Incredible way Aussie mum is saving $600 a month on groceries
Struggling with the rising cost of food a Sydney mum has changed the way she shops.
A Sydney mum has shared her hot tip to cut grocery bills in half as she tackles the rising cost of living.
Like many, Hayley Napthali-Sabjan and her family found themselves battling rising food prices and looking for ways to save.
"I’m a mother of two with a baby on the way, and realised how much I’d spend each time I needed to just grab 'a few extra ingredients', like veggies to go with a main meal," the Penrith local told Yahoo News Australia.
"You never ended up only buying that, and before you knew it, you were at over $100 for a few bags.
A few months ago Hayley changed tack with her grocery shopping. She started buying in bulk, and using a vacuum sealer (costing about $50 from Kmart), she would freeze large amounts of meat and fresh produce.
"I follow a method called blanching where you pre-boil the food and it stays really good and fresh for up to a year in your freezer," she explained on Tiktok.
"I realised if I had all my meat and fresh produce frozen, and kept staples in the pantry at all times, I wouldn’t need those additional trips to the store," Hayley told Yahoo.
Once a month Hayley buys her meat and pantry staples from Costco and fruit and vegetables from the fruit market, spending about $270 each month. She has fresh food on hand from her freezer and is spending a lot less each week during trips to the supermarket.
"I’ve gone from spending $250 to $300 per week, to about $50 to $70 per week," she explained. "Instead of needing to buy meat every shop, I’m able to focus more on buying things like nappies, topping up our staples, and holding out for doing a big restock shop every month or two instead."
As a result her monthly food bill is about half of what it was when she was buying everything during her regular trips to the supermarket, saving her more than $600 a month.
How does blanching preserve food for longer?
Blanching is a method where food — usually fruits or vegetables — is placed in boiling water for a short period of time and then plunged into iced water or cold running water to stop the cooking process.
By doing this, food can be preserved for longer in colour, flavour and nutritional value. The method is also usually paired up with freezing, drying or canning.
It's recommended to research what foods can and cannot be blanched and for how long, with Hayley explaining in her videos that she blanches her carrots, potatoes, broccoli but not her capsicum, onion or garlic, which she just pops into the freezer into a sealed bag.
People react to Sydney woman's savings strategy
Collectively, Hayley's videos about her method to tackle grocery inflation have received almost 200,000 views, with many thanking her for the advice.
"Great idea. Especially for the veggies. Sick of throwing our rotten veggies we never get around to eating," one person commented on TikTok.
"I literally ran out and bought one [vacuum sealer] cause I saw this video... thank you," another said.
"We do this but with ziplocks, this is a game changer! So good for space saving," a third person said.
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Hayley said she is "glad" the videos have reached so many people, also revealing that over 2000 people have saved the first one.
"That’s possibly 2000 families I’ve helped, which is pretty cool," she said. "I love learning on TikTok from others, and I’m glad to know others are now learning from me, too."
For those looking for environmentally friendly options, there are biodegradable vacuum seal bags, reusable ones and glass jars can be used for freezing produce.
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