If you feel like your cabinets are full but you don’t know what to make, follow these 10 tips to learn how to use what you have on hand to save money and reduce food waste!
#1 Take Inventory
It’s true, you can’t use what you have, if you don’t know what you have! I recommend keeping a rolling weekly inventory of everything you have in your fridge, freezer, and pantry. While it may feel like this would be a daunting task to do week after week, it gets much easier if you keep up with it. Knowing what you have on hand is the first step to make sure your food doesn’t go bad.
I recommend inventorying the fridge first since this food goes bad the fastest, then the freezer, then the pantry. I’ve created a FREE “Stick to Your Budget Checklist” that includes pantry inventory sheets here! I recommend laminating the sheets and using an dry or wet erase marker so you don’t need to re-write the inventory week after week. Rather wipe away what you used the prior week and add any new purchases.
You can purchase a laminator here and/or enter your email address to be notified when I launch the full laminated “Stick to Your Budget Checklist”.
#2 Stay Stocked
It’s also true that you can’t use what you have on hand, if you don’t have anything on hand. Or perhaps you only have things on hand you don’t really care for. Having food on hand that you purchased at a discounted price (on sale) is an excellent way to save money and avoid eating out and really blowing your budget.
I recommend allocating 20% of your food budget to stocking up on items you know you and your family enjoy. This can be canned goods or things you can freeze. I particularly like buying meat on managers special or in larger packages so I ensure I get the best quality at the best price. Good Chop is a great example of this. I get meat from good chop, it’ comes frozen and I can defrost it when I need it. Let me give you an example of why this is so important. The other day we last minute decided to get together with some friends. When we meet up with friends, we usually collaborate on food so my first priority was picking out what I would bring. Looking in my freezer, I knew I had 4 delicious NY sirloins perfect for a cookout so I offered to bring those. I placed them in the fridge overnight, placed a quick marinade on them and I had our main cookout dish ready to go without even needing to go to the store!
#3 Meal Plan Using What You Have
I always recommend to plan three meals each week based around what you have on hand. While you may not have everything you need for the recipe, utilizing what is already in your fridge and cabinets will save you on your grocery bill and ensure proper rotation of the food you have. It’s a lot cheaper to buy 2 or 3 ingredients than everything you need for an entire recipe.
#4 Be Flexible
Unless your baking a cake or bread, recipes can be more of a guideline. It’s ok to swap something you don’t have for something else you do. Here are some examples of some of my favorite swaps:
- Dried spices for fresh spices – dried spices last a heck of a whole lot longer than fresh and can still bring a ton of flavor.
- Rice for pasta or pasta for rice. In most casseroles and soups, you can easily make this swap and still really enjoy the outcome.
- Bread for tortillas, english muffins, garlic bread, or bagels. And vice versa. Especially when it comes to pizza, all of those options are delicious! I also like to make garlic bread on unused hamburger buns. It’s a great way to use them up and the garlic bread is actually delicious.
- Olive oil for butter or butter for olive oil or other oils. In many cases these fats are a conductor for heat and a way to transfer the heat to the meal. I understand you may not want to olive oil your toast to go with your eggs, but if you’re cooking chicken, either will be just delicious!
#5 Go Vegetarian When Possible
I just got finished watching “The Secret of Blue Zones” on Netflix and found that incorporating more beans, and vegetables into your diet may help you live longer. I was happy to see this since I swap beans for meat all the time! A great way to use what you have an really hang on to that precious meat, is to swap out beans or make a dish vegetarian when possible. I am to serve at least one vegetarian dish each week.
Here are some examples of my favorite ways to go vegetarian for a meal:
- Swap out meat for black beans in a Mexican style dish (This black beans for ground beef)
- Double up on kidney or garbanzo beans in a chili instead of adding meat.
- Make a simple vegetarian fried rice with frozen veggies
- Use chickpeas in Indian flavored dishes such as this Chana Masala
#6 Freeze Food You Can’t or Won’t Use Before it Expires
I always utilized my freezer as temporary storage. It’s usually full, but I use it more as an extension of my fridge than anything. If I have a meal, leftovers, or uncooked meat that I won’t be able to eat before it goes bad, I pop that in the freezer. The next week or so, when inventorying my food, I try to utilize the food I froze. In my opinion, this process simply extends the life of the food so I waste less.
Here are some of my favorite items to freeze:
- Of course my Good Chop order, other discounted meats I found at the grocery store, and other meats I didn’t get to because plans changed.
- Cooked Beans – I often cook a pound of dried beans vs a can of beans because it’s the more economical option. But if I can’t eat the whole pound of beans, I don’t worry about it. I simply bag them up and freeze them for another day.
- Bananas and fruit – I love my freezer bananas! When bananas are turning brown and I don’t have the time to make muffins or bread, I throw them in a baggy and place them in the freezer. They freeze and defrost remarkably well and are absolutely perfect for making my favorite blueberry banana muffins. Almost any fruit scraps also end up in the freezer for smoothies. If my kids eat a portion of the fruit, it’s ok, I just cut off where they ate, place it in a baggy and freeze it for a future smoothie.
#7 Make Before You Buy
And there is a caveat to this, * If you have time. I love baking snacks for my kids, making my own marinades, dressings, and breads BUT I don’t always have time to do this, and that’s ok. However, if you have some time to do a little prep for the week, making your own mini muffins, marinades – like I did with the NY Strip Steaks from Good Chop, creating your own dressing, and even baking your own bread can save you tons of money and it’s just better for your family with less additives.
Here are my favorite bread and muffin recipes:
Homemade no kneed sourdough bread
There is a huge up charge on baked goods, especially those little mini muffin packages for kids. Making your own is a really easy way to get a lot more bang for your buck. And that leads me into my next tip.
#8 Make Extra
Making extra is a great way to ensure you have the more time consuming cooking out of the way for next time. For example, if you make mini muffins, you can make twice the recipe and freeze the extras. I also mentioned making a full pound of dried beans and saving the extras in the freezer as well. Both of these tips can really save time and money over time.
Some other ways to make sure you have what you need on hand is to make extra taco meat or shredded chicken. Both freeze really well and reheat fabulously. If ground beef family packs are on sale, I might buy one of those with my stock up budget and cook up the entire 3/4 lb package of ground beef to freeze instead of just buying 1lb for tacos that week.
I also always love to make extra rice, rice freezes well as well but I often use my leftovers to make up a quick fried rice for lunch or make lunch bowls. I also have a few last minute dinners up my sleeve in case things change. We’ve all been there, suddenly you remember it’s parent teacher night and you had a semi-complicated meal planned for dinner. One of my go-to fast dinners is rice, with a fried egg, frozen veggies, and soy sauce. This really hits the spot, it’s easy, and I usually don’t need to buy anything extra to make it.
#9 Add in Extras
Always remember to utilize those veggies, meat, or fruit that is on it’s last day or so. While you can freeze these things, sometimes it seems silly to freeze a quarter cup of red pepper or 1 scallion. I recommend just adding these to what you are already cooking, if you can. Generally most dishes take well to the addition of extra vegetables, even the smallest amounts. And your body will thank you too!
Another way to use up those veggies and fruit is to cut them up and serve them as a snack or with the meal as a side. My kids love a plate of fresh vegetables or fruit to choose from along side their main dish. At breakfast, I always utilize whatever fruit needs to be eaten first.
#10 Participate in A Pantry Challenge
I highly recommend trying a pantry challenge at least once a month for a few days. It saves money, encourages creativity and can be really fun! You can learn more about pantry challenges and how to incorporate them into your routine here!
Watch Me Share All of These Tips and More on my Youtube Channel!
I’ll talk you through how to use what you have on hand here on my youtube channel!
And for more pantry cooking check out these videos:
- The Ultimate Pantry Challenge
- $0 Meal Prep (meal prepping straight from the pantry)
- 4 Shelf Stable Meals
More Pantry Friendly Recipes To Try
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