Most people today want to save money, but sometimes it's just not obvious where you should start. Most of us could save a lot of money of food, whether eating out or at home. Today I want to discuss saving money on meals at home.
Imagine coming home after work or running the kids to their various activities, and now it's time for dinner. You walk into the kitchen, planning your dinner menu in your head. The first thing you see is a sink full of dirty dishes. I don't know about you, but my first impulse is to say, "forget about it - let's grab something out instead".
In the above scenario, there were two crucial mistakes made. The first is not having a plan ahead of time for dinners for the week. The second is having a sink full of dishes. Think about it - the last thing you want to do after a long day is clean the kitchen before you even start dinner. And if you don't have a plan for dinners through the week, you can be caught at the last minute trying to throw together a complete dinner, from planning to presentation, in a very short period of time.
I like to start planning for the coming week on the weekends. The first step is to take inventory of what you already have, and plan the week's menu based on those items. Fill in the blanks (putting items you don't have on your shopping list), and plan the menu for the week. It's a good idea to seek input from the rest of the family, to make sure that you have something planned that the whole family will actually eat. Keep a menu board (dry erase, etc.) in the kitchen with the menu listed eliminates most of those "what's for dinner" questions throughout the week.
The second most important step in saving money on dinners is to keep a tidy kitchen. As stated before, the last thing you want to do after a long day is clean the kitchen before you cool. Doing the dishes after dinner in crucial in keeping the kitchen neat, tidy, and ready for cooking. Loading the dishwasher can be a job for the kids, if they're old enough. Kids of any age can at least clear their dishes from the table and bring them to the sink. Another important tip is to keep a sink half-full of warm soapy water while you are cooking, to clean the large pots and pans as you go. This will save room in the dishwasher for the plates, and help ensure that you can fit all the dinner dishes in it after dinner.
The 2 steps mentioned above are simple, cost nothing, and can save some big bucks on meals for your family. A balanced, quality dinner for 2 adults and 2 kids can easily cost $25 at a fast food restaurant. For a mere $10, you can feed the same amount of people a much healthier dinner at home. That's a savings of $15 per dinner - if you cook at home just 2 days more per week and save $15 each time, you'll save $120 a month, or $1440 per year. Cook at home 5 times more per week, and save $7800 each year. Such a simple step to save a lot of money!
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