Feeding a family of four on a budget requires preparation and discipline. Planning meals and creating a grocery list, as well as being willing to put back foods in the checkout line that cause you to exceed your budget, are all helpful practices that will make your food budget a success. The benefits of sticking to a food budget include greater financial control and better use of food items in the house.
Instructions
Instructions
1. Determine your weekly grocery budget for the four members of your household. If possible, make sure you allow enough money to purchase meats, fresh fruits and vegetables. Sticking to a budget is important, but it is critical for your family's health that you do not live on cheap, processed foods.
2. Visit local grocery stores, and compare prices on the items you buy on a regular basis. Choose to frequent the store that offers the best deals on these items. Obtain the weekly circular from this store so you will know which items are on sale each week. If possible, sign up for a discount card so you can qualify for any special savings.
3. Clip coupons that come in your town or other newspaper, or visit one of the numerous websites that offer printable grocery coupons, and select the ones you can use.
4. Sit down once a week to plan meals. Integrate pasta, rice and bread into each meal as these staples are cheap and filling. Choose recipes that do not require more than five or six ingredients. Keep dinner meals simple with one main dish and two sides. Consider how much each of the four members of your household will eat, and pick recipes that will provide that much food, or double recipes to cover 2 days.
5. Look through your grocery store's weekly circular and your grocery coupons, and identify the items your family will eat that can be purchased on sale. Allow these items to inform your meal-planning process. For instance, if the price of chicken legs is reduced one week and you have a coupon for BBQ sauce, plan to buy enough chicken for the four of you and bake it in the oven with the BBQ sauce.
6. Create a grocery list that includes all of the items you will need for your meals and snacks for the week. Write down exactly what you need, considering what each of the four of you will eat each day. This will help you to avoid buying extra items and later having the uneaten food spoil. Double-check the list when you are finished to be sure that you did not miss any items. Identify which items are optional so that you can eliminate these at the checkout stand if you are exceeding your budget.
7. Bring your grocery list with you when you shop, and do not give in to the temptation to buy items that are not on it. Keep tabs on the amount your groceries will cost by adding the numbers in your head, using a calculator or writing down the prices as you go along. If you are exceeding your budget, eliminate any items you do not absolutely need for the week.
8. Repeat this planning, preparation and shopping process each week, and adjust it as your budget grows or decreases or as the needs of your family change.
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