How Your Freezer Can Save You Money

Personal finance bloggers write a lot of stuff on saving money. We share personal practices, secrets and stories to make our readers frugal and wise spender. What if you put every possible money saving way in to work and still you are short of money by the end of the month? We generally come up with innovative options to help you in that situation as well. Here’s one such idea.

I assume all of us have freezers, right? How well do you utilize yours? I mean, do you actually plan what you’re putting in your freezer? Or is it merely a catch all for various items that you’re buying from the grocery store. For example, are you putting bags of peas, ice cream, and waffles in your freezer, or are you really planning what you could put in there that would really save you some money?

Alright, so hopefully I’ve confused you so far. I mean, most of us just use our freezer to put items that are purchased from the frozen section of the grocery store. If you do this, you are completely normal, but there is a much better way to utilize your freezer.

Is Your Freezer Efficient?

If I can keep you in suspense for just another moment, let’s first take a look at the energy efficiency of your freezer. If you have a unit that’s 20+ years old and runs every other minute, then you probably don’t have any chance at saving money because of the electricity you’re pulling each month.

While I wouldn’t recommend that you use an old freezer like this, I also wouldn’t recommend that you head out and purchase a brand new one. That would be omitting your potential cost savings as well.

If you can find a gently used one or pick up a great deal at the scratch and dent store, this is probably the best option. It will most likely be made for high-efficient use (which will save you money in the future) and won’t absolutely kill your wallet.

Store-bought Savings

Okay, so besides having a high-efficiency freezer, how can you save money? Have you ever gotten into couponing? I’ve dabbled in it a little, and one thing I’ve learned with freezer items like beef and chicken is that when they are nearly “expired”, the store has to sell them quick or risk throwing them away (at a severe loss).

If you can combine a coupon with this reduced price, you can often get meat for 25% of the normal price! And then (here it comes) you can use that freezer of yours to keep the meat good for long past the expiration date.

Bulk Cooking

Another great way to save money with your freezer is through bulk cooking. Have you ever heard of these super moms that spend one day a month to create 50 meals? While I don’t think you have to go that crazy, you can most definitely make a few extra meals in bulk and then freeze them for eating at a later date.

This will not only save you time (which is money), but it will also save you dollars in preparation (fewer materials, less energy used , etc.)!

Bulk Purchasing

Finally, you can save money by buying in bulk. I have some friends that purchase half of a cow (yes, they like their beef) and put it in the freezer to pick away at for the winter. Not only do they get the benefit of knowing where their meat is actually coming from (since they get it from the local farmer), but there is a great cost savings when you buy all that meat at once!

Large parties

With a large freezer you can cook for more people , possibly spanning multiple days, to cater to a large number of guests. Calling them all at once is definitely cheaper than throwing multiple small parties.

There must be many other ways you can save few extra bucks by using your refrigerator effectively. Do let us know