6 Tips To Build A Frugal Pantry

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Meal planning, grocery shopping, building a frugal pantry, prepping, and cooking food always has been part of most households. We have been good at it for ages.

Uncommon of today’s advanced facilities, our grandmas did it all by mentally reviewing and memorizing what to cook for the next day. And prepping up for the same.

In those days, people had so fewer food choices at their disposal that they remembered what items were they running short of, what needed to be repurchased, and what they had enough, by heart.

Hence, list-making was done by making a mental note.

Today, with a vast array of food selections, we need to be intentional with our food choices specifically when living on a small budget.

To stay within our budget we need to take up some old-school systems.

Until now we saw how to meal plan – 3 easy steps, How to eat healthy on a budget, and also 74 Foods to build a frugal pantry on a budget.

Today we’re going to see how to stock your pantry right on a tiny budget.

Make a list:

First, list out all the frequently-made meals at your place. Include breakfast, snacks, dinner, and lunch box recipes.

Make a list of the staples required for these recipes. Your list should cover everything from base ingredients to spices and condiments to oil/butter.

This list of ingredients, well-stocked, will make sure you have enough of what is required to conveniently cook your favorite meals at home.

Buy generic food variants:

Most of the time, we believe that — higher price means better quality. Perhaps it’s a delusion.

The higher price involves the cost of quirky packaging.

Along with cutting-edge techniques — the food is being processed. Which, in fact, can hamper the quality of food.

Rather, opt to buy more fresh, raw, unprocessed versions of the staples.

6 Tips To Build A Frugal Pantry — Just a real-life example. Nothing fancy here.

Shop at Farmer’s Market:

You could have to commute a little farther than your regular grocery store. But a couple of trips, monthly, can save a good amount of money on your grocery budget.

The perks of this? You get freshly grown healthy produce.

Stock up on a sale:

Keeping an eye out for sales at the grocery stores near you can be great for stocking up on staples at lower prices.

Be sure to buy in bulk when you get great deals on the items that are majorly used in your home.

(Quick Tip: Always check the ‘use before’ date before putting an item into the cart. This is necessary when buying food in large quantities. What I have noticed is, that the stores keep older items on the front of the shelves and fresher ones at the back. So, don’t hesitate to dig deeper for your purchase to be cost-effective)

Grow your own food:

If you’re fortunate enough to be able to grow your own food, nothing like it.

People staying in apartments can also make a small attempt to grow herbs, sprouts, chilies, tomatoes, etc. if they’re willing to.

Preserve the food right:

Preserving food correctly is no less important.

You don’t want your volume purchases to go bad faster especially when building a pantry on a tiny budget.

Learning to store perishables correctly is vitally important.

Final Words:

Building a frugal pantry could be time-taking especially when you’re just starting out. So, keep following these steps by the month and you’ll soon have a well-stocked frugal pantry on a small budget.

Don’t forget to like, share, and comment below to share your tips and tricks to build a frugal pantry! Thank you so much for reading. Happy Homemaking!