Save Money by Cooking at Home

By the end of a busy day most parents are very tired from working all day. It’s very tempting to just pick up fast food on the way home. Preparing home cooked meals don’t have to take a lot of time. Cooking dinner at home will save a family a lot of money every month. There are many ways to make cooking at home easy and fun.

Look at Weekly Grocery Store Ads for Sales and Specials

When the weekly ads come in the mail don’t just throw them in the trash. Plan the family’s weekly meals around what the store has on sale. If a busy family buys the items on sale, it makes eating at home much cheaper than eating out. When planned accordingly there are many meals a family of four can make for under $5. Using coupons is also a great way to save money on groceries.

Buying in Bulk can Save Money

If a store is having a sale it’s a good idea to buy extra and freeze some. For example, Thanksgiving time is a great time to find sales on turkey. Buy an extra one to freeze and have during December.

Planning Meals for the Week can Save Time and Money

Write a list of the meals to be cooked for the week. By planning ahead it makes cooking dinner much easier. If Tuesday’s meal is chicken, take out the chicken to marinate on Monday. If a busy parent stays one step ahead it will make cooking much simpler.

Take Inventory at Home Before Shopping

Before going to the store take a look in the fridge, freezer, and pantry. When doing this it prevents the purchase of duplicate items. Take note of what food is already in the pantry and plan a few meals around what is already there. Many families buy food every week only to have it sit in the pantry or get rotten in the fridge.

Involve the Family in Cooking to Make it More Enjoyable

Even young children can help cook. Young children love to stir and mix. When the whole family is involved in cooking the meals it’s very enjoyable. Cooking together is a very bonding experience.

Cooking at Home is an Easy Way to Save Money

Cooking at home may seem exhausting after working all day, but when planned properly it isn’t very tiring. Cooking at home actually saves a lot of money. Look at local ads and compare stores near home to save money. Cook meals based on what the store has on sale. Don’t forget to use coupons, too. Planning ahead can make meal preparation much faster. Before long the whole family will be involved in cooking together. Cooking together as a family can be a great bonding experience.

The post Save Money by Cooking at Home appeared first on Downtown Homestead.

from Downtown Homestead http://downtownhomestead.com/save-money-cooking-home/

Comments

How to Create an Evening Oasis of Bloom and Fragrance

I think it is equally important to turn your outside space into a place to feed your family, but not overlook the chance to escape into it. We have a suburban house, that has a backyard backed up to 5 other yards, so we wanted to create a perfect little oasis for ourselves to escape into. So, we are creating a moonlight garden, to give us a perfect little escape for those late-night bonfires. Many plants bloom in the evening, particularly in warm climates, and their delicious fragrance can be smelled on the breeze perfuming the whole area. The flowers are usually white or light yellow. One vine that I especially like is an annual called, appropriately enough, moonflower. It’s in the same family as morning glories and the large white flowers can be up to 6 inches across and very fragrant. The great thing about this plant is the way it opens its flowers. The large buds look like furled white beach umbrellas. But look again. Did you see the bud move? As the twili...

What Changes Can I Make to My Garden to Be More Natural?

Gardening has changed a bit in recent years as people’s philosophy of gardening is starting to change to go back to more natural and organic methods. For those who have been gardening for a number of years, these new practices might be a bit hard to understand at first since the traditional ways of doing things is adding chemicals to the soil or plants to take care of problems and grow larger plants. Organic methods work a bit differently. Traditional methods use chemical fertilizers to add nutrients to the soil. Organic methods use compost . This is organic matter and carbon matter mixed together. This would be things like fruit peels, vegetables, grass, hay, leaves, and other types of waste mixed together. Over time it breaks down into rich soil that doesn’t need any fertilizer at all. A good compost is natural and doesn’t require extra chemicals. Pest control is a bit more difficult since you don’t want to use chemicals on your plants that end up killing everything. There are a fe...

Learn how to Freeze Fresh Garden Vegetables

As the garden harvest comes rolling in, many of us are left with more vegetables than we can comfortably eat. As always, to help your neighbors, offer some to them, trade with other gardeners for things they both of you didn’t grow, hot water can some, and freeze some for the winter. Have you ever tried freezing your own vegetables? Because many of them contain enzymes that will cause them to lose color while frozen, it can leave you with a colorless bunch of vegetables, which don’t look appealing. I recommend blanching them before freezing them, it helps keep their color vibrant, and also makes cooking them from frozen easier. Homemade frozen vegetables are healthier than store bought ones, since you know you’re vegetables have been grown organically . They are also friendly to the wallet , since you spent your sweat equity instead of your hard earned money. There is no reason to not be doing this. So, what is blanching? Blanching is the process of boiling your vegetable...

Downtown Homestead

Search This Blog