This picture right here is why we are a less waste family and not a zero waste family. Food. It’s the aspect of our lives that I spend the most time planning and executing but it still produces the most waste. For me, it’s easy to not buy new stuff. All I had to do was change my mindset, learn some tricks about buying secondhand and our waste went down to almost nothing… but FOOD! It’s a whole other story. We are humans. Some of us have families, jobs, live in areas that don’t offer huge bulk selections or if they do, we can’t afford it, or we struggle with transportation issues. The list could go on and on for reasons why we can’t be zero waste. And for the most part, they are legitimate reasons. I get it. We don’t need to beat ourselves up over it. HOWEVER… I want to make sure we are thinking through all of our choices.
The picture below is all the groceries I will buy for this week. The total came to $86.08. I went to three grocery stores after dinner. (and was also able to get out of bedtime duty. Bonus.) I will go to the butcher in the next day or two to spend less than $6 on 2 incredible sausages to put on our pizzas. We are a family of four with two of us being little ones but who still eat a good amount of food. We are tightening our belts around here in order to pay off student loans (anybody else have a hobby collecting Masters degrees like Andrew?) a car loan, and to put more money toward paying off this ball and chain they call a mortgage. So this is how I’m handling the juggle of a budget while also living less waste. Being strategic is key and I wanted to share it with you in case it might help you in some way. It is a lot of information so please don’t get overwhelmed. This whole thing is a process that is constantly evolving, even for me.
* Meal planning is super important. I try to make dinners that include cheap base staples like rice, chickpeas, lentils, beans, potatoes, etc. that can be bought in either bulk sections or large quantities if you don’t have access to bulk stores. And I have switched to buying beans dry instead of canned. It’s cheaper, a little more work (but not much!) and worth the less waste. I plan for 4-5 dinners and leftovers. I know that bigger families or families with older children would need to plan for more but regardless, always make sure food is not being wasted. This might give you one extra night of leftovers.
*breakfasts include staple foods like oatmeal, waffles, pancakes, yogurt/cottage cheese, applesauce, bananas, toast, eggs. Everything but the waffles and yogurt/cottage cheese are from scratch or naturally package free, which keeps down on waste.
* lunches are pb&j or grilled cheese or tuna sandwich, or popcorn (from scratch) cheese slices, and fruit. I don’t push veggies at lunch and I don’t give them individually wrapped snacks.
*Homemade bread/pie crusts/pizza dough and backyard chickens. That takes care of sandwiches, toast, eggs, quiches, and pizza nights.
* I shop at Aldi’s, a bulk store, and Trader Joe’s. There are food items I just can’t get around buying packaged right now. Dairy is one of them so yogurt, cottage cheese, cheese, cultured buttermilk, half & half, milk, etc. are all bought wherever they are cheapest (while also buying as much from pasture raised cows as the budget allows). The next part is where it gets trickier. These items you have to know where they are offered package free. So I don’t buy produce at Aldi’s because it is ALL packaged (except bananas and avocados). I wish I could buy all produce at Trader Joe’s but they also package some of their produce. I’ve learned what they package (broccoli and herbs) and what they don’t (lemons, limes, apples, onions and potatoes) so I plan accordingly. The rest is bought at the bulk store that has the remaining produce package free and a lot of dry bulk food as well. I wish I could say that I buy all of my dry goods in bulk but the truth is that I can’t justify buying one pound of bulk flour for the same price as a 5 lb bag of flour at TJs which I can then compost the bag. Other bulk items, though, are worth it for me. My peanut butter comes from one of those peanut grinding machines that just spits it right into your container. (Side note, you can make your own by simply throwing peanuts into a food processor and pulsing the crap out of it.)
* I keep bulk dry staples in our pantry and buy more when we run low. That way, I always have a base for a meal and I’m not having to buy everything always at once.
* during warmer months, I get my produce from farmers’ markets.
* As of the writing of this post, I’m using a lot of recipes from itdoesnttastelikechicken.com and budgetbytes.com
* with a list, I’m able to hit up all 3 stores and be back at the house within an hour and a half.
So that’s how I am working to keep our entire weekly food budget close to $100 as well as keeping our waste production down to as low as I can. It’s a hard balance and I’m not perfect at it but the longer I’m doing it, the easier it gets.