Planning Budget Friendly Meals
It’s no secret that American families are taking a hard look at their finances today and making changes to their lifestyles. More and more families are gathering around the dinner table, brown-bagging it to work and eating meals prepared at home. This has been a challenging shift in habit for many of us. But while it’s so easy to pick up a prepared meal from the store or go out to eat when you haven’t thought about what to cook for dinner, the reality is that it is much less expensive to prepare meals and eat at home.
So how can you ensure your budget friendly, at-home meals are still exciting and tasty?
- Have a plan. Having a plan will save time and make meal preparation so much easier! Spend a half hour once a week and make a list of what meals you are going to make for the next week. Once you do that, everything else – from shopping, stocking your pantry and making your meals – will fall into place.
- Make a shopping list and stick to it. As you plan your meals, jot down what you will need. Organize your list by category, based on how your grocery store is set up. It will save time once you get to the store and sticking to only what is on your list will keep your food dollars down.
- Take advantage of sales. As you make your plan, go through your local store ads to see what is on sale. If chicken thighs are “buy one get one free,” find a way to work them into your weekly meal plan. If you don’t use both packages, the extra can be frozen for use sometime in the next couple of weeks.
- Start a binder of favorite recipes. These may be old favorites from your mom or aunt, a recipe from a friend, or something you cut out of the newspaper or found online. Many websites now have recipe boxes that you can register for and set up your own folder of favorites. The more you do this, the more recipes you will collect, and more you will have to choose from when planning your weekly meals.
- Stock your pantry with useful staples. Keep ingredients on hand that can help with meal preparation. Examples are broth, canned beans, tomatoes and vegetables, canned fish, quick cooking grains like couscous, rice, oats, and condiments like mustard, mayonnaise, soy sauce and a variety of herbs and spices. Your list will vary, but these are a great start and it’s good to stock up on these when they are on sale.
- Keep a running list of staple items that you need to restock. We all keep a pantry with staple items that we use over and over, and the more you cook at home, the faster you will run out. One of the most frustrating things that can happen is to be out of something like mayonnaise or mustard and realize you needed it for the meal you are preparing that night. My husband and I keep a list on the side of our refrigerator and add to it throughout the week.
For more information on building your healthy, budget-friendly pantry or setting up a recipe box with Del Monte Foods recipes, Click here
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