If you're concerned about the UK's cost of living crisis, you're not alone. The recent hike in energy bills to the increasing price of food is putting pressure on families to keep up with payments - so what can you do to cut the costs?
READ: 10 simple ways to reduce your food waste by £720 per year
The answer could lie in adopting a more sustainable lifestyle; avoiding waste, using refillables and even growing your own produce. Luckily, Lucy Johnson, founder of Green Salon Consultancy, has shared her eco expertise with seven unbelievably simple things you can do to protect the planet and your pocket by embracing a greener lifestyle.
Where to start, we hear you ask? Lucy suggests the kitchen.
MORE: Save £1,000s on your food shop with these 9 simple tips
SEE: 7 simple sustainable swaps to make for an eco-friendly home
Buy your ingredients in bulk
It may seem like a higher initial cost to buy your staple ingredients like rice, pasta, cereals, etc in bulk, but you can certainly save money in the long run by doing so. Taking advantage of supermarket deals or multipacks can help lower your average weekly food shop.
"Try a zero waste grocery delivery service like Good Club, which delivers all your pantry staples monthly at a lower cost per unit in returnable plastic pots, that they then pick up the next day," says Lucy. "It not only reduces plastic waste but also saves on fuel costs by limiting trips to the supermarket."
Visit your local market
"Buying locally and seasonally is a great money saver," explains Lucy. "Take advantage of seasonal produce by visiting your local street markets. A 500g punnet of fresh strawberries is usually £1.50 from a local market, versus £2 for a 400g punnet in the supermarket.
"You can also save money by shopping there later in the day when the stall-holders want to go home - and are ready to offload some of their produce at discount prices."
Grow your own herbs and vegetables
You don't need to spend money on seeds and bulbs to start your own mini allotment. "Celery, spring onions, leeks, garlic, shallots and lettuces can be regrown from your vegetable cuttings," says Lucy. "Simply take a small section of the base of the bulb, with the roots attached, and place it in a shallow dish of water. Pretty quickly, it will begin to regrow, then you can replant it in soil."
Before long, you’ll have a vegetable garden on your windowsill. The best part? This process is totally renewable, so if you do it right, you'll never be out of cost-free vegetables to eat.
Use apps to avoid food waste
"There are some really useful apps out there to help you cut food costs," says Lucy, who suggests using Olio to avoid and save wasted food. "If you're running short of some ingredients, just jump on and see who’s sharing that day. The app has so far shared nearly 58 million portions of food," she explains.
"Too Good to Go is another money-saving food app which links you with shops and cafes that have unsold food at the end of the day. Looking for a later Turkish dinner of lamb stew, rice and salad for £3.99? Just click on the app and see whether your local Turkish restaurant has a magic bag for that evening."
Conserve energy when you cook
Did you know that you can save money by cooking with your microwave? "According to Energy Star, cooking small portions of food in a microwave can save around 80% of the energy that you’d have used by turning on the oven," helping keep those all-important energy costs at a minimum.
"Pressure cookers are also a great way to cut down on energy. As fewer steam escapes, the US Office of Energy Efficiency calculates that it can use up to 70% less energy than a regular saucepan," explains Lucy.
Stainless Steel Pressure Cooker, £60, John Lewis
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Ditch the disposables
Why throw paper towels in the bin when you can reuse kitchen wipes? If you’re going for the max budget option, Lucy suggests cutting up worn-out clothes to use as wipes. Or you can buy pretty reusable wipes from brands like Marley’s Monsters.
"Swap cling film for plastic or glass Tupperware containers, so that you can cut back on repeat buying. You can also repurpose large jam jars to make sure that you can see the left-overs you’re storing in the fridge," advises Lucy.
Use your dishwasher
According to Lucy: "Fully-loaded dishwashers are more energy efficient than hand-washing dishes. Research from Which? reveals handwashing can use 10 times the amount of water than using a dishwasher at 12 litres of water per cycle."
"To save more money, make sure you only run it when it's full and if you're on a variable energy tariff which has cheaper electricity at night, turn it on when you go to bed." You can also save money with eco-brand smol which sells concentrated dishwashing tablets. At £4.60 (15p per wash) for 30 dishwasher tablets, they’re around 5-8p cheaper per capsule than most full-price branded items.
Dishwasher tablets, £5.80, smol
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For more expert money-saving tips, advice on how to live a glamorous green lifestyle and a Directory of sustainable, planet-approved brands for your kitchen, home, wellbeing and wardrobe, visit greensalon.co.uk.
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