Methods to cut food costs

[Hydrogen]

Coupons and promo codes



Image link:  https://i.ibb.co/NpcLm8f/promo-code.jpg

There are many websites on the internet offering promo codes and coupons for items in stores.


Student Discount



Image link:  https://i.ibb.co/CMNcQZn/student-id-discount.jpg

Students can receive many discounts by showing their student ID.


Amazon

Amazon has good deals on food items with free shipping.


Food Delivery

Walmart, target and other large retailers offering food delivery services were offering big sales for delivery only. Not certain whether the trend will continue into the future but it was nice while it lasted.

edit:


Learning to hunt and fish

Give a man a fish, and you might feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you could feed him for a lifetime.

While it seems that hobbies like hunting and fishing are on a decline. Perhaps current era food prices are exactly what they need to make a return?


Foraging in the wild

There are places in the wild where fruits and vegetables grow naturally. Some are located close to official hiking trails and natural landmarks like waterfalls.


Working part time in the food industry

The food industry is known for sometimes giving away free food and cost benefits. Bakeries and restaurants and known for throwing food away. Which employees sometimes are allowed to have.

....


What are other good methods of cutting costs on food items?

[Hispo]

I would like to point out that these methods are exclusive to countries where those services are available. It is usual that, for example, some franchises offers those discounts in United States but does not in Latin America. The same happens with food coupons.

My methods on saving money on food are mostly based on buying cheaper food and prepare one's meals oneself.
Sardines and beans are cheaper than beef and chicken.

[MoonOfLife]

I would like to point out that these methods are exclusive to countries where those services are available. It is usual that, for example, some franchises offers those discounts in United States but does not in Latin America. The same happens with food coupons.

My methods on saving money on food are mostly based on buying cheaper food and prepare one's meals oneself.
Sardines and beans are cheaper than beef and chicken.

But with today's development, e-commerce sites, as well as online stores, have covered all countries. I live in a 3rd world country and discount sales like this are held daily to stimulate people's shopping needs. I am also using this method to save quite a bit of money but it will take a bit of time because you have to find those discount codes.

[Cuenta Alternativa]

As I said in the thread on investing in the food related industry, I think the best thing to do is to try to earn more.

If I have to cut back on something I prefer not to cut back on food, and by earning more I don't have to cut back.

But since this thread is about cutting back, I will say that the best way to cut back is to prepare your own food and not take advantage of McDonald's and BK coupons as some of the options in the OP reflect. You buy healthy food, and cook from scratch. You always have cheaper options, as Hispo says. If you have to cut back, you're not going to buy prawns and lamb. You'd better buy eggs, chicken and pork. Seasonal fruits and vegetables, etc. And don't eat out or order food from home.

[Bialke]

I come from the sports and entertainment business. And I had a little bit to do with living cheap on the road/tour.

There are macros in nutrition, and the important one is protein. So there is a protein/human protein-ration (biological value) and proteinor biological value/Euro-ratio. Biological value means that a certain amount of consumed protein is changed to a certain amount of protein in your biological system. Eggs are the benchmark of 100. And often to eat two different proteins with different biological values is better as to eat just one high value protein.

But this is not the biggest deal. The biggest deal ist the protein or biological value/Euro-ratio. In 2019 there was a 1g protein/0.8-1.2 Cent (Euro)-ratio the normal thing. So nearly every food in a supermarket had that range of ratio. But there were some special things. F.E. chicken hearts has a ratio of 1g protein/~0.2 Cent (Euro). So my tipp: Eat chicken hearts!

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And the best free protein source is roadkill.

It is easy: What everybody does not like to eat, buy it/eat it!

[xSkylarx]

Coupons and promo codes



Image link:  https://i.ibb.co/NpcLm8f/promo-code.jpg

There are many websites on the internet offering promo codes and coupons for items in stores.

I've noticed most of this coupons are only in US or UK as they putting coupons in news papers, magazines,in products as well as in social media but the problem is that they dont usually use it only those in need but here in our country we rarely have one of it since people going to abuse it mostly those no minimum to spend as other people are so greedy on saving money. I remember before that there are coupons given only to new user but still getting abuse by those not a new user by making a lot of accounts and changing identity. Yes we can save from it but it is rarely happening in our country

[browsiek]

Tips for saving food expenses
1. Buy raw materials as needed
2. Cooking yourself, because if you buy outside it will be more expensive
3. Collect coupons or vouchers
4. Find a food shop that is low

Besides having to choose the needs that must be purchased, you can also look for large discounts and promo prices. In my country discounts or promos are held only when there is a big event and weekend while weekday prices return to normal, therefore you should buy food ingredients for weekly to be more efficient. Whether it's happening in my country or in your country too?

[Despairo]

You need to know if those big brand restaurants are charge premium prices and those discounts has few requirements in order to use it. Let's say a big mac cost for $5 and you only want to buy 2 because you can't eat too much, but the 10% discount can be used if you buy in McDonald for minimum of $20. So you're actually spend $8 more when you're only need to spend $10 at the beginning, it's actually make you to spend more money.

While if you buy a burger from street foods, it only cost you for $3 which mean cheaper without any discount.

The best way to cut food costs is grow your own gardens or buy a raw materials, then cook it yourself.

[Bialke]

There is a legal hack of the most of the create-a-burger-terminal-software. You can create a burger with various petties and substract the pettys again. So in the end you get the burgers (with no meat) for a few cents. I do not remember exactly. But it is worth to experiment with that.

McDonalds Monopoly is also a good thing to go with it: Most people do not use the stickers - and often you can collect them on the cups/burger packages and get free burgers.

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In some countrys it is legal, in some it is not:

You can use the old 4-is-5-trick. It meant that you cut 1/5 (80 percent) of a note from the note. In most countrys you can change a note with more of 70 percent to a full note. So you do it with 4 100-notes and you have 4x20 percent extra = 1 extra 100-note.

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You can buy food (with others) one the wholesale market.

[Fiatless]

Thanks for sharing because this could be helpful to many people, especially me. Although we have these companies in my home country they don't offer such a discount that would be activated with a code. And I have never seen such a special discount sale for specific groups like students. They usually advertise for discount sales or promos.

These discount sales can indeed help citizens to save money but sometimes these products might be close to their expiration date which might not be ideal for a person that wants to buy in bulk and store them for future use.

[BRINIRHA]

I am also a person who often collects discount coupons. but I shop more at the Supermarket by shopping at a certain time period. because if we shop at the supermarket quite often, actually every month and on certain dates there are always special discounts. But of course with a limited supply of goods. so we have to compete with other buyers speed. like every Sunday in my area there is a Supermarket that provides a special bonus buy 1 get 1 free. I also recently bought 2 liter cooking oil and got a free cooking oil bonus with the same brand and size. but that only applies to the first 20 buyers. every week there are always discounts and bonuses like that with different types and products every week.

Another way I do to cut food costs is to plant some types of plants that can live in front of my yard. I have plants like chilies, green onions, spinach, and many more types of vegetables. so that some of the ingredients for cooking are already available in front of the home page without having to buy it. because by chance my yard is quite wide

[LoyceV]

Coupons and promo codes

Am I the only one who hates those? We've had "bonus cards" for years, and once in a while coupons to use or stickers to collect. Now more and more supermarkets are switching to apps to give you discounts spy on you and give you notifications. I really hate the fact that they overprice items, unless you join their marketing scheme that's designed to tie you to their shop.

[Fortify]

What are other good methods of cutting costs on food items?

Maybe it's too obvious, but learning how to cook from basic ingredients and herbs/spices will save you a heck of a lot of money over buying prepared meals. Not to mention it is better for the environment (less plastic packaging) and can be done in bulk to get several meals for the future. It's a very useful skill to have and might even get you a job as a cook if you found it more interesting. Most people go for the ready meal type food, which can be packed with a lot of preservatives and unnecessary chemicals to extend the life of the food, which might not be so good for your health. The only slight downside is it takes a little longer to prepare, but like anything you practice, it gets faster and faster - plus the food can often come out much tastier.

[Jawhead999]

Am I the only one who hates those? We've had "bonus cards" for years, and once in a while coupons to use or stickers to collect. Now more and more supermarkets are switching to apps to give you discounts spy on you and give you notifications. I really hate the fact that they overprice items, unless you join their marketing scheme that's designed to tie you to their shop.

I also hate too, so far I never install or join a membership of the supermarket even though the cashier always offer it, but I don't care with it. The cashback is really so low and doesn't worth it, it's like I need to spend for $1000 in order to earn $5. I only interested with a coupons card, but usually I lose it because I forget where I keep it lol. However some stores do give a direct discount, but most of them because the stuff is near to expired date or the package get damaged.

[LoyceV]

I also hate too, so far I never install or join a membership of the supermarket even though the cashier always offer it, but I don't care with it. The cashback is really so low and doesn't worth it, it's like I need to spend for $1000 in order to earn $5.

I actually installed one recently, it got me a €5 discount on a €40 grocery bill. But I refuse to carry it with me, so I installed the app on my kid's tablet, and printed the QR-code. The weird thing is: it used to be only the most expensive shops doing this, now the cheaper ones joined too. And don't get me started on home improvement shops.

[DrBeer]

I would like to point out that these methods are exclusive to countries where those services are available. It is usual that, for example, some franchises offers those discounts in United States but does not in Latin America. The same happens with food coupons.

My methods on saving money on food are mostly based on buying cheaper food and prepare one's meals oneself.
Sardines and beans are cheaper than beef and chicken.

believe me - this way is much better than eating incomprehensible things, such as quick-cooked vermicelli, and a lot of carbohydrates with palm oil ... Sardines, beans, vegetables - quite a quality diet, with limited options.

And that chicken and its derivatives are really expensive in your country? I have always believed that chicken / eggs are everywhere very affordable, inexpensive and, in general, a quality product. At the same time, they can sufficiently diversify your diet - from this you can cook quite a lot of dishes, albeit not intricate, but varied and of quite high quality.

[Jating]

We don't have that kind of coupons here, so this is a big no-no for us. And i think the best is to just buy raw, everything and cook it by yourself. Or unless you have some farm, organic vegetables that you can just get and cook.

Of course sardines and bread could be cheaper though, but there could be more alternatives. Maybe you can buy poultry from time to time. You can't just eat the same food over and over again. And those sardines might not be good for our health in the long run. It should be balance though, vegetables, we need that and maybe just small portion of chicken and beef.

[TheUltraElite]

Growing your own food is an option but may not be available to everyone on this forum. It is costly as well but can be a long term source of food and income if done correctly. It will cut down the cost of buying the same from the market, however if you are not a professional in agriculture you might not produce good quality veggies like those available in the market, but it will suffice the needs of the family.

Those of us living in cities do not have this option and for them coupons and cashbacks are good but something that is not always available. The companies running such stores would not go into a loss when making a sale everyday would they? You would have to hunt down the nearest supermarket giving the max discount but even then the gross amounts would be similar.

In short, if you want quality food, you have to pay.

[hugeblack]

I don't remember ever buying Online food before.
Most of the food comes to us from abroad, but there are many supermarkets and shops and food is rarely sold like that.
Therefore, there are no coupons for food.
The only way to save is to buy in large quantities from suppliers, but I don't remember once that we suffered from supply chains.

So your methods won't work for everyone.

[jrrsparkles]

Coupons and promo codes

Am I the only one who hates those? We've had "bonus cards" for years, and once in a while coupons to use or stickers to collect. Now more and more supermarkets are switching to apps to give you discounts spy on you and give you notifications. I really hate the fact that they overprice items, unless you join their marketing scheme that's designed to tie you to their shop.

Those big supermarkets also killing the small businesses which is a great threat to the upcoming economical ecosystem cause we all know what monopoly can lead to us when it reaches certain state. I do remember 30 to 40% offers on food delivery apps a few years back which made people not to visit the restuarants but now they also offer coupons but the prices are higher than actual price of restuarant menu and also adds lot of hidden charges to steal from our pockets.

I am now against those kind of bonus because these sre done with the intention of doing something big later which will certainly affect us.