Four Carleton University graduates, residing in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, have devised an effective strategy to save money on everyday groceries while also eating healthy, home-cooked food.
Nina Tostevin, Etta Gerrits, Sophie Panton, and Taissa Cronin started living together sometime after meeting in 2022 through live music venues.
They began pooling grocery costs and sharing cooking-related chores at home, bringing their monthly food expenses down significantly.
The roommates recently shared the system they follow, the food items they mainly purchase, and how they divide their duties at home.
The roommates revealed the system that cut down their monthly food costs to $200 per person
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The four friends initially bonded over fancy cheese and weekend dinners, and when they started sharing a home, their shared love became a lifestyle choice, they told the Globe and Mail.
They tracked their expenses using the cost-sharing app Splitwise, took turns shopping for groceries, and batch-cooked meals to share throughout the week.
The roommates would maintain a whiteboard in their kitchen with a running list of groceries and meal ideas for the week. When the four spoke with the outlet, they had bagels, cream cheese, and baby carrots on the grocery column, and sausage pasta, chicken fajitas, and gnocchi soup on the other.
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Next, they would divide the duties, with each of them picking up the chore best-suited to their schedule.
“Whoever has time will pick up the groceries, someone will cook, another will act as sous-chef, and someone else will clean up after the meal,” Cronin said.
Tostevin, who owns a car, would make trips to Costco and Adonis to stock up on canned food and meat in bulk, which they have deduced is the cheapest way to buy protein. The rest would walk to Farm Boy for fresh produce whenever necessary.
“Overall, we all save money by using this system,” Cronin said.
Image credits: Splitwise
The approach has brought down their monthly food expenses to only $200 per person.
However, buying perishable food items in large quantities comes with the burden of having to cook them in time. But with four mouths to feed and a collective effort, it would usually not be a problem for the four women.
“We don’t do takeout, so we go through a lot of food and need to cook everything,” they said. “It would be impossible to do it if we weren’t all pitching in time, money, and energy.”
Tostevin and her friends would buy Greek yogurt on sale, but splurge on cheese
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Tostevin, Gerrits, Panton, and Cronin love some food more than others.
They revealed that they would primarily splurge on good cheeses such as Brie, Halloumi, or BellaVitano Merlot. They prefer to enjoy it with a chili crunch from a local shop, Piggy Market, and potato chips.
Their expenses also go up a bit when they host people, which they love to do.
They have also focused on eating more protein recently, like “everyone seems to be doing right now.”
In addition to the usual meat and seafood, they would mix protein powder into smoothies and add bone broth to their meals.
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Among the food items they purchase and eat the most are kimchi by Jongga, a leading South Korean company specializing in pickled and fermented goods. They like having it with several dishes, including a special scrambled egg preparation.
They also like to buy leeks at $2.97 per bundle for soup with carrots, rotisserie chicken, and gnocchi; and red onions at $4.99 per three-pound bag for pickling and adding to meals like fajitas or salmon and rice bowls.
Liberté’s Greek yogurt is another product they enjoy, but they would wait to buy this on sale at $2.99.
Speaking of dairy products, the roommates prefer making their own butter croissants to have with homemade lattes.
Nina Tostevin’s childhood largely influenced the money-saving food system
Nina Tostevin learned to cook from her stay-at-home father, who taught her using Julia Child’s cookbooks and Jamie Oliver’s television shows.
She grew up in a family of five, where grocery shopping, cooking, and post-meal chores were shared responsibilities, shaping how she lives as an adult.
Image credits: Nina Tostevin/LinkedIn
Her fondest memories associated with food are of summer Sundays, when her parents hosted porch dinners for friends, neighbors, and co-workers, and served cornbread salad, flank steak, pork tenderloin, and Parmigiano Reggiano cheese.
When looking for a shared living situation, finding roommates who would value homemade food and share meals was non-negotiable for Tostevin.
Image credits: Nina Tostevin/Facebook
According to Tostevin’s LinkedIn profile, she graduated in April 2024 with a Bachelor of Arts in Gender Studies, a minor in psychology, and a focus in Disability Studies.
She currently works as an events coordinator at the National Arts Center in Canada.
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