Frugal food tips. Lets collect

yirara
yirara Posts: 9,941 Member
in Food and Nutrition
My local supermarket has frozen pizza on offer this week, 3 for 5 Euro (saved 4 Euro). I don't often like pizza, but every now and then is fine, especially when I come home late and don't feel like cooking. Now those pizzas have a massive amount of calories, one with tuna comes in at nearly 900kcal! My dinners never really go past 600, and I'm usually not that hungry in the evening. So.. I thought of trying to cut them frozen into pieces of 600kcal max and using the leftover another time. Crazy? Anyone with me?

What do you do with leftover food? How do you save money with regards to food?

Replies

  • Brian_LaFevre899
    Brian_LaFevre899 Posts: 15 Member
    Cutting & portioning the pizza doesn't seem crazy. Just remember when you go to cook it that the cooking time will differ from the whole pizza.

    Left overs here get saved for the next day or two's meals as I can't stand waste. Plus it saves cooking time for those meals. As for saving money, I generally just look through fliers/stores for what's on sale and shop accordingly.
  • TynaBaby17
    TynaBaby17 Posts: 56 Member
    Unfortunately I LOVE pizza!
    But I do similarly, I'll bake a frozen pizza and eat the 1/3 serving size and salad for dinner and then take another 1/3 serving for lunch the next day or something! Or my husband just finishes it for me...haha

    I try to cook the right amount that there aren't leftovers but it's not an exact science. I'll usually take whats left for lunch the next day or we have a "Po Boy" night where there's no cooking we just eat whatever can be found/made from leftovers and such.

    Frozen foods are great cause even if we buy them and don't eat them within a week or so at least they're still gonna be good for a while! To save at the grocery store I try to plan 3-4 meals that I will make in the next 2 weeks, and buy the ingredients for them, except meat. I won't buy the meats (chicken, beef, turkey etc) until the day of because if I end up not feeling like meat that day, then I haven't wasted my money yet and don't have to worry about it going bad in the fridge!

    It also helps to buy food you know you're going to like! There's a lot less leftovers when you actually like the food! (why I never buy kale lol XP )
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,941 Member
    TavistockToad wrote: »
    I just wouldn't bother - seems like a lot of trouble to save 4 euro if it's not something you eat often or particularly love.

    If you don't normally buy them, what are you really saving?

    Buying other food for those days :D I mean, I don't mind pizza. I just don't have pizza very often.
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,092 Member
    Brian_LaFevre899 wrote: »
    Cutting & portioning the pizza doesn't seem crazy. Just remember when you go to cook it that the cooking time will differ from the whole pizza.

    Left overs here get saved for the next day or two's meals as I can't stand waste. Plus it saves cooking time for those meals. As for saving money, I generally just look through fliers/stores for what's on sale and shop accordingly.

    Really, not so much. A bit if you're microwaving it, but if you're cooking it in the oven, the depth of the slice and the crust is more the determining factor in terms of measurement than the diameter/circumference/width and breadth. It's not a cake or a roast or a loaf of bread, with heat trying to penetrate from the exterior to the center. It's more like cooking a thin steak, a fish filet or steak, or cookies -- you worry about how thick the steak or fish is when determining cooking time, and you don't really see much difference in cooking time if you only cook a half dozen cookies compared to a dozen (assuming the dozen all fit on a single baking sheet with adequate spacing).
  • aneedforchange
    aneedforchange Posts: 75 Member
    I’m fascinated with the idea of a TUNA pizza as I have literally never heard of a freezer pizza with that as a topping lol
  • JamieD328
    JamieD328 Posts: 976 Member
    aneedforchange wrote: »
    I’m fascinated with the idea of a TUNA pizza as I have literally never heard of a freezer pizza with that as a topping lol

    Same here, I have never seen it fresh or frozen, but now I wanna try it!

    But as for chopping up the frozen pizza, it's doable. I have two frozen halves in my freezer right now because me, my kids, and my husband all have different preferences, so to keep myself from being tempted to overeat by cooking all 3 varieties, I cut my choice and my husbands in half.
  • shaumom
    shaumom Posts: 1,003 Member
    bento boxes - they're so often made up of very small bits and pieces that it's a great way to save leftovers, even when very small. So there can be one section of bento with a couple Tb of leftover green beans, 1-2 meatballs and a Tb of sauce, a rolled omelet, and maybe another 1-2 Tb of leftover greens, say. Usually, saving 1-2 meatballs and a Tb of sauce is just not gonna happen and I'd just eat it, even if it added calories, but if I have something I can use it in as leftovers, that helps a lot not waste, and not go over calories the day before, too.
  • kellyjellybellyjelly
    kellyjellybellyjelly Posts: 9,480 Member
    How I save is to shop more at Aldis & Grocery Outlet.

    Aldis has more of their own brands with a few name brands thrown into the mix & Grocery Outlet has near expiration/overstock food items for decent prices.

    I also use Ibotta every now & then.
  • MelanieCN77
    MelanieCN77 Posts: 4,047 Member
    Meal prepping has cut my grocery expenditure a ton, I'll have to do some sums and see how much but I wouldn't be surprised if it's by 1/3 at least. Shopping for variety so I have options like I used to would waste a lot - it didn't go in the bin, I have goats and chickens, but that's not a really smart thing.

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