I ran across a question on webanswers.com today as I was searching for an answer to a question of my own. This person generally asked how to make her money for food stretch to fill in her month. I have had difficulties with this in the past as I'm sure most newlyweds/new mommas have.
Meal Planning
As I mentioned in a previous post I believe in meal planning. It has really saved my family a lot of money. If we generally know what we are going to eat each month we don't purchase unneeded items.
Make a list and stick to it.
Only buy what is on your list. I have also found that if I buy a vast majority of my groceries one day a month I spend less because I am not tempted to buy junk because of multiple trips to the store. Save twenty dollars or so for the end of the month to buy essential staple items.
NEVER, NEVER, NEVER go to the grocery store hungry.
Portion Control
Another thing that has helped is only cooking what we will eat at a sitting. If I have a large bag of frozen beans I may only cook half of them and save the rest for another meal. This prevents waste and reminds us of portion control. Eating breakfast allows us to not often want more for lunch than a small snack size meal. If you do have left-overs eat them even if you have to make them into something else.
Don't buy pre-made drinks.
Make them yourself. Tea is easy: hot water, tea bags, sugar if you desire-you can customize to your liking and then refrigerate. Lemonade, and other juices I usually make from actual juice from that fruit or a concentrate found in the frozen section. Eliminate sodas-they will eventually kill you. Drink more water. Milk has mixed feelings in my household. I have read numerous studies that say you shouldn't drink milk or consume dairy over the age of 5 years and I have very mild lactose intolerance. So I drink milk when my body craves it or on cereal only. I use milk mostly to cook with. Don't buy buttermilk- mix milk with 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of vinegar and allow it to sit one minute before adding it to whatever you may cook that calls for it.
Make it if you can.
Buy staples: flour, sugar, salt, spices, baking soda, baking powder, oats, etc and mix it up. There are some really amazing recipes out there for Fake Betty Crocker Cookies and All Purpose Baking mix. Check out some of my previous posts for some recipes or follow me on Pinterest. My board America Makes Dinner is chock full of recipes. Also check out:
Avoid prepackaged meals.
They are often full of a days worth of sodium and not very filling. Make your own frozen dinners instead-It Is Possible! If you want more info on this leave me a comment.
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