Creating a Flexible Weekly Meal Plan: We create our meal plan around the sales of the week or what we already have in the freezer from previous sales. In our meal plan we also include left over nights as needed. When planning the meals I make sure I rotate out the things that we already have, creating less waste.
Recycling: In our area mixed recycling is free. We can recycle just about everything, which has cut our waste in half. We also have a garbage disposal which helps reduce the amount of food waste we have, something that can also be accomplished by composting. Great for the environment and it decreases the number of trash bags we use!
Buying in Bulk: Buying in bulk is great for the things that are used frequently. However, not all things are cheaper when buying at a store such as Sams, so you have to know your prices. I typically buy most of my cleaning supplies and trash bags , as well as the sliced cheese for the kids, feminine products, shampoo for the kids, bread, bagels, kielbasa, chips, soda, ketchup, barbeque sauce, olive oil and vegetable oil in bulk. I also buy my milk at Sams because it runs less expensive than the grocery stores.
Reducing the Use of Paper/Wipes: One of my favorite things to clean the kids up with was baby wipes. They are very quick and efficient, but they are also very expensive. To help reduce costs I bought an inexpensive pack of 6 washcloths at Target (I chose a dark color so stains would be less visible). This has really extended how long a pack of wipes last, decreased the waste, and saved us a lot of money. We also use dishrags to wipe down the table after a meal. Now that we are using more and more napkins, I am planning on looking into the cost of switching to cloth napkins as well.
Finishing What's In the Bottle: We make sure that we get as much out of the bottles of salad dressing, mayonnaise, ketchup, etc. as possible. Even if that requires the use of a spatula. It may save only pennies per bottle, but that adds up significantly over the year.
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