a look at these spice tips!
Freeze vegetable waste and grow it back
This tip comes from my Instagram community: don't throw away vegetable trimmings, but collect everything in a big bag in the freezer. From all those butts, peels and leftovers you can make a delicious broth at the end of the month. Also nice: some vegetables you can grow back. Have you ever tried that with a leek, spring onion, pak choi and many others?
Orphan bananas
Everyone wants nice full bunches of bananas. The pairs and single bananas are often left behind only pitifully. The supermarket doesn't know what to do with them either. If nobody buys them, they will eventually be thrown away. A shame, because these orphan bananas are just as tasty as the bananas on the bunches, and they will be sold anyway. Help these bananas and the supermarket and buy these very solids. Even a coloured banana is no reason not to be sold. You can make so much fun out of it!
Cashback promotions
I have no experience with this myself, but some followers swear by it: cashback promotions. They arrange food at a discount and in some cases even free food by cleverly using cashback promotions. One commonly mentioned app is Scoupy. Check it out.
Cheap shopping, are you missing something?
I hope this list has given you new inspiration to shop cheaply and waste less food at the same time. At thegreenlist.nl we'd love to learn from you too! Are you missing an important shopping tip in this list? Feel free to send an e-mail and we can add to the list. You can find the contact buttons at the bottom of this page. What might also be of interest are Doepserleven's saving tips, they take sustainability and savings even further into the kitchen.
More sustainable shopping tips from thegreenlist.nl
- Also see: cooking leftovers? These ingredients are essential in your pantry.
- Also see: tips for storing fruit and vegetables in the right place (so they stay good for longer).
- Also see: Grocery challenge: make ends meet on 100 euros a month.
Photo credits: thegreenlist.nl.
