When you think about it, your food budget is the probably the most flexible area to improve on of your household budget overall.
Therefore planning your grocery list will free up a significant amount of money if you need to balance the budget with the ever rising cost of living.
The first thing:
Stop eating out!
Period!
Cook at home so you know exactly what’s going in your food and eliminate those pesky food delivery fees.
If your family is absolutely screaming out for take-away or to head to a restaurant then sure, take them once a month. Make it an occasion.
Your family will appreciate a dinner out much more when it’s not such a regular event.
Consider it “quality time out”.
And, remember to look always look for coupons for local restaurants for additional savings.
So by minimizing the use of convenience foods – you can make it yourself for a fraction of the cost, give it a try and explore in the kitchen!
Many of us are so accustomed to convenience foods that we forget that with a few short steps we can make it even better ourselves.
You’ll find substitute recipes for everything from baking mixes to shake and bake and salad dressing. All it takes is a little extra time and meal prep but you will reap the rewards and have left overs.
Even if you had to pay yourself for doing the cooking you would come out ahead.
Do your homework! – Know what’s on sale and plan your menu around the weekly sales flyers. Investing a little extra time in planning will help maximize grocery savings and reduce the food budget!
Eat meatless meals at least twice a week. – Beans and rice are a good example.
Egg dishes are a nice change in routine for dinner.
Try a vegetable stir-fry or casserole and flavour it with 100% natural seasoning mix blends.
Don’t use packaged mixes. – Cake, breads, muffins, pastry, pizza dough, pancake, and waffles all come in a variety of pre-packaged mixes.
Make your own for not much more effort and a lot less money!
Build your coupon file! – It seems coupons are available everywhere now.
Your newspaper is a great starting point. Download the Honey extension on your desktop.
Pay careful attention when looking through magazines. Discount coupons are easy to miss but they are everywhere.
You can often find coupons in home, women, or cooking magazines.
Give it a try, you’ll be pleasantly surprised!