5 Ways Canadian Seniors Stretch Their Food Budget - With Recipes!

Many Canadian Seniors Resort to Food Stretching Life Hacks to Have Enough Food to Eat - How Many of These Do You Use?

In September,  you may remember,  the New Democrat Party tabled a bill in the Federal Government that is up for voting in a couple of days to try to get the grocery bills for Canadians not to be quite so high.

Even if that bill should pass, I highly doubt we have seen the last of grocery bill problems - especially for Seniors trying to survive on pensions.

So how are savvy Canadian Seniors managing to stretch their groceries? Let us count the ways!

This post has a brief history of notable food stretching life hacks that go way back in time, five food stretching hacks that people still do today, but in new ways and a few recipes that might help you be a little more successful in stretching your groceries.

Note: This blog has referral links that help our writers eat when you make purchases through them. Would you like to write on Canadian Senior Savings? Guest Bloggers are welcome. 

5 Food Stretching Strategies From the Past Revived

1. Prayer - This food stretching strategy is found in several places in ancient writings. For instance when there was famine in a land and a poor widow only had enough oil and flour left to make one last meal for herself and her son- a starving man shows up and asks her to first make him a little food. Not wanting to be rude, she complies, feeds the guy, and then discovers her supply of flour and oil multiplied! The widow, her son and the man survived through the famine on this amazing ending supply! You may think that perhaps someone made this up, but I have had the opportunity to meet people with similar amazing stories of multiplication through prayer.
2. Growing Food - One pea can grow into a tasty sprout, or you can wait a bit and get many more peas from it. During the First and Second World Wars when food was rationed, having a vegetable garden came into fashion. Many savvy Canadian Seniors today even grow food in their cupboards or on their windowsills to supplement their food supplies. NOTE:Anyone who puts seeds in the ground or sets them in water to sprout knows that there is no guarantee how they will turn out. So, if you want to try this food stretching method, it might be a good idea to do it with prayer.
3. Fasting- Did you know the Lenten Fast started by the Catholic Church originated from seasonal times of lack - usually just before spring, when people had very little left? It can be very difficult to last through a fast without becoming edgy and irritable. Scientists believe one ancient community in Russia managed to get through times of stringent fasting by hibernating like bears!  They would sleep all day and get up to have a drink of water and a bit of bread before going back to bed. That is one way of lasting through a stringent fast! NOTE: Fasting is something that should only be done with your doctor's permission, as everyone has different physical needs.
4. Foraging Wild Foods - For many centuries, people collected wild foods. While there are some foods, like mushrooms, that you need to be very careful about foraging, there are many wild foods that can be easily foraged. Note: This is not advisable in highly populated areas due to toxins from vehicle exhaust etc. An updated version of urban foraging that might have fewer risks is popping into your local food bank. Some foodbanks now even offer an option where you can order your free groceries online to save time. Closely related to food foraging is checking store markdown racks for low-cost foods like this half-priced guava I bought the other day.

   

   Grocery Stores Offer Discount Foods
   

   
    There is a new app called FlashFoods that lets you reserve markdown foods from some grocery stores too. Couponing, using points plans, cashback bank cards, and rebates to get free food are also updated versions of food foraging.
5. Communal Cooking - In many societies cooking was not done by individuals in separate homes. All food was prepared and eaten in one central spot unless someone was too ill to eat with other people. This is a great way to reduce food waste. Have you ever had to buy a large container of spice to get the small amount you needed, then had the ingredient go stale before you could use it up? Community kitchens started making a comeback, then the Covid pandemic hit and that option bit the biscuit. Perhaps they will start making a comeback. Another way communities are coming together to reduce grocery bills is by starting cooperative grocery stores where members put in sweat equity stocking shelves etc. This helps keep food costs lower by cutting overhead. Another version of community food gathering and cooking is the Good Food Boxes offered by Health Units or organizations like the YWCA or Salvation Army. Each person pays about $20 at the beginning of the month, and then a team of shoppers assembles boxes of groceries that are supposed to container groceries worth about twice that price. 

About This Author

Sister Su is grateful to God for keeping her alive. She is a Trent/Queen's Concurrent Education graduate with over 20 years of teaching experience. She writes on several blogs, has a YouTube channel and is most easily reached through Twitter @Sister_Su See her link tree for more details:@Sister_Su | Linktree

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