Eating Economically

Eating Economically
By Paul M Hupton

There are a few basic things to keep in mind when you start planning for a meal on a fixed budget. First of all, it needs to be appetizing and not boring, so add a favorite spice, herb or condiment to your weekly or monthly budget. This will let you gradually build up your supply of various spices to add flavor to your meals. Do use them though and make sure that they are in date. They tend to lose their taste and sharpness otherwise

Variety is important in making meals attractive to the palette, but in challenging times it is important that we make the most of food that generates leftovers. Consider multiple meals from one food. For example, you can purchase a whole chicken on sale, ready cooked or self baked and use the meat for chicken salad, curry, chow mein and then use the carcass and some remaining chicken remnants to make chicken soup. Most meats cover this suggestion and some fish, so, keep an eye out for foods on sale and purchase enough to freeze and use as needed.

By dicing meat, you can make it go a lot further. One pound of beef is hardly enough for two people when cooked as a single piece, but sliced up you have more than enough to top 4-6 dishes of chow mein or rice.

Start all your main meals with a starch base, which will be cheaper and an ideal filler. Rice, cous cous, barley, pasta, noodles and bread all make excellent bases for meals. These can be mixed with other foods or topped with sauces to create a myriad of popular dishes that your family will love providing the appropriate nourishment..

Meal Planning

When it comes to actually meal planning on a budget, you will need to consider the above tips, but the main thing is to be organized. You must shop where you know you will get the majority of what you need ideally at a better than affordable price. The quality must not suffer either. Start by pulling together a list of items based on a loose idea of what your weekly food consumption might be. Don't be too concerned about what food on what day, unless this ties in with shift work where quick meals might dictate your choice. Write either as a specific one-off list or set the detail down in an actual calendar, a notebook or anything else that works. Some people may choose an electronic version in today's world of mobile access? Make sure you know what your recipes are and have a few in reserve in case the ingredients are not available. If you're using recipes that you aren't familiar with, print them out and attach them to your calendar so you have easy access to them or save them under your "favorites" category in your internet web browser.

It can be very overwhelming to plan meals for a month, so most parents who are meal planning on a budget break it down further into four, one for each week of the month. This lets you plan by the week. Find easy to make recipes that will do well as leftovers or which can be used again the next day in a new dish (boiled potatoes become mashed potatoes the next day or leftover vegetables with a topping of cheese become a vegetable bake, for example). The idea is not to have to cook continually from scratch unless you have the time. Remember, if you limit the amount of cooking you have to do, you'll save money on gas and save some serious time that you may not have to waste if you are busy working or want to enjoy time with the family. Most of us simply don't have the time to cook every single meal, so by planning ahead, you can create meals that can just be warmed through again the next day or slightly altered to create a whole new meal. Meal planning on a budget is a great way to make sure your family eats well, even if you don't have pots of money. Try it today and get into the habit and start saving.

Paul M Hupton is an internet marketer with diverse interests and experiences in various industries that he has chosen to share with you. In this instance its an article relating to Savoury Snacks and Recipes. You can read more and get your free 50 recipe soup ebook at http://savoury-snacks-recipes.paulhupton.com/

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