Please note this article contains affiliate links marked with an asterisk. If you click through and buy something, it won’t cost you anything extra, but it will help to support the blog – thanks!

We buy some key staples in bulk. For example porridge oats*, rice*, popping corn*, bicarbonate of soda*, cinnamon*, Italian seasoning*, sunflower seeds*, soy sauce*, shampoo* and conditioner bars*. I bought bulk salt years ago (that we are still working our way through) on a house swapping holiday to France and we pick practically a years supply of onions once a year at local pick your own farm.

What are the pros of buying in bulk?

We buy in bulk because there are lots of benefits

1. You save time doing your shopping each week. Having some basics in stock mean that you don’t have to worry about running out of those products for a while.
2. Less packaging overall. I usually buy oats in a 25kg sack. It means that we only have one paper bag to recycle after eating 25kg of oats instead of countless little boxes and plastic bags.
3. It is sensible to have 3 months salary in the bank in case of loss of income through redundancy or illness and so in. For the same reasons it is a good idea to have a bit of back up food in your home. Having that food at home buys you time. It also gives you peace of mind over having enough to eat for a while.
4. On the same note as point 3, being made redundant isn’t the only reason why it might sensible to have a bit of back up food in your home. For example, when the virus hit, for a while there were scary scenes of empty shelves in the supermarkets and it became difficult to get hold of certain types of food.
5. You can save money by buying in bulk. It is really important to shop around though and not assume as sometimes bulk buying doesn’t work out cheaper.

What are the cons of buying in bulk?

1. You have to be careful when you buy bulk food because the price can fluctuate. A good price now on a bulk product, may not be so reasonable if prices fall and you are still using up the product you bought when prices were higher.
2. You have to find somewhere to store the food, which is difficult if you don’t have much space
3. The quantity of food may be too large for you to be able to use up before it’s best before date. Either that puts you off buying or potentially food could go off.
4. You have to have the money to pay upfront for the bulk food.
5. Bulk buying has a bad reputation after the empty supermarket shelf days at the beginning of lockdown. Are you a selfish stockpiler if you buy in bulk?

Solutions to the problems of buying in bulk

1. To avoid getting caught out by bulk buying a product when it is expensive you can do two things. Firstly think seasonally. As I said earlier we usually buy onions once a year . They are at their cheapest then because they are in season. Secondly get to know what a good price is for a product over time. If you have access to old receipts for shopping either on or offline, you can do some price comparisons. If the product will last a couple of months, this may not be a major issue. But if you are planning for it to last much more than that you might want to check first!
2. Make some space to store your bulk food by doing some decluttering where possible. You don’t have to store the food in your kitchen.
3. Avoid food waste, by taking into account these 5 ways to avoid food waste when you buy in bulk. For example, only buy food that you know you can use and that will last a long time.
4. Save up the money to buy in bulk (or use the money from the items you decluttered if you were able to sell them). You can also split purchases with friends and family.
5. Are you a selfish stockpiler? It depends on how you do it. If you clear a supermarket shelf and don’t leave any for anyone else, then you are being selfish. However if you regularly buy in bulk from a place that you are meant to make bulk purchases, that isn’t selfish. Those places only sell in bulk and you aren’t depriving anyone else by shopping that way. You aren’t taking more than your fair share either. You are just buying what you need in one go, rather than in smaller amounts over time.

Is it a good idea to buy in bulk?

On the positive side: You could save money, reduce packaging, make your life a little easier and have peace of mind about having a bit of extra food in the house.

On the negative side: You need to think carefully about whether bulk is a good price or not. It could result in food waste. You would have to find somewhere to put it and it involves laying out cash up front.

So I think the answer is both yes and no! It all depends on the types of foods you eat, the storage space you have available, the effort you want to go to and whether or not for you, the positives outweigh the negatives.

What are your thoughts about buying in bulk? Do the pros outweigh the cons for you, or is it the other way around?

The post The pros and cons of buying in bulk appeared first on Eco Thrifty Living.

I surveyed my Reduce Your Food waste Facebook group and over 70% of people who responded said that their bills had gone up.

Why is it hard to save money on food during lockdown?

There are loads of reasons why it is hard to save money on food during lock down. The budget supermarkets either don’t do deliveries or are difficult to get delivery slots at, the kids (and adults) want to snack all day and it makes sense to buy more when you can, in case you can’t get a delivery or the product you like for a while afterwards.

Some of that extra spend is being offset by saving money on the food that can’t be eaten at restaurants and cafes any more. However it is a time when many have had salaries reduced or have been made redundant and money is tight.

Happily there are ways to save money on food, even in these difficult times. In this article I’m going to give you some tips and tricks on how to do it.

How to get the best price on the food that you buy

At the moment a lot of the usual ways to save money on food at the supermarket are tricky. Foods fluctuate in price across package sizes, brands, times of year and supermarkets. These days most of us want to, or have to shop less often. It means we are more likely to need to buy what is available rather than what is the best value for money.

1. Look outside of the supermarkets

The supermarkets aren’t the only place you can shop. There are lots of online stores and a large number of local shops have now got, or are in the process of setting up delivery or click and collect options. Don’t assume that the supermarket is always the cheapest place to shop. It is well worth having a look into the alternatives. Check out this list of 15 supermarket alternatives *Ad*.

2. Buy in bulk

Bulk can mean various things. In this context I mean buy in large quantities. You could buy a big sack of flour, a giant tub of marmite or a large container of soy sauce.

If you buy a big sack of something, it means that you swap lots of small packaging for one big item of packaging. It can work out to mean you bring home less packaging overall. You may also save money by buying in bulk, but don’t assume that and do price checks first. Before you shop check out my article on the pros and cons of buying in bulk to see if / when it is right for you.

3. Compare prices across the supermarkets and try new brands to save money on food

If you are ordering online from supermarkets you can easily compare prices. Either by doing a comparison yourself or by using the supermarket comparison feature in the Latest Deals app . It is difficult to get delivery slots, but if you can get slots at more than one supermarket, rotate between them. You don’t have to shop at the same supermarket online every time. Buy different products in different shops depending on their prices. Do a final check on the day before your delivery to make sure you have got the best prices on the products you can get.

Often regardless of the discounts on the brands, the supermarket own brand items usually work out the cheapest and are often just as good quality as the brands are. Supermarkets also have own brand organic ranges.

If you go into the shop, you can still do a price comparison online before you go. Look closely at the prices of anything extra you are tempted to add and work out how much extra you will end up paying if you do add it.

You can also do a mix of shopping at supermarkets, bulk buying, online shops and local shops. Do price comparisons across a range of different places. It might sound time consuming but once you know the good places to shop it gets easier to save money on food this way.

4. Meal plan, write a shoppping list and stick to it

Meal planning means you know what you are doing in advance and you don’t have to start stressing about half an hour before dinner every day about what you are going to cook. It also means that you have a better idea of what you need and will use over the period between shops.

I always recommend writing a shopping list against a meal plan. Even better write a use it up meal plan. Basically that means looking at what you have at home already and then planning your meals and your shopping list around using it up. Stick to your list as closely as possible.

5. Switch some fresh foods to frozen or tinned ones to save money on food

If you are going to cook a vegetable anyway, then buying it frozen or tinned can work out cheaper. It also means it will last longer between shops. It will save it from going off at the back of your fridge too. I usually buy fresh broccoli and frozen peas, but now I have switched to frozen broccoli and have some tinned peas as a back up in the cupboard. I’ve also started buying frozen stir fry mixes, which I find work really well.

Another advantage of frozen veg is that it is usually frozen when it is very fresh. Fresh veg on the other hand, can take a while to get to us. Obviously the disadvantage is the plastic packaging and if you would prefer to avoid the plastic, you can buy food fresh and then freeze it.

6. Have a break from the cooking without spending loads on luxury foods.

We can’t go out to eat any more and that means every meal is being made at home. If one person ends up making the meals for a family all day, every day it can be hard work. It can be tempting to turn to takeaways, ready meals and luxury foods to break up the monotony. So what can you do?

1. Get everyone else in the house to get involved with making the meals where possible. It might be a bit of a hassle and learning curve to start with, but in the long run will make things much easier regardless of being in lockdown or not. Teach kids from a young age how to make their own breakfasts and sandwiches. Get older kids involved in making dinners and split the responsibilities for cooking between partners where possible.
2. Batch cook. Batch cooking means you make your own ready meals. This will give you some time off from meal prep on other days.
3. Have some go to easy meals. For example baked potatoes and beans are a very easy meal. Potatoes take a bit of time in the oven, but not much preparation.
4. Buy the ready meals and luxury foods and get takeaways. But do it in moderation. Maybe it’s something you will save for the end of the month or a Friday night and so on. Work out what they are costing you and what you are happy to spend on these foods and go from there.

7. Don’t waste food

Not wasting food is a great way to save money on food. If you are struggling with food waste, then check out my roundup of ways to reduce food waste round up of ways to reduce food waste. Also come and join the Reduce Your Food Waste group to discuss your food waste issues. Plus if you subscribe to the newsletter you can get the first chapter of my book for free. The first chapter focuses on reducing food and kitchen waste.

As you can see, there are lots of ways to save money on food in lockdown. I hope they were helpful for you. Do you have any tips that you think need to be added to this list?

Update: Check out my next post, which can also help you save money on food – Reduce Snacking by following the 3 R’s – Routine, Rationing and Rules! If snacking is getting out of hand in your home, the 3R’s can give you a framework to limit what is eaten and when. That can help you budget and plan for snacks.

The post How can I save money on food during lockdown? appeared first on Eco Thrifty Living.

This post has been paid for by Latest Deals and contains affiliate links marked with an asterisk. All opinions are my own and if you click through and buy something it won’t cost you anything extra. It will help to support the blog though – thanks!

How to make sure you pay a good price for the food you buy

Prices can vary widely across shops and it is good to have a benchmark to compare them to before you buy. I often quickly look up the price of a product in the supermarkets to see what I would pay for it there to see if the item is good value or not.

There used to be a great website where you could price check products across supermarkets, which has recently shut down. But happily there is a new feature in the Latest Deals app, which has been set up practically overnight to compare prices! You can just type in something like sweetcorn or rice and a list of all the matching products will come up showing what the price across the supermarkets.

Obviously at the current time it isn’t a good idea to go shopping in lots of different places. But you can still shop around when shopping online or over the phone (a lot of smaller businesses and local shops are doing deliveries now, some of which you need to phone up). It is also handy for getting an idea of how reasonable or expensive the supermarket alternatives are.

So where can you shop other than the supermarkets? Here are a list of 15 supermarket alternatives.

1. Your local zero waste shop can be a great supermarket alternative

A zero waste shop, is a shop that sells products loose, often in dispensers. You usually need to take your own containers with you to transport your food home in. To find your local zero waste shop have a look at my UK directory of Zero Waste Shops .

Some can be used as a full supermarket alternative because they stock fresh food. Others only stock household products and dried goods. Look at their website/ give them a call to find out what they stock, whether they are open and what you need to take with you, before you go.

From what I have seen online, many of them are working really hard to stop shelves from being empty and some are offering to take your list and pack up your order for you/ home deliver.

2. Wholesale and bulk online stores

We often buy food in bulk quantities, because it reduces packaging and cost by weight. One of the places we shop is Wholefoods Online*.

There are more wholesalers all over the place. Look into what your local area has to offer if you want to buy in bulk.

3. Farm shops – depending on which one they could be a full or partial supermarket alternative.

Sometimes these are at a farm and sometimes they aren’t on an actual farm, but are linked to a farm. They usually sell a range of goods and some can act as a full supermarket alternative i.e. you could get most of your groceries here. Depending on the shop products may be more expensive than usual supermarket prices or cheaper. It is worth comparing prices and shopping around.

4. Farm gates – get there early to avoid empty shelves

These are different to farm shops in that they tend to only sell one product – the product that the farm produces. I have found shopping from the farm gates, especially in bulk is cheaper by weight. I have previously bought trays of eggs and honey directly from farm gates. When I bought eggs from the farm, I set up a rota of friends and we all took it in turns to go to the farm every few weeks. We would buy trays of 30 eggs and they would last a few weeks.

5. Corner shops – an alternative to supermarkets for basics and top up shops

Corner shops are more expensive in general, but I found during my time avoiding supermarkets, that popping to the corner shop for top up bread and milk saved me money. I wouldn’t get distracted into buying lots of other things I hadn’t planned to and that is so easy to do in the supermarket!

6. Milk delivery

Your local milkman or woman will deliver milk to your doorstep. We got our milk delivered in glass bottles for a while, but it is extremely expensive and in the end we stopped. If you can’t afford the glass, the plastic bottled milk is more reasonably priced.

7. The fruit and veg box supermarket alternative – no empty shelves, but hard to get onto their books right now.

On and off we have had fruit and veg boxes delivered. It can be a very convenient way to get fruit and veg delivered to your home, which is mostly unpackaged. Some companies allow you to pick and choose the fruit and veg you want. They sell lots more than just fruit and veg – you can get a wide range of products from these places.

8. Grocers

During my time avoiding supermarkets, I really enjoyed shopping at a local grocers. Most of the fruit and veg was unpackaged and I would take my reusable bags and fill them up. Some have a fridge with chilled products too and sections for store cupboard ingredients. They can be a bit expensive, which is why I stopped shopping there at the end of my challenge. Right now though, some of the more expensive places may be more likely to have supplies available.

9. Butchers/Fishmongers

Check out your local butchers and fishmongers. They are a good supermarket alternative to find meat, fish and poultry. I found my local ones to be good places to get produce unpackaged. At the moment I would imagine they wouldn’t be happy for people to bring their own containers, but you could ask.

10. Bakers

Do you have a local bakers that has bread on the shelves? In normal circumstances they are a good place to get unpackaged bread that you can take home in your own bread bag. You would need to check what the situation is now with your local baker.

Another alternative is to make your own. See if you can get hold of the ingredients (look in your local grocers, corner shop, wholesalers or online if the supermarket doesn’t have any). It is pretty easy to make and you can also make bread the zero waste way

11. Speciality alternative supermarkets

In my town we are lucky to have a lot of speciality supermarkets, in particular, Chinese, Thai, Middle Eastern and Polish ones. I shop in our local Chinese supermarket every so often for bulk rice, nuts, soy sauce, bicarbonate of soda and herbs. In our local Middle Eastern shop they also sell things like bulk lentils, chickpeas, tahini, olives, pickles, herbs and much more.

12. Past their best foods

There are a couple of websites which sell foods which are past their best before date. They are still perfectly safe to eat, they just might not be at their optimum flavour and texture. Foods sold through these sites tend to be cheaper though. For more information look at Approved Food and Love Health Hate Waste*.

13. Local fruit and vegetable, meat and fish wholesale shops/ markets

These places sell fresh food in vast quantities, so you either need a hungry family, a big freezer or a friend to share your purchases with. I tried out my local wholesale fruit and veg market a few years ago – you can read about my experience here: 5000 apples, a million apples and a bananas amount of bananas.

14. Farmers markets and street markets

I don’t know if these will be running as usual, so check before you go. You are more likely to get artisan and organic produce at farmers markets, but it is also likely to be expensive. Normal markets which sell non-organic produce will be cheaper.

15. Visit bulk buy places as a supermarket alternative if you can.

These are wholesale shops. People go here to buy in quantity. You often need to have your own business, or have a friend or relative that does. Plus you or they will need to sign up to a membership. Also a lot of places describe themselves as a cash and carry shop. Stocking up here can save you money overall and mean you have less regular shopping to do.

If you do buy in bulk, then read these tips for how to avoid food waste when you buy in bulk.

A note about food banks

If you are good for food and can afford it, please consider donating to your local food bank. Because of the run on food and worries about jobs, donations are down. Food banks are needed more than ever during this time! If you aren’t good for food – find out how to get help from a food bank and do it sooner rather than later as things are changing fast at the moment. Take a look at the Trussell Trust as a starting point.

I hope you all stay safe and find enough food to eat!

Note: This post has been sponsored by Latest Deals.

The post 15 supermarket alternatives, where you can find sustainable groceries on budget appeared first on Eco Thrifty Living.

1. Check dates on foods to avoid food waste when you buy in bulk

Check the dates on food before you buy it and choose foods with the longest shelf life. This is particularly important for food with use by dates, as these foods shouldn’t be eaten past these dates. Food which has best before dates can be eaten past those dates. It might not taste as good though, so you still want to get the longest shelf life possible on those foods.

2. Store bulk bought food in the optimal way

Read the storage instructions on the food you buy / look them up online. Make sure you store your food in the optimal way to make it last the period you need it to. It is ok to bulk buy certain types of fresh food if you can freeze it or store it right. We bulk buy practically a years supply of onions in one go. They last a long time in a bucket in a cool room. Every so often some will sprout, but I pick those out and use them up first or replant them.

You need to be careful to keep large packets sealed when not in use to keep pests like weevils out. Also make sure you clean up any spillages around where you are storing your food, as that can attract bugs too.

3. Get the quantities right first to avoid food waste when you buy in bulk

Only bulk buy food in quantities you can eat it in. Foods like rice and tinned beans will last years, but nuts, seeds, flour and oil can go rancid. If you bulk buy those types of foods, think about how long they will last you. Can you use up that quantity before it goes off?

4. Only stockpile foods that you can ration out over time

Be careful about the types of foods you stock up on. I recommend avoiding stockpiling snack foods and sweet treats. You could be tempted to eat more of them than usual because you have so much in the house. Even though you are eating it, it could end up costing you more than if you hadn’t bought it in bulk. Plus it is a waste to eat more than you need.

If you think you are likely to go gluten free, or vegan or on a special diet take that into consideration before you bulk buy food that could be a problem.

We buy some key staples in bulk. For example porridge oats*, rice*, popping corn*, bicarbonate of soda*, cinnamon*, Italian seasoning*, soy sauce* and sunflower seeds*

5. Do regular checks of your food to see what needs using up

Check up on your food supplies periodically to see what needs using up before it goes off. This especially applies if the food item is something you have bought in case of emergencies, but don’t usually use. Long life milk is a good example of this. We keep some in stock as a backup plan for when we have run out of fresh milk. This works really well for when we have been away for a holiday and have limited supplies when we get home. If we don’t need back up milk for a long time though, it can go off. So then it makes sense to use it up and get some new back up milk.

UPDATE: Another way food can go to waste, is if you buy the wrong item by accident. For example there are different types of oats – fast or rolled oats, jumbo oats and oat bran. If you bulk buy one when you were hoping for the other, you might be pretty disappointed! Double check that you are buying the right thing before placing an order.

Bulk buying can be a great way to save money and be more sustainable, as long as you are careful with the types of food you buy and the way you store them. It is also important to remember to use them up in time!

I hope this article was helpful. Do you have any tips to add? Also if you want to talk to other like minded people about keeping food waste low, come and join my friendly food waste Facebook Group: Reduce Your Food Waste Facebook Group

The post 5 ways to avoid food waste when you buy in bulk appeared first on Eco Thrifty Living.

Want to find where to buy zero waste products in your local area? Check out the list below! Not all of them are dedicated zero waste shops, but you will find at least some un-packaged / packaging free produce in each of them.

UK directory of Zero Waste Shops

England

South West

South East

London

East of England

East Midlands

West Midlands

Yorkshire and the Humber

North East

North West

Scotland 

Wales

Northern Ireland

Online

Other

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Do you want to save money on your food shopping in a way that is kind to the environment? Do you also want to avoid involve ditching good quality food for the cheapest options out there? In this post I am going to share how you can save money on your food shopping without compromising on the food that you buy!

1. Check your fridge, freezer, fruit bowl and cupboards!

Before you go food shopping find out what you have in the house already. There are two reasons for doing this:

1. You will find out what you are running low on and what you have enough of already. Then you will know what needs topping up on and what you don’t need to buy this week.
2. You can work out what needs using up before it goes off.

2. Do a use it up meal plan

Meal plans can be really simple. All you have to do is decide what you will have for dinner each day for a week. Once you have written it, put the meal plan up in a prominent place in your kitchen like the fridge or a noticeboard. You could even make your own upcycled fridge magnet notebook to put it on. Make sure you incorporate anything that has loitered in your cupboard, your fruit bowl, your fridge or your freezer for too long, or that is about to go off into the meal plan.

3. Write a shopping list and stick to it!

Your shopping list should take into account the information gathered in step one and step two. Only include things that you are running low on and ingredients that you need for your meal plan. Make sure to stick to your list by never shopping hungry and ignoring special offers on things you don’t need.

4. Check prices on your food shopping

Product prices vary over time, across shops and across shapes and sizes.

Shapes and sizes

If you are in an aisle that has one product packaged in a variety of ways, always compare the price by volume or item or whatever derivative it comes in. I’m thinking of things like sweetcorn, ketchup, yeast extract. Don’t assume that the bigger size will always work out cheaper. For example sometimes you might find that it is more cost effective to buy a large ketchup and other times it might be cheaper to buy two small ones than one big one.

You will also want to take the environment into consideration when choosing the type and size of packaging, but it will depend on your needs. A bigger tin of sweetcorn means that you have more corn in less packaging overall, but if you only need a small tin of sweetcorn that excess corn might become food waste. Personally I find that sometimes a smaller tin is better and sometimes a larger one is and I’m happy to buy a mix depending on what is most cost effective.

Across shops

You can take a look at www.mysupermarket.co.uk to easily compare prices of products across supermarkets. If you do this for a significant number of the products you buy, you will find the cheapest place to shop. Although usually it isn’t that tricky to work out that some supermarkets are generally cheaper than others.

Across the year

Products have something called a rock bottom price. It’s a price they generally don’t go below. If you can work out when a long life product you buy regularly, is at it’s rock bottom price, then it may be worth stocking up. Www.mysupermarket.co.uk used to have a chart against each product which showed these rock bottom prices, but now they say what the price is in relation to the average price for the product and you can click a button to track prices on specific products on the site.

5. Shop in bulk

Bulk buying food can save you money as long as you:

• are sure it is a food you will want to keep eating for the foreseeable future,
• will be able to use it up in time,
• have somewhere you can store it and
• can store it in the right conditions to protect it from spoiling.

If you buy a larger packet of something rather than lots of small packets, you also save on packaging waste.

Types of foods to buy in bulk and where to find them:

Foods we have bought in bulk include sacks of porridge, rice and potatoes. We have also bought big bags of popping corn, bulk herbs and spices, nuts, seeds, cocoa powder, eggs and more.

Places we buy bulk foods from include, grocers, farm shops, local specialist shops e.g. a local Chinese supermarket and a Middle Eastern shop. We also buy online and from wholesalers.

Remember to still check prices:

Again like in the supermarket, check the prices, because sometimes buying in bulk doesn’t work out cheaper. There is also a rock bottom price for the bulk buys. It is important to time your purchase well.

So there you have it – 5 ways to save money on your food shopping bill without compromising on the quality or type of the foods you buy! It might take you a little time to get used to this way of shopping, but don’t worry if you forget some of the steps at times. Just keep going with it until you can’t imagine doing it any other way!

Book update:

On another note I promised to write a weekly book writing update. I’m running a bit late with it this week and to be honest although I did do some writing last week, I didn’t manage it every day. I actually did less than when I specifically allocated a certain amount of time on a certain day to do it. I’ve decided I need to get a bit more organised about my approach to completing the book. So this week, I am going to come up with a more structured plan for completing the book.  I will also to allocate 3 hours to writing it before next Wednesday.

The post Food shopping – the no compromise way to spend less! appeared first on Eco Thrifty Living.

This blog post contains affiliate links. This won’t cost you any extra and I will get a small commission, which will help to support the blog.

The fourth Friday in November has become known as Black Friday. It has become a day for sale shopping, but some people are re-claiming it as Buy Nothing Day.

The argument for buying nothing on Black Friday is a protest against our buy now, throw culture. The majority of us already have too much stuff, a lot of which ends up in landfill. This is a massive problem for the environment and for our wallets. Plus, it doesn’t matter how discounted something is, if we don’t actually need it, it is a waste of money.

However not all stuff is bad. There are lots of great quality products that can help reduce waste and save money which are worth investing in. Some of these products are pretty pricey. So if finding them in the sales makes them affordable it makes sense to make the most of Black Friday.

Products I have spent good money on include:

• Pampered Chef pizza stones. They are naturally non-stick which means they do not need baking paper. It also cuts out the problems of Teflon coated surfaces which most products that say non-stick are covered in. If you’re in the UK here is a pizza stone equivalent. 

• Alan Silverwood 14″ x 12″ Heavy Duty Biscuit Trays. Also naturally non-stick.

• Le Creuset 3-Ply Stainless Steel Saucepan. I chose these as the aluminium layer is locked away from contacting food by a non-reactive stainless steel.

These products should last for years saving money and waste in the long run.

Here are some simple rules to not get carried away this Black Friday;

1. Make a shopping list and stick to it! If it wasn’t on your shopping list before you went into the sales then it isn’t something you actually need.
2. Do your research. Work out which brand is the one for you in advance so you don’t panic buy.
3. Price check. Check where it is selling for the best price currently and how it compares to the price historically. Camelcamelcamel can help lists historical prices of products on Amazon. You can find out when a product was at it’s rock bottom price and how much that was.
4. Don’t get sucked in. Just because something says it is reduced, it doesn’t mean you can’t get it cheaper another time or somewhere else!

Personally, I avoid Black Friday if I don’t need anything. If there is something I need that will last, I take advantage of the reduced prices. What do you think? Should we boycott Black Friday, or buy discounted quality products that save money and the environment?

Thanks!

The post Should you shop in the Black Friday sales or buy nothing that day? appeared first on Eco Thrifty Living.

The post How to get hold of healthy foods and products at a discount! appeared first on Eco Thrifty Living.

Buying in bulk can be a great way to save on money and packaging and there is a fruit and veg wholesaler not that far from me – TG Fruits which I have always intended to go and check out. I wanted to find out if shopping there was a cost effective and practical way to buy unpackaged food. They are happy to have anyone shop there, you don’t have to have a business. It opens early (in the middle of the night) and you have to get there by 7.00 am ish to be able to buy anything. I had never quite managed to get round to visiting until recently. 

When I got there I asked for help, as I didn’t have a clue how the place worked. They were really helpful and pointed me in the direction of the stuff I wanted and although they are a wholesalers, they let me buy half a box of bananas and half a bag of carrots as well some things like cucumbers and peppers individually. There weren’t any prices on anything, so I had to ask how much stuff cost as I went along.

I worked out that some things were cheaper than in the supermarkets e.g. apples and some things worked out more expensive e.g. bananas. None of the produce I bought was organic (at least I don’t think it was), but it all came unwrapped in open boxes. The apples I bought had a couple of layers of plastic holding them in place, but some of the other types of apples had paper/ card layers instead.

I was really excited to find that they sold unpackaged cucumbers as they are so difficult to find and at a reasonably priced 35p each!

I ended up paying £29 for a few cucumbers, a box of sweet potatoes, a couple of peppers, what seemed like 5000 apples, a million carrots and a bananas amount of bananas! I’m hoping the apples, carrots and bananas will last a couple of weeks. The bananas might not survive that long, but we have plenty of uses for over ripe bananas (recipes  here, here, here and here) so they will definitely get used! Plus my kids would easily eat 3 apples and 3 bananas a day each if I let them! The only plastic was in the apple box and I put the cardboard boxes in the recycling, so it was almost a zero waste shop and at a very affordable price!

Buying unpackaged fruit and veg in bulk can save you money if you shop at a wholesaler like this and you set a few rules:

1. Price check – shopping in bulk isn’t always the cheapest option. It is well worth looking at supermarket price checkers online or having an idea of what you would pay for the equivalent wherever you usually shop before you buy.
2. Don’t buy more than you can eat – a bargain is only a bargain if it doesn’t end up in the bin! Ask if you can buy things individually or half a box or bag of it if a whole thing of it is too much. You could also speak to friends and family about clubbing together to buy boxes before you go.
3. Make sure you have enough space in your fridge to store the fruit and veg you buy – things like apples and satsumas will last longer in the fridge than out in the fruit bowl.

It probably won’t be organic and fair trade, but if your budget doesn’t stretch that far, you want unpackaged food bought from a local business and you have a hungry growing family to feed I would definitely recommend checking out your local fruit and veg wholesaler! 

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