As a busy mom, you’re always looking for ways to simplify your life. Aside from maintaining your sanity while chasing around little kids all day or shuttling older kids between school and activities, perhaps saving money and decreasing your number of trips to the grocery store are near the top of that list. What if I tell you it’s possible to do both at the same time?
Almost counter-intuitively, food storage is a great save money and reduce your time spent wandering the aisles at the local grocery store. When stored properly, you can expect your food to last longer and your budget to stretch further. Win, win, right?
Here are 4 tips to help you simplify your food storage and stretch your food budget.
1. Use Canisters to Organize Your Pantry
Rather than throwing bags of chips, crackers, and cookies in your pantry with chip clips attached to them, or randomly opened boxes of cereal, consider using canisters to store these items. A plastic canister with a lid that seals tightly is the perfect way to store food that can easily go stale when left improperly sealed. Food canisters are also an excellent way to make the products in your pantry more visible, organized, and to simplify your life by allowing you to see how much of each is left with a quick glance in your pantry.
2. Utilize Your Freezer
Did you know that you can freeze almost anything to help extend its shelf life? Not only the standard fruits and vegetables or other items you typically purchase in the freezer section of the grocery store, but bread, cookies, rice, pasta, nuts, and even bags of chips? The ability to purchase items in bulk and freeze what you won’t use right away allows you to keep items fresher, longer, and to take advantage of excellent deals without the worry of wasting money on food that will go bad before you can use it.
3. Use Foodsaver Bags
When you purchase a bag of something from the store, chances are it’s been sealed to prevent whatever is inside from spoiling. If this is the method manufacturers use to package their items for maximum shelf life, why not give it a try yourself? With the help of foodsaver bags and vacuum sealers, you can easily remove the air from the packages of food before you put them in your pantry, fridge, or freezer to help keep them looking and tasting fresher, longer.
4. Bread Can Help
Do you have a Tupperware of homemade cookies sitting on your countertop you hope will last through the weekend? Maybe a bag of brown sugar you’d like to prevent from hardening into one large brick? Add some bread to containers of these items, and you can expect them to stay moist and soft much longer than they otherwise would.
Start Simplifying
To help simplify your life and schedule, make sure that you’re storing food in the most efficient way possible. With the help of these 4 tips, you can expect groceries to last longer and your money to go further (which means fewer trips to the grocery store with the twins running circles around your cart and throwing in every box of cookies in sight).
