The constant increase in food prices has led to the fact that in many families the main expense item was food. Moreover, many housewives are increasingly asking themselves how to carve out a certain amount from the family budget for holidays, visiting children's clubs and other pleasures of life. In fact, such a method exists, it is enough just to save on food.
Surely there are those who consider such an exit a real punishment, because for many people food is considered to be a sin, one of the main charms of life. However, this is not so scary, since saving on food does not mean eating only pasta and porridge on the water. If you approach the solution of the problem with the mind, you can not only reduce the cost of food, but also improve your health. In this case, the dishes will be quite tasty and varied.
What can not be saved
Before joining the fight to cut costs, you need to clearly understand what you can refuse and what you can't even in a crisis. You can save on food without harming your health. So, for the sake of financial savings, in no case should you buy stale products or products of dubious quality. By saving 20-30 rubles, a person runs the risk of "earning" gastrointestinal problems and additional costs for medicines.
Another rule is dietary diversity. The presence of the same products in the daily menu negatively affects not only the state of the body, but also the mood of the person.
The basis for all savings is careful planning.
Planning financial costs for food is an important part of the answer to the question of how to save on food correctly. Start work by assessing today's indicator. To do this, just sketch out a list of those products that people buy regularly. It happens that in the kitchen cabinet the supply of chips or crackers does not run out, family members absorb ice cream in kilograms or take carbonated drinks with enviable regularity. At first glance, such purchases seem like a trifle, however, considering the cash costs for the month, one can be quite surprised at the amount received. In addition, the abuse of such products will sooner or later affect health.
Having decided to refuse unnecessary products that damage your wallet, do not rush to exclude all goodies from the shopping list. It is worth leaving those products that a person is not ready to refuse. It may be expensive, but delicious coffee or high-quality dairy products.
Another important planning detail will be the listing of products. Gathered to the store? Before this, you should check the contents of the kitchen cabinets and the refrigerator and write out only those products that are really needed in the near future. However, compiling a list is only a small step in the right direction. It is much more important (and more difficult) to follow this list in the store.
How to learn to save on food? Here is a great example. Do you want a cake that looks so appetizing in the window? Take a look at the list, and if this item is not there, feel free to pass by. At home, before the next trip to the store, you can add this cake to the list (if it seems very necessary).
Reduced shopping
How often do people go shopping? Many do this every other day or even daily. A leisurely walk with a cart along the rows of a modern hypermarket gives many people a real pleasure. In this state, most impulsive (rash) purchases are made. Awareness of the unnecessary thing comes a few hours later. And the more often a person will go to the store, the more financial expenses he will make.
It’s better to go to the store once a week, since saving money on food is easier in this case. At the same time, armed with a list, you should buy everything that is needed for food for the next 7 days, and not for a month.
Store selection
Most people (especially residents of large cities) choose a store on the basis of geographical location. In other words, they are purchased in the supermarket that is closer to home. Indeed, after a working day, you don’t feel like spending your time on a long trip to the store on the other side of the city.
Such a decision may be convenient in terms of the amount of time spent, but it is often unreasonable on the financial side. It is no secret that all supermarket chains have their own system of prices, discounts and promotions. The task of the thrifty buyer is to find how to save on food, that is, to look for the most favorable prices for frequently purchased products. In some cases, the difference in price of similar products can be 10-50 rubles. In sum, this gives good savings.
Entrance to the store only full!
Surely many have already noticed this feature: a person who runs into the store immediately after work will buy quite a lot of products, much more than is required. This is explained by the fact that the feeling of hunger completely drowns out the voice of reason. Numerous marketing tricks (the smell of fresh bread, mouth-watering cakes in a prominent place and much more) contribute to this.
To avoid the temptation, you should go to the store only full. Reducing costs in this case will be much easier, especially if you have a list of products.
Refusal of fast food and convenience foods
Any semi-finished product costs 1.5-2 times more expensive than all the ingredients for its preparation. So, several cutlets in a package or a pack of dumplings will be more expensive than 0.5 kg of minced meat. A piece of meat will cost even less. For this reason, it is much more profitable to buy meat and cook from it the dish that the family prefers. Thus, we will spend less and save on food without loss of quality.
Of course, those who work full time may well object to the convenience and rationality of this approach. After work, it is much more convenient to throw the ready-made cutlets into the pan and quickly have dinner. However, there is a way out in this situation. So, having prepared cutlets or manti on a day off, they can be safely sent to the freezer. In the middle of the week, such a workpiece is not inferior in terms of cooking speed to convenience foods in the shop, but significantly superior in taste.
What the buyer pays for
The cost of each finished product that has hit the market or the store depends on several components, and this is not only the price of raw materials and processing. The price often includes brand fees. Of course, advertised products are more convenient to buy for several reasons. Firstly, such products are easy to find in every store. Secondly, a well-known company cares about its reputation and tries to keep quality at the proper level. Thirdly, bright packaging is simply nice to hold in your hands. However, for all this, the buyer has to overpay, and a considerable amount. And what to do in this case? How to save on food? The family budget will not suffer if you spend a little more time walking around the store. But without fanaticism! We remember: we buy only what we need.
So, when you come to the supermarket in the right department, you should pay attention to neighboring shelves. Most likely, there are similar products from another manufacturer. They can be no worse than an expensive product, and the price will be 10-30% lower.
Pay in cash
Many consumers prefer to pay by card in supermarkets. On the one hand, it is very convenient, as it allows you not to carry cash. However, this is precisely what prevents many people from saving on food. The fact is that when paying with a credit card or a salary card, a person does not realize the size of the amount spent. To give cash at the checkout is a completely different matter.
Those who doubt the persistence of their character are advised to carry a strictly limited amount of money to the store. This will save you from unnecessary and unplanned expenses.
Why plan a menu for the week
Many housewives, with the thought of planning a menu for a whole week, probably frowned in displeasure. However, those who want to know how to save on food and at the same time eat varied foods can not do without this item.
What is the point of planning?
- Drawing up a menu for the week will allow you to pre-calculate the number of products needed for family nutrition over the next 7 days. Thus, it is much easier to exclude all unnecessary expenses in this way.
- Sometimes it happens that the remains of certain products turn out to be unused, and after some time their shelf life expires. These are irrational expenses. Planning allows you to distribute leftover products on time and use them in another dish.
- Using the weekly menu is much easier to achieve a variety in nutrition.
Menu Planning Features
When compiling the menu, you should take into account the nutritional characteristics and taste preferences of the family. However, do not forget that cooking takes a lot of time and effort, so the menu planning can be adjusted to your needs.
- Identify how much time the hostess is ready to spend on cooking on weekdays and weekends. If you can spend a couple of hours in the kitchen on weekends, then you can cook minced meat or fish and make it semi-finished products in the form of cabbage rolls, meatballs, dumplings. On a working day, they can be quickly boiled or fried.
- Cooking for several days. If you cook a soup or a meat dish for a couple of days, it will not have time to get bored and at the same time save time and effort. For a greater variety of meat, you can serve a different side dish.
Tips for saving
Decided to save on food during the crisis? don’t worry, the family doesn’t have to eat monotonous at all, you just have to adopt some tricks.
- The average Russian family extremely rarely uses millet, pearl barley, and corn grits in their diet. Meanwhile, they are very useful, suitable for making milk porridges, side dishes for meat, casseroles and soups.
- It is more rational to replace sausages with meat or chicken. The cost of these products is the same, and the meat is more satisfying and wholesome. Thanks to this, it turns out to be good to save on food. How to spend money on meat (and whether it is worth it) is another question.
- You can completely refuse expensive pork or beef meat, replacing it with chicken or offal. For example, beef heart is very tasty and suitable for preparing a huge number of dishes. At the same time, its cost remains quite affordable.
- In the preparation of cutlets, you can use minced fish. If the fish is dry, you can add a little fat.
How to save on food: a menu for a week
The proposed menu is suitable for families with school children. This is only an approximate set of dishes - each family can change it taking into account their own taste preferences and habits. The most important thing is to remember the diversity in nutrition.
Monday
- Breakfast - oatmeal, hard-boiled eggs, tea or coffee.
- The second breakfast (snack) is cottage cheese with fruits (it is better to choose seasonal local products, so we save on food, and the menu does not suffer from this).
- Lunch - soup with meatballs, baked fish, vegetable stew.
- Snack (snack). Cookies or sweet cake (easy to make on your own).
- Dinner - chicken meatballs and vegetable salad.
Tuesday
- Breakfast - scrambled eggs, tea.
- Second breakfast (snack). Cookies or pie (from last night), fruits.
- Dinner. Soup with meatballs (yesterday), chicken with buckwheat.
- An afternoon snack. Yogurt or any other dairy product.
- Dinner. Fish cakes, vegetables. Vinaigrette is quite suitable for fish dishes.
Wednesday
- Breakfast. A good solution is a rice casserole.
- Snack - nuts of different types (they are quite nutritious and high-calorie, therefore, well suited as a second breakfast).
- Dinner. Borsch with beans, meatballs with mashed potatoes.
- Snack - syrniki with any drink.
- Dinner - cabbage rolls.
Thursday
- Breakfast - oatmeal (you can safely replace millet or any other)
- Lunch. Fruits.
- Dinner. Bean soup (yesterday), pasta with meat to your liking (chops or basics).
- Snack (snack). Sandwich with liver pate. It is easy to make at home with your own hands. The cost of the dish is penny, and the taste is excellent.
- Dinner. Braised cabbage with egg, fresh vegetable salad.
Friday
- Breakfast. Apple fritters with sour cream.
- Lunch. Apples or other seasonal fruits.
- Dinner. Pickle, chicken cutlets with rice.
- An afternoon snack. Any fermented milk product, such as yogurt.
- Dinner. Fish casserole.
Saturday
- Breakfast. Milk rice porridge (you can replace another).
- Second breakfast (snack). A handful of any nuts.
- Dinner. Soup with cream cheese. Olivier with meat or chicken.
- An afternoon snack. Sweet cake, rolls or homemade muffins with milk or tea.
- Dinner. Beef stroganoff, vegetable stew.
Sunday
- Breakfast. Lazy dumplings with sour cream.
- Lunch. Cupcakes or pie (yesterday).
- Dinner. Cabbage soup on chicken stock. Braised chicken with mashed potatoes or millet porridge.
- An afternoon snack. Sour-milk product (yogurt or kefir).
- Dinner. Potato casserole with heart and onion, vegetable salad.
In fact, solving the question of how to save money on food in the menu is not such a difficult task as it might seem at first glance. A little attention and diligence, and in addition to healthy food, the family will receive tangible financial savings.