As we all know, eating out can add up fast. When you plan your meals for the week you know where every penny goes!
Another sure fire way to save some pennies is by prepping meals ahead of time. This is particularly useful if you have a food budget. As we all know, eating out can add up fast. When you plan your meals for the week you know where every penny goes!
When I was single, meal prepping meant making some sort of large dish like a casserole. I would put half in the fridge and the rest in the freezer and pack a piece for my lunch when I went to work. Having a large freezer is another great money saving hack, but I will get into that more later. I would thaw the other half for the second half of the week. I might have cereal, fruit, or an egg for breakfast.
Now that I have a family, this looks a bit different. First, I will come up with a few meals I know my family will eat. This can be a bit tricky as they all have very different tastes. Some things my family likes are, baked spaghetti, chicken and stuffing, hot wings, chicken enchiladas, Mexican meat and potato burritos, chili, street tacos, and stew. I will buy the ingredients for about 2-3 big dishes and then make and freeze half for another time and put half in the fridge to eat during the week.
I have been making simple deli meat sandwiches that I can pack for their lunches with snacks and drinks. I will buy a case of water at Costco and stick a few in the fridge. I will also make sure to have a week’s supply of 3-4 fresh vegetables and fruits I can pack for snacks.
I will keep snacks for everyone’s tastes in the house to keep them from happy and less inclined to eat out. For instance, I will keep bags of frozen fruits on hand all the time as my daughter loves smoothies.
As we all know, eating out can add up fast. When you plan your meals for the week you know where every penny goes!
