I Used the Japanese Method of “Mottainai” to Lower My Grocery Bill — and Saved $127 in a Single Week

I know that I’ve become truly boring when I find a certain thrill in changing the way I shop for groceries. But as a fifth-generation Japanese American, I’ve been relishing the opportunity to rediscover traditional cultural practices and enjoy the timeless benefits they bring to my life. Those benefits occasionally extend beyond the emotional to the practical, as was the case with my recent experiment with the Japanese practice of mottainai.

Mottainai, which can be approximately translated as “what a waste” or “too good to waste,” is the Japanese ideal of respecting the intrinsic value of resources by avoiding waste. Namiko Hirasawa Chen, founder and creator of Just One Cookbook, an English-language Japanese recipe site, describes mottainai as “a way of thinking and a belief system to be more mindful of the resources that you have, consume, and share with people around the world, and to avoid being wasteful.”

While mottainai is closely aligned with sustainability, the underlying values of mindfulness and respect for resources bring mottainai above and beyond conservation for its own sake. “At school [in Japan] we were taught to use a resource as if it’s the last one, even if there’s plenty,” recalls Chen. 

Whether it was Scotch tape or running water, her parents and teachers taught her to use only what she needed to “get the job done — and no more than that.” When it came to food, Chen explains, “I was taught from a very young age that throwing away any food on my plate was a big no-no. That would be mottainai, or wasteful. We were taught to take only as much food and beverage as we could eat or drink — even water!”

Thanks to my mother’s thrifty and mindful training, I’ve always practiced mottainai to an extent, diligently saving wrapping paper and repurposing old towels as rags. When it comes to food, though, I struggle: Between a constant shortage of time and an abundance of convenient takeout options, it’s far too easy to fall into wasteful habits. 

My slapdash approach to meal planning (impulse buy produce, fail to use it in time, and order takeout) caught up with me in the form of my ballooning grocery budget. More importantly, I just did not feel good about my choices. 

Last week, I decided to experiment: I spent one week intentionally practicing mottainai with my food. I looked to Chen’s example to set my course for the week. “I write a shopping list and try to buy only what I need for the meals I plan to cook,” Chen says. “Impulse purchases often lead to food waste because I’ll buy more than my family can consume.” 

Impulse purchases cause the most waste in my household — full of ambition, I usually overestimate what I’ll be willing or able to cook in a week and buy too much produce that goes off before I can use it. For my “experiment,” I meticulously planned my purchases with items that I knew I could use in multiple ways in case my appetite changed — like eggs, frozen meat, and long-lasting produce like cabbage and green beans. I also limited myself to buying what I knew I could cook in the next couple days. 

Lastly, I aimed to use at least one item languishing in my fridge, freezer, or cupboard for every meal, as inspired by my conversation with Chen. “One thing I do often is repurpose leftover food to create a new dish,” says Chen. “This way, we don’t feel like we’re eating the same food two days in a row for dinner.” 

I was surprised to find just how many meals I was able to make with the food I already had on hand, supplemented by a few strategic trips to the grocery store. Thanks to an embarrassing amount of unused groceries, I was able to get creative with my cooking, turning leftover (long-frozen) salmon into the next day’s spicy salmon onigiri, or making a delicious fried rice with frozen peas, the last slices in a pack of bacon, and a near-immortal can of Spam. 

As I kept track of my purchases, I was amazed to find how much food I already had in my house — and mortified at just how excessively I’d been spending the week before. Groceries are still expensive, but shopping more strategically (and cooking more creatively) cut down my spending significantly.

I budget separately for takeout and dining out, which fluctuate based on my social schedule (and energy), but for the purposes of this experiment I tracked my grocery spending from my mottainai week to compare it to the week prior. In the end, I spent $127 less on groceries than the previous week. 

Ultimately, my venture into mottainai was the wakeup call I needed. Yes, the amount of money I saved was gratifying (and a little alarming), but more importantly the experiment made me acutely aware of how complacent I’d become in my grocery shopping. While inflation was certainly a factor in my bloated grocery bill, it was clear that my own ambivalence towards waste was a major contributor. 

This past week, as I shopped and cooked, chopped and reheated, I thought about my own family and the many generations before me that had practiced mottainai out of necessity as much as on principle. There’s a particular joy in knowing you’ve made the most out of what you have, and I’m grateful to have rediscovered a longstanding practice that’s far more valuable than the money it saves me.

This post originally appeared on Apartment Therapy. See it there: I Used the Japanese Concept of “Mottainai” to Lower My Grocery Bill — And Saved $127 in a Week