Saving money takes an enormous amount of forethought, but it’s not impossible!
During holiday times, a lot of families begin to tighten their spending so they don’t experience any financial hardships. These kinds of things can cause a lot of stress for people who are trying to raise their family in peace, but it doesn’t take that much to shave some cash off your food bills.
The following article will give you a few tips on how to feed a big family on a budget.
Make a Plan
The first step towards achieving your money saving goals would be to have a plan. This should be two-fold – a household budget, so you know how much you can reasonably spend on food, and then a meal plan so you know what to buy.
Planning your meals allows you to be able to calculate the costs of everything. Once you know how much it costs, you decided which ingredients are essential, and those that can be left out.
Now that you have a plan, you can also do your shopping accordingly. It might also be a good time to find out when you’re going to use that old can of chickpeas that’s been lurking in the cupboard since forever!
Buy in Bulk When Possible
When you buy in bulk, there’s usually a reduced price for the items.
If the item is perishable, but also easily frozen without ruining it, then you can divide the food up so that it can be cooked more easily, and according to portions so you only make what you need.
Get It All in One Trip
One of the things that a lot of people forget about shopping is that there is a total cost of shopping that comes as a direct result of what it takes to get there.
If you make sure to get all of the things you need in one trip, then you’ll spend less money on petrol or bus fares as opposed to several small trips each week.
You’ll also be less tempted to buy ‘extras’ if you don’t spend so much time in the supermarket.
Buy Food to Go with Ingredients You Already Have
Basically everyone has things around their house that they simply refuse to eat. Especially if there are kids in the house, right?!
Instead of letting it continue to sit there, try getting some ingredients that you can put with it so it can become a meal. This is where meal planning comes in handy.
This is a useful website that lets you search recipes according to the ingredients you have at home.
You can also research ways to hide or modify the foods that the kids won’t eat – perhaps by blending in a soup or using some different flavourings.
The less food you waste, the more money you will have.
Put Away Your Plastic
When you use cash to pay for food, it’s a lot easier to keep track of how much money is actually going out. The convenience of paying by credit card can make you feel less attachment to the money you make.
Getting cash cuts spending back a bit.