The internet is fabulous if you plan to start being dollars savvy. From budgeting, to tips on saving money, to meal planning to savings plans - you'll find a website or blog to inspire and guide you on you money saving journey.
The first thing I started researching was meal planning and feeding the family on a budget. I have never planned meals and I'm a self-confessed supermarket junkie. I live 5 minutes from a shopping centre and end up at there most days. I go for one or two things I 'need' for dinner, then return home with a pram-basket full of goodies - many of which end up at the back of the cupboard, fridge or freezer, slowly going out of date.
So step 1 was meal planning - and consequently only buying what you need. It's been 5 weeks now and it's going well, but I still struggle to limit myself to the shopping list at the supermarket. I was inspired by the website/blog Planning with Kids, which has great child-friendly recipes as well as tips on meal planning. I don't use her planning tools, but designed my own to suit our lifestyle, incorporating a shopping list into a life and meal planner. (I only have one kid; she has five!) I list what we are doing each night, who is dropping off/picking up Lewis from childcare each day, who is cooking dinner and what is being cooked. I then note what needs to be bought for each meal in the shopping list section, where I have staple items pre-populated to save time. The meal planning is very useful for weeks like this, where I'm out for dinner twice and my partner is out once - so on those nights we can do simple dinners with Lewis, rather than our usual 'proper' dinners. I'm having eggs on toast with Lewis on Friday; Adrian is doing sausages (I don't let him cook meat when I'm home!).
Closely intertwined with step 1 is step 2: inventory of what you already have. I was amazed by what I found in the cupboards, fridge, and more recently the freezer! (I've been tackling one area per week.) The Simple Savings website and its $21 challenge was the inspiration for this one. The $21 challenge is where you try to survive for one week only spending $21 on food, and using up what you have in the pantry/fridge/freezer.
So for the last week we have been trying to not buy more food (after spending up relatively big for a family dinner party earlier in the week), and to make do with what we have. We've consequently had some really nice meals we wouldn't have thought of having otherwise:
- Pumpkin and lentil stew
- Pasta shells with peas, olives and some leftover marinated fetta
- When we ran out of bread I discovered a few more slices in the freezer. When that ran out I discovered avocado on crackers for breakfast. Just as nice!
- Flourless orange cake - I found some almond meal in the freezer, we had oranges from a weekend away, and eggs and sugar pantry. So delicious!
- Stewed rhubarb from the garden.
- Tacos to use up the leftover cheese and tomatoes we had.
We now meal plan around what we have in the fridge/cupboard that needs using up, as well as adding a few new recipes each week so as not to eat too boringly!
Oh, and we have started shopping for pantry and fridge staples at Aldi. It really is so much cheaper than Coles. Although their fruit and veg is a bit average, so I just get the super specials from there and head to the local fruit market for the rest.
I've already noticed the money in our joint account seems to be lasting longer. Yay!
Now I just need to cut down my personal spending... but that's another story.
