“Buy only the amount of food you need and you won’t go wrong! Tips from Readers Click "Bon Appetit"

Higher current, service bills, outrageous food prices. Life has become more and more expensive and from month to month we think about how else to live with dignity.

Any savings are welcome, but they should not affect our standard of living. Any change is worth it as long as we don't give up what we love most. How do we do this? Buying seems to be the key word! That is, keep your old habits, but reduce the “cravings” quantitatively, not qualitatively.

If we mean strictly in the kitchen, then this desired translation will sound like this: better a little and good than a lot and bad! In other words, let's shop and cook less and we'll achieve two notable successes:

1. Quality food

2. Zero food waste.

We invited readers of “Click! Bon Appetit" to show us first-hand how they manage to save money without making their families feel uncomfortable. We've put together some tips to help you change your shopping and cooking routines to reduce waste in the kitchen.

Veronica Istrate from Bucharest is a 55-year-old teacher with extensive experience in the kitchen. Mrs. Veronica gave us a short but important list of how we should control food waste: “This is what I pay attention to when I cook! Before I go shopping, I first take inventory of my pantry, refrigerator, and freezer. This way I avoid over-purchasing. Then I store food carefully, meaning I always put the food with the fastest expiration date first in the cupboards so I can eat it before the expiration date. This way I don't throw them away before using them. Last but not least, my third tip is to use leftovers creatively! Always think about how you can “recycle” your food.”

Our Bucharest lady also sent us a recipe for an aperitif receipt, for those times when you have all sorts of leftovers in the fridge and don't want to waste them.

Snack check

Ingredients

5 eggs

200 ml whole milk

50 g butter

350 g white flour

150 g cheese or any other melting cheese

50 g summer salami

100 g pressed ham

100 g pitted olives

½ teaspoon salt

ground black pepper

10 g baking powder

Cut all the sausages into cubes and grate the cheese through a coarse grater. Preheat oven to 190°C.

In a deep bowl, beat the eggs with milk, then add the sifted flour mixed with baking powder. Once homogenized, add melted and cooled butter, sausage, well-drained olives and grated cheese. Season with salt and black pepper to taste, stir with a spatula, then pour the mixture into a cake tin lined with baking paper.

Place in the oven for 15 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 170°C and bake the cake for about 25-30 minutes until it is lightly browned and passes the toothpick test. When ready, remove the cake from the pan and let it cool before serving.

You can add the ingredients you like to the basic dough, and the options are many: bacon, cheese, compressed ham, salami, telemea, olives, aromatic herbs, sundried tomatoes, bell peppers, mushrooms, squash, sweet corn and more.

Teodora Mihai is a reader from Bacau County. At 60 years old, he not only knows how to cook excellently, but also knows how to preserve vegetables and fruits for as long as possible. This is what Mrs. Teodora teaches us: “I live in a village and I have my own garden with vegetables and herbs and an orchard with several trees. In the summer, when they are all ripe, I collect them and store them for the winter. I don't throw anything away. Fruit compotes, jams, jams are made from fruits, but dried fruits are also made. I also dry dill and parsley - I have it all winter. I put vegetables in a jar and make broth from tomatoes. Of course, we don't miss the pickles at home. Instead of throwing it away, I put it in the freezer."

Click! “Good Appetit” has not only devoted readers, but also experienced gentlemen in the kitchen. Costas Dumitru, 67 years old, from Sibiu, amazed us with his story: “Since my wife died, I take care of the house. I go shopping myself, cook myself, and when my children and grandchildren come, they always praise me for the fact that I cook deliciously. And all from one pension! How am I doing? I don't go shopping without a list. I learned about this from my wife. When he was alive, he always sent me shopping with a list. This way you only buy what you need and don't waste money on all the temptations in the store. Then, while I was still working, I learned one more thing. Don't go shopping on an empty stomach. If you're hungry, you buy the whole store!" Mr. Costache was an engineer and still thinks very practically: “When we waste food, we also waste the energy and water needed to grow, harvest, transport and package it. And if food ends up in a landfill and rots, it produces methane, a greenhouse gas even more powerful than carbon dioxide. So be very careful what we leave to our grandchildren!” he sounds the alarm.

Romanians have adapted their financial behavior amid accelerated increases in prices and utility tariffs in recent months, according to the 2022 Money Matters study by Erste Group.

The survey data shows that 77% of respondents are currently saving for potential emergencies and unforeseen expenses, while 74% are saving to have a cash reserve for themselves or their family.

These studies also revealed the fact that:

— Romanians save on average 351 lei per month, which is 42 lei more than in 2021;

— only 33% save money for old age;

— 64% of Romanians say they have been hit by inflation, while 38% believe their financial situation has doubled over the past year compared to 2019.