Any housewife knows how to save the family budget, and not only by preparing simple budget meals. Cooking inexpensively does not mean tasteless, and a self-prepared dish will come out cheaper than the same ready-made counterpart.
So, the general rules for saving a budget in the kitchen:
- Plan your food budget – set aside the required amount, calculate the required amount of food and daily expenses for fresh bread, milk and other perishable foods.
- Make a grocery list before you go to the store. The more detailed the list, the better – weight, quantity or volume. Try not to indulge in spontaneous purchases, especially if you see promotions and special offers – these are all tricks of marketers.
- Don’t go to the culinary sections that are found in almost any large supermarket. Even just to look.
- Buy seasonal products, exotics out of season are very expensive. And there is no benefit in non-seasonal artificial products.
- Calculate exactly how much perishable food you and your family will eat. If no one drinks kefir, do not buy it in case “what if you want to”.
- Buy long-term products with a seasonal supply – vegetables, cereals. This will save your budget, provided you have a place to store all this and you know the basic rules for the correct storage of such products.
- Try to think over the menu of several dishes from one product, and also do not prepare portioned dishes. It is much more economical to cook pilaf with meat than to fry steaks.
- Prepare the blanks – they will save you in those days when there is no time to cook, and it will be more expensive to buy ready-made pizza.
- Show your imagination in cooking – inexpensive does not mean tasteless.