Every January, I like to do a cleanse of sorts. I want to call it The Great Pantry Challenge. It takes place after the holidays and offers me some time to decompress from the craziness.
So you can save time, money, and your hair (because you aren’t pulling it out at dinner time anymore). Having a stocked pantry of the items that you can throw together for a quick dinner will save you.
Keeping the basics on hand will give you what you need to whip up those family favorites in a quick minute if you need to. The basics will save you from ordering take-out.
Buying in bulk will allow you to have many of your favorites ready when needed. It is one of my favorite ways to get back into stocking my pantry after it magically empties.
Shopping the sales is a perfect answer to saving money in any area of your life. But especially when it comes to food. Every week, there is a brand new sale published for every store.
Some stores exist to sell items close to expiration or are a buy-out from another store. They then sell them pretty inexpensively. We don’t have any near us, but I’ve traveled to Vermont to check out a few in the past.
If you are worried that money is too tight to spend the added money to build up a decent frugal food pantry, one of the first things I recommend is to stop purchasing pre-made stuff.