7 food budgeting tips from "Irish Budgeting" Caz

I was delighted to be joined by Caz Mooney of Irish Budgeting, on my instagram recently. Caz is the Queen of budgeting in Ireland and she’s especially keen on food budgeting.

Her famous “Feeding 5 people for €5” is what caught my attention first on the ‘gram. I love how she takes this small budget and manages to feed 5 people a home-cooked, tasty meal every week. Her money saving tips can be used by families as well as people budgeing for 1 or 2 adults only.

Check out her page here or her website here for money saving tips, budgeting and planning advice and those €5 dinner ideas.

Here are her top 7 tips for saving money on food for families - the last one is my favourite and the one I think will help me the most!

7 food budgeting tips

  1. Shop your fridge and freezer before going shopping

    Before you head to the shops, check to see what you have already in your fridge, freezer and cupboards. While this makes complete sense, it’s not something I do all the time. So I find myself in the shops trying to remember ‘do I have soy sauce’? . And then I buy yet another bottle …

    Check to see what extras you need to add to what you already have to make meals - eg. you might have pasta in the cupboard and mince in the freezer but no tomatoes to make a bolognese. So all you need to buy is the tinned tomatoes ..

  2. Plan your meals

    This follows on from the above budgeting tip. Food budgeting and planning go hand in hand when you want to save money on your groceries.

    Once you know what you have at home, you can plan money-saving meals for your family before you go food shopping. But be prepared to be flexible. Something might be on special offer in the supermarket or reduced because it’s slightly damaged.

    You may have to swap some meals around to take advantage of these special offers. Try researching them before you go to the shops by browsing the supermarket websites.

    And write everything on a list - I use Google Keep on my phone for writing shopping lists but the back of an envelope works fine too!

  3. Reduce your shopping spend by eating first!

    This is essential! Otherwise, if you’re hungry when you go shopping, you might be tempted by impulse food buys that will blow your budget out of the water! And often, shopping when hungry leads to poor food choices as you can be drawn in by high calorie, low nutrient foods.

  4. Shop on your own

    As well as the credit and debit cards, leave the kids at home! I know what happens when I bring my kids to the supermarket - they’re throwing extra bits into the trolley left, right and centre. And it’s never essentials is it …?! It’s sweets and magazines and drinks ….

    If you shop on your own, you can be more focused and keep to your list.

  5. Use ingredients for multiple meals

    If you’re roasting a chicken, buy an extra one and roast at the same time. Then you can use the leftovers for all sorts of things - sandwiches, curries etc. Or bake a ham that can be used as dinner one day and then thrown in a ham and leek pie the next.

  6. Reduce food waste

    Food waste in Ireland is a big problem. We throw out, on average, €700 of food per family each year. We can reduce this food waste a number of ways. Caz’s top tip is to store food properly to get the most out of it. When we store our fresh food properly, we can buy in bigger quantities allowing greater savings.

    How to store some everyday foods

    Storing berries - rinse them in a little vinegar and water and store in glass jar

    Storing potatoes - in a cool, dark place

    Storing carrots - remove them from the plastic wrapper. Store in a cool, dry place or in the fridge

    Salad leaves - rinse, dry and store in between paper towels in a container

  7. Shop with cash and save money on groceries

    This is my favourite tip of all and the one that I think will really help shift your mindset when going to do the grocery shopping.

    Leave the credit and debit cards at home if you want to save money on your grocery shopping. Shop with cash only. This is a genius hack for shopping on a budget.

    When you shop with cash, that’s all you have… you won’t be drawn in by unnecessary extras that the supermarkets lure us in with at every turn.

    With cash, you have to make decisions. If you want this item, you may have to put that item back on the shelf. And you can never overspend with cash.

    Thanks for all the great tips Caz!

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