Freeze like a Finn and save on groceries—Pirjo shares her tips

“As a child, I got to taste foods at my parents’ village store. We kids measured sugar into bags, and I learned different measurements early on. At the same time, I learned what food costs, and I’ve always paid close attention to price per kilo. A big package isn’t necessarily the cheapest option.”

I favor seasonal produce. In autumn, I buy affordable root vegetables, chop them, blanch them for a couple of minutes, and then freeze them. Some vegetables, like zucchini, I also purée because that way they take far less space. Having purée on hand makes it easy to whip up soup, for instance.

birch sap, spruce tips, juniper berries, mushrooms, blueberries, wild strawberries, and wild herbs. I pick all of them by hand.

I make the most of Mother Nature’s corner store. You can make a lovely salad dressing from herbs by chopping them and mixing with oil, apple cider vinegar, honey, and spices. I freeze any extra dressing in ice cube trays.

I also bag smoothie mixes from herbs, berries, and overripe bananas. I make a big batch of vegetable purée soup or cabbage rolls, eat it for a couple of days, and freeze the rest.

At home I have one upright freezer. I pick most of my berries in Lappajärvi, where I’m from. In my late parents’ empty house, there’s a chest freezer where I store the berries. I bring them home in an insulated cooler bag, a little at a time.

I compare products in grocery apps. Special offers often mean I go to the store several times a week. Different grocery chains are all within walking distance of my home.

I keep especially close track of fruit and vegetable prices, because I use so many. A good deal on avocados will send me to the store. I also dash out for vendace, pike-perch, and perch fillets when they’re on offer. On those days, it’s best to get there early, because a line forms at the fish counter fast.

I haven’t set a formal food budget, but I have limits in mind that I won’t go over. For fish, the limit is a bit higher. If I’m craving pike-perch, I’m happy to buy locally caught.

Our food costs were highest when our son was a teenager. A friend’s son also lived with us for a year because his home was so far from school that otherwise he would have had to move into a rental.

We had just finished our detached house and had lots of guests, so I baked and cooked constantly. I whipped up a hundred traditional Karelian pasties at once, and the rice filling also made one of the day’s meals.

My son died at 17 in a traffic accident. Suddenly, there was an empty place at the table.

I had thought that, since we lost our son, my husband and I would get to live together for a long time. It didn’t turn out that way—I was widowed in 2011.

Food is only one way to save, but a significant one. Everyday choices add up over the years. Thanks to my savings, I was able to buy myself a corner apartment on the eighth floor.

For the first time, I also bought a car. My husband was the expert on cars, but now I decided to learn and bought an electric Mercedes. I give friends rides in it, and sometimes they thank me with cranberries for the freezer.”