Saving Money On Food
If your family is anything like mine, then you spend way too much money on food. You try to budget things, but somehow you end up at the store several times a week, needing to pick up just one last thing. These trips add up and eventually you get to the end of the month wondering where all your money has gone. Well, here are four tips on saving money on food.
- Cut it out – The little things add up. Things like your morning cup of coffee at the Starbucks or your candy bar at the office. If you can cut out the small things that you don’t really need, you will find they add up. Things like soda at home are a luxury, not a necessity. If you can take a healthy snack to work, like fresh fruit, and make your own thermos of coffee in the morning, you will save money and calories. If you change your kid’s drinks from soda and juice to iced tea and water, you will save them calories and trips to the dentist. Just a thought.
Plan ahead – This is such a simple but important idea. By making a grocery list and planning your meals for the week before you get to the store, you can save yourself a lot of time and frustration. You can even look and see what is on sale to plan your meals around. Not only will you save money, but you have saved yourself the headache of figuring out what to make for dinner every day.- EAT – Eat it Again Tomorrow. Leftovers for lunch may sound yucky after you have just eaten, but they are great once you are starving at work. Don’t let food go to waste. Better than that, make double portions and freeze half. You put the same effort into cooking and get twice the results! Then, later on, you have a meal ready to pop into the oven. A healthy meal instead of frozen food.
- Experiment – Yes, I know cooking your own meals can be boring and repetitive, so liven it up! Find new recipes and cultural dishes you’ve never had. Have fun personalizing recipes to your family’s tastes. You family will appreciate the variety and you’ll have fun making something new every day.
Just by following these four simple tips you can save hundreds of dollars a month. They are not hard and they do not cost you anything besides a few seconds of your time. Best of all, you will eat healthier food because of it. Now, doesn’t that sound like a smart idea?
Editor’s Note:
If you have a microwave at work taking leftovers rather than going out to eat is a great idea. Otherwise packing a sandwich will have to do. Eating out just one lunch a week can easily cost you $500 a year. When eating at home remember the more processed/prepared the food you buy the more expensive and the less nutritious it will be. For instance dried navy beans are the cheapest, Bush’s Baked beans in a can are about 10 times more. Another example, individually packaged microwaveable oatmeal costs about 50-100% more than plain oatmeal in the canister. Frozen diners often cost 3 times as much as the individual components, etc. But even frozen dinners are a bargain compared to eating in a restaurant. Tim McMahon~editor
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