Nowadays, most of the salaries in many families go to food. And surely everyone believes that if you reduce the costs of this article, it will lead to a decrease in the quality of your diet. But this is not always true.
If the issue of nutrition is approached rationally and reasonably, then you can save significantly, while having the most varied and complete daily menu. How? Now I’ll tell you based on the experience of my family and many relatives.
To begin with, of course, I will list the immutable and well-known rules, but I cannot but mention them. The very first is purchase products in large shopping centers immediately for a week. About 10% of their value, you probably would have left a plus, going for bread and butter to the store nearest to the house. The second rule to follow is product listing. For a couple of Sunday shopping trips to the store, you can easily determine what is included in your weekly diet. And you need to follow this list clearly and without concessions. This will avoid the temptations in the form of delicacies that neither your stomach nor your wallet need. And it is advisable to go to the store only with a certain amount.
Well, the following rules apply to the diet itself. Let's talk about meat. We are all used to buying ready-to-cook foods due to our busyness. But in cheap semi-finished products there are a lot of vegetable proteins, preservatives and flavorings, high-quality ones are very expensive. You will be surprised, but it will be cheaper to buy the freshest meat on the market or in a trusted store and, after spending an hour and a half on the weekend, make dumplings, meatballs, stuffed cabbage and meatballs from cooked minced meat yourself and fill them with a freezer. Probably enough for the next month. By the way, if you take the meat in half with chicken, it will not only reduce the cost of the stuffing, but also make it even more tender and tasty.
I will tell a little about the chicken: for our convenience, chicken legs and thighs, chicken legs and breasts are now sold separately. He brought home from the store and immediately to the pan. Well, if you buy several whole hens or broiler chickens in a supermarket and cut them at home yourself, then about 20% of their cost separately will surely remain in your wallet. Before you throw in the freezer, do not forget to sort and arrange the cut bird in packages. Signatures on them will not hurt at all: the packaging date will tell you how soon you need to cook the product, and an inscription about the contents of the package without defrosting will tell you what's inside. Wings and thighs are very tasty in a baked form, drumsticks go well in soup, and fillets in main dishes. And from bony and unnecessary, at first glance, chicken backs, a very fragrant and rich chicken broth is obtained.
Soups but it’s not at all necessary to cook from a whole piece of meat: recall grandmother’s cooking methods and buy beef or pork bones, and add cooked chicken meat to the already prepared broth. To taste and richness, it is not inferior to meat broth. The same method can also be used in the preparation of pilaf, stewed potatoes or cabbage. Pork, beef or lamb, added in small amounts to chicken, will greatly improve the taste of the prepared dish. Believe me, it will taste like you’ve prepared a dish of a kilogram of pure meat.
Do not forget about fish. It is much cheaper than meat, of course, if it is not salmon, salmon or trout. And the benefits in the form of protein and minerals will bring your body no less. From inexpensive white fish (cod, pollock, haddock and hake) you can cook minced meat, from which, in turn, make fish fingers and fish cakes. Do not discount pink salmon - it may well replace the widely publicized and very expensive Norwegian salmon steaks. Instead of ready-made preserves, which we also mainly buy because of convenience and time saving, you can make a slightly salted herring or mackerel yourself by buying freshly frozen fish yourself.
On garnish for home burgers, in addition to common pasta and potatoes, you can serve cereals or legumes. For a change, make a side dish of vegetables. Cabbage of all kinds (stewed, fresh in a salad, pickled), caviar from eggplant, zucchini or beetroot is combined very well with meat. By the way, it is advisable to buy all vegetables by season. It is very profitable to purchase potatoes, onions, carrots and beets in the autumn at bazaars and agricultural fairs, in which a kilogram of vegetables costs literally several rubles. You can stock them for the whole year. From the most common cabbage, beets, carrots and radishes in winter, you can cook very elegant and unusual salads, which will become a hit on the festive table. And how many vitamins are in them!
Seasonal purchase rule applies to berries and fruits. It is very profitable to buy fruits during their ripening, and there are much more vitamins in them than in greenhouse strawberries and apples or other exotic fruits brought from distant lands. In summer and autumn, you can make jam from fresh berries (believe me, this can be done by any, even not very experienced housewife), so as not to spend money on imported jams and jams later. Also, do not forget to slightly freeze the collected or purchased berries. In winter, it’s great to cook compotes and jelly that will enrich a diet that is poor in vitamins. Well-frozen berries are also used for sweet pastries. A pie with cherries or raspberries will certainly bring the whole family together for evening tea!
These are just a few of the principles of grocery shopping and housekeeping that bring significant savings to your family budget. Of course, each family has its own tastes, its own rules, and each person acts in his own way. But I think that some of the above tips, not invented by me, but tested on myself, will be useful to someone.
4. When to go shopping?
Very cheap things are sold out of season. In summer, buy clothes for the winter and vice versa. In addition, at the end of each season, almost all stores arrange sales - it’s not a sin to take advantage of them.
Buy items only when they are critically needed.
Journalist JoeInfoMedia Eva Kirts recalls that cheaply you can not only get dressed, but also warm your home. Get ready for the winter right!
Cooking ⇒ Big Family Menu
Moderator: Alenenok
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Message Taniaz »Dec 05, 2006 6:44 pm
Unlike many other ladies' and family forums, something of the theme of cooking is not popular on the Many Children. So what do you cook for a week and for a holiday, mothers with many children? Or there’s no time to invent, and to prepare the simplest? And the monetary issue is not the last, probably.
And I'm also interested in what you buy regularly in stores such as AUCHAN or other chain stores, which allows you to quickly, nutritiously, tasty, inexpensively feed a large family. It is also interesting what anyone has a list of weekly purchases.
I always buy AUCHANE chicken fillet (mostly for cutlets), sometimes frozen fish. MEAT is expensive, and ice cream, which is cheap (including chicken. Filet), I once crawled a couple of times in my hands (thawed or stale). I also buy cheese (including melted cheese, 7 rubles each, as well as Auchanovsky Brie). Of the Auchanov finds - mayonnaise 8 p. for 250 g (Sloboda is better and without additives, but on lack of money.). There are still Auchanov fish sticks - also something cheap, almost half the price of ordinary ones.
In short, I would like to understand how the nutrition of a large family differs, gain experience
Message Christmas tree »Dec 05, 2006 7:11 pm
