A good thing about moving out of your parent’s or guardian’s home and into your own is that you can now make your own choices; on things like furniture and food.
With food, the few mistakes to avoid are:
Not Planning
It may sound unnecessary to plan every meal you’ll be eating but if you want to save money you need to plan what you will eat for the week.
As you plan, check your pantry. Checking will ensure you have all the ingredients you will need to prepare this food (like cooking oil, salt, groundnuts etc.). This will save you going back and forth to the store to purchase forgotten items.
At the store, tackle the list immediately and do not wander around. Wandering around will distract you and you will be tempted by things that are not on your list.
Not Paying Attention
When yo go shopping you will always find something on special that will save you money. However, as you are buying things on special it goes without say that some will have a short shelf life. This means that they will not stay fresh for long and will need to be consumed early. Check the dates.
Also, to avoid food going bad always arrange your cupboards and refrigerator so the oldest item gets used first. And make sure you do not buy more food until you have cooked what you already have.
If you end up with left-overs give them to someone or carry them to work for lunch.
Not Cooking
We would all like to eat our favorite take-away food every day but this is very expensive and is not healthy. As is only eating processed or tinned foods, only beef and no vegetables, only fried eggs and bread!
When you were under your parent’s or guardians’ care, you did not have this kind of eating habits, hopefully. So start cooking. You cannot live on grilled meat or fried eggs only!
Not Shopping Wisely
Wisely means that you check for specials and sales before you go to the store. Many of the big supermarkets print a weekly sales list and hire people to hand it out or they will post it online.
Grab a pamphlet each week and make a shopping list according to it. And if chicken is on sale, structure your meals around chicken. If you are single, or are a family with one or two young children: several large chickens do go a long way.
Wisely also means that you shop weekly for food and not every day. This way you will avoid succumbing to impulse buys. This kind of thing of buying things that were not on the list will always eat into your food budget.
And finally, wisely also means that you NEVER go shopping for groceries on an empty stomach!
