A lot of the frugal living advice out there concerning groceries assumes that you have time to cut all of the coupons, are home during the day to simmer the homemade chicken stock and prepare inexpensive meals from scratch. But what if you are a two income family or a single parent who just doesn’t have the ability to use some of the regular frugal living techniques? I’m here to help.
Some frugal practices can be adapted to your lifestyle if you are commuting to work on a daily basis. The crock pot or slow cooker, for example, can be a life saver when it comes to having an inexpensive, healthy and hot meal ready when you come home. A majority of recipes can even be assembled the night before and put into the fridge. Then just pop the crock into the base and turn it on before you leave in the morning.
Homemade bread can be inexpensive. As long as you don’t use ingredients that might spoil, you could set the timer on your bread machine. Use powdered milk or powdered eggs, if you recipe calls for fresh milk or eggs.
If you have a day that you can cook, such as a weekend morning, make a couple of batches of meals and freeze them. Meat loaf or meatballs freeze well and can be portioned out.
Schedule a grocery trip on your way home from work. This way you don’t have to use up a weekend to go shopping. Consider only shopping every two weeks, to avoid spending too much.
Start a dinner club with co-workers. Each of you pick one night to cook. Make a double or triple batch of your dinner. Bring the extra portions in the next day for your coworkers. They can do the same on other nights.
Purchase your groceries online. Use your lunch hour to shop online for your groceries, then have them delivered or pick them up on the way home. This reduces the need to eat out or purchase too many “what’s for dinner” convenience foods. You can invest the shopping time you would normally do to cooking.
Mary Ann Romans writes about everything related to saving money in the Frugal Blog, creating a home in the Home Blog, caring for little ones in the Baby Blog and now relationships in the Marriage Blog. You can read more of her articles by clicking here or subscribe to the blog using the subscription box on the right.
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