Sometimes I complain about living on a budget, but really, I like* the challenge of coming up with good meals for my family without spending a fortune. I find that the limits actually help me to be a little more creative in the kitchen.
We do a lot more meatless meals, which is healthier anyway. I’ve resurrected some old Southern favorites that I kind of forgot about, and they are so good. And I’ve found that the more I make myself the more money I save, plus it all tastes better.
I’ve started grocery stopping once every two weeks instead of once a week; it works better for us, overall, schedule and money wise. Sometimes I have to make a run for fresh produce, and we get fresh raw dairy (milk and eggs) every week.
I’m finding some keys for cooking frugal without sacrificing. See, I’m kind of food-obsessed. I read cookbooks for fun. M.F.K. Fisher is one of my favorite authors, right up there with C.S. Lewis. So if being on a food budget means I have to eat low-quality food, I’m going to rebel. But that’s not what it means. A food budget just means you need to get a bit smarter.
- Quit centering your meals around meat. Meat should be part of the meal, not the main attraction.
- Eggs are one of the best all-purpose, frugal, and versatile ingredients you can use.
- Presentation matters. Make it look good.
- Serve a little of the more expensive stuff and a lot of the cheaper stuff. Small serving of dairy or meat, large serving of beans, rice, pasta, or seasonal vegetables.
- Buy seasonal!
- Love it? Grow it yourself or buy it in bulk.
- Keep it simple; you don’t need all the variety that you can get at the grocery store.
- Fresh garlic, fresh onions, and a couple of fresh herbs (cilantro and parsley are my favorites) can help you turn the most basic staples into a gourmet meal.
- Borrow from other cultures, those which have built their cuisines on non-wasteful lifestyles.
- Processed foods are the enemy of the frugal cook! Try to buy things in their most basic form.
- Homemade is cheaper! And better!
- Save desserts for the meatless nights.
Here’s my last 2-week menu, that came from a $125 grocery trip. Of course, we had some leftovers and pantry staples already plus our milk & eggs.
dinners:
fried ham, biscuits, cheese omelet and oven fries
beef goulash with peppers and onions, egg noodles
cheesy baked penne with cauliflower
white bean and chicken chili, salad
jerk chicken with rice, black beans, and pineapple
black-eyed peas with ham, cornbread, scalloped potatoes
thai soup with rice noodles
broiled tilapia, salad, 3-cheese crustless quiche
butter-sauteed gnocchi, roasted tomato soup
chicken fried rice
french onion soup, homemade garlic breadsticks
salvadoran stuffed masa flatbread
lunches:
leftovers, boiled eggs & salad, apples & peanut butter, tuna salad, soup
(we get really fancy around here for lunch…)
breakfasts:
ham biscuits
cold cereal
breakfast casserole (make with leftover scalloped potatoes)
muffins (apple cinnamon, cranberry-oatmeal)
homemade granola bars?
homemade raspberry cheese danishes
desserts:
chocolate chip-cranberry-oatmeal cookies
from-scratch chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream frosting
madeira cake
anzac biscuits
homemade graham crackers?
*…but in a recent conversation with my husband I did explain that, to me, being truly (monetarily) rich meant I could go grocery shopping and buy whatever looked good, whatever I wanted to cook for my family, without thinking about the cost. He said that financial riches, to him, meant a huge bathroom with a huge soaking tub & built-in computer & tv for movies… We all got dreams!
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This post is linked up with OrgJunkie’s Menu Plan Monday.