Save Money – Page 2 – Wicked Retirement

*This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure for more info. 3 Amazing Ways to Save Money with Instant Pot There are many easy ways to save money. I’ve talked about the marvels of the Instant Pot in the past. For me, it's incredible, I even canned some hot peppers last night. This thing does everything. On a weekly basis, we spend a ton on eating out and entertainment. If we spend on average $10 per day on lunch and $5 on coffee or other drinks we’re looking at $75 a week or $3900 a year. That doesn’t even include the weekends you know a few cocktails here... a Pizza there, but we still have to live, so I’m not saying cut everything. Making your own lunches is the easiest thing you can do to save thousands. Welcome to the World of Instant Pot I’ve always been a brown bag it guy and used my slow cooker religiously. But the Instant Pot has taken over…. Sorry slow cooker. The Instant Pot can sauté, slow cook, steam, pressure cook and heck you can even make yogurt with the damn thing. So here are the 3 Amazing ways I save thousands with the Instant Pot. If you don't have one you can get one here 1. Make your lunches for the work week every Sunday My Sunday ritual is heading to the grocery store the first thing I look for is Discount Meat. My kids laugh, but I’m cooking it that day and most stores will put some of their “very close” to expiry meat for 25-50% off. That’s a heck of a deal depending on the cut of meat. I buy a few veggies and some carbs, usually pasta. It's incredible how much you can save when you can get a $20 roast for $10 that will feed you all week for lunches. Add some vegetables, broth, and BAM! you're done for less than one or two hamburger combos at McDonald's you have at least 5 meals for work. The way the Instant Pot works is it takes time to get up to pressure, usually 10 minutes, once it gets to pressure depending on what you are cooking the timer starts. I generally do a roast over 40 minutes but there are a ton of recipes you can find for whatever lunches you want to make for the week. It's really that easy. I have 5 containers that seal with locks $7 for 2 at Walmart (called Lock and Lock) so they never leak. I put 3 in the fridge and 2 in the freezer and I’m ready to go. Each day I grab one, grab an apple and I’m off. There are hundreds of easy recipes online and even Keto recipes if you’re into that. I generally spend less than $20 for the full week’s worth of food including the apples. $20 x 52 weeks = $1040 $3900 - $1040 = $2860 HOW MUCH DID WE SAVE? = $2860 a year, that’s amazing and so easy. 2. Suppers during the week. I love making freezer meals. I’ve recently taken over the getting the groceries in the house. Only because I love the challenge of saving money and I Hate Hate Hate wasting food. In an effort to ensure that food is not wasted I try to make most or all of our suppers and put them in zip lock bags. I take them out in the morning the defrost during the day (you don’t even have to defrost them but it's easier) and yes you guessed it into the instant pot they go. There are lots of lists online that provide a shopping list and recipes for a different meal each night. It's easy to do, it only takes a few hours each week to prepare them all. Generally, there are folks how have put together grocery lists. An example is here https://happymoneysaver.com/freezer-meals/ You take the list go to the local grocery store pick up the items and then head home. You’ll then use a list of recipes follow the instructions on putting all the meals together and put them in the freezer bags. I always have at least 5 bags in the freezer. When I get below that it's time to make some more. Its fast, it's easy and you’ll save time and money. No more cooking for an hour each night and cleaning up. Instant Pot is one pot so only one pot to clean. Not to mention you can get the whole family involved when preparing the meals. I don’t have exact cost savings but I figure I’m saving approx. $100 every two weeks with this method. $100 x 26 weeks is $2600 So now we’re at $5460 in saved money, still eating well, healthy and delicious. Regarding Instant Pot suppers, you’ll spend less time in the kitchen, less time cleaning dishes and more time with your family. 3. Canning Vegetables Yes, you can even do that in the Instant Pot. Canning can be a little dangerous so always check for resources online. as altitude can affect how long you can for. I have done it 4-5 times now with great success so just check on your local When it's that time of the year to collect your veggies in the garden I sometimes find there is just too much depending on how well the year went. Welcome, Instant Pot again. I don’t have much of a green thumb in the garden but I’m getting better. I tend to focus on tomatoes and peppers as my go to crops, we had a brutally hot summer last year so production was lower than usual. I had a tonne of hot peppers this year and couldn’t possibly use them all before they went bad. Freezing is an option but it's never as good and you can actually forget about them until it's too late and now they are all freezer burnt. And even if you don’t have a garden I have to wonder if it's just not easier to head to the grocery store and load up on some vegetables. Not to beat a dead horse about the discount meat but there are always deals on vegetables that are near expiry. I buy them all up can them for later. Maybe I’m becoming a prepper Lol! Every now and then there are sales of vegetables and our local produce store. Two weeks ago they had bags of Plum tomatoes for sale for $2.99 I grabbed 2 bags ran home and made tomato sauce with a little oregano and cilantro. It will always be better than Ragu. No sugar or preservatives. You’ll always know what your family is eating. Newer Instant Pots have the canning feature on the ones that don’t you just need to use the Steam Function. You do have to pay attention to altitude. Depending on where you live you may need to cook longer or shorter as this directly affects how long you need to steam them. Again, I don’t have specific numbers because I never tracked how much I spent on sauces, but I would imagine we’re saving around $300 -$400 a year conservatively just by canning. More important than the savings the food is fresh and last longer. You reduce the potential waste of food going bad before you can eat it and oh it's delicious. Conclusion So there you have it 3 amazing ways to save money with Instant Pot. I highly recommend you try one or all. It's fun saving money this way and you know you are eating better and healthier. I can’t say enough that this little machine is a godsend. If you put your mind to it you can save so much money. Isn’t it better to keep your money in your pocket rather than put it in someone else's? It's not hard to do you just need to be a little organized, it's fun, you can spend some quality with your family making these suppers and know that you're providing healthy meals with no chemicals to your family. Oh, and you just saved $6000. That’s a tidy sum to go towards your saving for retirement or paying down debt. So you've now saved $6000 here with Instant Pot. Head over to How to Save Money – Save An Extra $1000 a Month There you will find ways to save another $1000 a month. So that's $18000 a year with a few easy doable steps. You can save more money for retirement or pay down debt. If you like this blog please feel free to share it. If you are interested in starting a blog, I highly recommend it and it's really fun. I'd recommend going over and checking out Alex and Lauren's courses. You can start with nothing and anyone can do it. This is an affiliate link but you won't be charged anything extra should you decide to buy. They offer a 30 refund if you are not satisfied. Other links to recommendations can be found on the Resources Page As always don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or comments at theteam@wickedretirement.com