Five Amish Money-Saving Tips (Food & More)
With inflation and the cost of things like food having gone up a ton in the past year or two, I decided to put together a few money-saving tips practiced by the Amish.
Three of these have to do with saving on food bills, and two of them are for general money-saving (tips & video below).
Are these completely revolutionary, reinventing-the-wheel ideas? Drumroll…no, they’re not.
But based on some of the YouTube commenters’ responses, there might be a couple things you hadn’t tried before. In a nutshell, here they are:
1. Shopping at Bent ‘n’ Dent stores
Also known as salvage stores, discount groceries, “banana box” stores. A great way to pay half-price or better,
So the first one would be shopping at bent and dent stores. Contrary to some belief, the Amish are not self-sufficient. They don’t grow all their own food. They definitely have to buy things from stores.
They will frequently patronize bent-and-dent stores. These are also known as salvage stores, discount grocery stores, banana box stores.
If you’re not aware, these are basically stores which sell food and other products that may be in damaged packages – or a discontinued product – or the food may actually even be close to, or past, the expiration date.
And because of this, you can get things at really good discounts. You may be paying half price or better for the food. You may be paying even 80% off. As long as you’re not too picky about damaged packaging or expiration dates.
Especially for certain products. I like to pick up things like nuts and trail mix, drinks, other things that are going to have a long shelf life. And you can be more confident about eating them past the expiration date.
So these stores are naturally popular among the Amish. And Amish often run these stores themselves (though non-Amish certainly run them as well). If you saw my video on taking Amish friends shopping, this is the first kind of place we stopped at on that trip.
So you may very well may find one of these in your area. It can also be a lot of fun to see what surprising products and great deals you can find.
2. Simple clothing
Amish don’t spend a lot of time chasing fads or deciding what to wear each day. Simple, durable, long-lasting clothing saves money in more than one way.
They have a pretty standard style and type of plain clothing that they wear. Sometimes these clothes are bought off the rack, like shirts for men.

More often, the mother of the home, or daughters of the house will make dresses, trousers, those sorts of things. This has got a double benefit because generally, the clothes are pretty inexpensive themselves.
But the other thing is that if time is money, you’re saving time both in choosing what to wear every day (which some people can spend a lot of time doing), and also in the shopping part.
Amish people are not spending a lot of time in stores searching for stylish clothing. Now Amish will certainly spend money on things like good pairs of boots, shoes that they’re gonna get a lot of use out of.
And you can certainly buy nicer fabrics. They appreciate value and quality and will pay for it, which can be a sort of economy in itself in the long run. And in wealthier Amish communities, they will spend more money on clothing in some cases.
But generally, this is an area where Amish are definitely saving money compared to non-Amish people.
3. Buying in bulk
Amish buy in bulk both at bulk food stores (common in Amish communities) and at large supermarkets like Costco. Good for larger families of course – and for items that will keep for awhile.
Just like bent-and-dent stores, bulk food stores are very popular businesses in Amish communities, often run by Amish people.

This is where you can buy things like a huge bag of flour or sugar, or large amounts of baking supplies and so forth. Amish will also shop at large supermarkets like Costco and Walmart.
And this is really a natural fit for the Amish because with their large families, the food is going to be eaten and not wasted.
It’s maybe not the best choice for smaller families, and single people, but buying in bulk, especially for some items that have longer shelf lives, can be a smart strategy.
4. Reusing & Repairing
Repairing things like shoes and a host of other home and work items, rather than discarding them, flies in the face of our “disposable” culture. But this can often be the more economical option.
Since the Amish are generally not as consumer or consumption-oriented as non Amish Americans, part of that is practicality.
It’s not as easy to just go to the store when you’re a horse-and-buggy people. So you tend to just, even by default, rely more on repairing things, rather than throwing them away and buying something new.
Back to shoes – shoe repair, for instance, is something you’ll see in Amish communities. And a lot of times, this is out of necessity.
Another one would be the Maytag Ringer Washers. Amish will find these old washers and fix them up for use. There’s definitely a market for these old washers in Amish communities.
Another place this comes into play is, of course, hand-me-downs. That, of course, fits well again with the large Amish families.
On the whole, with the Amish, you’ll find more of a mentality of not throwing something away – but rather finding a way to repair or reuse it.
But there’s also a clear focus on not being wasteful. That’s a pretty deep value that you find among the Amish.
5. Gardening & Canning
Nearly every Amish home has a garden of some size. Amish can not only veggies, but fruits – and even meat. A great way to cut down on the cost of produce – and a good family activity to boot.
Amish tend to have large gardens, and likewise, they tend to do large amounts of canning.
In some communities, this can be even up to a 1000 quarts per year, as the authors of the book Nature and the Environment in Amish Life discovered in a study.

So the Amish will, of course, can typical garden vegetables, like green beans, beets, corn, carrots, pickles, and so on. They will also can fruits. They typically tend to buy the fruits. I’ve gone along with Amish friends where we’ve gone to a peach orchard, and she bought some peaches for canning.
That’s because, unlike gardens, they don’t all have peach trees or fruit trees on their property. So that’s when they’ll tend to buy the product and then can it.
And they’ll even can meat from butchering a hog in the autumn, or meat from hunting deer – venison. Some of that, they’ll also preserve in the form of jerky.
But back to the book I just mentioned – the authors note that canning is the cheapest, most effective way to preserve a large supply of a perishable resource.
And that makes sense if you think about canning something that can sit in a can for months months – versus freezing that meat. It takes all that energy to run the freezer for all that time.
So you can see why canning would be a much more practical way of preserving food, and why it would appeal to the Amish. So if you do have access to land where you can have a garden of size, and can learn to can, that’s another great option for saving money.
You can benefit – even if you’re not Amish

It should be said: we cannot copy the Amish in everything that they do. It’s a different culture and different community. They have large families and other built-in advantages.
But I still believe you can take certain ideas from the Amish that make sense for them. Those same ideas, even on a smaller scale, can make sense for non-Amish people as well.
Let me know what was your favorite tip – or do you have other tips that you’ve noticed among the Amish that might be useful for people? Share that with us in the comments.
For more, see:
- 4 Reasons Why Amish Stay Healthy in Old Age
- Inside an Amish “Bent-n-Dent” Grocery Store
- 5 Places Where Amish Buy Things
- What do the Amish eat?
- A Visit to BB’s Grocery Outlet (Quarryville, PA)
- Inside Country Corner Bulk Foods – Mio, Michigan (12 Photos)
- Amish Jobs: Six Ways The Amish Make Money


Bulk buying
I definitely see the advantages of buying in bulk, but the apartment we live in just doesn’t have the space for storing bulk goods, ditto canning, which I have often wanted to do, but we just don’t have the room. Amish houses and sheds and cellars allow for storage, but we urbanites are limited. I agree there is a lot we non Amish can learn and apply from our Plain friends.
Response to bulk buying
I don’t live rurally but I do know how to do make a lot of room for for some bulk food purchases which I have learned – learn to do with less – don’t need 20 different appliances to do what a stove and oven can do that includes using a stove top coffee perculator rather than a drip or single cup espresso/cappa/joe system, learn to use a dehydrator and a food mandolin because that dehydrated food can be put into air tight jars or food seal packages to be rehdryated and used later for all sorts of meals. Cook from scratch – convenience foods are not worth the expense. There are small survival food packages that can be purchased and stored fairly easily in an apartment how – those upper shelves above the clothing poles put them there, don’t need more clothes than what you can wear in 1 week for any purpose, no stuffing, no tripple and quad purchases of same items. No eating out, eat in, do picnics, food rotation, learn new recipes, have friends over to eat, it can be done. I also co-op with family and friends for bulk purchasing so we share the cost and keep it lower by sharing goods bought. I also make portioned sized meat, poultry, fish, etc. cuts – no need for big bulky freezer stuff or precooked heat in the micro stuff. Just what is needed for the meals 2 or 3 is enough, cut out the bad snacks stuffed that many family stuff and there will be room, cut out the soda pops and learn to drink water or flavored water. Learn to keep the lights off when not needed and use the sunlight. Use laundry systems or dishwashers only when it’s the lower cost of electric time to run. Learn to resuse bottles and containers to hold items in like leftovers or cut up fresh veggies that need cold water. My fridge is not filled with junk foods, I have basic foods in there that are rotated and used up before they go bad, I have learned to enjoy simple things like long walks, going to the park and packing a morning breakfast or lunch including a beverage, not having a bunch of gadgets for cleaning the floors or rugs – they take up room, don’t need bunches of towels or sheet sets and blankets a simple low basic amount will do. Don’t need bottles and bottles of supplements to take that cost high dollars – just a real good vitamin and mineral tab plus a pro digestive aid should do well and no stacking up lots of otr pain meds, alot go bad before getting used up, learn to use other methods to deal with pain like breath work, stretching, regular exercise, simple massage. There are a lot of ways to work at being frugal, I know by experience less is more….. see what ways you can pare down on “stuff” you just don’t need that’s why even people with houses have storage facilities to store their “stuff” in because of no room why? Cant take it with you and it will be forgotten in a few months – let it go. If you take your food plate because you watch tv at the same time and don’t use the kitchen or dining table, why have it, turn that area into something useful like shelves on stands that can store needed and necessary items. Folding tables and folding chairs can be used in a living room to set up for eating if necessary provided it is not overcrowed with oversized or too much furniture. Think spartan, minimal, just the basics. Learn to donate items on a regular basis to local thrift stores or hold community garage sales to make some money and give up stuff not used. It is a mindset of being a good steward of financial matters so that if there is real need, like with a family crisis, it can be there to help temporarily.
I realize urban living is terrible. (Getting to the country should be a priority to anyone who is able. Seriously if at all possible seek a way out!)
However one can get creative. Example that comes to mind is I had a purple mattress bed frame it was higher than normal and I could put cases of food under it. (Or get rid of the frame entirely and sleep directly on your food supply though than rotating becomes more of a chore and depending on mattress/ back.. might be uncomfortable.
But there are ways to be creative. I’d recommend taking it to the Lord in prayer than seeing if you can find inspiration for space/money saving ways to be able to do bulk.
Hording makes you a target. But six months rotating rations is a smart way to live. Start slowly build up & maintain.
Living frugal
Living frugal has always been a pleasant challenge for me, yet i do not live thrifty to the point that it hurts. The children have summer clothes and winter clothes and enough blankets to be warm in the winter. I allow for a weekly snack day of chips and dip. Our meals are home cooked, basic and nutritious. I do wish to learn canning, but find the starter-up cost to be expensive and unnecessary without a veggie garden. I appreciate articles that give new ideas for budgeting and being frugal while enjoying a occasional splurge. Great job, Eric
Amish life
Amazing people.
Shoes
I found just the right shoes for dress and work, buy multiples when on sale: all the same color/size/design. If a shoe is damaged a twin replaces it. Well worn shoes are gradually demoted from best to gardening.
New discount store in Middletown, Missouri
Hello Eric! There’s a new discount store in Middletown,MO. They have some very good bargains. The store is very clean, well organized and the staff are more than friendly. Prices are pretty good too. For example: 15# smoked bacon for $27 and cheese for $2 a pound. One gallon of raw honey for $42. Hilty’s Bee Yards and Discount Foods. 608 State Hwy A. Middletown, MO. 573-470-7757. They are still listed in Bowling Green,MO but moved from there and opened this store in July, 2023. There are 13 families currently in Middletown that broke away from Bowling Green. Just down the street about 1 mile is Hilltop Variety Store. Also a very nice store. maybe you can visit them one day!!
Thanks for sharing this Connie, sounds great!
Was a everyday life for me.
Being born and raised in the Appalachians in North Georgia these tips are like coming home to the real world of a teenager in the late forties and fifties. No mention of making other corn products and hunting and fishing.