5 Ways to Stop Wasting Money on Groceries

[00:00] Grocery shopping can be one of the most

[00:01] frustrating parts of day-to-day life.

[00:04] Obviously, we've all seen the price

[00:06] increases in the past several years, but

[00:08] even if those drop tomorrow, there are

[00:10] still a lot of other issues that most

[00:12] people don't talk about. There's the

[00:14] information overload it takes to figure

[00:16] out what you want and plan a list.

[00:17] There's the stress of being in a packed

[00:19] grocery store, especially if you go on a

[00:21] Sunday when everyone else is there. And

[00:23] then even when you get home and start

[00:25] filling up the fridge, typically the

[00:27] first day or two goes pretty well, but

[00:29] then things naturally start to fall

[00:31] apart. Maybe the recipe you planned on

[00:33] Sunday doesn't sound too appealing on

[00:35] Wednesday. You also realize you're now

[00:37] missing an ingredient. The greens you

[00:39] bought for the salad are starting to go

[00:40] bad. Or maybe you're just tired from

[00:42] work, kids, or life in general. So you

[00:45] say, "Screw it. Let's just pay for some

[00:47] delivery." And by the end of the week,

[00:49] you didn't really save time. You didn't

[00:50] really save money. probably wasted food

[00:52] in the process. And the worst part of

[00:54] all, you have this realization on a

[00:56] Sunday and need to do this all over

[01:00] again.

[01:02] And that's why in this video, I want to

[01:03] share five ideas that have helped me

[01:05] grocery shop without wasting my time and

[01:08] money. So, I'm going to show you how I

[01:10] actually use these ideas together over

[01:12] the course of a real week by showing

[01:14] what I shop for, how much money I spend,

[01:17] what I make with the ingredients, and

[01:19] how I set myself up for success for not

[01:21] just a single week, but week over week,

[01:24] month over month, and year over year.

[01:27] And by the end of this video, I promise

[01:29] you will have a better understanding of

[01:31] how to get more value out of your

[01:33] grocery shopping. So to start, let's

[01:35] talk about idea number one, and that is

[01:39] there is no perfect grocery system.

[01:44] If we were in a grocery shopping therapy

[01:46] session and you said to me, I hate

[01:48] grocery shopping, I would immediately

[01:51] ask you, well, what part specifically?

[01:54] Because I think a lot of the frustration

[01:55] around grocery shopping can come from

[01:57] the idea that we should be able to

[01:59] optimize for everything at the same

[02:01] time. And I'm just here to tell you, you

[02:03] can't you can't simultaneously have the

[02:06] lowest cost, the best tasting or most

[02:08] seasonal ingredients, the healthiest

[02:10] diet, while also having tons of variety,

[02:12] zero food waste, and spending very

[02:14] little time planning, shopping, and

[02:16] cooking in the kitchen. All of these

[02:18] goals tend to pull against each other in

[02:21] some way. And the real work when it

[02:23] comes to grocery shopping as a system

[02:26] isn't trying to find some perfect one.

[02:28] It's more about identifying which

[02:30] trade-offs you're willing to make and

[02:32] which ones you're not. Now, as you'll

[02:35] see throughout the rest of this video,

[02:37] I'm going to be making a lot of

[02:38] trade-offs, such as which grocery stores

[02:40] I shop at, how many times I go per week,

[02:42] how much money I spend, what types of

[02:44] meals I cook, what I prioritize, and

[02:46] what I don't. But the key here isn't for

[02:48] you to copy exactly what I'm doing. The

[02:51] goal is for you to use me as a reference

[02:54] point. I want you to notice the

[02:55] trade-offs that I'm making and ask

[02:57] yourself whether those are the same

[03:00] trade-offs that you would choose. And

[03:02] this means you'll need to ask yourself

[03:04] questions about your own life, such as

[03:07] who and how many people are you shopping

[03:08] for? What is your preferred diet? What's

[03:11] your budget you like to spend? When and

[03:13] where do you actually have time to

[03:14] grocery shop? When do you have time to

[03:16] cook and when do you not? How important

[03:17] is variety to you from week to week? How

[03:19] sensitive are you to food waste? or how

[03:22] much mental energy do you want to spend

[03:24] thinking about food? Now, if a few

[03:27] hundred thousand people watch this

[03:29] video, everyone's going to have slightly

[03:31] different answers to those questions.

[03:33] But those responses are really important

[03:36] because these are what will dictate the

[03:38] practical grocery shopping choices that

[03:40] make sense for you. And this is what

[03:42] we're going to explore in the remaining

[03:44] ideas. And this brings us to idea number

[03:47] two. lowcost groceries still taste good.

[03:51] And to start this section off, I want to

[03:52] run a little grocery shopping

[03:54] experiment. There are three different

[03:56] grocery stores that I will tend to shop

[03:58] at in any given week. The first one is

[04:00] the closest to me and the lowest cost,

[04:02] but it also has the least variety and

[04:04] quality. The second one is the middle

[04:06] ground, a few more minutes away,

[04:07] slightly higher cost, but more variety

[04:09] and quality. And then the third one is

[04:11] the furthest away, but by far the best

[04:13] variety and quality. However, it's also

[04:16] the most expensive. And what I did is

[04:18] put together a grocery list. And I'm

[04:20] going to buy the exact same 10 items

[04:22] from the lowest cost and the highest

[04:24] cost grocery store. And I want you to

[04:26] take a guess on what you think the price

[04:28] difference is going to be. Now, before I

[04:31] show you the receipts, I want to explain

[04:33] the bigger picture behind this idea.

[04:35] Because one of the easiest traps to fall

[04:37] into at the grocery store is just buying

[04:40] the more expensive version of an

[04:42] ingredient without even knowing what the

[04:44] differences are. And this idea sits at

[04:46] the core of a lot of the ingredient deep

[04:48] dives where I've tested a lot of grocery

[04:50] products such as canned tomatoes,

[04:52] parmesan reo, chicken, eggs, steak,

[04:55] canned tuna, butter, and milk. And in

[04:58] every one of those tests that I've done,

[05:00] there are real differences between the

[05:02] products. But in every case of those

[05:05] videos, the lowest cost options can

[05:07] still be used to make genuinely good

[05:10] tasting food. And a few months ago, I

[05:12] did a video where I pushed this to the

[05:14] extreme. I bought the lowest cost

[05:16] version of everything for a meal and

[05:18] then compared them to the higherend

[05:20] versions, and the cost came out to about

[05:22] $2.87 per serving versus $646

[05:27] per serving. And yes, if price didn't

[05:30] matter, I did prefer the higherend

[05:32] ingredients, but the budget version was

[05:34] still good. Like, it was still

[05:36] completely edible and enjoyable

[05:38] spaghetti and meatballs. And as we're

[05:40] about to see, if you can learn to make

[05:42] good tasting meals with lowcost

[05:44] groceries, you can save quite a bit of

[05:46] money on a single trip. And when you

[05:48] multiply it week over week and month

[05:50] over month, you could be saving a couple

[05:52] thousand a year. Okay, so if you got

[05:56] those guesses in, here is the final

[05:58] answers. So, the same 10 item grocery

[06:00] list, just shoed for at two different

[06:02] stores. And here on my right, the lowerc

[06:04] cost groceries were $3744

[06:07] and then the higher cost groceries were

[06:09] $6984.

[06:12] And this one definitely surprised me. I

[06:15] mean, we're essentially talking about

[06:17] double the price between these two. And

[06:19] we even got a little bit more food with

[06:21] the lowerc cost groceries. I got.17 lb

[06:24] more of the ground beef and then about.3

[06:26] lb more of the chicken thighs. And

[06:29] again, I'm not arguing that these are

[06:31] going to taste exactly the same. There

[06:33] are going to be flavor differences

[06:35] between them. But again, if you go back

[06:37] to concept one, you need to ask

[06:39] yourself, is that tradeoff actually

[06:42] worth it to you? However, now that I

[06:44] have the groceries, we are ready for the

[06:46] fun and creative part of the process.

[06:48] And I've got another question for you.

[06:50] How many different meals do you think

[06:52] I'll be able to make with this pile of

[06:54] groceries, as well as a few other pantry

[06:56] staples I already have? Because that's

[06:58] exactly what we're going to talk about

[07:00] in concept three. So, over the next few

[07:03] days, I was able to make a wide variety

[07:05] of meals, which we'll go through

[07:06] shortly. But the cookware I used to make

[07:08] those all came from today's sponsor,

[07:11] Maiden. And I think I used the entire

[07:13] lineup of cookwware that Maiden has to

[07:14] offer, outside of maybe a non-stick.

[07:17] That's the one I think I just happened

[07:18] not to use this week. However, instead

[07:20] of trying to tell you about all of them,

[07:22] I do want to call out two of my favorite

[07:24] stainless steel pans, which are the

[07:26] 10-in frying pan and the 3ourt sauier.

[07:30] Maiden's premium five ply stainless

[07:32] steel is what sets it apart from other

[07:34] pans out there. The five layers allow

[07:36] for superior heat retention, even

[07:38] heating, and ease of heat control. So,

[07:41] I'll use the 10-in frying pan if I just

[07:42] need to like quickly brown up some

[07:44] ground beef or maybe sauté some

[07:46] vegetables. And then the sauier itself

[07:48] is very flexible. I probably use it the

[07:51] most for quick pastas like I did this

[07:53] week, but it can be used for frying,

[07:55] cooking sauces, or even brazing. And

[07:57] these are just great workhouse pans that

[07:59] you'll have in your kitchen for years to

[08:01] come. So, you can check out the full

[08:03] stainless clad collection and my other

[08:05] favorite cookware from Made In by using

[08:07] the link in the description. and thank

[08:08] you again for sponsoring this video. But

[08:12] now, let's talk about that third idea.

[08:14] And I want to explain why I believe that

[08:16] in order to save time, money, and mental

[08:19] effort when you're grocery shopping,

[08:20] that 80% of the cooking you do should be

[08:23] low activation energy and flexible. Over

[08:26] the course of a week, I have about 14

[08:28] meals, lunch and dinner, that I'm

[08:29] primarily cooking for since I don't eat

[08:31] breakfast. And on average, I also

[08:33] probably eat out about once per week.

[08:36] So, for roughly 80% or 10 of those

[08:38] meals, the goal should be low activation

[08:39] energy and flexibility. And by low

[08:42] activation energy, I mean meals that are

[08:44] easy to start. There's no big mental

[08:46] hurdle, no long prep list, no elaborate

[08:49] plan. And by flexible, I mean meals that

[08:51] can adapt to your mood, your energy

[08:54] level, and whatever happens to be in

[08:56] your fridge that day. So, how do you

[08:58] actually do this with real food in real

[09:00] life? Well, there are a lot of options.

[09:03] You could meal prep. You could use food

[09:04] delivery services. You could make a new

[09:06] recipe for dinner and eat the leftovers

[09:08] for lunch the next day. And all of these

[09:10] work, but they come with trade-offs.

[09:11] Meal prep can be boring. Food delivery

[09:13] can be outrageously expensive. And

[09:15] making a new recipe every night can lead

[09:17] to food waste. And this is why my

[09:20] preferred method is what I call the PCSV

[09:23] framework. And this stands for protein,

[09:26] carbohydrate, sauce, and vegetable. I'm

[09:29] not scrolling Instagram for ideas. I'm

[09:31] not chasing recipes. I'm just asking

[09:33] myself a few basic questions. What

[09:36] protein do I have? How do I want to

[09:38] season it? What's my carbohydrate? What

[09:40] sauce am I making? And what vegetable am

[09:42] I using? Fresh, pickled, roasted, or

[09:45] sauteed. And when you start shopping and

[09:47] cooking this way, the whole process gets

[09:50] dramatically simpler. For example, from

[09:52] my lowcost groceries, I know I have two

[09:54] different proteins, ground beef and

[09:55] chicken thighs, two different

[09:57] carbohydrate sources, two different

[09:58] sauces, and a few different vegetables.

[10:00] And then obviously I have spices and

[10:02] other sauces already in my fridge or

[10:04] pantry that I can use as well. So let me

[10:07] show you what I made with this

[10:10] framework. So for Tuesday's dinner, my

[10:12] protein was the ground beef and I

[10:14] seasoned it with salt, garlic, and

[10:15] oregano. Then for my carbohydrate, I

[10:17] used the pita bread. For my sauces, I

[10:20] put hummus on the bottom and then

[10:21] drizzled a dill sauce that I made with

[10:23] some ingredients from the fridge over

[10:24] the top. And my vegetables were lettuce,

[10:26] tomato, and some red onion with sumach.

[10:28] Very simple. took about 10 minutes to

[10:30] make and very satisfying. For

[10:32] Wednesday's lunch, I mixed it up. For my

[10:34] protein, I again used the ground beef,

[10:36] but just seasoned it with a bunch of

[10:37] black pepper and some salt. For my

[10:39] carbohydrate, I used rice. And then I

[10:41] also had some thyme roasted sweet

[10:43] potatoes as my vegetables. And then I

[10:45] also added some pickled beets that I'd

[10:47] had in the fridge for about 3 weeks that

[10:49] I've been meaning to use up. And lastly,

[10:51] my sauce was just some of that leftover

[10:53] dill sauce from the night before. And

[10:55] this one was really good. I didn't know

[10:57] what to expect, but I really, really

[10:59] enjoyed it. For Wednesday's dinner, this

[11:01] might have been my favorite so far. The

[11:03] protein was some simple seared chicken

[11:05] thighs that I tossed in that teriyak

[11:06] sauce. The carbs were jasmine rice and

[11:09] once again, some roasted sweet potatoes.

[11:11] I love that combo. Then my sauce was QP

[11:13] mayo over the top before finishing it

[11:15] with some pickled onions and the mix of

[11:16] sweet, sour, salty, and umami. So good.

[11:19] Here for Thursday's lunch, I actually

[11:20] ate out with a co-orker, so I didn't

[11:22] need to cook. And if we zoom out and

[11:24] start looking at the whole week, you can

[11:26] see it starting to take shape. And as I

[11:28] get into these last few days, the meals

[11:30] are naturally going to need to become

[11:32] simpler as I run out of ingredients. But

[11:35] that's okay. Not every meal needs to be

[11:36] an event. Thursday night was the tar

[11:39] chicken thighs and a salad with toasted

[11:40] pita hummus salad vinegrett pickles

[11:42] and cherry tomatoes. For Friday's lunch,

[11:44] I finished the rest of that ground beef

[11:46] and mixed it with a little barbecue

[11:47] sauce. then served it over rice with

[11:49] beans and just added some chopped up

[11:51] pickles and white onions. Definitely

[11:53] more of a struggle meal, but still hit

[11:54] the spot. Then for Friday dinner, I

[11:56] found some noki in the freezer that I

[11:58] mixed with some chicken thighs, roasted

[11:59] cherry tomatoes, and parmesan reo for a

[12:01] quick late night pasta.

[12:04] So hopefully you can see how this method

[12:06] starts to play out over a few days. None

[12:09] of these meals are elaborate or

[12:11] restaurant quality. They all take 20

[12:13] minutes or less. I'm just changing the

[12:14] spices I grab from the drawer, swapping

[12:16] sauces and pickles in the fridge, and

[12:18] rotating my carb sources. And even

[12:20] though it's simple, I find these dishes

[12:22] to be pretty fun to cook. It's a way to

[12:24] be creative without being overwhelming.

[12:26] Now, a lot of people might think that in

[12:28] order to cook this way, you need to go

[12:30] spend a bunch of money and like stock

[12:32] your pantry and your spice drawer and

[12:34] your fridge all at once. However, that's

[12:36] not what I would suggest doing at all.

[12:38] There is a much easier way and it's what

[12:40] I think of as a grocery loop where

[12:43] essentially that the leftovers that I

[12:45] have now are going to inform what I buy

[12:46] at the grocery store next time and what

[12:48] I buy informs what I cook. What I cook

[12:51] creates new leftovers and then it loops

[12:54] back around. Now, the challenge about

[12:56] executing the grocery loop is that it

[12:58] can be hard to do if you're only doing

[13:00] one big grocery trip per week. And this

[13:02] is going to bring me to idea number

[13:04] four. And I believe that for most

[13:06] people, doing two medium-sized grocery

[13:08] trips are probably better than doing one

[13:11] big one. And the reason why is because

[13:13] you're essentially shortening your

[13:15] feedback loop. Let's break it down. A

[13:18] feedback loop is just the time between

[13:19] making a decision and seeing the result.

[13:22] And if you do one big grocery trip for

[13:24] the entire week, you're making a week's

[13:26] worth of decisions trying to predict how

[13:28] much money you'll need to spend, what

[13:30] your schedule looked like, what you'll

[13:31] be in the mood for, or the expiration

[13:33] date of all these products. And the

[13:35] further out that you try to predict the

[13:37] future, the more likely you are to be

[13:39] wrong. And this is why so many of us who

[13:41] have done that big grocery trip hate

[13:43] when we ultimately end up at the store

[13:45] again anyway. Maybe you forgot an

[13:48] ingredient or something went bad. you're

[13:50] not in the mood for what you planned or

[13:51] your schedule changes in some way. But

[13:54] if you split that bigger trip into two

[13:56] smaller sized ones, you're going to

[13:58] create a shorter feedback loop, which

[14:00] often is going to create a better

[14:01] system. And here is my theory that I

[14:03] would love to test. If you gave two

[14:06] groups of people $100 for groceries and

[14:08] one group had to spend all of it in a

[14:10] single trip while the other split it

[14:11] into two equal $50 trips, I think this

[14:14] second group would have way more

[14:16] success. They'd waste less food because

[14:18] it's easier to notice what you didn't

[14:20] use. They'd spend more efficiently

[14:22] because you can correct midweek. And

[14:23] they'd have less stress because you're

[14:25] not trying to predict a full week all at

[14:27] once. And this leads to a little bit

[14:29] more enjoyment as well. Now, there are

[14:31] plenty of ways that you could structure

[14:32] doing two grocery trips, but that's more

[14:34] of the theory. I want to show you how I

[14:36] actually do this in practice. And my two

[14:39] grocery trips that I typically take each

[14:41] week solve different problems. My first

[14:43] trip this week was on Tuesday, and that

[14:45] is my PCSB trip. Proteins, carbs,

[14:48] vegetables, and seasonings. I do zero

[14:50] planning. I can be in and out of the

[14:52] store in 10 minutes. I can take

[14:53] advantage of sales because I'm not tied

[14:55] to specific recipes. And as you saw, I

[14:57] turn that first trip into multiple meals

[14:59] while spending only $36.

[15:02] Now, the second trip that I'm going to

[15:04] take this week is on Saturday, and this

[15:06] one serves a different purpose. I'm

[15:08] going to ask myself, what do I have

[15:10] going on this weekend? What do I still

[15:12] need to use up? and is there something

[15:14] I'm genuinely excited to make? So, I

[15:16] knew I was golfing on Saturday and then

[15:18] playing ultimate frisbee on Sunday. So,

[15:20] I had these big blocks to work around.

[15:22] And then what I was in the mood for was

[15:23] a big fat Chipotle style burrito to look

[15:26] forward to on Sunday. So, that is what I

[15:29] built my second trip around. So, on this

[15:32] second trip, I spent $48, but I'm not

[15:35] shopping for just this meal. I'm making

[15:38] sure there was enough overlap

[15:40] ingredients to carry me through to

[15:41] Tuesday again. And here is how the rest

[15:43] of my week played out. For Saturday's

[15:45] dinner, I made a chopped cheese with

[15:46] frozen French fries that I had just

[15:48] bought. Then on Sunday morning, I

[15:50] started my Sunday braze for the burrito.

[15:52] But for lunch, I just had a quick smash

[15:54] burger. And then Sunday night, I made

[15:55] that big Chipotle style burrito with the

[15:58] corn, sour cream, and all the fixings.

[16:01] Then I had a bunch left over for Monday

[16:03] and Tuesday. On Monday, I had a leftover

[16:05] burrito bowl and then also made another

[16:06] chopped cheese, but this time with some

[16:08] frozen pablanos I had in the freezer.

[16:10] And then on Tuesday, I use the last of

[16:12] that braze beef with some Mediterranean

[16:14] beef and rice bowl. And now you should

[16:16] really be able to start to see the power

[16:18] of all these ideas together. I have the

[16:20] built-in flexibility while cooking with

[16:22] lowcost ingredients and can do these

[16:24] smaller trips to keep the system going.

[16:26] And this brings me to the final idea

[16:28] that I have for you when it comes to

[16:29] grocery shopping. And that is make it

[16:32] meaningful. For this last part, I want

[16:35] you to forget about everything we just

[16:37] talked about for just a second and let's

[16:39] zoom all the way out. At its most basic

[16:42] level, feeding yourself is something

[16:44] every human has to do every single day.

[16:47] And because of that, grocery shopping

[16:49] doesn't have to be seen as some annoying

[16:51] chore to get through. It is a core life

[16:53] skill that can have a lot of meaning.

[16:56] Now, that meaning can look different for

[16:58] different people. For example, it can be

[17:01] how you take care of yourself and the

[17:03] people you love. It can be a way to take

[17:05] control of your health, your budget, and

[17:07] your time. It can be a source of

[17:08] creativity. It can be fun or a place to

[17:11] experiment and try new things. And for

[17:14] me, I think it's a little bit of all of

[17:16] those. And when you really think about

[17:17] how many times you'll grocery shop and

[17:20] cook over the course of your life, it's

[17:22] worth trying to figure out what's going

[17:24] to work best for you. And hopefully

[17:27] these comparisons I've shown you

[17:28] throughout this week have given you a

[17:30] clear picture of what trade-offs may

[17:32] matter to you. And if I was talking to

[17:34] my kind of collegeage self, for example,

[17:36] I would keep my advice very simple.

[17:39] First, I'd do my shopping at a lowcost

[17:41] grocery store. I'd put a short list

[17:42] together with a couple of protein

[17:43] sources carbohydrates different

[17:46] vegetables, and then a few sauces or

[17:48] spices, and then just cook that way for

[17:50] a few days. sprinkle in a recipe that I

[17:52] really want to make on the weekend and

[17:54] then just do it again. And if you want

[17:57] some more help on the cooking side of

[17:59] this equation, I do have the Cookwell

[18:01] YouTube channel where there's a big

[18:02] backlog of videos where I cook kind of

[18:04] in this exact way, thinking in

[18:06] categories and frameworks instead of

[18:08] very strict recipes. But as always, the

[18:11] most important part isn't just watching

[18:13] the videos. It's actually trying those

[18:15] things out for yourself. I can't tell

[18:18] you exactly what's going to work best

[18:19] for your situation, but I can put you on

[18:22] a pathway to help you find out for

[18:25] yourself. So anyway, that is going to

[18:27] wrap it up for me in this one. Hopefully

[18:29] you all have enjoyed. Hopefully have

[18:31] some more fun and excitement when you're

[18:33] grocery shopping next time. That is

[18:34] going to wrap it up for me in this one.

[18:35] I will catch you all in the next one.

[18:37] Peace y'all.