vegetables—as the core of the meals you plan for the week. This way, your grocery list will naturally be full of the items already on sale that week.
Prepare meals in advance and freeze them. For many busy families—my own included—preparing a meal from scratch every single night is difficult. Evenings are often scheduled to the gills, leaving only a short window of opportunity to get a meal on the table. Our solution is simple. On the nights when we have plenty of time to prepare a meal, we partially prepare a second or third or fourth copy of that meal, bringing it to the point that it’s ready to be tossed in the oven. Then, we freeze that prepared meal (or group of meals). If an evening is going to be busy, we get the meal out the night before to allow it to thaw; then we put it in the oven as soon as we get home. Presto—a homemade meal made of inexpensive ingredients ready to go as quickly as we need it.
Prepare convenience foods in advance and freeze them. The flip side of this idea for me happens in the morning when I’ve got an appointment to make. I’m rushing around, trying to get out the door, but I also know how important it is to get a good breakfast inside of me. In the past, I would compromise and stop for some fast food, but that would really add up over time. So I began to apply the same principles as the advancemeal preparation and made myself an enormous batch of breakfast burritos in advance. Filled with beans, eggs, and salsa, they’re quite tasty—and easy to prepare, too. All I do is grab a frozen one, wrap a paper towel around it, defrost it for two minutes, cook it for another two minutes, and go! One can do the same thing with lunch burritos, sandwiches, and other similar convenience foods. It’s convenient, as healthy as you want to make it, and really inexpensive.
Chain meals together. During the summer, our grill gets a lot of use. I’m constantly grilling vegetables, chicken breasts, steaks, and other such items. Yet, if you took a look at our grill, you’d probably be shocked at the amount of food on it. Whenever I cook anything that could be used as a major ingredient in another dish, I make sure to cook plenty of it. This serves two big advantages. First, it allows us to buy that major ingredient in bulk, thus saving us money. Second, having that key ingredient already cooked and ready to go saves us time in preparing a homemade meal later. So, for example, I might take advantage of a “buy two, get one free” deal on chicken breasts at our preferred grocery store and then cook them all at once, saving the cooked breasts for other dishes (like chicken soup or chicken stew or a salad).
Don’t fear leftovers. Every second or third night, we have a “leftover” night at our home. Our dinner just consists of whatever remains from the dishes served the previous few nights, plus a newside dish or two if it seems necessary. Why do this? Food left uneaten is money thrown away. Besides, it’s incredibly easy to add new flavor to leftovers. Just spice it up a bit with fresh ground pepper, salt, or Italian herbs and spices. Another avenue is to simply reconstitute it into a new meal—take a leftover hamburger, break it into small pieces, add some Italian seasoning and some tomato sauce, and you have an incredibly easy meaty pasta sauce.
Select recipes full of inexpensive staple ingredients. Beans and rice are two of my favorite foods. They serve as the backbone for almost any type of cuisine, can be flavored in infinite ways, and are incredibly inexpensive. Focus on making recipes that utilize beans, rice, vegetables in season in your area, and any vegetables you can easily grow. Using such inexpensive ingredients as the backbone of your meal makes the entire meal incredibly inexpensive while still being delicious.
Break the soda addiction. One final food suggestion: if you find yourself drinking soda daily (or more frequently), break the addiction. Train yourself to replace your
Prepare meals in advance and freeze them. For many busy families—my own included—preparing a meal from scratch every single night is difficult. Evenings are often scheduled to the gills, leaving only a short window of opportunity to get a meal on the table. Our solution is simple. On the nights when we have plenty of time to prepare a meal, we partially prepare a second or third or fourth copy of that meal, bringing it to the point that it’s ready to be tossed in the oven. Then, we freeze that prepared meal (or group of meals). If an evening is going to be busy, we get the meal out the night before to allow it to thaw; then we put it in the oven as soon as we get home. Presto—a homemade meal made of inexpensive ingredients ready to go as quickly as we need it.
Prepare convenience foods in advance and freeze them. The flip side of this idea for me happens in the morning when I’ve got an appointment to make. I’m rushing around, trying to get out the door, but I also know how important it is to get a good breakfast inside of me. In the past, I would compromise and stop for some fast food, but that would really add up over time. So I began to apply the same principles as the advancemeal preparation and made myself an enormous batch of breakfast burritos in advance. Filled with beans, eggs, and salsa, they’re quite tasty—and easy to prepare, too. All I do is grab a frozen one, wrap a paper towel around it, defrost it for two minutes, cook it for another two minutes, and go! One can do the same thing with lunch burritos, sandwiches, and other similar convenience foods. It’s convenient, as healthy as you want to make it, and really inexpensive.
Chain meals together. During the summer, our grill gets a lot of use. I’m constantly grilling vegetables, chicken breasts, steaks, and other such items. Yet, if you took a look at our grill, you’d probably be shocked at the amount of food on it. Whenever I cook anything that could be used as a major ingredient in another dish, I make sure to cook plenty of it. This serves two big advantages. First, it allows us to buy that major ingredient in bulk, thus saving us money. Second, having that key ingredient already cooked and ready to go saves us time in preparing a homemade meal later. So, for example, I might take advantage of a “buy two, get one free” deal on chicken breasts at our preferred grocery store and then cook them all at once, saving the cooked breasts for other dishes (like chicken soup or chicken stew or a salad).
Don’t fear leftovers. Every second or third night, we have a “leftover” night at our home. Our dinner just consists of whatever remains from the dishes served the previous few nights, plus a newside dish or two if it seems necessary. Why do this? Food left uneaten is money thrown away. Besides, it’s incredibly easy to add new flavor to leftovers. Just spice it up a bit with fresh ground pepper, salt, or Italian herbs and spices. Another avenue is to simply reconstitute it into a new meal—take a leftover hamburger, break it into small pieces, add some Italian seasoning and some tomato sauce, and you have an incredibly easy meaty pasta sauce.
Select recipes full of inexpensive staple ingredients. Beans and rice are two of my favorite foods. They serve as the backbone for almost any type of cuisine, can be flavored in infinite ways, and are incredibly inexpensive. Focus on making recipes that utilize beans, rice, vegetables in season in your area, and any vegetables you can easily grow. Using such inexpensive ingredients as the backbone of your meal makes the entire meal incredibly inexpensive while still being delicious.
Break the soda addiction. One final food suggestion: if you find yourself drinking soda daily (or more frequently), break the addiction. Train yourself to replace your
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