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Frugal is the New Black

Wilson Luna

There’s nothing quite like a recession to get you thinking about what you waste.  Australians waste 3 million tonnes of food each year, with families spending more than $5 billion on groceries that wind up in the rubbish bin. Do the maths at your house – on average about $750 per family a year ends up as waste. There’s a case for going back to basics and preparing home-cooked meals: with no waste.

It’s not only money that it will save but for the consciousness that goes into not thinking about food waste. Food is one of the great consumers of energy and hence a powerful contributor to emissions in the logistics chain.

This is an opportunity to do well for your family budget and the planet. Consider for example the difference between buying packaged food and preparing the home meal from natural ingredients. Look at what goes into a packaged product: the packaging, the processing, the shipping, the additives and preservatives; the labour and the facilities all the way up the food chain from farm gate to the supermarket shelves and then into your home and on to your plate.

Go back to basics and re-use food left over from meal time. What stew can be made from those left over chicken bones or leftover pasta?  What bakes can be made from what is left over on the servicing dishes? Claw back that $750!
 
When going frugal and preparing meals at home, consider preparing enough for three days once recycled/baking/stewing is taken into account. And when wearing this new conscious mindset, shop once for a whole week and spend time preparing meals for freezing and storing. Remember, every time you drive down to the supermarket you are contributing to the carbon load on this planet. And when you dash down to the local corner grocer you are paying premiums for the privilege.

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Author's Biography

Wilson Luna is an author, wealth adviser and founder of Your Family Your Money. Your Family Your Money’s goal is to simplify traditionally complex financial strategies, demystify financial jargon and debunk common financial myths, becoming every family’s first stop for financial advice, information and inspiration.