It's hard to ignore the rising prices everywhere: at the gas pump, when planning a trip, looking for a new vehicle, and you may have even noticed the menu prices at your weekly spot are a little higher than they used to be.
If your budget is feeling stretched, cutting back on meals out (or elimaning altogether) can make your dollar go further. Yes, grocery prices are rising too. However, home cooked meals are still significantly more affordable per serving, and you can save gratuity, too!
Tips for Shopping Smart
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Plan your meals for the week ahead and stick to them! Planning meals is easy in theory, sticking to them is the hard part.
Pick recipes (within your cooking abilities) that you are excited to eat each week, and enjoy them! Preparation is the hardest part, but makes the work week go so much easier. When you cook ahead of time, you don’t have to do all of the cooking dishes and a full kitchen clean up everyday… such a time saver! This is also a great way to spend some extra quality time with your family.
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When you plan properly, you save money by eliminating the need to overbuy or throw out wasted food. We are all guilty of buying produce with the best intentions and watching it go bad before it can get used. Planning ahead eliminates this!
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Buy More, Save More (and repurpose the same ingredients all week long!)
For example, it is typically cheaper to buy one big package of ground beef and use it in both lunches and dinners all week long than it would be to buy smaller packs of different meats and make a big variety of meals all week long. Keep it simple, but switch meals up each week to avoid getting tired of them!
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Example:
Buy a pack of ground beef at Costco or Sam’s Club and use some to make burgers for lunches and spaghetti and meatballs for dinner!
Or a big pack of chicken for salads and chicken tacos! You get the idea 😉
Making Your Kitchen More Functional
Sometimes, the biggest barrier to a home cooked meal is a kitchen that works against you, rather than for you. If you have to dig for pots and pans, can’t find your favorite utensils or spices, and have to run all over your kitchen to cook a meal, eating out sounds much more enticing! Inflation isn’t going anywhere, and you will never regret adding function to your kitchen.
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While a full remodel would be ideal sometimes, it is not always in the budget. Luckily, there are other ways to improve the efficiency of your kitchen without breaking the bank.
Easy ways to do this:
Switch the contents of your cabinets around so that glasses and dishes are close to the dishwasher for easy unloading. This may be an excellent time to take inventory of your current tools and declutter what is broken, never used, or the items that you may have way too many of. Do you really need 4 can openers? If so, are you alright?
Add a waste container under or near the sink for quick cleanups.
Keep spices and oils within arm’s reach of the stove, and extra dish towels next to or underneath the sink.
Add drawer inserts for spices, coffee pods, cutlery, and utensils. Rev-A-Shelf’s inserts are affordable and high quality, offering a custom look at a fraction of the price. Bonus: the contents of the drawers don’t slide around as you open and close the drawer.
Rev-A-Shelf pullouts are perfect for adding function (and beauty) to any kitchen. No more getting on the ground and digging or lugging a step ladder around to reach the back of your cabinets. They are an added expense, but make daily life so much easier and can be enjoyed for many years to come.
Rev-A-Shelf’s subsidiary, Tresco Lighting, offers high-quality, safety tested lighting products that are a great addition for under cabinet, toe kick, soffit, and in-cabinet lighting applications. With so many options to choose from, there is a product for every kitchen and budget.
Concluding Thoughts
In all practicality, as long as you have a kitchen with operating appliances and food, you can cook a meal at home. The tips presented in this article both improve the function of your kitchen, simplifying the meal preparation process, and can add resale value to your home.
These inflated prices won’t last forever, but it looks like they will be around for a while! If you are feeling the pressure, cut expenses where you can and enjoy fresh, inexpensive, home-cooked meals with family. We can even use this time to put the phones away, turn the TV’s off, and connect with our loved ones at the dinner table.