Healthy Family Meals on a Budget

Lamb shish kebab, Pleasanton, California, 2008...

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As chaotic as life is for the average person in this fast-paced, demanding society, it is difficult to plan ahead. Unfortunately, this concept is particularly true when it comes to family meals. To remedy this issue, many people turn to fast food and eating out to accommodate the lack of time. However, eating out consistently costs a great deal of money, and can be unhealthy over the long run. Fortunately, it is possible to make healthy family meals on a budget, regardless of time restraints. Doing so will put healthier food in your family’s bellies and save money to boot. Below are a couple of simple elements for making healthy family meals on a budget.

Find Recipes That Work and Stick With Them

There are many resources to find healthy family recipes that can be put together on a budget. When you find a recipe that stays within your price range and your family likes it, save it. Simply repeat this process for any number of recipes you see fit. By saving the recipes that work, you will create your own cookbook of familiar choices, making it easier to plan the meals.

Plan Meals Ahead of Time

When working with healthy family meals on a budget, planning ahead is crucial. Planning allows you to go to the grocery store at the beginning of the week and buy all the items you will need for a week’s worth of meals. When you become familiar enough with the recipes you want to work with, you can use a prepaid credit card each time you shop to make sure you stay within budget and easily keep track of your spending.

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Simple Budgeting with Spreadsheets

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The new year is coming up again and what plans have you made for your budget next year? Maybe you’ve decided to find out where all that vanishing money is going. Most businesses use digital spreadsheets to track their budgets — and you can too.

Once you open a spreadsheet, you’ll see a large page divided into cells. The first cell up in the left corner is box ‘A1,’ because it’s in column A and is on row 1. Don’t be intimidated; using a spreadsheet is easy.

In cell B2, type ‘Income.’ Push tab to go to C2 (the cell to the right of B2) and type in your monthly income after taxes.

Now for your bills. Click B4 and type in ‘Bills.’ Push tab again and type your first bill in C4, like pet insurance or utilities. Don’t worry about adding the amount of each one yet; that’s in the next step. Push enter and add the next bill. Keep going down the column until you’ve added all your monthly bills.

Click in the cell to the right of each bill and begin to enter the amount of each one. The name and the amount have to be in separate boxes. For example, the box for ‘Rent’ should have it’s amount in the box to the right.

Once you have all your amounts entered, go to the end of the amounts column and click in the box below the last one. Here comes the tricky part. Type ‘=SUM(C4:C10)’ and push enter. If you have a lengthy number of bills, replace C10 with the last amount box. This little code will add all of your bills.

Lastly, in the box right below ‘Income,’ type in ‘Dis. Income.’ Push tab, type in ‘=C2-C11′ and push enter. Replace C11 with the total bill amount from the last step and you’re done. This is your disposable income.

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How to Cook Healthy Meals on a Budget

Groceries are expensive, but they are something no family can do without. Most people spend about $50 per person on food and groceries every week, and that’s not counting any items that are bought in bulk on a monthly basis. Since groceries are such a big expense, it’s a good idea to keep an eye on the items you are buying and plan ahead so you don’t spend more than you had planned. Planning will also go a long way in ensuring your family is eating healthy.

Buy Fresh Fruits and Vegetables

Ready-made and packaged foods are more expensive than food you make yourself from scratch. Prepackaged meals may be easier to fix, but they are full of things that are not healthy for your family to eat, like large amounts of sodium, preservatives, and artificial sweeteners. When you buy fresh fruits or vegetables and cook your own pasta and rice, your family will be eating healthier and you will be saving money along the way.  This is because fresh fruits and vegetables don’t cost as much as prepackaged foods. Most people even agree that homemade food tastes a lot better than ready-to-heat meals you can buy at the grocery store.

Use Coupons

Coupons are a good way to save some extra pennies when you go grocery shopping. All of those pennies really add up, so start clipping. Be sure to only clip the coupons for items your family will actually use because you want to be saving money, not buying things you don’t need.

Make a Budget

Without a budget you may find yourself in need of no fax payday loans. A budget is there to help you be smart when shopping at the grocery store. Make sure you have enough money budgeted to have your family eating healthy, but don’t be so generous that money is wasted on frivolous items.

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