- Make more meatless dishes. If you are like the accountant and don't want to do without, use meat as flavor enhancers rather than the main course. Add chopped meat to pasta, omelettes, rice, salads and stew. You will have fantastic flavor and cut down on your grocery bill. I can cook one whole organic five pound chicken fryer and get three meals and chicken stock out of it.
- I have found a well stocked pantry of rice, quinoa, beans (cooked and frozen or canned), pasta, jarred spaghetti sauce, onions, and garlic provides for a quick easy effortless meal when I am in a pinch. When I don't feel like cooking and am tempted to spend money I shouldn't on a pizza or teriyaki I use one of my fall back foods: beans and rice enchiladas or brown rice pasta and jarred spaghetti sauce.
- Another way to save is limit your grocery store trips. It's those "little" items and multiple trips that increase your grocery bill. I make a conscious effort to just make do and substitute in recipes.
- This past year I have made an effort to stock up on fruits and veggies in season then blanch and freeze them or can.
- I am new to meal planning. It seems to take time to perfect but as I having to figure out how to do it, I am finding that I am making better use of what I have and decreasing my food bill. Here is what I have discovered. Count up how many dinners, lunches and breakfasts you and family will be eating at home or packing, Cross reference your pantry with what's on sale at the grocery store and plan your recipes from there.
In my pursuit of living more frugally I have checked quite a few books out from the library. Here are some I recommend on saving money:
365 Ways to Live Cheap: Your Everyday Guide to Saving Money
I highly recommend using your local public library to check out these books!
No comments:
Post a Comment