How did I learn to be frugal? Monologue of the Thrifty Housewife: How to Learn to Save Every Day? Thrifty hostess part 1 from the Countess's blog.
TIPS OF THE ECONOMIC HOSTESS. So, from payday we buy 4 large chickens and a piece of pork. 1. Cut off the wings of chickens, shanks, this is 8 pieces, for 2 lunches and dinners. 2. Cut off all the white meat, divide the fillet into 2 pieces. Make the chops, it comes out 16 pieces. To freeze. 3. Cut off the rest of the meat from the bones, add the pork, rolled the minced meat. Divide into 3 large and 1 small part. We added rice, vegetables, rolled meatballs and cabbage rolls and froze them in 2 parts. 4. From a small part of minced meat they made meatballs for soup, frozen. 5. Bread, grated potatoes were added to the remaining minced meat, cutlets were stuck in the freezer. 6. Boil the bones from the chickens, just cover them with water, clean them of the leftover meat, it can be immediately put into pasta in a navy way. Pour the cooled broth into cups and freeze, I get about 6-7 cups. And then we cook soup, borscht from it ..
JULIENE FROM MUSHROOMS Ingredients: ● For 500 - 600 gr of champignons ● 3 heads onions● 150 grams of ghee ● 2 - 3 tbsp. l. olive (sunflower) oil ● 500 ml sour cream ● 100 gr hard cheese● salt, pepper to taste Preparation: 1. Wash the mushrooms, dry them on a paper towel, break out the legs, do not use them. 2. Cut mushrooms into thin strips, onions - into small cubes, cheese - grate. 3. Fry the onions in oil until golden brown, then the mushrooms. If there is not enough oil, add olive oil or sunflower oil. When the mushrooms are fried, add 2 tbsp. flour and mix well. 4. Fry mushrooms with flour for a couple of minutes and pour in sour cream. If the sauce is thick, add a little milk or sour cream to the consistency of liquid sour cream we need. Put the finished sauce in the cocotte makers. 5. Sprinkle with cheese on top and send to bake for five minutes in an oven heated to 250C until golden brown. Bon Appetit.
MACKER IN 3 MINUTES "This recipe was told to my mother by a fish saleswoman in the market. It is so elementary that I was amazed at such an excellent result. Of course it is a la smoked mackerel, since the recipe does not smell of smoking, but the fish tastes great. Ingredients: Mackerel (medium) - 1 pc Onion peel (how much, by eye) Salt (spoons without top) - 5 tbsp. Water - 1 liter Preparation: Soak the onion peel in water for a while. Then put on fire and add salt. For a liter of water, you need 5 tablespoons of salt (if you need more water, then salt, respectively). Boil salted onion water, add mackerel and cook for exactly 3 minutes! Then put the fish in a colander and you can eat it. Bon Appetit! Photographer's comment: The fish is small and has had time to cook completely. Although at first I was also confused by the fact that cook for only 3 minutes. If the fish is large, then it can be cut lengthwise so that it is boiled accurately or pierced with a knife in several places.
Menu economical hostess for a week
The article is not mine, copied. But I liked the material.
I must say right away that the article is from 2013, but there is something to think about!
Food products are becoming more expensive every year, and spending almost half of your salary on food is a very real situation. This happens not only because of high cost products, but also from our laziness and disorganization.
Imagine you bought a product, but forgot about it, putting it in the back of the refrigerator. It has gone bad, money is wasted, and you need to buy new sausages, cheese or cottage cheese, or greens, which go bad very quickly. A trifle, but unpleasant. Or you are so tired after work that you do not have the energy to cook, and therefore you grab ready-made food or convenience foods in the store, which are significantly more expensive than the usual "grocery basket". It is quite possible to save on products. It takes a little trickery and a systematic approach to shopping.
Menu for the week. The menu will help you plan the consumption of groceries and will make your life a lot easier. Its compilation takes very little time - after all, few people cook hot food for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Remember what you usually eat in the morning: for sure, it will be enough to stock up on muesli, bread, cheese and ham for sandwiches, eggs, cereals or ready-made porridge... Working people usually eat lunch in the office, while those who eat at home during the day may well have dinner with the same dishes. By purchasing this food set, you will be provided with breakfasts and lunches for the whole week in advance. Consider several options for lunch and dinner. Experienced housewives combine the same food combinations to create different dishes.
To the store - with a list... Supermarkets are designed so that the buyer "grabs" the excess, spending as much money as possible. A shopping list is a surefire way to avoid temptation. It is useful for the inveterate spenders to take with them a limited amount of money. If you uncontrollably want to please yourself with an unplanned dessert, enter the rule: no more than one "extra" purchase per trip, or set a limit: do not exceed the planned "expenditure" amount by more than, for example, 3-4 lats. A good opportunity to practice verbal counting: when you take a product off the shelf, remember its cost and add to the price of the next product. It is recommended to round up so that the total amount does not come as a surprise to you.
Dishes are magic wands. These are cheese cakes, omelets, scrambled eggs, casseroles and sandwiches. They are great because they can be made from almost what is left on the refrigerator shelves. Rice or pasta from yesterday's side dish for lunch can go for a casserole in the evening, and the remaining potatoes and half of the sausage are used in the morning omelet. Before going to the store again, take a look at the refrigerator: there may be enough food left in it for another day.
Refrigerated logistics... Do not fill the shelves so that you cannot see the rest of the food behind the pots, sachets and packages in the first row. Arrange the largest purchases to the wall, put jars and small packaged products on the side shelves. Each time you look into it, think about which of the products can go bad so that you can use them first.
Keep accounting... Write down all your expenses or keep receipts. At the end of the month, this will allow you to analyze how much money was spent on food. You will be able to compare the cost of the same products in different stores and decide which one is more profitable. You may need to split your purchases into groups: dairy products will be cheaper and better in one place, and meat in another.
Don't be lazy to find a cheaper store for "basic purchases"... Convenience stores located near the house usually inflate prices for everyday products. This is done with the expectation that residents of the surrounding houses will run for bread to the nearest store, and not to the one where the prices are lower. Be tricky: find a store in the area with better prices try to buy everything necessary products there.
Seasonal vegetables and fruits - both health and savings. It is not necessary to buy strawberries and grapes in January, and in the fall to pay crazy money for watermelon and blueberries. Seasonal fruits and berries are much cheaper. In addition, the imported exotic is less useful than the one that grows in your strip: it causes allergies much more often, and the likelihood of containing nitrates in it is much higher. So we buy apples and sauerkraut- and provide ourselves with the necessary vitamins
Try to buy fewer ready-made products, cuts, semi-finished products, and so on. e. Whole chicken in terms of price / weight ratio will be much cheaper than minced chicken or ready-made cutlets. It is more profitable to buy whole piece cheese or sausages than the same cut and packaged products. Ready pizza, Microwave only lunches should appear on your table as little as possible.
Nina Minina-Rossinskaya
14.06.2015 | 6692
I share simple tricks effective savings, which I have tested on my own experience.
Like most women, I love to wander around the supermarket and shop spontaneously. But I get no less pleasure from the weekly purchase of groceries for my family from the list ..
Over the years, I, a constantly experimenting cookery girl, a mother and a thrifty wife, have developed the following principles - the "obligatory basket" and "creative set".
For every day and for the holiday
I definitely make a menu for the week - it's very convenient. I will share my simple menu formula. I usually cook homemade cakes for breakfast, soup and salad for lunch, and I try to make dinner varied (these are chicken, meat, fish, vegetable dishes).
Based on the menu, I make a list for the "must-have basket" and, in addition to saving time and money, I get an opportunity for culinary creativity.
In my case, the "mandatory basket" includes:
- hen
- vegetable and butter
- cereals
- pasta
- vegetables
- sugar
- tea brew
- mineral water
I buy some products in small wholesale for one to two weeks or even longer. It is profitable, and then you can go to
shop light.
As for the "creative set", these are all kinds of spices, sauces, sometimes products for a particular dish, or those
who suddenly really wanted to buy and cook something with them.
Baking is a tradition
I always take a lot of flour, since every day I prepare pastries for breakfast and bread in a bread maker. It is useful and beneficial.
I have basic recipe dough, on the basis of which I have prepared more than a dozen sweets.
Cupcake (basic recipe)
2 tbsp. flour
1 tbsp. kefir
1 tbsp. Sahara
2/3 st. refined vegetable oil
1.5 tsp baking powder
Combine all components and mix. Bake the muffin in a greased pan. Fresh or canned fruits, berries, dried fruits, spices, jam, nuts, candied fruits are perfect as additives.
Fish, chicken, meat ...
I like to cook rolls for my family, for which I buy a piece of chilled trout, which I salt according to my own recipe. My husband once calculated how much cheaper it is to buy chilled fish than slightly salted fish. The price difference is twofold. Already good!
Lightly salted fish
0.5 kg of fish
1 tbsp. salt and brandy or rum
Dissolve the salt in alcohol and brush the fish with this mixture. Leave in a cool place for a day, or better for two.
During the weekly purchase of groceries, be sure to take chicken, because you can cook dozens of options for dishes from it. And I
I decided for myself: it is more profitable to buy chilled poultry as a whole and divide it into parts on your own.
- From the breasts I make the "sausage" so beloved in our family - pastroma.
- I freeze the wings, and when there are enough of them to be enough for a family of five, I bake them in the oven with various
- spices.
- The legs give room for culinary creativity, and I, like any housewife, have at least a dozen different options and recipes
- their preparation.
Chicken pastroma
black allspice, pink and green pepper
mustard seeds
2 chicken breasts(with skin)
any vegetable oil
Soak the breasts for an hour in a salt solution or in cucumber pickle, dry. Combine oil with spices, salt, stir. Grease the meat with the mixture, marinate for 2-3 hours. Preheat the oven to 275-300 degrees, put the meat. After 15 minutes. Turn off the fire, do not open the oven for 6 hours.
I usually buy chilled meat, less often frozen. It is more profitable to buy big piece with bone: you can make soup from it, hot, make minced meat and even pickle homemade bacon. I treat minced meat very carefully - I definitely read its composition and study appearance (better minced meat minced meat).
Other tricks
My household loves fragrant tea, but I almost never buy ready-made tea. Instead, I add ginger, anise and other natural spices to the tea leaves - it turns out delicious and healthy.
Cereals, pasta ...
Without them, nowhere. But sometimes I save money and make lasagna sheets and cannelloni myself. As a result, the process of buying products, like
the process of their preparation, becomes for me not a routine, but creativity, because in it I put not only strength, but also my soul.
If in your family the cost of food makes up the majority of expenses, then you probably thought about how to save on food without compromising your health
More delicious and healthier!
Is it possible to save on food? After all proper nutrition- the guarantee of health. But you can replace expensive products with more budgetary ones. By the way, many inexpensive products are often healthier and even tastier than expensive delicacies.
■ Avoid long-term milk storage: what is in soft bags is much cheaper. If you can't afford yoghurts, replace them with kefir, which you can make yourself - from boiled milk and sourdough.
■ Do not buy pâtés from banks. Buy a liver and make the pate yourself.
■ Want to pamper your family with salted salmon? The carcass of a red fish is much cheaper than fillet, and salting it at home is as easy as shelling pears.
■ Instead of packing chopped herring, buy barrel herring and butcher it at home.
■ Instant coffee not only more expensive, but also less useful than coffee beans. You can grind them and brew a fragrant drink yourself.
■ The simplest example of savings is sausages and sausages. They are not cheap, and only manufacturers know how much meat they contain. Buy meat and cook it: beef can be boiled, and pork can be baked in the oven.
■ Does the meat seem too expensive? Partially replace it with chicken, and buy it whole, and not in parts - it's much more economical.
■ In winter, do not rush to buy ready-made pickles - making sauerkraut or carrots in Korean is a snap.
■ If you cannot live without sweets, arm yourself with quick recipes homemade baked goods. Pumpkin pie cheaper and healthier than a store cake.
■ Try to eat less potatoes and replace it with all kinds of cereals. By the way, you can also save on porridge: instead of oatmeal fast food buy regular cereals... It is better to buy cereals, flour, pasta, sugar in large packages - it is much cheaper this way.
✓ Linen bags are best suited for storing flour and cereals. Before pouring food into them, boil them in a solution of table salt - this way there will be less chances that pest bugs will start in the cereal.
Secrets of Proper Storage
Learning to save on food also means learning how to store them correctly. Think how much money you throw in the trash can, along with moldy bread, sluggish potatoes and spoiled meat! Let's save by saving food.
■ Keep the bread in the refrigerator to prevent it from becoming moldy. If you keep it in a bread bin, put an apple in it - this way the bread will harden more slowly.
■ Fresh meat can be refrigerated for up to four days. If you plan to cook tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, wash it, cut it and transfer it with onion rings.
■ Before freezing fresh meat and fish, do not be too lazy to cut these products: clean the fish, and wash and cut the meat into pieces. Place each serving in a plastic bag. Remember: you cannot re-freeze fish!
■ Use plastic wrap to store cheese and sausages, which must be changed every time you take food out of the refrigerator. To prevent the sausage cut from drying out, place a slice of lemon or carrot on it.
■ Do not store oil in an oiler with a transparent lid: this will oxidize faster.
Household chemicals: easy to find a replacement!
If you want your home to be clean and safe, try using natural cleaners.
| What are we replacing? | What are we replacing? |
|---|---|
| Dish cleaner | Warm soap solution with baking soda |
| Bleach for linen | Soda ash |
| Stain remover | Lemon juice, lemon acid |
| Toilet bowl cleaner | Baking soda and vinegar mixture |
| Air freshener | Natural aromatic oils sold in pharmacies |
| Universal detergent | Warm soapy water |
| Polish |
1. Corn starch 2. Napkins with Ioans of silver 3. A teaspoon of olive oil + half a glass of lemon juice |
| Carpet cleaner |
1. Baking soda paste with mineral water 2. Corn starch |
| Window cleaner |
1. Two tablespoons of vinegar in a glass of water 2. Lemon juice 3. Just hot water |
| Descaling agent | Ukskus |
| Pipe cleaner | Half a glass of baking soda and half a glass of vinegar, which after half an hour must be poured with boiling water |
| Plumbing cleaner |
1. Cut raw potato 2. Mustard powder |
Saving for the sake of saving itself is a thankless and merciless business. It is necessary to save in order to free up money resources for more important purposes than clogged refrigerator shelves. And the first step towards reasonable savings should be taking into account the available financial resources.
It is impossible to manage your money wisely if you do not know the exact amount of income and expenses. Therefore, if we have decided to follow the path of reasonable savings on food, then we need to know exactly how much the family spends per month on food, and what percentage this amount of total family income is.
I think that you should not set yourself a goal to reduce, for example, food costs to a certain amount. It is much more reasonable to set a goal for yourself to reduce the percentage of food costs. And this is achieved in two ways:
- by reducing costs;
- by increasing income.
Which of these paths is preferable for you personally - choose yourself. Food expenses should not exceed 30% of total income. Optimally - up to 20%. If less than 10%, then you can only envy your income.
You need to keep track of expenses for at least two or three months in order to get an idea of where the money comes from and where it goes. Even if you think that you have an approximate idea of this process, then a lot of surprises await you. For example, you will be surprised how much extra money can be spent on various sweets and unnecessary things, such as chocolates, chips, modest gatherings in cafes, etc. When I started keeping records, I was literally shocked by the size of the column: "Food outside the home." Then, for several months, I tried to patch this black hole, as a result, the figure in it no longer looks so frightening.
Well, then, after getting to know the reality, you can start planning the family budget and specific tasks: where to reduce, and where to add.
Accounting can be kept different ways: in the old fashioned way in paper form or with the help of computer programs.
I remember that as a child, my mother had a special notebook, into which she scrupulously entered all the expenses. Then at the end of the month I calculated everything and made a verdict. As a rule, it began with the words: "Everything is lost, let's go around the world ..." And he ended with the words: "Despite our dad's insane spending, I managed to postpone so much this month."
Now the time has changed, instead of notebooks, Excel spreadsheets and special programs for home bookkeeping came into the box. Here you can see an overview of such programs and choose the right one.
Personally, I have used these programs over the years:
.
.
.
In principle, they are similar in function, I switched from one to another only because the first one bothered me. Therefore, I changed it once a year. The first is online (but the most multifunctional). And the second two can be installed on your computer.
In any case, the main thing is not the form, but its content. Accounting for all expenses and income is a tedious and painstaking business, but very effective and useful.
Do I need to save on food?
This topic was born out of a conversation around the sandbox, in which four young mothers participated. While the kids were making Easter cakes, we discussed a very burning question: who spends how much money on food? We all had the experience of doing household and your vision of this problem. Everyone believed that it was his approach to the distribution of the family budget that was the most correct and convinced others of this. Yegor's mother complained about the crisis and the eternal lack of money. The necessary payments and bill payments consumed almost all the money earned, so they had to save on food. For example, fruits were bought only once a week, and the main food was pasta, cereals and potatoes. To be honest, we were amazed at this recognition, since outwardly the family gave the impression of being financially safe: two new cars, expensive clothes and toys for the child, and a wonderful renovation. Although, as it turned out, it was the payment of loans for these cars and a new built-in kitchen that required the lion's share of the family budget. And the family lived on for the minuscule that remained.
Matvey’s mother immediately said that she didn’t save money on food and didn’t advise us. She is going to give her child everything only the best and most expensive, and she will never regret anything for her boy. They always have in the house fresh fruits, meat, smoked sausage and red fish, expensive cheeses. True, not everything has time to be eaten and a lot is thrown away. And it is not at all possible to save money for solving the painful housing issue: they live with their father-in-law and mother-in-law in a two-room Khrushchev, and the father-in-law also has serious problems with alcohol ... But the family is guided by the motto "We live only once" than he does not deny himself.
Ani's mother complained that too much money was spent on food. Especially for all sorts of "unnecessary", such as sweets, chips, chocolates. As soon as the husband goes somewhere with the children, almost the entire amount that she allocates for food for a whole week will be wasted on such nonsense. In addition, the husband is very picky about food. For example, he flatly refuses to eat vegetable soups and porridge. For him, meat must be required every day and at least for lunch and dinner. And the meat itself is by no means in the form of minced meat or chopped pieces, but a large steak. The eldest son began to adopt the same eating habits. So, no matter how hard she tries, there is no savings.
I said that I have been doing home bookkeeping for several years now and I always know exactly how much money we spend in our family on food. I try to keep this amount within 20-25% of our total household income. If the income in some month pleases, then we indulge ourselves. Well, if they decrease significantly, then I am able to feed the whole family tasty and varied for a whole week for $ 30 (less than 1000 Russian rubles). True, the girls did not believe me. They unanimously declared that for this amount you can only feed pasta and potatoes, and you can definitely forget about taste and variety. How many I didn’t convince them that it was more than real, how many didn’t give examples, they were skeptical.
Several months have passed, and this conversation has not gone out of my head. In our society, it is not customary to openly discuss your income and financial problems. You can convince others as much as you like that in these matters everything is in order in the family, but if this is not so, then the family itself suffers from this, first of all. I will not take on the role of a financial guru and will not talk about money at all. I want to talk only about one aspect - about money for food. In this matter, I have both experience and skills and certain successes.
There are no problems with money only in one case: with their unlimited amount. For example, if you have a Magic Nightstand, in which money appears by itself. Or a good fairy godmother who gives as much money as she wants. But, as a rule, our resources are limited and have a certain source of income: salary, business income, pension, parental help, rent income, benefits, etc.
At the same time, the possibilities of the consumer society around us have no limitations. The more money we have, the more temptations and temptations to spend it. It only seems at first glance that the cost of food may be limited by the capabilities of the human body and appetite. Truffles, foie gras and baked nightingale tongues are not food for the hungry, but for the rich. Do you know the saying: "The more money, the more it is missing"? And it is true: if you do not control the spending of money, then, regardless of the amount of income, there will always be few of them.
Why save money on food?
At first money saved on food can be spent on more necessary and important things. For example, to solve the housing issue, develop your own business, educate children, health, vacation, etc. It is very sad if the most important priority in the family is "to eat deliciously, without denying yourself anything." Maybe it’s better for your child to eat hake today than salmon, but tomorrow to study at Oxford? Or you yourself will deny yourself red caviar and blue cheese for several years, but you will be able to buy the house of your dreams? If you believe that you can afford the fulfillment of any desires without restrictions, then say hello to the good fairy godmother.
Secondly, the transition of a family to economical food means a simultaneous transition to more healthy eating... For example, giving up smoked sausage, sprats, convenience stores will only benefit the body. And an increase in the amount of available vegetables in the diet, such as cabbage, carrots, beets, onions, etc. will be approved by any nutritionist. In addition, the refusal to eat meat at least two days a week, the introduction of vegetarian days in the menu is welcomed not only by religious orthodox and vegetarians, but also by doctors. Saving on food is not eating low-quality foods. Saving on food means choosing quality products at a reasonable price.
Thirdly, the ability to save money and feed a family for a limited amount is a very important and necessary skill for any housewife. May God grant us all that we never know the need, so that the experience of our grandmothers who went through a difficult wartime, or our mothers who managed to raise their families in the difficult 90s, will never be useful to us. Let's hope that we have a cloudless future ahead of us, without crises and losses. But the ability to save and keep small is the key to our confidence that we can cope with large. If you know how to save money and use the available money wisely, then you are not afraid of sudden financial crises associated with illness, job loss, falling income levels, etc. Because there is self-confidence, and this is the key to success.
What can you not save on?
- On the quality of products. We carefully study the shelf life and appearance of the products. At the slightest doubt, we discard the suspicious.- You can't save on health. The diet should contain fresh vegetables, fruits, foods rich in protein. If you completely switch to pasta and potatoes, then you will have to spend even more on drugs in the future than on such "illusory" savings.
- On small and rare pleasures. If you want to pamper yourself with something tasty, then so be it. The less often, the greater the joy of such self-indulgence.
How can you save:
- On the replacement of store semi-finished products with homemade ones. We reduce to the possible minimum the consumption of sausages, sausages, dumplings, fish sticks and cutlets, ready-made chickens, sauces and mayonnaise, salads, five-minute cereals, ready-made pancakes, cookies, sweets and other sweets. Instead, we cook more on our own: soups, casseroles, salads, cereals, pasta, various gravies and sauces, pies, manniks, charlottes and other cheap, tasty and healthy dishes.
Sausages or steak?
- On the exclusion of products from the "pampering" category and snacks: chips, buns, croutons, sandwiches between meals.
- On the rational use of already purchased products. We don't throw anything away! We perceive a product spoiled in the refrigerator as a mute evidence of our poor housekeeping abilities: either you do not know how to buy according to your needs, or you do not know how to cook.
Stale bread turns into crackers, croutons, breadcrumbs, topping for gratins.
... Curd is made from yesterday's milk.
... The lost kefir will go into the pancake dough.
... Most ready-to-eat meals (except salads) keep well in the freezer.
... Yesterday's uneaten porridge is added to today's soups, cutlets, casseroles.
... "Extra" vegetables are frozen until better times.
... Small pieces of all sorts of things left in the fridge make great toppings for pizza and pies.
... Pickles from cucumbers and tomatoes are the basis for pickles and borscht, you can stew meat in them.
... After frying the meat, the remaining juice and fat turn into a base for sauces, etc.
- Eating out. Minimize snacks in cafes and other catering establishments. Homemade food is tastier, healthier and cheaper. You can take on the work of "sidekicks". Yes, this will require more cooking at home and self-organization in planning tomorrow's lunch. But the savings will be obvious. To do this, you need to specially buy containers and thermoses, in which you can bring any dishes with you: from soups to salads. 
Charlotte or candy?
- We buy vegetables and fruits only according to the season. No fresh strawberries in February or persimmons in August. Benefits and taste qualities greenhouse winter tomatoes cause great doubt, and the blow to the wallet is palpable. You need to buy what has grown under the sun. In winter, these are vegetables and fruits of long-term storage: beets, cabbage, carrots, onions, garlic, potatoes, celery, apples, oranges, bananas, persimmons. In the summer, the choice is much wider.
- The freezer is our friend. We do not buy frozen vegetables, herbs, berries and fruits. We are not lazy, but we prepare all this ourselves in summer and autumn. If there is a desire and opportunity, we independently collect and dry / freeze mushrooms and berries. We actively use seaming, pickling and salting for the winter.
- Before going to the store, we draw up a menu for the week. Based on it, we create a list of products and buy only from it. This is the surest way not to buy something unnecessary and unnecessary!
- We are interested in prices in every store for similar products and prefer those that are cheaper. If the purchase occurs once a week, then it is best to choose large grocery stores with more affordable prices. Even if such a store is located far from your home, the cost of gasoline will pay off due to the large volume of purchases.
- We study promotions and discounts. And not only prices, but also the shelf life of products for these promotions. If the food can be eaten before the expiration date, then we buy.
Before the purchase we study the ratio of the real weight of the product in the package and its cost. There is no point in paying for a nice and large package. It is better to prefer a similar product, which is 30% more expensive, but 50% more. 
Nuts or Chips?
- Nuts, dried fruits and seeds cheaper by weight than in the package.
- We are trying to reduce the consumption of meat. I am not suggesting that you completely stop eating animal proteins. If you want, they should be (although vegetarians and ascetics prove by their personal experience that you can live without meat). Meat must be in the diet of children, pregnant women and people involved in manual labor. But it doesn't have to be every day. Several days a week, meat can be substituted for other protein-rich foods such as fish, legumes, or dairy. And cheap and useful. 
- On purchased juices. Most of the juices sold in our northern shops in packs are made from powder concentrate. An exception may be tomato, apple and birch sap(in our latitudes, they are often poured into cans in their original form). It is cheaper and healthier to cook compotes from fruits and berries frozen in summer.
In future posts, we'll go into more detail about smart food savings. We will share the ways and techniques of saving, available recipes... We will learn how to plan a family budget, how to determine the required amount of food expenses per week. We will tell you about our personal experience of saving, our own successes and results.
Do you know the amount that goes to your family for food?