Frugal Cooking Ideas

By Shannon Tani


How much money you spend on food is one of the biggest things that you can really control. For most people, housing costs remain fairly stable from month to month. And while there are things you can do to decrease your utility costs, most of those things are just small amounts that add up over time.

However, with the right planning, you can drastically reduce the cost of your food within just one month.

For many people, this can be something as simple as cooking their own food instead of eating out. Eating out seems inexpensive at the time, but if you cook at home, you'll actually be able to produce meals for much less money.

Eating vegetarian meals is a great way to save money on food. Beans (the primary source of protein in a vegetarian meal) are significantly less expensive than meat. While you may not be ready to fully switch to a vegetarian diet, eating less meat overall, or a few vegetarian meals, is going to reduce your food costs.

Planning your week's meals around what's on sale is another great way to reduce your costs. Try not to prepare something for dinner just because it's "what you feel like". Instead, buy food that's on sale and make your meals based on that. You may also want to stock up if there's a good sale.

If you're going to stock up during a sale though, make sure that you can use the food before it expires. Some things are a great deal on sale, but only if you're going to use it. If you find that you're throwing it out, then you've wasted money.

Finally, make sure that you use your leftovers. Throwing away food is wasteful. If you have food leftover from your dinner, take it with you to work the next day for lunch. Or incorporate it into the next night's dinner. Some people keep a bag in the freezer that they can use to store any leftover vegetables. When the bag gets full, it's great to use in a soup!

It's actually quite easy to reduce the cost of your food. With just a little bit of planning, you'll be well on your way.


Would you like to build a better nest egg? Are you sick of living paycheck to paycheck?
Then check out Shannon Tani's Save to Quit blog, which offers many tips for saving money.
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