Adding Up the Grocery Savings
Changing grocery shopping and food preparation habits is big on everyone’s list when they try to save money. Because groceries are generally considered a ‘variable cost,’ it’s an area where cutting back is often more easily done than say slashing mortgage or car payments. I have always been a bit puzzled by this as food is certainly more essential than driving and, at least in the United States, food purchases (not including eating out) take up a much smaller portion of household expenses compared to other countries. However, with the recent focus on frugality, simplicity, and reducing waste, I have found it enjoyable to find ways to cut back on wasted food, re-purpose leftovers, eat more seasonally, and try a wider variety of healthy foods. To accomplish this, it has taken creating menus, planning, testing new recipes, and finding ways to waste less and creatively use up the contents of the fridge and pantry.
But, how much has all of this saved. According the a recent article by CNN, they estimate that limiting grocery store trips to once weekly and cutting impulse buying could reduce an average monthly household budget by $143. That sounds a bit high to me since presumably impulse purchases were displacing other food. A UK site estimates that food waste costs households approximately GBP 600 each year (or about US$81/month). This seems more in line with the estimated savings that I’ve experienced. Over a year, that represents $972 of savings just from planning better and wasting less. Using the online calculator to see what this means if these funds are saved and invested: at a 5% interest rate, over 10 years, you can accumulate $12,578. And if you are optimistic and have a higher rate of investment of say 8% and maintained these frugal habits over a working lifetime, in 40 years, the savings would accumulate to over $123,000. Quite astonishing.
In addition to a happier wallet, rethinking the way we eat to waste less has many other benefits, including ecological benefits and potential health benefits as well. For additional readings on how to reduce food waste, here are two interesting blogs that I’ve found: Wasted Food and Frugal Girl.
posted at Frugal Friday
