{"id":114847,"date":"2023-10-16T08:25:11","date_gmt":"2023-10-16T08:25:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/edenred.pt\/uncategorized\/how-to-save-on-food-9-practical-tips\/"},"modified":"2025-01-30T09:18:34","modified_gmt":"2025-01-30T09:18:34","slug":"how-to-save-on-food-9-practical-tips","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.edenred.pt\/en\/news\/food\/how-to-save-on-food-9-practical-tips\/","title":{"rendered":"How to save on food? 9 practical tips"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Since February 2022, which coincides with the start of the war in Ukraine, we have seen a <strong>general increase in prices<\/strong>. Expenses in areas such as energy or fuel, for example, have taken a heavier toll on Portuguese wallets. But there is another category in which price increases have been notorious: food.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">DECO monitors the price of a food basket with 63 essential goods and, between February 2022 and September 2023, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.deco.proteste.pt\/familia-consumo\/orcamento-familiar\/noticias\/precos-estao-aumentar-alimentos\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">this basket became \u20ac36.91 more expensive (up more than 20%)<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This rise in prices poses <strong>significant challenges to the management of many families&#8217; budgets<\/strong>, especially since food is not an area in which people can &#8211; or should &#8211; eliminate spending.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, there are some habits and strategies that can help you <strong>mitigate the effects of inflation <\/strong>and manage your food budget more rationally and optimally. Find out how to save on food with the following tips! <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Read also<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/edenred.pt\/en\/news\/food\/how-to-eat-healthily-without-spending-a-lot-of-money\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">How to eat healthily without spending a lot of money?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">1 &#8211; Plan your meals better<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Planning is one of the key words when it comes to saving on food costs. Anticipating the meals you&#8217;re going to have during the week allows you to <strong>buy only the ingredients you need<\/strong>, avoiding spending money on superfluous food that could end up spoiling. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-foreground-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph\">In this way, you&#8217;re better able to control your food costs and, at the same time, <a href=\"https:\/\/edenred.pt\/en\/news\/sustainability\/how-to-fight-food-waste-when-eating-out\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">avoid food waste<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">2 &#8211; Make more thoughtful purchases<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There are small habits that, although they may take a bit of extra work, allow you to make more rational purchases and therefore <a href=\"https:\/\/eco.sapo.pt\/2023\/03\/15\/14-dicas-para-poupar-quando-vai-ao-supermercado\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">avoid unnecessary spending:<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Always make a shopping list and stick to it (resist the temptation to buy things on impulse);<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Taking into account what you really need, set a maximum ceiling for what you can spend;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Compare prices between different stores and between different brands of the same product;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Read the promotional leaflets of the various stores and check whether the campaigns are worthwhile (don&#8217;t buy goods you don&#8217;t need just because they&#8217;re on discount).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">3 &#8211; Try online shopping<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When you shop online, you&#8217;re <strong>more likely to stick to your shopping list<\/strong> because you&#8217;re not in a physical store looking at dozens of other products that might catch your eye.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What&#8217;s more, as you add products to your cart, you&#8217;ll also have a more immediate idea of how much you&#8217;re going to spend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Explore platforms such as <a href=\"https:\/\/mercadao.pt\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Mercad\u00e3o<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.360hyper.pt\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">360hyper<\/a>, which also offer exclusive advantages to users of Edenred benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">4 &#8211; Freeze<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you have cooked large quantities, freeze the excess and save it for a day when you don&#8217;t have your meal ready. By freezing leftovers from meals you&#8217;ve already cooked or certain foods you haven&#8217;t eaten, you&#8217;re preventing them from spoiling and therefore <strong>making better use of your budget<\/strong>. You&#8217;re also saving time.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">5 &#8211; Favor seasonal products<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Seasonal fruit and vegetables are <strong>fresher, tastier and more nutritious<\/strong>. In addition, they also tend to be <strong>cheaper<\/strong>, as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.doutorfinancas.pt\/financas-pessoais\/poupanca\/10-dicas-para-poupar-na-alimentacao-com-a-subida-de-precos\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">production costs are lower and they are not subject to such long transportation and refrigeration processes<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.equalfood.co\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Equal Food<\/a> offers fruit and vegetable baskets from local producers at a more affordable price than the average market price. Edenred users also have additional advantages when ordering their baskets on this platform. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">6 &#8211; Better control of expiry dates<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Keep a closer eye on the expiry dates of the products you buy. Start right at the moment you are buying the food: look at the labels and make sure the expiry date matches the period in which you expect to consume the products. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At home, organize food and packaging in such a way that those you need to eat first are ahead of those with a longer shelf life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With this strategy you are once again avoiding waste and saving money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">7 &#8211; Drink more water<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Instead of opting for juices, soft drinks or alcoholic beverages, for example. We all know that drinking water is essential for our health and well-being, as well as being the cheapest drink. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Drinking more water is therefore better for your health and also for your wallet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">8 &#8211; Avoid waste<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We&#8217;ve already touched on this point in previous tips, but the truth is that saving on food has a lot to do with the <strong>rigorous use<\/strong> we make of food and meals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Too Good To Go has countless tips for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.toogoodtogo.com\/pt\/blog\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">zero-waste recipes<\/a> that you can put into practice in your daily life to make the most of the food you have at home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">9 &#8211; Ask for an invoice in restaurants<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By requesting an invoice from a restaurant, you&#8217;re not saving money immediately, but you are contributing to receiving a larger tax refund in the future. VAT is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.comparaja.pt\/blog\/deducoes-irs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">deductible at 15% up to a maximum of \u20ac250<\/a>. <br><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Since February 2022, which coincides with the start of the war in Ukraine, we have seen a general increase in prices. Expenses in areas such as energy or fuel, for example, have taken a heavier toll on Portuguese wallets. But there is another category in which price increases have been notorious: food. DECO monitors the&#8230;","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":112150,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[221],"tags":[224],"class_list":["post-114847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-food","tag-healthy-eating"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.edenred.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.edenred.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.edenred.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.edenred.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.edenred.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114847"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.edenred.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114847\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":116598,"href":"https:\/\/www.edenred.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114847\/revisions\/116598"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.edenred.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/112150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.edenred.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.edenred.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.edenred.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}