Hey, there,

Especially if you’re living on a budget, you need a well-stocked pantry.

It’s a vital safety net during challenging times and literally everyone should have at least a few basic staples on hand at all times.

But how do you load up on extra supplies when your budget is stretched thin? Or when prices are skyrocketing?

This is such an important topic. When food becomes inaccessible, we tend to enter into panic mode, which permeates into every part of our lives.

Spreading fear is never my goal at all - I always want to empower, inform, and inspire.

I also want to acknowledge that not all of these recommendations will work for everyone. My disabled friends may not have the mobility to prepare specific foods from scratch and may require some premade foods. Many people are limited by budget and cannot afford to spend extra money on stocking their pantries right now. My readers who barely have time to breathe will probably not have the extra time needed to cook everything from scratch.

Please consider these ideas as suggestions. If anything resonates with you, that's good. If it doesn't or you feel resistance to it, just skip it.

Eating Well on a Budget

Cooking from scratch and knowing how to be a good steward of your resources is more important than ever.

There are a few core tenets to my real food philosophy that I think we can benefit from right now:

• Prioritize basic pantry staples, like grains, dried beans, and seasonings.

These ingredients tend to have the lowest item cost since you need to prepare them yourself.

You can easily overdo this and spend a small fortune on ingredients. It's best to start with a clear list (like my pantry staples list), and commit to spending a set amount each week on stocking up.

This can truly be as simple as spending an extra $5-10 per week on canned beans, dried rice, a jar of honey, etc. It doesn't have to be extravagant or expensive. A little bit, here or there, can really add up.

​Learn more about how to stock a pantry on a budget.​

• Learn about unit cost.

Is that bulk bag of dried oats actually a better deal? If you don't know unit pricing, you will often end up overspending.

Yes, this does require a little math...but it's usually easy. The labels at the grocery store often do it for you!

Basically, you just divide the price by the number of pounds or ounces in a package.

This information can be used to decide which product to grab off the shelf, but I also use it to know when to stock up.

I usually keep a mental list of prices for pantry staples in my head, so I know when I find a good deal on lentils or beans.

I've created a free Price Comparison Spreadsheet to help you find the best price for the foods you buy the most. This makes it easy to pull up on your phone on the fly, so you can quickly tell when you find a good deal.

You will need to MAKE A COPY to use it, so please don't request editing access. :)

• Replace processed foods with homemade options or single-ingredient snacks.

Every week, try to make something new from scratch that your family eats. This can be a loaf of bread, homemade granola bars, granola, etc.

We usually like to snack on fresh fruits or veggies, cheese, or peanut butter instead of buying store-bought snacks.

I have lots of recipes on the blog that can help with this, especially the DIY pantry staples. You can explore my full recipe index here.​

Right now, I don't have very many savory recipes on the blog, which I'm working on fixing, but that will take time.

If you're looking for recipe inspiration, I cannot recommend my friend, Elysia, from Haute and Healthy Living enough. She's a Registered Dietitian, and shares some of the most creative and nutritious recipes ever.

She has lots of recipes for slow cooker meals, freezer meals, snacks, healthier desserts, and more.

I love that she focuses on high protein, high fiber, and low sugar, often relying on everyday pantry staples. She'd be a great resource for many of my readers, and if you haven't checked out her blog, please do!

I also lived by Budget Bytes years ago when I was really struggling financially. I loved having a breakdown of what a recipe would cost so I could tell if I could afford it!

• Start meal planning.

​Zero waste meal planning starts with what you have on hand to reduce your food waste, and then you end up only needing to buy a few things to prepare your meals.

I know "meal planning" sounds like homework, but here's the thing I've learned over the years.

If you don't meal plan on the weekend, then you'll end up having to make all those decisions on the fly when you're already stressed or drained.

Would you rather spend 10 minutes on the weekend mapping out your meals or frantically hunting through the fridge and pantry when you're already starving and the kids are desperate for dinner?

There is a learning curve, but if you can invest a little time into meal planning, you will feel way less stressed and save so much money, too.

If you do nothing else on this list, I encourage you to meal plan at least the dinners for next week and see how that helps. (If you can make a double batch on something, you can eat the same meal twice and cook just once.)

Minimizing food waste

It's not just that we need to know how to cook, we also need to use up the scraps and leftovers, minimizing waste along the way.

I can't help but think of my grandparents growing up as children during the Great Depression. Nothing was wasted.

We need to understand how to properly store fresh foods to keep them fresh for longer.

We need to learn how to tell when foods are actually bad versus just a little past the best-by date.

We need to notice what we're throwing away and find ways to give "waste" new life.

For example, when we had chickens, we always saved the eggshells. I'd rinse them out, dry them in the oven, then grind them into a power to add calcium back to the garden.

Your veggie peels and scraps can be saved in a freezer bag to make broth later on.

If you have kids who often eat little bites of apples and bananas, cut away the bitten parts and freeze those for smoothies later on.

Instead of tossing your broccoli stems and leaves, saute them in a stir fry. The same goes for cauliflower leaves, kale stems, and more.

Looking for more ideas like these? Check out this list of frugal food hacks to make the most of your money.​

Honestly, there is so much more I can add here, but this email is already long. If this is something you're worrying about and you want to know more, please send me a reply with any questions.

I'd be happy to reply to you personally as well as share that information in emails going forward, since other people would probably benefit from that information, too.

Sending you lots of love!