Saving money on your food budget is one of the most important steps you can take in reducing your monthly bills. Food can easily cost over $1000 a month, and more if you have a large family. If you have young children, it can go up even higher because of all the special food you have to purchase for them growing up. Don’t even get me started on diapers, supplements, formula, vitamins, and shakes!
On today’s post, we’re featuring some great money-saving tips for parents feeling the crunch!
Crust-Cutting
Children will notoriously remove the crusts from their sandwiches, and they just won’t eat it, so why let it go to waste?Take the crusts off your children’s sandwiches before you serve them. Throw them in a bag and use them for bread crumbs or croutons for other meals. Imagine a young child trying to eat a big bulky sandwich that is fit for an adult anyway. It just wouldn’t make sense, so if you are pro-active, you can make the money you spend on bread go a lot further. The general idea behind cutting the crusts off sandwiches could be applied to removing any unwanted additional pieces of food from otherwise healthy meals that the children just won’t eat. Combine these scraps into a compost heap and just start growing your own food, if you want or need to get really frugal!
Reduce Spills
Spills are a part of life, but they can be minimized. Try putting a paper doily at the top of your child’s tray, or anywhere that you know the cup won’t spill. Try to get the child to always put the cup near the doily. Even the tiniest child will always learn to place the cup there. This will prevent the cup from potentially spilling, and will save money on napkins and perhaps furniture.
Go Halvsies
Start giving your tiny children only half the amount of candy bars, gum, and little desserts they’re used to. This is good for your wallet and their health. It also makes greater financial sense because you will spend less on doctor and dentist visits.
Leftovers
Feed very young children, like toddlers and pre-schoolers, your leftovers too. Really small children don’t know the difference between new food and leftovers, as long as you present it in an attractive way or act really excited about it.
Buy In Bulk
You can save a lot of money by buying in bulk. Getting a discount cart at Sam’s or another bulk store can help you buy healthy amounts of bread, milk, mayonnaise, and the like. You can also get really cheap clothing there sometimes, not to mention school supplies. It’s a small expense to buy a Sam’s discount card, but it will pay for itself in short time.
Grains
You can save money by buying a lot of grains and cooking and preparing them en masse. You can make millet, rice, oatmeal, and amaranth and boil them all at the end of the week and have the food eaten throughout the week in a Pyrex dish in your refrigerator. This is great for children that want quick meals on the go, or spouses who need something easy to take for lunch.
If you have other tips and suggestions feel free to share them on the comment box below! Until next post. xo
