Whether the current economic downturn has hit you or not, you have to be worried about the effect it’s going to have on you. As friends and family members around me are losing their jobs, I start to worry about what I would do in the same case. At no point in time have I ever thought that it was more important to save as much money as I can. I feel like every dollar I can dollar I can sock away is one more dollar that I will be able to use if our family encounters an emergency.
While looking over my family’s budget, I noticed that we do a pretty good job keeping our food expenditures down. That savings, however, isn’t accomplished without a lot of effort. We use a lot of different methods to keep the family fed without spending more than we have to spend. A few things that have worked for us are…
Keep dining out to a minimum. I don’t want to say that we never eat out. We don’t do it a lot, though. Eating at a restaurant, even a cheap restaurant, is always more expensive than eating a meal at home. So, unless we’re celebrating a special occasion, we don’t eat out.
Give leftovers a second (or third) chance at the table. Leftover hamburger from last night’s taco night is great for using with today’s Hamburger Helper recipe. Likewise, leftover lasagna heats up wonderfully in the microwave for a lunch that you’ll look forward to. Saving money on your groceries means getting the most out of the items that you buy, so make every scrap of food count.
Stock up on your favorite groceries when they’re on sale. If pasta is a staple in your home, you know you’re going to be buying many jars of your favorite sauce over the next year. You can enjoy deep discounts on items like these, though, if you buy lots of them when they’re on sale at your local grocery store. Any item that is shelf-stable is perfect for buying in large quantities and storing for future use.
Purchase meat in large portions. Although it doesn’t always make sense, meat usually gets cheaper when you’re buying bigger packages. (I don’t understand it, since it all came from the same cow or chicken, but go figure.) If you’ve got enough freezer space to store it, you can buy these large packages even if you don’t need it all right away. When you bring it home from the store, split it up into more user-friendly containers and place them into the freezer. They’ll be there waiting when your next recipe calls for them.
Plan your meals out ahead of time. Not knowing what to fix for dinner on any given night will only lead to your making unwise grocery purchases or defaulting to going out to eat. If you plan your meals, though, you can take advantage of grocery items that are featured in that week’s sales ads.
