Dinner On a Budget!

Food these days has become extremely expensive so it is important for you to shop and get the best bang for your buck.  First, you should know what your family likes eating.  If your family is used to eating fast food, then you plan to serve them basically the same food but actually cooking whole food instead of the fast convenient food.

The keyword to all of this is planning.  If your family enjoys chicken then buy chicken parts, thighs, legs, wings.  Bake your chicken instead of frying using the seasoning that will enhance the flavor, such as poultry seasoning, Montreal chicken seasoning and sometimes I like to use a little Italian dressing I even use some Thai Chile seasoning, it has a sweet tangy taste with a little kick.  Your family will enjoy it.

Next, instead of french fries, I would introduce my family to a few food items, Wide egg noodles, mashed potatoes, mashed cauliflower, or even sweet potatoes, did you know that there are white sweet potatoes also,

Finally, you incorporate some green vegetables into the menu, most people like string beans, collard greens or even broccoli or peas.  These vegetables can be prepared by steaming for greater flavor or boiling with lots of butter salt and pepper to taste for seasoning.

If you can remember that if you keep once a month when you shop, to pick up staple items like onions, potatoes rice, pasta (noodles, macaroni, spaghetti) Marinara sauce, celery, carrots, olive oil or canola oil, this will make a big difference on your household food budget.  Also, if you enjoy grits, cornmeal don't forget these items.  With these items, you and your family can plan meals for the entire month on a reasonable budget.

These are some of the foods that will help you make a few meals without breaking the bank  I feel that you save money when you buy what you need when you need it.  Sometimes when you shop and buy vegetables especially ahead of the time you want to use it, before you realize it, the vegetables have begun to spoil. Also with tomatoes, do not store them in the refrigerator, they will go bad faster.  One way to remember is to pay attention to the way they are stored in the market.  If they are not stored in plastic bags, then when you come home remove the plastic to keep your food from spoiling.