A financial advisor talked about a smart approach to ration planning

A competent approach to rationing and planning purchases will help to optimize expenses. Olga Matveeva, financial consultant of the "Package" service from X5, told Izvestia on February 3 how you can diversify your meals with benefits.

"The first important principle of organizing meals is to make a menu for several days in advance. This is useful for various reasons. First, you will save time when going to the supermarket and will not walk between the shelves thinking: what should you buy? Secondly, it is easier to monitor the quality of nutrition and adjust the diet so that the body receives a variety of necessary elements," she explained.

Also, according to her, if you properly compose a menu of dishes in which ingredients overlap, you can be sure that you will not have to throw away spoiled unused products.

The expert called the second important principle to make not one shopping list, but several. She suggested dividing all purchases into several categories. For example, products that should always be at home (water, bread, milk, eggs, and so on); long-storage products (canned goods, drinks, and so on); goods that need to be bought situationally (specific ingredients for the menu for the next few days).

"Determine a comfortable frequency of grocery shopping for each category. For example, long-lasting items can be bought once a month in bulk, thus saving money. Basic essentials to refresh as they run out, and ingredients for meals for a few days, say twice a week. If you make food shopping systematic and organized, you will be able to track your consumer habits and change them if you want to," Matveeva added.

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The third principle is that you should not neglect additional ways to benefit even from food shopping. The financial consultant advised to study the offers that exist in favorite retail chains. For example, some retailers offer to select favorite items that will be discounted when purchased. Other retailers offer loyalty programs and cashback services, thanks to which it is possible to return part of the spent amount from the purchase and spend the received points on the next trip to the store.

"Another extremely important principle is that when you bring grocery bags home, you should properly sort them out. First, vegetables and fruits are better stored in the lower part of the refrigerator, where the temperature is lower, and consequently, the products will retain their appearance and flavor longer. Secondly, meat, poultry and fish can be stored in the main compartment of the refrigerator for only a couple of days and then moved to the freezer. Thirdly, it is important to respect the neighborhood of products. Thus, all goods should be in individual packages and sorted by category," the expert said.

In addition, she drew attention to the fact that you should not put sausage and berries on the same shelf, because the products tend to absorb odors.

Earlier, on January 29, the chief physician of the European Medical Center (EMC), Rozanna Gardashnik, told Izvestia that in order to strengthen immunity in the cold season, it is especially important to follow the diet, avoid stressful situations and follow the sleep regime. According to her, it will be useful for the body to add to the diet products with a high content of vitamin C. These may include cranberries, rose hips, citrus fruits, sauerkraut and garlic.