Trying to Save Money on Food

Wow, things have been really crazy here lately. I was offered a big on site contract with a client, and just finished it up. Of course due to a short deadline and having to be on site, my other projects got put on hold…

But, it was finished by deadline and hopefully things will go back to normal quickly! Of course, with the lack of steady employment, we are still trying to save money here. Now, we didn’t do a lot of extras before. Now, though, I am trying to teach my child to be a little more money-conscious and trying to stay the same way, just in case.

Not running around in a constant state of crisis has helped tremendously. I have more time, so this means I actually get to plan things now. Simple things, like making a grocery list, having time to go to the grocery store when I should .This is opposed to having no time to go until we were literally out of food before, then trying to cram a trip in on our way home in the evenings – these were always unplanned, and I would spend about $100 per trip to get home and decide that I didn’t have any food that went together in any kind of way to make a meal! So that always resulted in one of two things: 1.) another disastrous unplanned trip, with the same result, or 2.) several trips to get things like a gallon of milk or a loaf of bread. Each of these mini trips cost at least $30, as I would dash through the store and see all the wonderful things I forgot on my first 3 trips….

Anyway, you get the idea. Just making a list is a huge help and huge money saver. Before, I was just to rushed to ever make one. Now, not only do we actually have food we can eat, we have saved ourselves the trouble of going to the store 3 times a week, wasting money each time.

As an added bonus, I have put my kid to work on this, too. She helps plan the week’s meals, and helps actually check the cabinets and fridge for ingredients that we need to add to our handy list. So, she gets to eat food she likes, she helps me out, I save money, and I don’t drag a whiny child around the store when she would rather be playing. This is a winning idea all the way around!

P.S. We also were not very good cooks before:) If you are looking for cheap, simple recipes, take some time to check out Cheap Eats or www.cheapcooking.com. Still need ideas? Just google “cheap cooking” or “cheap food recipes”. Could be well worth your time. Oh, and my last tip for the day : Never, ever, ever go to the grocery store on an empty stomach.