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Vivi makes it easy
Grandma’s savings tips for the kitchen
© Viacheslav Yakobchuk / Adobe Stock
Grandmas just know how it’s done. Also when it comes to saving. Our columnist Vivi sat down with her grandmother and reveals the tried and tested savings tricks for the kitchen.
Grandma has always had her nest egg on the high edge, not only thanks to a well-managed household and bulging savings book, but above all because of the small everyday savings potential that she knew very well. “If you do it cleverly,” – my grandmother always says to me – “you can feed a family of five with just 10 euros”. “Maybe in the past,” I always think, but some of Grandma’s kitchen savings tips are really worth their weight in gold and still work reliably today. I don’t want to keep Grandma’s secret tips to myself, so I’ll tell you now how Grandma made me a smart saver in the kitchen.
Saving is not a sexy topic – I have to admit that. But I just think it’s extremely important that we deal with it. Mainly because it’s really easy to get a lot done with a few everyday tricks and little effort. Especially in the kitchen, a few small changes have a really big effect.
Cook me rich: 10 money-saving tips for my grandma’s kitchen
- Buy larger packs in stock: In terms of the price per kilo, large packs are often significantly cheaper than small packs. Bottled in jars, the cupboards can be filled wonderfully and we save a lot of money over the year.
- Cooks larger portions: You only have to turn on the stove once, wash the cutting board and knife once and it also saves time. If you cook in advance, you don’t run the risk of spending a lot of money in the canteen or at the snack bar the next day.
- Store food correctly and pay attention to expiration dates: We throw tons of food in the trash and it costs money every time. If you know how food is stored correctly, you will have something of it for longer and can sometimes buy larger quantities on sale. Here you will learn: 5 mistakes in food storage that not only cost money
- Compare the kilo prices in the supermarket: Many make the mistake of comparing product prices based on advertised costs. The 100 gram or kilo price is always very small. This should serve as a comparison and not the RRP.
- Cooks cheap dishes: Cooking doesn’t always have to be expensive. Fresh ingredients from the region taste great, provide lots of vitamins and are often significantly cheaper than fancy superfoods and expensive meat. For inspiration, I recommend reading my last column: Vivi makes it easy: 5 quick 1 euro recipes
- Visit the weekly market just before the end: If you have the time and some negotiating skills, you should go to the market shortly before the end. You can often negotiate really good deals there and save a lot of money.
- It doesn’t always have to be branded products: Most products in the supermarket are available both in the high-priced branded edition and from significantly cheaper no-name manufacturers. These do not necessarily have to be of poorer quality. Compare the list of ingredients and often use the cheaper own brands at discounters and supermarkets.
- Choose the right pots for the hotplates: Pots that are too small on plates that are too large waste an enormous amount of energy, which you literally throw out the window. Here you can find out how you can save even more energy.
- Cook with as little water as possible and a lid: The more water you use for cooking, the more energy is required to heat it. It is sufficient for most dishes if you just cover the ingredients with water. Then put a lid on it and you save a lot of energy costs.
- Take leftovers from the restaurant with you: If my grandma is the queen of one thing, it’s definitely not letting anything get away. True to the motto “We’ll take what we paid for with us”, she doesn’t shy away from taking leftovers from the restaurant or small sachets of salt and sugar from the café home with her. Her handbag is often full of it and lo and behold: Even if it’s only a few cents saved, she hasn’t had to buy a new salt pot for a long time.
Vivi’s top tip
Take time to chat with your grandmothers and grandfathers more often. That’s good for you and your soul and who knows what hot grandparent tip you might come up with.