5 tips for saving money when stocking up - plus bonus tip

Effective stockpiling is a great way to save money in everyday life. With a few simple strategies, you can reduce your household costs and at the same time ensure that you always have enough food or “everyday products”, as they say, at home. In this article, we share ten practical tips to help you become more efficient and cost-effective in your stockpiling. Whether it's through clever shopping lists, taking advantage of offers or storing food correctly, there are many different strategies you can use to save money. Here too, you don't have to slavishly follow our tips. Pick out what you can implement best or modify it so that it is feasible for you. Incidentally, I can say from my own experience that there are definitely advantages to having at least a few basic groceries at home. We've been a bit stressed over the last few weeks and thanks to our stockpile, we haven't had to go shopping every third day. Now, however, we urgently need to stock up again.

The good old shopping list

What's the saying? Good planning is half the battle. This also applies to shopping. Even if it's really annoying (at least that's how I feel), a shopping list only helps me to buy the things that we really need. Well, okay, every now and then I might take one or two products with me that I don't necessarily need, but this is about progress and not perfection. Before you start writing your shopping list, you should at least think roughly about what you want to cook this week. Of course, this will then go on the shopping list. By the way: TheSmantry.appalso has a shopping list function 😉

Plan bulk purchases

This point is actually relatively easy to implement for singles too, because bulk shopping doesn't mean that you have to buy 5 shopping carts full or more, as you often see in documentaries. You should take advantage of offers, even if you are single. Dry foods such as rice, pasta and oatmeal feel like they will keep forever. However, keep the size of your storage facility in mind. After all, it's no use if you suddenly have 20 packs of pasta from the special offer at home but no way to store them. Make sure you use older supplies first to avoid waste from expired food. In the Smantry.app, you can enter the best-before date of the products and assign a storage location.

Private label instead of branded product

Another tip for saving money are the supermarkets' and discounters' own brands, which are often cheaper than branded products and still have good quality. Incidentally, many of these own brands are backed by well-known manufacturers. Private labels are therefore not of inferior quality, as many brand fetishists argue. If you don't necessarily want to process your fruit and vegetables fresh, then the frozen variety can be the solution, at least in some cases. Frozen food is often cheaper and, above all, has a longer shelf life.

Grow your own

Of course, not all of us have a garden and/or a huge terrace or balcony. But even in a few pots on the windowsill, you can grow herbs, for example. The classic home-grown crop is probably tomatoes. If your thumbs aren't quite as green (like mine), you can buy pre-grown young plants. A south-facing balcony would be ideal, as tomato plants are very sensitive to the cold, which is why they should only be put outside in May after the Ice Saints. You can grow almost all tomato plants in containers, but you should make sure there is enough space between the individual plants.

Buy local and seasonal

This tip is “old but gold” and actually quite logical. Food that has to travel long distances before it ends up on our plates is generally more expensive than food that has been produced locally. One of the reasons for this is the shorter transportation routes. This not only reduces direct logistics costs, but also indirect costs such as packaging, storage and handling. Conversely, shorter transportation routes also mean lower CO₂ emissions. So if you buy locally, you are also doing something for the climate. In addition, locally produced food often produces less packaging waste. Of course, not everyone has the opportunity to shop locally at a weekly market or the farm store around the corner. Organic markets usually also offer regionally produced food where possible. You can now even find regional products in many discount stores and supermarkets. There are now also many vending machines offering regional products.

Bonus tip: Don't feel guilty

Organic products are of course still more expensive than products from industrial production, whether they are regional or have a better carbon footprint. Not everyone can afford to buy only organic products. So don't feel guilty if you don't just buy food from the farm around the corner. Personally, I firmly believe that it's the mix that makes the difference. Maybe you can swap a conventionally produced product for an organic product every now and then.