How To Cook For Your Family On A Budget*

It can sometimes feel like a challenge to feed your family on a budget and healthily, however, with a little bit of planning it is possible. Meal planning is the key, it lays the groundwork for saving the pennies as well as making sure you are making good choices. If you plan your meals, you are less likely to overspend. You are also more likely to cook if you plan to.

If you are looking for ways you can cook healthy meals for your family on a budget have a look below:

Include Staple Meals

You should always plan to cook at least one meal that you have cooked before. There is no need to reinvent every meal, every family needs a few favourites on their list. Especially when it comes to finding healthy meals that the kids love too. So, if you have a few meals that you know your kids will gobble up such as the crockpot sausage recipe at Whole Lotta Yum add them to your list each week or every other week. This way you will likely always have parts of the recipe in your cupboard.

Plan Around Your Pantry

This brings us on to your pantry. You can save a lot if you plan your shop around your pantry. Before you create your list for your weekly shop look through your cupboards and see if there is anything that is just, missing a few ingredients. Many families have jars, spices, sauces, pasta, and grains in their cupboard and they never get used. The cost of ingredients can add up quickly so you can save a large chunk by using your pantry items up before you buy new.

Plan Your Meals By Date Of Expiration

Ever get to an item you bought in the shopping to find it has gone past its expiration date? You’re not alone, this is one of the most common ways that families waste money on their food shopping. It’s also one of the reasons families end up ordering fast food or eating processed foods more often than fresh. If you want to make sure you make use of all the fresh, healthy foods that you but make sure you plan your meals around the expiration dates. This way you are less likely to have wasted veggies, fruit, and meat. If you notice something that is going to expire you could also consider batch cooking and freezing meals that are easy to grab.

Use Meal Cards

This one is fantastic if you have fussy eaters. When you find a meal that the whole family enjoys write it down on a meal card. Make sure each of the meals comes under a certain price (depending on your budget) and then bring the meal cards out before a shop and ask your family to choose one meal each. Because you have capped the cost of each meal and they are already family favourites you can guarantee that everyone will eat a healthy meal and you will stay under budget.

These four tips should help you to get on the right track to eating well and sticking to a budget. Do you have any other tips that could help? Please share them in the comments below.