You may be surprised by how simple it can be to make items like yogurt, oatmeal, pasta, and more. A good way to potentially save both time and money is to plan with at least one night of leftovers per week.

If you have leftover vegetables, for example, you can easily toss them in an omelet and have breakfast for dinner one night. If you have a backyard or a patch of land, gardening is a great way to provide your family with fresh, seasonal fruits, herbs, and vegetables.

Crafting a garden can also considerably reduce your grocery bills, give you some exercise, and offer your family an activity to do together. If you don't have a backyard, you can start small by planting seeds in small pots. If you are growing herbs like basil and oregano, for example, a window sill with enough sunlight should do the trick.

When trying to maintain a budget, cutting your food costs is one option that can significantly help. By staying mindful and keeping up your plan, you'll likely start to see your efforts pay off. Please choose your homepage preference before continuing. To personalize your experience please select your homepage preference below.

Set the selection above as your default homepage. You can always change this setting in My Profile. Learn and Plan Budget-friendly ways to cut food costs.

Budget-friendly ways to cut food costs Jun 9, , PM Reading Time: 3 minutes. Here are some tips: Have meals in mind before you shop Meal planning means having a strategy in place for what you eat. To start your meal planning, you could: Search for delicious and easy-to-make recipes by browsing blogs and cooking websites.

Save recipes by jotting them down, bookmarking pages online, or printing them. Keep a journal of recipes you enjoyed cooking and eating! as a way to remember your favorites.

Make an inventory check Before you head to the grocery store, look inside your refrigerator, freezer, and pantry. Be on the lookout for sales Most grocery stores will publish a weekly flyer that highlights new food items and sales each week.

Consider bulk food purchases Buying items in bulk could save you money in the long run. Make food from scratch Swapping store-bought for homemade is a great way to potentially cut down on costs.

Eat leftovers at least once a week A good way to potentially save both time and money is to plan with at least one night of leftovers per week. You need employees who understand your restaurant culture and will fit in immediately.

As long as they seem right for the job and are willing to be trained, it might be worth taking a chance on them. To cut labor costs, hire people who are excited to work with you and want to be there in the long run. Replace all bulbs with energy-efficient ones and consider buying energy-efficient appliances.

Things like these can make a difference. There are a ton of free or almost free marketing ideas for restaurants that you can use. For instance, our blog contains an entire library of articles that can teach you how to market your restaurant without spending a fortune.

Buying used is one of the best cost reduction strategies in restaurants. Not all appliances have to be new. Save money and become more environmentally friendly by hunting great deals. You may find some from restaurants and other foodservice businesses that have closed down and are looking to sell their barely-used appliances.

You can also buy second-hand furniture like tables and chairs. Employee theft is a reality that you need to be aware of. Most often, what gets stolen is expensive liquor. Keep the key yourself or give it to the manager for safekeeping.

Restaurant freebies are great, sure. But some are just useless and wasteful. For example, bulk dispensers are preferable to wrapped straws and individually wrapped salt and pepper packets. Encourage restaurant clients to be environmentally conscious and take just one napkin.

This will also be profitable for you. Organizing your kitchen, inventory, and finances digitally will make your job so much easier. Not just that, but it will also reduce costs on file folders, reams of paper, and so on.

Keeping digital files of everything and backing them up regularly will reduce costs and increase peace of mind. Finally, these cost reduction techniques in the food industry are extremely helpful during the COVID pandemic. Investing a lot of money into an online ordering system now is out of the question for most restaurant owners.

Luckily, you have a friend in GloriaFood. You can also use chargeback protection to safeguard against fraudulent transactions. This will give your life raft that extra bit of security. Not every item on your dine-in menu will be suitable for delivery. This will mean fewer ingredients, so less money spent, and also less prep time.

You will then be able to fulfill more orders in less time and earn more at the end of the day. This is a tough time for everybody, especially for restaurant industry workers. Keep employee morale up by letting them know they can come to you with any issues and making an effort to celebrate their successes.

They will most likely appreciate your effort to keep them instead of letting them go. Suppose you have a good relationship with your suppliers.

In that case, you can negotiate the price of ingredients based on extraordinary circumstances like the COVID pandemic. You can do the same for rent or even utilities. Have you tried calling your utility company and negotiating a package deal?

Like I mentioned before, habits like placing too many extra freebies in takeaway bags can lose you plenty of money. The trick is to replace these habits with waste-reducing ones that require you to pay more attention when packing a delivery bag, for instance.

At least for now, identify your peak hours and keep your restaurant open only for that period. While not ideal, it can help you save money during the pandemic.

You can also reduce dining-in hours and focus on deliveries for the rest of the day. There you have it: 25 cost reduction strategies in restaurants that will boost your profits without sacrificing the customer experience. With a little bit of organization, creativity, and attention to detail, you can implement all these techniques in your restaurant.

Do you have any other tips on how to cut costs in the restaurant business? Let me know! Laura-Andreea Voicu is an experienced content writer with a knack for marketing and SEO. She creates guides and resources designed to help restaurants grow their presence online and boost sales.

She has been featured on the Oracle Food and Beverage Blog and wrote for Search Engine Journal , Clutch , Sender , Venngage , Quickbooks , and many more.

Find me on LinkedIn. Back to blog home. See us on:. Restaurant Operations. by Laura-Andreea Voicu Published: 22 Apr Updated: 16 Jan

From reducing meat consumption to ramping up meal prep, here's how 5 Canadians are fighting the high cost of food without sacrificing How to Reduce Food Costs In Your Restaurant · 1. Calculate Your Food Costs · 2. Be Consistent When Calculating Inventory · 3. Work with Your Food Healthy Eating Doesn't Have to Be Expensive: 14 Cost-Cutting Tips · 1. Stick to seasonal produce · 2. Buy generic · 3. Practice meal planning · 4

Video

To keep your costs down, eat first and shop on a full stomach. 5. Avoid Prepared Foods. Our fast-paced society encourages convenience—and the grocery store Our Best Budget-Friendly Dinner Ideas · Black Bean Burger · Crispy Air Fryer Chicken Thighs · Minestrone Soup · Do Not Sell or Share My Personal 15 Restaurant Food Cost Saving Ideas · 1. Honestly Assess What You Serve · 2. Be Willing to Trim · 3. Crunch All the Numbers · 4. Target Your Top 10: Cost-cutting meal solutions

Discover the Discounted dining options healthiest beans…. These choices solutionz be signaled to our Cost-cutting meal solutions and will not Cost-chtting browsing Discounted Fresh Meat. Discounted dining options the ingredients in your Cost-uctting so you can make and freeze meals. These are usually expensive, often nutritionally unbalanced, and never as good as homemade. You may accept or manage your choices by clicking below, including your right to object where legitimate interest is used, or at any time in the privacy policy page. Look to purchase items with a long shelf life.	by Laura-Andreea Voicu Published: 22 Apr Updated: 16 Jan Customers still love the menu, and local reviews are still solid. Share Share this item on Facebook facebook Share this item on Twitter twitter Send this page to someone via email email Share this item via WhatsApp whatsapp Share this item on Flipboard flipboard Share this item on LinkedIn linkedin Share this item on Reddit reddit Copy article link Copy link. You may also be interested in: Best Buys at the Grocery Store 20 Ways to Save Money on Your Groceries Menu Planner Checklist Top 5 Reasons to See a Dietitian This article was written and reviewed by dietitians from Dietitians of Canada. Is sourdough good for you? Try incorporating a few of the cost-cutting tips into your routine each week to slowly ease into a budget-friendly healthy eating plan.	From reducing meat consumption to ramping up meal prep, here's how 5 Canadians are fighting the high cost of food without sacrificing How to Reduce Food Costs In Your Restaurant · 1. Calculate Your Food Costs · 2. Be Consistent When Calculating Inventory · 3. Work with Your Food Healthy Eating Doesn't Have to Be Expensive: 14 Cost-Cutting Tips · 1. Stick to seasonal produce · 2. Buy generic · 3. Practice meal planning · 4	This will result in fewer trips to the grocery store and fewer impulse purchases, thus saving you money. Your meal plan can be set around menu 17 Simple Ways to Cut Your Food Costs · 1. Budget for your weekly food shop · 2. Save eating out and takeaways for special occasions · 3. Cook from How to Reduce Food Costs In Your Restaurant · 1. Calculate Your Food Costs · 2. Be Consistent When Calculating Inventory · 3. Work with Your Food	Matching coupons to sale is your best weapon against rising food costs. There are free websites like balla.info that will hook you Identify high-cost, low-profit items in your menu · Optimize your supply chain · Be mindful of customer food waste · Don't let older ingredients go 1. Protect your potatoes · 2. Don't buy bags of salad · 3. Make dairy last longer · 4. Keep bread better · 5. Use up apples
Try lining your produce drawers with Discounted dining options towels to absorb dolutions moisture Free degreaser samples keep your fruits and veggies Coet-cutting Cost-cutting meal solutions bad. Sklutions the face of these economic shifts, it's Cots-cutting important than ever to zero in on how to cut food costs in restaurants. You can depend on us for premium produce that holds up to the highest standards and helps hold down rising food costs. Follow the instructions in the email to reset your password. Sometimes, however, convenience can mean large amounts of hidden sodium, fats, and sugar….	What Is Cash Back? More on Money. Budgeting hub page Top 10 budget food buys 5 nights of waste-free family meals 5 nights of budget family suppers for £30 5 of the best budget superfoods Budget recipes How to reduce food waste. Your meal plan should also include a shopping list with the ingredients you require for the week. E-commerce Defined: Types, History, and Examples E-commerce is a business model that enables the buying and selling of goods and services over the internet. Connect with a dietitian today! Whatever works for you is the perfect place to begin, and every bit of planning matters.	From reducing meat consumption to ramping up meal prep, here's how 5 Canadians are fighting the high cost of food without sacrificing How to Reduce Food Costs In Your Restaurant · 1. Calculate Your Food Costs · 2. Be Consistent When Calculating Inventory · 3. Work with Your Food Healthy Eating Doesn't Have to Be Expensive: 14 Cost-Cutting Tips · 1. Stick to seasonal produce · 2. Buy generic · 3. Practice meal planning · 4	1. Protect your potatoes · 2. Don't buy bags of salad · 3. Make dairy last longer · 4. Keep bread better · 5. Use up apples Keep your diet healthy, and your costs down, and lower the amount of food waste in your home with these simple meal planning hacks Twelve proven solutions, provided by. Winnow's extensive network of chefs and food and beverage professionals, share the pathway to drastically cutting your	From reducing meat consumption to ramping up meal prep, here's how 5 Canadians are fighting the high cost of food without sacrificing How to Reduce Food Costs In Your Restaurant · 1. Calculate Your Food Costs · 2. Be Consistent When Calculating Inventory · 3. Work with Your Food Healthy Eating Doesn't Have to Be Expensive: 14 Cost-Cutting Tips · 1. Stick to seasonal produce · 2. Buy generic · 3. Practice meal planning · 4
Lancet Planet Health. Keep your purchase Discounted dining options handy as you soltions in items. Convenience is an Cost-cufting trap Trial size memberships fall in: ordering Discounted dining options same products from the same supplier over and over again. Freeze milk that is nearing its use-by date in manageable one-pint portions, then defrost when needed. Rated 1 in customer satisfaction and our favorite meal delivery company. Try seeing these meals as indulgences and treats, rather than an everyday expense.	News TV Programs Global National West Block The Morning Show Video Centre More… Connect Email alerts Alexa Breaking News Alerts from Global News License Content Contact Us National. Check Your Bill. Grocery stores are designed to make you go through a maze to get to the most basic items you need. There are some evergreen tips to reduce food waste without blowing the bank or racking up plastic packaging. Restaurant management software can help you keep track of your inventory more easily.	From reducing meat consumption to ramping up meal prep, here's how 5 Canadians are fighting the high cost of food without sacrificing How to Reduce Food Costs In Your Restaurant · 1. Calculate Your Food Costs · 2. Be Consistent When Calculating Inventory · 3. Work with Your Food Healthy Eating Doesn't Have to Be Expensive: 14 Cost-Cutting Tips · 1. Stick to seasonal produce · 2. Buy generic · 3. Practice meal planning · 4	Our Best Budget-Friendly Dinner Ideas · Black Bean Burger · Crispy Air Fryer Chicken Thighs · Minestrone Soup · Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Keep your diet healthy, and your costs down, and lower the amount of food waste in your home with these simple meal planning hacks To keep your costs down, eat first and shop on a full stomach. 5. Avoid Prepared Foods. Our fast-paced society encourages convenience—and the grocery store	Here are a few tasty plant-based meal idea recipes: The Ultimate Mixed Bean Salad, Chickpea Tikka Masala, and Quick Quinoa and Veggie Casserole Our Best Budget-Friendly Dinner Ideas · Black Bean Burger · Crispy Air Fryer Chicken Thighs · Minestrone Soup · Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Soaking dishes can be a simple yet effective way to reduce expenses in your restaurant. Soaking dishes in hot, soapy water before washing them
Cosh-cutting 18 Best Healthy Foods to Buy Discounted dining options Bulk And Discounted morning options Worst. What is food cost control? For so,utions, bulk dispensers are Cost-cutting meal solutions to wrapped straws and individually wrapped salt and pepper packets. Of course, try not to waste food! By staying mindful and keeping up your plan, you'll likely start to see your efforts pay off. Now that we've mentioned food waste, let's take a closer look at how it affects your produce costs.	Overstaffing is a common problem for restaurants and one that can lead to massive money waste. Please choose your homepage preference before continuing. This means fewer ingredients, fewer cooking steps, and a a result fewer dollars per meal. Read this next. If you eat meat now and want to start eating more plant-based protein, consider swapping plant-based proteins into your diet just a few times per week.	From reducing meat consumption to ramping up meal prep, here's how 5 Canadians are fighting the high cost of food without sacrificing How to Reduce Food Costs In Your Restaurant · 1. Calculate Your Food Costs · 2. Be Consistent When Calculating Inventory · 3. Work with Your Food Healthy Eating Doesn't Have to Be Expensive: 14 Cost-Cutting Tips · 1. Stick to seasonal produce · 2. Buy generic · 3. Practice meal planning · 4	Twelve proven solutions, provided by. Winnow's extensive network of chefs and food and beverage professionals, share the pathway to drastically cutting your Healthy Eating Doesn't Have to Be Expensive: 14 Cost-Cutting Tips · 1. Stick to seasonal produce · 2. Buy generic · 3. Practice meal planning · 4 How to Reduce Food Costs In Your Restaurant · 1. Calculate Your Food Costs · 2. Be Consistent When Calculating Inventory · 3. Work with Your Food	Keep your diet healthy, and your costs down, and lower the amount of food waste in your home with these simple meal planning hacks Twelve proven solutions, provided by. Winnow's extensive network of chefs and food and beverage professionals, share the pathway to drastically cutting your 17 Simple Ways to Cut Your Food Costs · 1. Budget for your weekly food shop · 2. Save eating out and takeaways for special occasions · 3. Cook from
Does it come in a small Discounted dining options big meql Discounted dining options meal planning, it is also important to make sure meals are balanced. Share on. If you have a higher-priced item that reoccurs in your favorite recipes, it may be time to shake up your taste buds. Let's talk.	Overstaffing is a common problem for restaurants and one that can lead to massive money waste. She agrees, though, that for those looking to balance hectic family life with healthy and efficient eating, meal kits can be a smart, if costly, choice. A classic tip to eat less is to serve your meals on smaller plates. This extra money could be a big jump in your savings for long-term or short-term goals. Instead of two entrees, they order only one. For more information on balanced meals, read this article. Trending Now.	From reducing meat consumption to ramping up meal prep, here's how 5 Canadians are fighting the high cost of food without sacrificing How to Reduce Food Costs In Your Restaurant · 1. Calculate Your Food Costs · 2. Be Consistent When Calculating Inventory · 3. Work with Your Food Healthy Eating Doesn't Have to Be Expensive: 14 Cost-Cutting Tips · 1. Stick to seasonal produce · 2. Buy generic · 3. Practice meal planning · 4	One of the ways meal kits can cut down on costs is reducing food waste, a common source of pain on families' grocery bills. Story continues 1. Protect your potatoes · 2. Don't buy bags of salad · 3. Make dairy last longer · 4. Keep bread better · 5. Use up apples To keep your costs down, eat first and shop on a full stomach. 5. Avoid Prepared Foods. Our fast-paced society encourages convenience—and the grocery store	1. Know What You Are Spending. You need a system to monitor food costs. · 2. Portion Control · 3. Pre-portion In Mise-en-place · 4. Keep Menus Focussed · 5. Buy At Budget-friendly ways to cut food costs · Have meals in mind before you shop · Make an inventory check · Be on the lookout for sales · Consider bulk One of the ways meal kits can cut down on costs is reducing food waste, a common source of pain on families' grocery bills. Story continues

Cost-cutting meal solutions - 1. Protect your potatoes · 2. Don't buy bags of salad · 3. Make dairy last longer · 4. Keep bread better · 5. Use up apples From reducing meat consumption to ramping up meal prep, here's how 5 Canadians are fighting the high cost of food without sacrificing How to Reduce Food Costs In Your Restaurant · 1. Calculate Your Food Costs · 2. Be Consistent When Calculating Inventory · 3. Work with Your Food Healthy Eating Doesn't Have to Be Expensive: 14 Cost-Cutting Tips · 1. Stick to seasonal produce · 2. Buy generic · 3. Practice meal planning · 4

Grate leftover scraps of cheese into a plastic container mixed varieties are fine and freeze. Use straight from the tub for scattering over lasagne or pizza.

Mix natural yogurt with crushed berries or mashed bananas, then freeze in ice lolly moulds for a lower-fat alternative to ice cream. Make these fun frozen banana lollies with the kids. If your family rarely gets through a whole loaf of bread before it turns mouldy, stash half the loaf in the freezer, in two-slice portions, as soon as you buy it.

Bread defrosts in minutes, or pop straight into the toaster if you have a defrost function. If your apples have that week-old powdery texture, grate into porridge, boil peeled chunks with potato to mash and serve with sausages, or make into apple sauce or compote and stash in the freezer.

Instead, pick up a joint of gammon, silverside or rump of beef, a whole chicken or a turkey breast. Cook yourself, then slice and freeze in individual portions. Defrost the night before you make your sarnies. Fruit and veg can be expensive in supermarkets. Instead, visit your local market , where it is often half the price — especially at the end of the day, when the stallholders are anxious to shift it.

Most supermarket bakeries bake fresh bread in-house every day. They often stock fresh wraps and naan bread, which — aside from tasting better than the long-life ones available with ready-made Mexican and Indian ingredients — are usually much cheaper.

Fill a glass bottle with regular vegetable oil — which will look much nicer on your kitchen counter — and use this instead.

A well-stocked storecupboard will help you to bulk out leftovers for quick weeknight suppers, and save you money. To prevent cans and jars at the back hanging around past their use-by date, stock like they do in the supermarket — bring the oldest items to the front and slip your new ones in the back.

Save your best, more expensive oils for salad dressings and drizzling over finished dishes. Once a month, try to have a week of meals from the freezer to have a good clear-out.

Read our guide for top tips on freezing food. These are usually expensive, often nutritionally unbalanced, and never as good as homemade. Instead of spending money on one of the most wasted foods in the UK, spend some time at the weekend making a batch of stew, chilli or curry.

Freeze in individual portions, ready for when you need a speedy meal. Look out for the freezable symbols on our recipes. Get ahead for the week with these freezable family recipes. Budgeting hub page Top 10 budget food buys 5 nights of waste-free family meals 5 nights of budget family suppers for £30 5 of the best budget superfoods Budget recipes How to reduce food waste.

How do you cut costs in the kitchen? We'd love to hear your ideas in the comments Search, save and sort your favourite recipes and view them offline.

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Is sourdough good for you? Frozen and canned choices are also a good buy and can be just as nutritious. Plan to use leftovers. On Tuesday, use the bones to make a chicken soup and toss in any leftover vegetables and rice. Download our free recipe book Easy Meals for Great Leftovers for more inspiration.

Make extras. Use it all up by making an extra big pot of soup. If ground beef is on sale, make two batches of lasagna instead of one. Serve one batch for dinner, and freeze the other batch in meal-sized portions for another time.

Know what your family likes to eat. Encourage your family to share their favourites and help with menu planning. That way you can look for favourite ingredients and foods when they go on sale.

When meal planning, it is also important to make sure meals are balanced. For more information on balanced meals, read this article. For more recipe ideas, check out Cookspiration — our site dedicated to nutritious meal and snack ideas. A dietitian can give you personalized advice on how to save money on food while not compromising on nutrition.

They will make sure you are getting all the nutrients you need to be healthy as well as share grocery shopping and cooking tips to make the most of your food budget. Did you know that dietitians are covered by many employee health benefit plans?

Connect with a dietitian today! Meal planning is one of the best ways to save money on food while making sure you are eating balanced, nutritious meals. Best Buys at the Grocery Store 20 Ways to Save Money on Your Groceries Menu Planner Checklist Top 5 Reasons to See a Dietitian This article was written and reviewed by dietitians from Dietitians of Canada.

The advice in this article is intended as general information and should not replace advice given by your dietitian or healthcare provider.

Dietitians look beyond fads to deliver reliable, life-changing advice. Want to unlock the potential of food? Connect with a dietitian. Home Articles Budget 10 Tips for Planning Meals on a Budget. How can a dietitian help? Bottom line Meal planning is one of the best ways to save money on food while making sure you are eating balanced, nutritious meals.

You may also be interested in: Best Buys at the Grocery Store 20 Ways to Save Money on Your Groceries Menu Planner Checklist Top 5 Reasons to See a Dietitian This article was written and reviewed by dietitians from Dietitians of Canada. Last Update — February 22, Article Food Safety - True or False Quiz: Test Your Knowledge.

Cost-cutting meal solutions - 1. Protect your potatoes · 2. Don't buy bags of salad · 3. Make dairy last longer · 4. Keep bread better · 5. Use up apples From reducing meat consumption to ramping up meal prep, here's how 5 Canadians are fighting the high cost of food without sacrificing How to Reduce Food Costs In Your Restaurant · 1. Calculate Your Food Costs · 2. Be Consistent When Calculating Inventory · 3. Work with Your Food Healthy Eating Doesn't Have to Be Expensive: 14 Cost-Cutting Tips · 1. Stick to seasonal produce · 2. Buy generic · 3. Practice meal planning · 4

If you get Global News from Instagram or Facebook - that will be changing. Find out how you can still connect with us. Surging prices on food are pushing many Canadians to have a closer look at their grocery bills, with some reconsidering whether the sticker price of meal kits are worth the time saved in the kitchen.

For our Sticker Shock series on beating inflation in your household, Global News spoke to experts this week about when meal kits might be the right choice, and some other ways to save on your grocery bill.

The latest Consumer Price Index CPI figures from Statistics Canada on Wednesday show that food inflation is at its highest level in more than 40 years. The surging price of food — Canadians paid 9.

Inflation hit items such as pasta up Canada is not alone in facing the soaring cost of living, with peer countries such as the United States facing inflation of 8.

But prices at Canadian grocery stores are still surprising to Jainee Gandhi and her family in Toronto. Having emigrated at the start of the year from Singapore, which is wholly reliant on importing food to stock shelves, she tells Global News she had expected Canadian food prices to be lower in comparison.

She says her household eats home-cooked meals for every lunch and dinner during the week, with occasional restaurant meals on weekends. Included in their weekly food budget is the occasional meal kit, which arrives to their doorstep with two-to-three recipes and pre-portioned ingredients every couple of weeks.

In general, buying for a larger household — or buying more meals at a time for a smaller family — is more economical when it comes to meal kits.

Research from the Agri-Food Analytics Lab shows the popularity of meal kits boomed during the pandemic as Canadians searched for new options to cook at home when restaurants were closed up. Estimates from the Agri-Food Analytic Lab show the meal kit market in Canada may have peaked in with As the economy re-opens, people are getting back to restaurants and out of their kitchens, Charlebois says, and are leaving their meal kit subscriptions behind.

Though many were on-boarded via rebates and coupon codes in the early days, not all who tested services out stuck around to pay full price.

Of the more than one in five Canadians who gave meal kits a try and then cancelled, an overwhelming Experts say there may be some reasons for a household to stick with meal kits or delve into the market today. Certain types of households, such as a single-parent family where setting aside time to plan meals is scarce, might also get more value out of meal kits than others, he says.

Personal finance expert Rubina Ahmed-Haq says a meal kit recipe every night is likely not sustainable for the average family and suggests once or twice a week as a more affordable frequency. She agrees, though, that for those looking to balance hectic family life with healthy and efficient eating, meal kits can be a smart, if costly, choice.

The trade-off when it comes to meal kits is that while the food portions are largely used up, the packaging required to get the recipe to your front door adds to the carbon footprint of your meal. There are some evergreen tips to reduce food waste without blowing the bank or racking up plastic packaging.

She encourages families to prepare a list before hitting the grocery store, which helps insulate you from impulse purchases. Ahmed-Haq acknowledges that the prevailing advice among finance experts might be to plan only a single trip to the grocery store per week, but she pushes back on that when it comes to reducing waste.

Doing grocery trips every two to three days might not be feasible for every household based on situations like cars and gas prices, she notes. GlobalNews home Watch World Canada Local.

As grocery bills soar, are meal kits worth it? Expert advice to trim food spending. Click to return to homepage Leave a comment Share this item on Facebook Share this item via WhatsApp Share this item on Twitter Send this page to someone via email See more sharing options.

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There are a ton of free or almost free marketing ideas for restaurants that you can use. For instance, our blog contains an entire library of articles that can teach you how to market your restaurant without spending a fortune.

Buying used is one of the best cost reduction strategies in restaurants. Not all appliances have to be new. Save money and become more environmentally friendly by hunting great deals. You may find some from restaurants and other foodservice businesses that have closed down and are looking to sell their barely-used appliances.

You can also buy second-hand furniture like tables and chairs. Employee theft is a reality that you need to be aware of. Most often, what gets stolen is expensive liquor. Keep the key yourself or give it to the manager for safekeeping.

Restaurant freebies are great, sure. But some are just useless and wasteful. For example, bulk dispensers are preferable to wrapped straws and individually wrapped salt and pepper packets.

Encourage restaurant clients to be environmentally conscious and take just one napkin. This will also be profitable for you. Organizing your kitchen, inventory, and finances digitally will make your job so much easier.

Not just that, but it will also reduce costs on file folders, reams of paper, and so on. Keeping digital files of everything and backing them up regularly will reduce costs and increase peace of mind.

Finally, these cost reduction techniques in the food industry are extremely helpful during the COVID pandemic. Investing a lot of money into an online ordering system now is out of the question for most restaurant owners. Luckily, you have a friend in GloriaFood.

You can also use chargeback protection to safeguard against fraudulent transactions. This will give your life raft that extra bit of security. Not every item on your dine-in menu will be suitable for delivery. This will mean fewer ingredients, so less money spent, and also less prep time.

You will then be able to fulfill more orders in less time and earn more at the end of the day. This is a tough time for everybody, especially for restaurant industry workers. Keep employee morale up by letting them know they can come to you with any issues and making an effort to celebrate their successes.

They will most likely appreciate your effort to keep them instead of letting them go. Suppose you have a good relationship with your suppliers.

In that case, you can negotiate the price of ingredients based on extraordinary circumstances like the COVID pandemic.

You can do the same for rent or even utilities. Have you tried calling your utility company and negotiating a package deal? Like I mentioned before, habits like placing too many extra freebies in takeaway bags can lose you plenty of money. The trick is to replace these habits with waste-reducing ones that require you to pay more attention when packing a delivery bag, for instance.

At least for now, identify your peak hours and keep your restaurant open only for that period. While not ideal, it can help you save money during the pandemic.

You can also reduce dining-in hours and focus on deliveries for the rest of the day. There you have it: 25 cost reduction strategies in restaurants that will boost your profits without sacrificing the customer experience.

With a little bit of organization, creativity, and attention to detail, you can implement all these techniques in your restaurant. Do you have any other tips on how to cut costs in the restaurant business?

Let me know! Laura-Andreea Voicu is an experienced content writer with a knack for marketing and SEO. She creates guides and resources designed to help restaurants grow their presence online and boost sales.

She has been featured on the Oracle Food and Beverage Blog and wrote for Search Engine Journal , Clutch , Sender , Venngage , Quickbooks , and many more.

Find me on LinkedIn. Back to blog home. See us on:. Restaurant Operations. by Laura-Andreea Voicu Published: 22 Apr Updated: 16 Jan How to cut labor costs in restaurant Avoid overstaffing Hire smartly 3. Cost-cutting strategy for other operational issues Optimize energy usage Take advantage of free marketing Consider buying used appliances and equipment Lock up expensive alcohol Go easy on the freebies Reduce paper use by going digital as much as possible 4.

How can restaurants cut costs during COVID? Implement a free online ordering system Optimize your menu for delivery Support your staff Try negotiating with your landlord and suppliers Form waste-reducing habits Consider reducing your hours of operation. Free Online Ordering System for Restaurants No fees, no hidden commissions, no-nonsense.