Chasing the Fionist Dream

It’s been a while since we last posted about ways to lower your food costs. With the VAT increase set to take place in 2025, prices are expected to rise yet again. If you haven’t read our previous grocery shopping posts, make sure to check them out before continuing. (It’s okay. We’ll wait.) Now, if our past twenty shopping hacks aren’t enough for you, here are ten more for you to enjoy. 🤩

1. Finish it all. Your toothpaste, your hummus, your peanut butter – you get it. Throwing away food is throwing away money.
   
   
2. Shop bigger and less often. If you regularly do a weekly shop, consider doing a bigger biweekly or monthly shop instead. Then fill in your produce and fresh dairy products weekly or as needed. Not only will this save you time, but spending less time shopping will lead to fewer impulse buys.
   
   
3. Look elsewhere. Despite them being available at the supermarket, we’ve started ordering our toiletries and other non-food consumables from SuperCare. Make sure to look for items in an אריזה מוסדית. That’s where the real savings comes in. Additionally, since the price of chocolate chips has skyrocketed everywhere, we’ve also started ordering them (and other baking items) from a local bakery supply warehouse. For both types of orders, we invite neighbors to join us to meet the threshold for free delivery.
   
   
4. Consider a cashback credit card. We have the Isracard Cashback+, which gives us cashback credit that we can spend at an assortment of supermarkets, including the one down the block from our home. (As always, make a point to call your credit card company each year to waive those fees.)
   
   
5. Show up near closing time. Especially on a Friday or before a holiday. Stores and shuk stalls tend to drop prices on fresh items that won’t be marketable when they reopen two days later.
   
   
6. Pay with a gift card. Many supermarkets, including Shufersal, Rami Levy, and Carrefour have their own gift cards that are oven given out by employers as shai lachag. Some credit cards or other consumer clubs sell supermarket gift cards or vouchers at a discounted price, thereby allowing your money to go further.
   
   
7. Dumpster dive. There is no need to physically dive into a dumpster (or “frog”/”צפרדע”) for this…. although we guess you can if you want. If you get friendly with the employees of your local makolet (or do enough stalking), you can find out what time of day they toss their sad produce and just-barely-expired packaged foods. Either go find it behind the store or offer to buy it from them for a heavily discounted price. We’ve gotten whole boxes of freckled bananas this way, which we throw into our freezer to keep on hand for our favorite muffins.
   
   
8. Keep a kitchen garden. Do you like cooking with fresh herbs? They get expensive – don’t they? For much of the year, we have a steady stream of fresh basil and oregano growing in our kitchen window. Once you eat pizza made with fresh basil and oregano… Om nom nom, nuff said. Do a little googling to figure out how to best care for your plants and harvest sustainably, and the payoff will be worthwhile. 🪴
   
   
9. Use your lunch money. Do you get 10bis, Cibus, or the like from work? Pack your own lunches and use your work benefit for grocery shopping. Check the app or website to see which stores it covers and how to pay. Sometimes you can pay by card, and sometimes you have to buy vouchers in advance.
   
   
10. Learn how to preserve your veggies. How often do you find yourself chucking squishy or moldy produce? Learning to store vegetables properly will keep them fresh for longer.

How do you lower your shopping costs?

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