A don't-waste-me challenge where we save as much food as possible from the supermarket, empty our cupboards and spend less than 100 euros in one month. Can a family (two adults and one child) manage that? Nice challenge, isn't it? Saving on groceries, saving food, in short, being sustainable. Saskia took up this sustainable grocery challenge with her family and made it! We made it with 99.71 euros! And boy, were we sustainable when we were foowaste-warriors.‘
Save on groceries with this sustainable grocery challenge
I was a bit done with that overflowing pantry, with the high grocery spending and the boring winter month. And so I came up with a sustainable grocery challenge that is also a great savings tip: cook with leftovers from the freezer, empty the cupboards at last and save food in the supermarket. To make the challenge really challenging, we agreed as a family not to spend more than 100 euros on groceries in a month. That's about 25 euros per week. Why? Our idea was that this way you won't be tempted to buy something nice anyway. No, first use up (creatively) what you already have in terms of food and drink. It was a success! The new habits are still reverberating!
- We save on groceries; we consciously buy fewer groceries and work more meticulously with lists again.
- Order in the pantry and freezer!
- More creativity in the kitchen.
- Varied diet because of those nice (vegetable) offers.
- We spent less than a hundred euros in a month!
- Sustainable and cheap food can go together so well!
Rules of the sustainable shopping challenge
Game rules of the shopping challenge? You decide those yourself. The main goal: waste as little food as possible, save on groceries and use up unused things. Our tip: set a maximum shopping budget. This gives focus and a goal.
- Set a monthly amount within which you will do your shopping: at least half less than you would normally spend on groceries. We are even stricter with a grocery budget of 100 euros.
- Start stocking up. Even long-life products whose THT date has passed are most likely still fine to eat. Want to know more about that? Then take a look at this article.
- Go to places where you can save cheap food, for example through Too Good To Go, at Foodello, at the shelf with discounted items in the supermarket, at the market around closing time (especially Saturday is a good day) and check if there are Facebook groups in your area where you can swap food or pick it up for free. Find more tips for cheap shopping here.
- 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.
Why would you want to do this shopping challenge?
We had a lot of fun with this challenge in a rather boring February, we saved a considerable amount of money (we can do something fun with it again) and the challenge brought us to fun new places where we could save food. But the most important thing is yet to come: by resetting yourself for a month and taking an extra conscious look at your grocery spending and avoiding waste, you'll find that you'll be a bit more mindful in the months that follow. We are looking forward to it! Will you join us?
It worked out: the back of our pantry shelves has come back into view, we have had to buy few groceries on top, save a lot of food in shops AND we have stayed true to our sustainable diet.
Zero waste chips
During the shopping challenge, we had a craving for crisps, so we had a nice idea for with drinks: we made our own crisps from potato peels. Season them on the baking tray, leave them to crisp up in the oven and you're done!
Tip for doing this challenge
- Keep track in an Excel file down to the penny how much you spend. Set your shopping budget and make sure you see how much money you have left to spend, after entering your expenses each time.
- Make weekly plans and try to combine products smartly.
- Split your shopping list into two lists: things you really need and things you only buy if you turn out to have some money left over.
- Sandwiches and household items, such as toilet paper, are big expenses. And don't underestimate the price of coffee either.
- Smart purchases are dried legumes: you can do anything with this, it is cheap and sustainable. A big bag of potatoes is also handy to have in the house. That will be a lot of peeling!
- Weigh pasta, rice and potatoes properly. Learn what the right quantities are for your household.
- Reduce your portions.
- This needs better research, but I feel you have the best supermarket deals around opening time and around closing time.
- Is your pantry and freezer empty by the end of the month? Clean the cupboards and your freezer and tidy them up again! Want to clean that freezer in an eco-friendly way? Then check out our tutorial!
More sustainable tips from thegreenlist.nl
- You can also save more food online at Foodello. Check out the review here!
- Handy: cooking with leftovers, then you should always have this in the house.
- Where do you store an apple? Learn all about the best place to store fruit and vegetables.
Photo credits: thegreenlist.nl.
