Small things in your kitchen/lunches can save you money!

Just a few suggestions we use at home to save the pennies in our kitchen. What’s that saying.. If you watch the pennies the dollars will take care of themselves?

 

-Dilute your favourite juices and drinks with water to make them last longer. I’m a big fan of buying “Pure Leaf” iced tea or Fruitopia juices when they go on sale and then diluting them to 1:3 with water (either at work or from the tap). It’s such a strong taste, I can usually make it last a longer time than the three glasses I would have had. I do the same thing with those frozen juice cans and with Starbucks drinks like my favourite Passion Tea Lemonade (Trente size!). It’s SO sugary and strong that diluting it more than 1:4 lasts me for a couple days versus 1 hour. And while Starbucks is not high on people’s “savings” list, my Air Miles cash usually get vouchers for here free

-Save your veggie scraps! Every single piece of a veggie you cut off should go into a Ziploc and then thrown in your freezer. When the bag gets big enough, make a big pot of water boil and bubble the scraps for hours… Instant free vegetable broth! My hubby has been doing this from a suggestion in a cookbook and the flavour is great and a welcome addition to stews and crockpot meals

From the very fun "Thug Kitchen" cookbook. 

-Wash your takeout containers. I have another post that mentions this, but save your plastic takeout containers and re-use them until they finally crack. We joke that the majority of our Tupperware comes from Boston Pizza, but having a whole bunch of free containers on hand will usually inspire you to portion leftovers too and makes it easier to pack lunches without waste

-Wash your Ziploc bags. A lot of the time, your Ziploc bag only held a few veggies or a sandwich… Wash this up with your dishes and the bag is good as new

-Take the free ketchup, vinegar, jam and syrup packets when you’re out. Whenever I go somewhere that gives this stuff away, I take an extra handful and it goes in the fridge at home. This just makes it super easy and fast to pack a lunch, with no product waste that might happen if you pour ketchup into a too-big Tupperware container

-Same deal for plastic cutlery. Stockpiling a bunch of forks and spoons just means you don’t need to buy them

-Invest in some of those “tupperware hats” as I like to call them. Basically shower caps you use in place of plastic cling wrap. These can be washed easily, and there is less waste

-Save your plastic grocery bags, but FOLD them to reduce space and make taking them to the store super easy and more likely! I teach this trick to anyone and everyone as they save a lot of space. Buying bags at your local store for .05 each adds up if you’re watching every penny, and a trip to buy those huge Ikea bags might be a couple weeks away.. So fold up your plastic bags into little triangles and throw a bunch in your back pocket, purse or glovebox. They’re easy to grab and store too if you’re a dog-walker. See below step-by-step (ish) of how to do this

The final products!

Fold it longwise

Fold a triangle corner up so top line is 90°

Fold triangle up, again 90°

Fold again, you get the idea. Keep folding!

Fold it up to the two handles, as close as you can

Loop handles over one corner

 

And if you’re liking some of these suggestions, watch a few episodes of “Extreme Cheapskates” who have a lot of additional ideas of what items can be re-used in a different way (used aluminum foil as a dish scrubbie, buying whole milk and diluting it to become different percentages, etc). They’re crazy for the most part, but sometimes there is a great little gem that can be brought over! Here are some of my favourites:http://couponwithsam.blogspot.ca/2016/02/cheapskates-and-what-to-take-away-from.html