Budget cooking ideas for the family

Budget cooking is important because one of the biggest parts of your monthly budget with a family will probably be food. It takes a lot of money to feed a couple, let alone a family with two or three kids.

If you're thinking that cooking on a budget will keep you from making healthy meals, think again. Honestly, cooking cheap meals also means cooking healthy, balanced meals. Use these ideas to help you keep your food budget low and your bellies full.

Basic principles of budget cooking

Feeding your family on a budget doesn't mean eating beans on toast every night. Instead, there are a few simple principles you can follow. These principles are so easy that they're simple to tailor to your family's needs and preferences.

Cook from scratch

You can make most things from scratch for much less than you can buy them from the supermarket. For instance, creating your own pasta sauce instead of using the jars from the supermarket can save you several pounds. Plus, making your own pasta sauce lets you tailor it to your family's preferences.

In addition, learning how to cook from scratch can be fun. Tweaking recipes until they're exactly what you and your family love can take some time, but it will keep everyone open to a little experimentation. So whenever you can, choose to make something from scratch rather than buying it frozen or precooked.

Use in-season produce

Using produce that is in season in your local area is one of the keys to budget cooking. Since you aren't paying for shipping costs to import fruits and vegetables, you'll save lots of money. Plus this approach is both healthier and environmentally friendly.

It's healthier because fruits and veggies lose nutrients over time; the less time between the field or tree and your mouth, the more nutrients are left in the produce. It's better for the environment because you aren't using all that petrol to ship foods across continents and countries.

Fill in the cracks on the cheap

A full meal doesn't have to be an expensive meal if you work it right. You can get fuller bellies for fewer pounds by using cheap "filler" foods like grains and vegetables. Add some rice or pasta to your dinner every night, and you'll have your kids and husband eating less expensive meat and still feeling full. Use whole-grain varieties for a healthier option.

You can also fill up plates with in-season veggies, which are really affordable. Potatoes are almost always cheap, and you can do about a hundred things with them to make delicious side dishes. Other affordable vegetables to use as fillers include cauliflower and carrots.

Go cheaper on the meat

Meat is probably one of the places where you spend more of your shopping money than anywhere else. You can save loads by buying cheap cuts of meat and learning how to cook them so they taste just as good as more expensive meats. Plus, doing some extra "processing" on your own can help. Buy meat that is not skinned or neatly trimmed of fat, and you can do the work that you would have otherwise been paying the butcher to do.

Some ideas to get you started

Here are a couple of recipes that you might try to get you started on your new budget cooking routine:

Stir Fry: This is an all-time favourite budget recipe that can be tweaked for different tastes. Grab some meat and veggies, first. Heat a bit of oil in a pan, and then stir in the raw meat. As it begins to brown, add in the veggies, cooking everything until it's cooked but still crisp. Add your favourite seasonings or sauce, and serve over cooked brown rice.

Soup: Because meat-based soups can use cheaper cuts of meat, they are really budget-friendly. Experiment with different types of soup to see what your family likes best. To bulk up soup cheaply, add vegetables like potatoes or add some cooked pasta or rice to the finished product.

There are plenty of other recipes that you can use on a regular basis to save money on your family's food. If you follow these basic budget cooking rules, though, you can take many recipes that aren't necessarily budget friendly and turn them into something both cheap and tasty.

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