Save On Your Grocery Bill
Around 80% of the vegetables consumed by Canadians have been imported from outside the country. With the loonie at its lowest level since 2003, it’s no wonder that every time you go to the grocery store, prices seem to be higher than the last time you shopped.
According to a recent study by the University of Guelph Food Institute, we can expect to see the price of veggies increase by two to four per cent this year. This is on top of the ten per cent they increased last year.
If gas prices have taught us one thing about the price of commodities, it’s that what goes up, stays up, even if the pressures that initially forced the prices up are mediated. So with 6 heads of cauliflower worth more than a barrel of oil, what’s the answer? Stop eating altogether? Certainly not, food is delicious. Stop driving… that’s up to you!
Here are some ways you can save a little money on your grocery bill while eating better quality, more nutritious food. Now you might be thinking to yourself “It’s February, I can’t plant a garden, it’s too cold outside, and even if I did plant a garden, it would take months to produce food.” And you would be right. So let’s talk about what you can do to get started right now! You can garden inside your home!
1. Start Small. For most people, the idea of growing their own food is a little foreign, especially in their house. We live busy lives, we have our routines, we buy groceries at the grocery store, we cook food from boxes. Starting small is the key to lasting change, make one small change at a time, and build success on success. If you go ahead and try to implement all these ideas at one time, inevitably you will get overwhelmed and march right back into the grocery store to pay $8 for a carrot.
2. Green Onions. Did you know that green onions are super easy to regrow in your kitchen? Just take the onion roots (the white part), “plant” them in a glass of water (roots down), place the glass of water on a window sill and you will have green onions growing the next morning. You should change the water every couple of days to prevent the onions from getting slimy. 3-5 bunches planted this way will remove green onions from your shopping list forever.
3. Growing Veggies in Water. Green onions are kind of like a gateway vegetable. Once you realize just how easy they are to grow, you will want to experiment with other veggies as well. Lifehacker.com has a great article, Kitchen scraps you can regrow with nothing but water, where romaine lettuce, garlic sprouts, fennel, and leeks are all listed as good options. Celery can also be added to the list, but will grow forever if you plant it in dirt
4. Microgreens and sprouting seeds. These fresh, nutritious, delicious salad greens can be grown on your countertop with little effort. There are a couple of methods to sprout seeds, including a mason jar and cheesecloth, or a tray with or without dirt. The good people at Mumm’s Sprouting Seeds(a Canadian company) have been selling organic seeds for over 35 years, you can learn a lot from them. You will be sprouting seeds in no time!
5. Growing Veggies in Dirt. Okay, so here we go, now we are talking, you’ve enjoyed the fruits of your labour planting veggies in water, you have your salad greens growing on the countertop, now it’s time to get serious. Ecowatch.com has an excellent infographic that shares 14 edible plants you can grow indoors complete with instructions on providing adequate sunlight, watering, soil selection, planting and care, sowing and harvesting on a schedule, and general tips. It’s certainly worth a look. Once you reach this point, you will probably want to add “indoor gardener” to your twitter bio.
6. Buying bulk, in season. Although you can grow a lot in your house, there is a lot you can’t grow. Obviously you will still need to buy some of your veggies at the store, so on those occasions, consider buying in bulk, and in season. Food is cheaper when it’s in season and by buying in bulk you can increase your savings even more. The problem is, what do you do with 30 lbs of beets or whatever bulk food you find in season? If only there was a way to preserve food…
7. Home canning. Preserving your food through home canning is a really effective way to lower your grocery bill. Almost anything can be canned either through a hot water bath method, or by using a pressure canner. The hot water pot should cost you no more than $45 at Canadian tire, but can usually be found with jars, rings and lids at a garage sale for cheap. A pressure canner, used for canning vegetables and meats is a little more expensive, but depending on how much use it gets, it will save you a lot of money!
There you go, you’re set! Start small and be intentional about the choices you make. If it begins and ends with growing green onions, that’s just fine, every little bit counts.
Source: Dominion Lending Centres