Savvy Shopping in Scrimping Times
The cost of food is wild right now and l, like almost everyone else l am sure, often stare in disbelief at the total when l am getting three items. Feels like highway robbery.
It pays to be savvy.
You can save money in the long run by buying things on sale that won’t perish and storing them, as long as you have a little know-how.
I do want to say that this is privilege.
In order to buy up things that are on sale you need to have enough disposable income in the given moment to do so; a reality that is not possible for many people — it’s Pratchett’s Boot Theory remade.
In Men at Arm’s Pratchett writes “the reason that the rich were so rich…was because they managed to spend less money.” The characters go on to explore the example of boots by showing that a really good quality pair of boots is much more than the character’s income. Affordable boots though, that are accessible, are really poor quality and never last long. They inevitably need replacing many times over in the years that the top quality boots would last. Thus, over time, the cheap boots end up costing more, but the character can’t save money to access the good boots because he cannot afford the outlay.
If you are able to able to access quality items on sale and store them, here are some things to consider.
Best Before & Use By dates
Now, this does naturally require some discretion — please don’t go eating wildly out of date chicken because getting salmonella or food poisoning while you save money is not the goal.
Food Standards in Australia and New Zealand define use by dates as:
You won’t find these items on the shelf to buy anyway once they reach this cut-off; however, it is totally fine to buy up meat that is for sale on the day before or day of it’s use-by date and freeze it. The only caveat is that once you defrost it, you really need to consume it within 24 hours. Here is a useful and delightfully clip-arty resource that outlines how long certain meats can last in your freezer.
Best before dates are, in the words of Jack Sparrow “more what you'd call 'guidelines' than actual rules”. They are defined as:
With this in mind, you can buy all sorts of items and store them in appropriately.
Some foods marked with best before will also require you to use your nose and the extent to which you are willing to push a particular food might be entirely personal preference. For example, l will push our natural pot set yoghurt until l think it smells a bit weird, but my husband likes to run experiments with his poor gut at every opportunity. Never trust him. Ever.
Appropriate Storage
You need to be a bit savvy on how to store certain foods and the indications that the item really is past it’s safe consumption. Your nose and a bit of knowledge is key.
For example, l recently stumbled upon quite a few jars of organic coconut oil and we bought them. They are past the best before date BUT l know that coconut oil’s shelf life is around 18-36 months for refined coconut oil and three to five years for virgin coconut oil. So, as long as l store it correctly it will likely be fine for quite some time yet. I also am perfectly comfortable eating it beyond that time frame as long as it hasn’t shown any signs of going rancid or deteriorating.
The same is true for olive oil, which as l’ve previously lamented, costs both my legs currently. We also bought six bottles of on sale, past the best before date of organic olive oil and have stored them in a cool dark cupboard along with the coconut oil.
Google is your friend here.
If there are items you buy regularly that you know come on sale, it’s worth writing a little cheat sheet for yourself on proper storage so you don’t feel unsure about snapping up a bargain when it presents itself! Along with that you might consider:
Best storage location — Cool? Dark? Room temp okay?
Storage container — Does it need to be air tight? Can you freeze it?
E.g. l grate on sale or subpar zucchinis, freeze them in silicone muffins trays, pop them out and bag them. I often do the same with on sale apples. Thanks Grandma for that particular life lesson.
Space — How much space do you have available? Deep freezer? Unlimited pantry or a singular shelf?
Know Where to Look
Where the bloody hell are you getting all these organic things on sale l hear you ask?!
Well, l’d be delighted to tell you. My local Foodworks.
If you have one, you’ll know that Foodworks is prohibitively expensive for most items. This is both annoying and also fantastic. Why? Because they regularly do not sell items before their best before or use by dates. That means you, dear shopper, can make the most of their need to clear items before they make a complete loss on them.
In general, independent groceries often have this scenario and you are much more likely to find great sales in these shops in comparison to the giant conglomerate corporations that call themselves our supermarkets. It becomes a win/win — you get a bargain, and a local, more independent grocer gets some coins in their pocket that would otherwise make their way to a billionaire CEO.
Think Outside the Store
Much of our modern food shopping has become localised to a single shop. Outside that boundary though there are myriad unexpected places that can provide bounty. Warranted, likely not the staples you need every week, but delicious nonetheless!
Some places in our local community l know l can get produce are:
The local Anglican op shop — volunteers always bring in citrus and sell it for ridiculously cheap. It costs me $1 for 5 lemons and sometimes if they have been there for a while, then they will give you them free of charge. Did you know you can zest citrus, freeze and bag the zest, and freeze the juice too?
Our local playgroup — often the volunteers bring in a prolific amount of fruit from their own trees that they simply cannot consume on their own and give it away for free.
Colleagues — my school and my husband’s workplace have a designated spot for items people are giving away. It is usually produce of some description. If you don’t currently have access to this, is it something you could get up and running?
Friends — luckily for us, our lovely friends have loads of chooks. While they live an hour or so away, they often give eggs to us when we catch up with no expectation of anything in return. I try to gift them food or things l’ve made (calendula balm; broth; marmalade) back when l can. Is there someone you know that you could trade with?
With a little savvy know-how you can make the most of buying up things that are on sale! Perhaps l will do another newsletter with more specifics on how l make use of some of the other items.
What are your tips for savvy shopping in times like these?
Warmest,
Rachel x
Buying our staples in bulk makes a huge difference long term. We buy olive oil in large drums which is much more economical than individual bottles and 10kg bags of flour. When it comes to produce, purchasing what's in season is the way to go. We've always spent a bit extra buying quality produce from our local farm gate but recently have noted that it's actually not as expensive than the below average quality produce from the supermarket. And because it's grown locally, freshly harvested and 100 times more delicious than the latter, it also lasts longer so less food waste.
I do a weekly volunteer exchange with a local organic farmer for our family's produce. Organic farmers can't sell wonky carrots or imperfect broccoli at market, for example, and for a few hours of weeding and pruning I can take home enough fresh organic veges and herbs to last a week. Worth contacting a local farmer to offer some assistance if you have the time - it's a lot for work to maintain a market garden and so much produce goes straight to compost!