The challenge we all face daily

Every day we face the same challenge – feeding our families well on a tight budget.  We all know how hard that can be (am I the only one who had to crack open my daughter’s piggy bank to buy milk at the end of the week?  Didn’t think so).  So what’s the solution?  If feeding your family GOOD food is a concern then convenience foods are out of the question.  Manufacturers make convenience food cheap only one way – cheap ingredients laced with additives to enhance the flavor of the cheap ingredients!  But kids like that stuff, right?!  So the goal is good quality food that kids will eat – but that is cheap, easy to make, and nutritious at the same time.  Impossible?  Not at all!  Read on for some kid tested tips and great ideas that won’t sink your budget!

The basics of feeding a family on a budget

There are several strategies that can get you closer to your goal – use one or all!  The more of them you use the more you will save!

#1 - Cook meals from scratch

I once told a lady in a grocery store (as I grabbed a boxed cake mix from the shelf) that cooking from scratch for me meant scratching the box to get it open!  The lady laughed, my kids groaned, my mind went back to the days when I really did cook from scratch.  My mouth watered as I remembered the simple yet tasty meals I prepared.  I kept a lot of homemade snacks around for the kids, and they always had a friend or two in tow when they asked for one!  My house was the most popular stop in the neighborhood for the kids at snack time!

So how had I done it?  I had no more or less time than I do now.  I had fallen into the convenience food trap.  Let’s face it – ready made meals are garbage.  Sure they are fast and easy to get on the table – but so is a handful of weeds you pull from your yard – yet you wouldn’t feed you kids THAT would you?  NO!  Because it isn’t good for them!  Neither is processed food!

Leave the processed food and ready-made meals rotting on the grocery store shelves where they belong!  We have to realize that cheapest isn’t always best.  It may seem like the cheapest option but when you look at the labels, you'll find you're getting more chemicals for you money than anything else!  You really aren't getting good value for money.   Even when you do get “beef” or “chicken” the parts of the animal they use to supply that are not anything you would feed your family on purpose!

So if quality is a concern than processed food is not cheap at all.  It is a mirage!  When they say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day for you child they don’t mean pop tarts!  There is a very well documented, long established link between what you feed your children and how well they perform in school!  You can’t run a brain without good fuel!  We all want to feed our families good food so they can excel at school and at play but to do this you need to ditch processed food and get cooking!

‘Nuff said!

#2 - Plan meals and leftovers ahead

If you have a list of at least twenty meals your family loves than you can shop armed with the knowledge that, no matter what you find you can make your family happy!  If you also arm yourself with a good list of the sales that week you can plan ahead to take advantage of those items – and save a ton!  I also use coupons.  Between the two of them I can afford to feed my family good food well below convenience or fast food costs!  But to do that you have to plan!  I guarantee you that one hour spent looking at grocery sales and ordering or cutting out coupons will make you MANY times your normal hourly wage in returns.

I have always had a pantry and a chest freezer to store extra items.  I can’t tell you how many times we have had a bad month and those two have saved us!  So if you are going through a lean time check your pantry, your cupboards, and your freezer.  Is there anything in there you forgot about that you could make?  I would sometimes have what I called a “crazy quilt meal” which consisted of bits of whatever we had on hand.  They were usually things that did not traditionally go together but I presented it in a fun way and the kids loved it!

It was the same way with “leftover day.”  We would warm everything up and set it on the counter “buffet style” and have our own fast!

#3 - Use a price book

This is a very useful tool.  When something goes on sale it may not really be a good sale.  If you jot down what you usually spend on something you will know whether to stock up or just buy for the week.  A price book is simple to set up, yet it does take a bit of time.  I guarantee you it will be worth its weight it gold when you are through though!  You know what they say, Knowledge is power – and in this case – knowledge is money saved!

#4 - Try Batch Cooking

Let’s see, it is called “once A Month Cooking,” “Batch cooking,” ”Freezer finds,” “Frozen Assets,”  call it what you will – but it is a fantastic way to cook now matter what!  The premise is very simple; make at least one additional meal to be eaten at a later date with the one you are making now.  So you can make a double batch – or a months worth at a time – it’s that simple!  If you make “planned leftovers” and freeze them, one each day for a week, you have one weeks worth of meals – and you get a week off from cooking dinner!!

#5 - Avoid wasting food

If you have made anywhere from a little to a lot of extra food – it is a good thing!  Don't throw it away or give it to the dog!  Most foods will keep for up to 4 days in the fridge (not fish or seafood though!) and can be used again (think “leftover Buffet day”).  Keep any extra food in Tupperware container in the fridge – and keep away from any raw meats or eggs.

If you only have a small amount of food left, say enough for one person to have a serving of each item get a Tupperware divided dish and make up a plate.  Then freeze it for an instant “TV dinner” later in the week – or take it to work for lunch!

Make sure you heat leftovers in the microwave until they are hot all the way to the center – and don’t reheat more than once!