How to save on food: useful tips.

No matter how much fire pours from TV screens (they say that the government controls the prices of goods from food basket), statistics are a stubborn thing. The cost of conventional food products is rising again The cost of a conditional (minimum) set of food products. If in October 2017 it was 3,715 rubles, then in May 2018 it was already at the level of 3,970 rubles.

Growth by 255 rubles in six months

According to experts, prices will continue to rise. This means it’s time to learn to save. We'll show you how to spend the least amount of money on food.

In the shop

1. Make a shopping list and strictly follow it

To do this, develop a menu for the week: breakfasts, lunches and dinners. Inspect your kitchen cabinets and refrigerator and add to your shopping list the ingredients you need to prepare your intended meals. Nothing extra!

Mobile applications will help you keep a shopping list.

2. Compare prices in different stores

Buying everything in one supermarket is convenient. But sometimes, if you walk to the bakery around the corner, you can buy tastier and cheaper bread.

If you don’t have time for monitoring, try to shop once a week. “Today I’ll buy cottage cheese, and tomorrow I’ll go and buy more eggs” - an approach that leads to unplanned expenses.

Well, use special applications.

3. Attend agricultural fairs

They usually take place in autumn and spring, and there you can very profitably buy farm products: potatoes, eggs and others.

4. Avoid impulse purchases

Don’t buy products not on the list just because they are cheap or because you suddenly feel like, “Oh! Discount on Chinese cabbage! You have to take it, it’s usually 10 rubles more expensive” (are you sure you’ll eat it?), “Mmm, cake! Want! Want!" (what about diet?).

Don’t take children to the store: their “wants” are harder to resist. Willpower alone will not save you.

5. Use discount cards

You may have to pay to purchase it, but this is a one-time expense, and discounts can be used every time you visit this store.

6. Buy in bulk

Flour, sugar, salt, pasta and spices are always needed. Plus they have long term storage This means you can borrow for future use. Moreover, prices in wholesale retail outlets, as a rule, lower.

“Where do I need so much? I have nowhere to store it,” are typical objections of housewives to the advice to buy food in large quantities. The solution is simple: chip in with friends. By purchasing a package of rice and dividing it among yourselves, you will quickly experience the benefits of this approach.

According to merchandising rules, the most expensive products are placed on shelves at eye level of the buyer, and the cheapest ones are placed on the lower shelves. Don't be lazy to lean over and study the assortment below.

Also, don't look in departments you don't need (separate the products on the list into groups: meat, vegetables, etc.). And don’t forget that you should visit the store well-fed.

8. Turn off autopilot

We often wander around the store, thinking about our own things and automatically putting products in the basket. Remember how disappointing it is when you find at home that the apples are broken and the cookies in the package are broken. Choose your products carefully.

9. Don't overpay for a name

Products famous brands are more expensive. But this is not always a guarantee of quality and taste. Take a closer look at less famous but cheaper analogues. For example, brands chain stores. Usually, taste characteristics popular goods(vegetable oil, groceries, etc.) are no different from branded ones.

10. Don’t overpay for packaging

Milk in a nondescript package can be tastier and cheaper than a drink in a bottle, and loose bulk products are more profitable than those packaged in colorful boxes.

11. Pay attention to weight and volume

Often the same product is on the shelves, but one is cheaper than the other, for example, by 5 rubles. Don't rush to grab what's cheaper. Compare the difference in weight or volume of these products. It is more profitable to take a “full” kilogram than 940 grams.

12. Don't buy processed foods

They are a priori more expensive than self-prepared (from “A” to “Z”) dishes. Don't allow yourself to be lazy: cook them yourself and store them in the freezer.

And further. Sliced ​​bread and sausage are always more expensive. Can't you cut your own loaf?

13. Don’t be afraid of delays

The discount policy of chain grocery stores is a subject for a separate discussion. But when a product expires, sellers are willing to get really generous. As a rule, products “with a timer” are quite suitable. The main thing is to use them as soon as possible.

The exception is fermented milk products. It's easy to get with them food poisoning, so it’s better to buy only fresh.

14. Don't waste money on bottled water

It is more profitable to buy a filter for cleaning once.

15. Keep receipts

In the kitchen

1. Adjust your diet

For example, include poultry in your menu instead of fresh fish, which has become noticeably more expensive. Replace ingredients with cheaper ones whenever possible (pink salmon instead of trout, Adyghe cheeses instead of mozzarella).

Nothing beats a juicy sirloin steak, but liver, heart and other organ meats can be cooked deliciously. Buy them from time to time instead of meat - you will save money and improve your culinary skill.

3. Don't cook too much

There are housewives whose “hands don’t take much.” If you cook borscht, then in a large saucepan, if you fry cutlets, then use a full frying pan. Such wastefulness, as a rule, ends with half of the prepared food going into the trash bin. Learn to cook only as much as you eat.

Alternatively, don't cook until you've eaten what you've cooked.

4. Follow cooking sites

They often appear there budget recipes. Keep them for yourself. They will help you create your weekly menu and shopping list.

5. Use seasonal vegetables and fruits

Salad from fresh tomatoes and cucumbers in winter can cost a pretty penny. Cabbage and carrots are much cheaper at this time of year. Make a salad from them - it will turn out just as tasty and healthy.

8. Eat perishable foods first.

We bought yogurt, put it in the refrigerator, and five days later, when we remembered it and wanted to eat it, it turned out that it had expired. As a result, several tens of rubles go into the trash. Sound familiar?

To avoid getting into such situations again, stick it on perishable food bright stickers: “eat before Thursday”, “use before the end of the week” and so on.

9. Store food correctly

Compliance with storage conditions prevents premature spoilage of products. The more thrifty you are with food, the less often you will have to replenish your food supplies.

By the way, about frugality. Many products can be given a “second life”. Has the bread started to dry out? Make crackers and add to salads.

As you can see, you don’t have to be a pedant to save on food. Anyone can follow these recommendations. But the main thing is don’t be fanatical. Sometimes you can and should allow yourself something tasty or your favorite.

The crisis that has befallen the world has forced everyone to slightly reconsider their approach to life in general and to nutrition in particular. This is especially true for those who have lost or are afraid of losing their jobs. In general, saving on food during a crisis is a bad idea, since it is in difficult times that it is important to have a clear head and good physical shape, which almost entirely depend on what we eat. Therefore, even if the family budget has been sharply reduced, you should not switch exclusively to potatoes and pasta for breakfast, lunch and dinner, but it is definitely worth thinking a little more about the family diet. Our family has already done this, and it seems to me that there are results.

The basic rule of “anti-crisis” nutrition is to buy less. finished products and semi-finished products and we cook more ourselves. At first glance, it seems that it takes a lot of time, but it is not at all necessary to cook every day complex dishes. On the contrary, often the most simple dishes from available products turn out to be the most delicious, healthy and nutritious. The next rule is that in our diet we use mainly products from local producers, or if imported products cannot be avoided, we choose those that do not cross oceans to get to our table.
So, what do we eat and what do we cook from?

Food should be a) healthy and nutritious, b) tasty, c) easy to prepare. All these qualities are possessed, for example, by the so-called legumes, i.e. various cereals and legumes, such as peas, lentils, beans, chickpeas and mung beans. Among the cereals, there are many undeservedly forgotten, but satisfying, tasty and easy to prepare, which go well with vegetables, but are also good on their own. I recently rediscovered pearl barley. The asking price is about 20 rubles per kilogram, and you can prepare both soup and a second course like pilaf. Chickpeas, which are not the most common among us, can be prepared as a salad, if you sprouted it and mixed with vegetables, cutlets, and a main course. The same applies to lentils. From plain rice you can prepare both traditional side dishes or pilaf, as well as more exotic, but no less tasty croquettes, if you mix boiled rice with cheese and spices to taste and lightly fry. In addition to ease of preparation and low price, dishes made from grain legumes are rich in easily digestible protein and vitamins, and are also very nutritious.

Let’s not forget about potatoes, which you can not only fry, boil and stew, but also prepare a casserole by pouring cream and sprinkling with cheese, as well as adding other vegetables and herbs. This dish is not only tasty, but also very beautiful, and may well play a role holiday dish. You can prepare a lot of other delicious dishes from this vegetable. It’s worth remembering the advice of the heroine of the film “Girls”!

If all these dishes seem boring and monotonous to you, spices will come to the rescue. Their cost is low, and the effect can be amazing. Ginger and soy sauce will give the dish “Japanese” notes, and cumin, turmeric and mint will make the same dish “Indian”. Don’t forget about traditional parsley, dill, garlic and bay leaf. Combine spices boldly, and your lunches and dinners will always be tasty and varied.

The basis of our family's diet is vegetables. The crisis forced us to push into the background exotics such as avocados, leeks, as well as greenhouse cucumbers and tomatoes, which, in addition to being expensive, are also very unhealthy, although from time to time we indulge ourselves with them, and to remember the radish, which is more typical for our area, beets, white cabbage and carrots. These vegetables are perfectly stored, and salads made from them, both raw and boiled, - a real treasure trove vitamins Combine them with each other in different ways, add spices and herbs, and you will never know what vitamin deficiency is.

Those who have their own summer cottage are luckier, except that they will have to work a little. But the reward for labor will be useful and tasty food all year round, fresh, frozen, canned or dried. If you don’t have your own summer cottage, frozen vegetables or canned goods will come to the rescue homemade. In the summer season, you can buy them in small wholesale quite inexpensively and freeze enough to last for a couple of months, or even the whole winter. When thawed, not all vegetables are tasty, but they are quite suitable for preparing second courses, and thawed greens (parsley, dill, arugula) taste almost no different from fresh ones. Besides, fresh herbs accessible almost all year round even to those who do not have summer cottages. Everyone remembers how our grandmothers put an onion on a jar of water to force the feathers out. Why not take advantage of this experience? And watercress grows well in flower pots. If you have a balcony, then in the spring-summer season it can turn into a greenhouse, where it is quite possible to grow even peppers. Last season, it was these “balcony” peppers that gave me the best harvest.

We all love fruits, but it is difficult to save on them, since most of them simply do not grow in our climate. But almost all stores selling fruit often offer a so-called “fruit set”, consisting of slightly spoiled fruits, at a reduced price. Use them in fresh difficult, but they are quite suitable for baking. In my family, a pie made from spoiled tangerines, bananas and pumpkin was a stunning success.

What about bread? It's better to bake it yourself. This idea seems complicated only at first glance. In fact, it turns out that making delicious bread, both yeast and healthier yeast-free bread, with sourdough, is very simple, especially if you are the owner of a bread machine. But even if you don’t have this unit, you can get excellent bread even in regular oven. I bake yeast-free bread on sourdough. I knead it in the morning or around lunchtime, put it in a warm place for 5-6 hours, and in the evening I pamper my family with a fresh loaf of bread. Homemade bread not only tastes better, it's also healthier because you know what ingredients you put in it and you can make the bread exactly the way you need it. Play with different types of flour (buckwheat, flax, corn, oatmeal, spelled, rye, whole grain wheat), add spices, seeds, herbs - and soon you will be known as a bread-making master, and your family will never look at tasteless store-bought rolls again. If the listed ingredients seem expensive to you, try comparing the price finished goods with your unique bread.

The crisis is the right time to remove from our diet many products, mainly factory-produced ones, the dangers of which we know, but continue to consume out of habit, and replace them with more natural and healthy analogues. For example, you can prepare mayonnaise yourself from 1/3 milk and 2/3 olive oil by mixing them in a blender and adding a little mustard powder, salt, lemon juice to taste. It's also easy to cook yourself salad dressings instead of ready-made store options. The ingredients can be very different - lemon juice, vegetable oils, spices, herbs, garlic, Apple vinegar. By the way, I have also been making the latter myself for several years now from the apple harvest at the dacha.

Where do we buy?

No less important question- where do we buy groceries? Worth considering different variants. Firstly, you can try to buy products in “small wholesale”, i.e. large packages. In terms of per kilogram/liter of product, large volumes may not be so profitable, but a purchased bag of flour or sugar, for example, will allow you to “freeze” the price of this product for at least a few months, which in current times, when prices are rising by eyes, can be very beneficial.

An excellent option is bulk products. In large chains such as Ashana, in this way you can buy not only vegetables and fruits, but also candies, cookies, cereals, pasta, breakfast cereals, nuts, tea, coffee, frozen products and much more. This approach will solve several issues at once. Firstly, the need to visit stores frequently is reduced, which also saves gas and time. Secondly, by buying food in bulk in your own bags, you reduce the burden on the environment, because... You don’t have to throw away huge amounts of packaging. Thirdly, it is significantly cheaper. A kilogram of loose frozen broccoli, for example, costs the same as a 400-gram package. The only drawback of such “small wholesale” purchases is the need for a large amount of storage space at home.

I also advise you to take a closer look at the small shops near your home. In such stores you can often find sections of dairy products from local producers at much more affordable prices than the same products in large chains. Not long ago I discovered such a dairy products department a few meters from my house. They offer the freshest draft sour cream, cottage cheese and milk, and packaged products in such stores cost less than in chain stores.

We buy fresh vegetables and fruits at the local market, where mainly citizens from neighboring countries trade. I highly recommend making friends with the sellers and becoming their regular customer. They will give you “friendship” discounts and offer products for more High Quality, and sometimes give small “bonuses”.

Due to the next crisis, we have to adapt to rising prices and falling incomes. Saving on food is especially frustrating, but prices will continue to rise. To ensure there is money left in your budget to meet other needs, follow a few rules.

The crisis in Russia is unfolding, and its essential attributes are becoming more and more evident: rising prices along with falling incomes. Unfortunately, we have to cut expenses, including on food. Inflation reached double digits, and in February Russians cut consumption by 5% - such a sharp drop has not been seen for 15 years.

The fact that food becomes the main expense item during a crisis is quite a “normal” phenomenon. As a consequence, this item of the home budget is vulnerable when it arises. It is significant that in February 2015, Russian residents reduced their food costs by 18.5 percent, and only lamb, bread, salt and pasta. Experts warn that prices will continue to rise, although most families already spend more than 40% of their income on food. To ensure that there is money left in the family budget to satisfy other needs, you need to follow simple rules.

1.​ Plan your purchases

It is best to create a menu for the week, then it will be easier for you to calculate how many and what products you need to buy. But even if you can't bring yourself to live so organized, make a grocery list when you go to the store. This way you won’t buy too much, and at the same time you won’t forget anything.

2. Don't go to the store on an empty stomach!

It's no secret that we usually make ill-considered purchases in grocery stores on an empty stomach. If you go grocery shopping after lunch or at least a snack, your expenses will be reduced by 20%.

3. Don't go to stores every day

It is not at all necessary to visit the supermarket every day. For many, such visits have become something of a habit. It is much more rational to make purchases once a week or even once every 2 weeks. Have you also noticed that you often buy at least something in the store so as not to leave empty-handed? Naturally, the less often you go to shopping places, the more money and time you will save.

4.​ Basket instead of trolley

If you don't feel comfortable going out shopping once a week, make it a rule to use a basket at the supermarket rather than a large cart, which will seem empty even if everything you need is already loaded into it. A basket is a completely different matter - firstly, it won’t fit much, and secondly, the weight of the luggage is sobering for many.

5. Pay in cash

Paying with a bank card is convenient, but dangerous - without seeing the money, you lose the feeling of spending. It is much more difficult to let bills slip out of your hands. When going to the store, take with you an amount sufficient to purchase what you planned - if you don’t have money for extra purchases, you definitely won’t make them.

6.​ You are not obligated to pay for the manufacturer’s advertising campaign

The price of goods, especially those that have recently appeared on the market, often includes the cost of advertising. Look at the neighboring shelves, most likely, there you will see a cheaper product that is not inferior in quality. This rule also applies to beautiful packaging: it’s nice to hold bread in a bright bag or cheese in a beautiful box in your hands. But the packaging will be thrown away immediately after you take the product out of it. The boxes are completely pointless, but not free. Do not follow the lead of cunning manufacturers, try to avoid such irrational expenses.

A must-have trick for network marketers is that the most expensive products are displayed on the shelves that catch your eye first. There are also usually products that are past their expiration date. Now you know about these “tricks”, you will be more attentive to the upper and lower shelves.

8.​ Save safely

If, in order to save money, you decide to buy products at wholesale markets, carefully study the expiration date marks. There is no need to buy a package of yoghurts if you can only eat them for three days. It is especially dangerous to purchase products at discounted prices; always look at the release date so as not to buy kefir or other product whose expiration date expires tomorrow.

Promotions are usually held to sell out stale products. When buying expired food, calculate how much one day of hospital stay costs. Never take stale meat, fish, eggs, mushrooms and canned food - this is very dangerous. The only exception can be made for vegetables and fruits, if they are a little wilted, but still quite edible. Do not take products with mold or signs of rotting, no matter how cheap they are.

9. Cook at home

A jar of yogurt costs several times more than the same product made independently from milk, sourdough and sugar. Baked pork is twice as expensive as raw pork. Semi-finished products are always more expensive than dishes prepared from start to finish. And there’s no need to talk about quality and usefulness.

Meat

Vegetarians know how to do without animal protein. We will not discuss the optimality of vegetarianism, but those who are accustomed to meat can switch to chicken and eggs, which are a complete source of protein and vitamin B. Whole chicken costs less than its parts. By cutting up a carcass yourself, you will find a use for all its components. Cook meat not as a separate dish, but together with a side dish. For example, pilaf, stew or casserole. Meat can be replaced with offal. Beef heart or liver makes very delicious dishes.

Fish

Should be on the menu at least once a week. Inexpensive fish such as flounder and herring contain Omega-3, protein, iodine, phosphorus and vitamins just like sturgeon and salmon. An excellent substitute for fish can be squid - one of the cheapest seafood.

Dairy

A necessary component of any person's menu. You can save by buying regular milk, and not one that is stored for months.

10. Maintain balance

There is no need to skimp on food by eating pasta and tea. Our task is to survive the crisis and maintain health, so the menu should be balanced, with sufficient amounts of proteins, fats and carbohydrates. In the case of products, a high price does not always mean best quality. Switch to eating domestic products grown in season - it will be good for both your health and your wallet. Get ready vegetable soups, buckwheat with milk, cabbage salad, omelettes and baked chicken wings. You will spend more time in the kitchen, but you will be able to appreciate the quality of home-cooked food.

The constant rise in food prices has led to the fact that in many families food has become the main expense item. Moreover, many housewives are increasingly asking themselves how to cut out family budget a certain amount for relaxation, visiting children's clubs and other pleasures of life. In fact, such a method exists; you just need to save on food.

Surely there will be those who consider such an exit a real punishment, because for many people food is considered, to be honest, one of the main delights of life. However, this is not so scary, since saving on food does not mean eating only pasta and porridge with water. If you approach the problem wisely, you can not only reduce your food costs, but also improve your health. At the same time, the dishes will be quite tasty and varied.

What you can't save on

Before you join the fight to reduce costs, you need to clearly understand what you can give up and what you cannot give up, even in a crisis. You can save on food without compromising your health. So, for the sake of financial savings, you should never buy stale food or products of questionable quality. By saving 20-30 rubles, a person risks developing problems with the gastrointestinal tract and additional costs for medications.

Another rule is variety in the diet. Presence of the same products in daily menu negatively affects not only the state of the body, but also the mood of a person.

The basis of any savings is careful planning

Planning financial expenses for food is a fairly important component of the answer to the question of how to save on food correctly. You should start by assessing today's indicator. To do this, it is enough to sketch out a list of those products that a person buys regularly. It happens that the supply of chips or crackers in the kitchen cupboard never runs out, family members consume kilograms of ice cream or drink carbonated drinks with enviable regularity. At first glance, such purchases seem like a trifle, however, after calculating the monetary expenses for the month, you may be quite surprised at the amount received. In addition, the abuse of such products will sooner or later affect your health.

Once you decide to give up unnecessary products that harm your wallet, don’t rush to exclude all the goodies from your shopping list. It is worth leaving those products that a person is not ready to give up. It may be expensive, but tasty coffee or high quality dairy products.

One more important detail planning will be drawing up a list of products. Heading to the store? Before doing this, you should check the contents of the kitchen cabinets and refrigerator and write out only those products that are really needed in the near future. However, making a list is only a small step in the right direction. It is much more important (and more difficult) to follow this list in the store.

How to learn to save on food? Here's a great example. Do you want a cake that looks so delicious on display? Look at the list, and if this expense item is not there, feel free to pass by. At home, before your next trip to the store, you can add this cake to the list (if it seems very necessary).

Reduced trips to the store

How often do people go to stores? Many people do this every other day or even daily. A leisurely walk with a cart along the aisles of a modern hypermarket gives many people real pleasure. In this state, most impulsive (rash) purchases are made. The realization of the uselessness of the thing comes a few hours later. And the more often a person goes to the store, the more financial expenses he will make.

It is better to go to the store once a week, as it is easier to save money on food in this case. At the same time, armed with a list, you should buy everything you need for food for the next 7 days, and not for a month.

Store selection

Most people (especially residents of large cities) choose a store based on geographical location. In other words, they shop at the supermarket that is closer to home. Indeed, after a working day, you don’t want to waste your time on a long trip to a store on the other side of the city.

This decision may be convenient in terms of the amount of time spent, but from the financial side it is often unwise. It's no secret that all supermarket chains have their own system of prices, discounts and promotions. The task of the thrifty buyer is to find how to save on food, that is, to look for the most favorable prices for frequently purchased products. In some cases, the difference in price of similar goods can be 10-50 rubles. In total, this gives good savings.

Enter the store only if you are full!

Surely many have already noticed this feature: a person who runs into the store immediately after work will buy quite a lot of products, much more than is required. This is explained by the fact that the feeling of hunger completely drowns out the voice of reason. This is facilitated by numerous marketing ploys (smell fresh bread, delicious cakes in the most visible place and much more).

To avoid temptation, you should only go to the store well-fed. In this case, cutting costs will be much easier, especially if you have a list of products.

Refusal of fast food and semi-finished products

Any semi-finished product costs 1.5-2 times more than all the ingredients for its preparation. So, several cutlets in a package or a pack of dumplings will be more expensive than 0.5 kg of minced meat. A piece of meat will cost even less. For this reason, it is much more profitable to buy meat and prepare from it the dish that the family prefers. This way we will spend less and save on food without losing quality.

Of course, someone who works full time may well object to the convenience and rationality of this approach. It's much easier to quit after work ready cutlets into the frying pan and have a quick dinner. However, there is a way out in this situation. So, having prepared cutlets or manti on a day off, you can safely send them to freezer. During the week, such a preparation is not inferior in speed of preparation to store-bought semi-finished products, and in terms of taste qualities significantly surpasses them.

What does the buyer pay for?

Cost of each finished product that reaches the market or store depends on several components, and this is not only the price of raw materials and processing. Often the price includes a brand fee. Of course, advertised products are more convenient to buy for several reasons. Firstly, such products are easy to find in every store. Secondly, a well-known company cares about its reputation and tries to keep quality at the proper level. Third, bright packaging It's just nice to hold in your hands. However, for all this the buyer has to overpay, and a considerable amount. And what to do in this case? How to save on food? The family budget will not suffer if you spend a little more time walking around the store. But without fanaticism! We remember: we buy only what we need.

So, when you come to the supermarket in the desired department, you should pay attention to the adjacent shelves. Most likely, there are similar products from another manufacturer. They may turn out to be no worse expensive product, and the price will be 10-30% lower.

Pay for purchases in cash

Many consumers prefer to pay by card in supermarkets. On the one hand, this is very convenient, as it allows you not to carry cash with you. However, this is precisely what prevents many people from saving on food. The fact is that when paying with a credit card or salary card, a person does not realize the amount of money spent. Handing over cash at the till is a completely different matter.

Those who doubt the strength of their character are advised to carry a strictly limited amount of money to the store. This will save you from unnecessary and unplanned expenses.

Why plan your menu for the week?

Many housewives probably frowned with displeasure at the thought of planning a menu for a whole week. However, those who want to know how to save on food and at the same time eat a varied diet cannot do without this item.

What is the point of planning?

1. Drawing up a menu for the week will allow you to calculate in advance the amount of food needed to feed your family over the next 7 days. It’s much easier to eliminate all unnecessary expenses this way.
2. Sometimes it happens that the remains of certain products are unused, and after some time their shelf life expires. These are irrational expenses. Planning allows you to distribute leftover food in time and use it in another dish.
3. By using weekly menu It’s much easier to achieve variety in your diet.

Features of menu planning

When creating a menu, you should take into account the family’s dietary needs and taste preferences. However, do not forget that cooking takes a lot of time and effort, so menu planning can be adjusted to suit your needs.

1. Find out how much time the housewife is willing to spend on cooking on and off weekends. If you can spend a couple of hours in the kitchen on the weekend, you can prepare minced meat or fish and make semi-finished products from it in the form of cabbage rolls, cutlets, and dumplings. On a working day, they can be quickly boiled or fried.
2. Preparing food for several days. If you cook soup or meat dish for a couple of days, you won’t have time to get tired of it and at the same time save time and effort. For more variety, you can serve different side dishes with the meat.

Have you decided to save on food during a crisis? Don’t worry, your family won’t have to eat monotonously at all, you just need to adopt some tricks.

1. The average Russian family extremely rarely uses millet, pearl barley, corn grits. Meanwhile, they are very useful, suitable for preparing milk porridges, side dishes for meat, casseroles and soups.
2. It is more rational to replace sausages with meat or chicken. The cost of these products is the same, and the meat is more satisfying and healthy. Thanks to this, you can save a lot on food. How to spend money on meat (and whether it’s worth it) is another question.
3. You can completely avoid expensive pork or beef meat by replacing it with chicken or offal. For example, beef heart very tasty and easy to cook huge amount dishes. At the same time, its cost remains quite affordable.
4. Can be used in making cutlets minced fish. If the fish is a little dry, you can add a little lard.

How to save on food: weekly menu

The proposed menu is suitable for families with children school age. This is just an approximate set of dishes - each family can change it taking into account their own taste preferences and habits. The most important thing is to remember to have variety in your diet.

Monday

1. Breakfast - oatmeal, hard-boiled eggs, tea or coffee.
2. Second breakfast (snack) - cottage cheese with fruit (it is better to choose seasonal local products, this way we save on food, and the menu does not suffer from this).
3. Lunch - soup with meatballs, baked fish, vegetable stew.
4. Afternoon snack (snack). Cookies or sweet pie (easy to make yourself).
5. Dinner - meatballs from chicken meat and vegetable salad.

1. Breakfast - omelet, tea.
2. Second breakfast (snack). Cookies or pie (from last night), fruit.
3. Dinner. Meatball soup (yesterday's), chicken with buckwheat.
4. Afternoon snack. Yogurt or any other fermented milk product.
5. Dinner. Fish cutlets, vegetables. TO fish dishes A vinaigrette will work just fine.

1. Breakfast. Good decision - rice casserole.
2. Snack - nuts different types(they are quite filling and high in calories, so they are good as a second breakfast).
3. Dinner. Borscht with beans, cutlets with mashed potatoes.
4. Afternoon snack - cheesecakes with any drink.
5. Dinner - cabbage rolls.

1. Breakfast - oatmeal (can be safely replaced with millet or any other)
2. Lunch. Fruits.
3. Dinner. Bean borscht (yesterday's), pasta with meat of your choice (chops or basics).
4. Afternoon snack (snack). Sandwich with liver pate. It's easy to make at home with your own hands. The cost of the dish is cheap, but the taste is excellent.
5. Dinner. Braised cabbage with egg, fresh vegetable salad.

1. Breakfast. Apple fritters with sour cream.
2. Lunch. Apples or others seasonal fruits.
3. Dinner. Rassolnik, chicken cutlets with rice.
4. Afternoon snack. Any fermented milk product, such as yogurt.
5. Dinner. Fish casserole.

1. Breakfast. Rice milk porridge (can be replaced with another).
2. Second breakfast (snack). A handful of any nuts.
3. Dinner. Soup with processed cheese. Olivier with meat or chicken.
4. Afternoon snack. Sweet pie, buns or homemade muffins with milk or tea.
5. Dinner. Beef Stroganoff, vegetable stew.

Sunday

In fact, deciding how to save money on food on a menu is not as difficult a task as it might seem at first glance. A little attention and effort, and in addition healthy food the family will receive tangible financial savings.

Olga Nikitina is a housewife with 25 years of experience, loves to cook and make her home cozy. Hobby-authorship in COLADY magazine

A A

In every family, the biggest cost item is food. Effective family budget management means reducing the most large articles costs. You may ask, but how can you save on food? Yes, it’s very simple, you just need to develop the right approach to choosing products. After all, there is a very large list of products on which you can save. We will tell you about some of them now.

20 food products you can save on!

1. Vegetables and fruits. Seasonal products you need to buy each one in its own season, so they will cost you almost 10 times cheaper.
2. Salt and sugar It's better to buy in bulk and winter period. After all, the closer the canning season is, the higher the prices for these products.
3. Meat. A whole chicken will cost you less than parts, and the wings and legs will make a great soup. Inexpensive beef will produce the same delicious dishes as expensive tenderloin. It is also much more profitable to buy meat from producers than in supermarkets. On any suburban farm you can easily purchase a carcass or half-carcass of a calf or piglet. If so a large number of You don’t need meat, cooperate with relatives, friends, neighbors. This way you will get about 30% savings.
4. Fish. Expensive fish can be replaced with cheaper ones, such as cod, pike perch, hake, and herring. All useful material remain, and you will save your family budget significantly.
5. Semi-finished products. Buying even the cheapest dumplings in the store, which are half made of cartilage and other by-products, and the other half is soy, you still overpay. But if you take the time, buy meat and prepare homemade dumplings, freeze them, then you will not only feed your family a great dinner, but also save your family budget.
6. Sausage– a product that is present on almost every table. Sausage, which is made from meat, is very expensive. And in those sausages that belong to the average price category, they add pork skins, starch, poultry meat, offal. It is this sausage that housewives add to salads and make sandwiches from it. But there is an excellent alternative to store-bought sausage - this homemade boiled pork. With it you can also cook hodgepodge and make sandwiches, only it costs much less. After all, from 1 kg fresh meat it turns out 800 grams of boiled pork. This way you can save not only your family budget, but also your health.
7. Hard cheese. When buying this product in slices or plastic packaging, you overpay a significant amount. The best thing hard cheese buy by weight.
8. Yogurt– if you believe the advertising, then this is very useful product. Natural yoghurts are very expensive. To reduce costs and ensure the best quality yogurt, invest in a yogurt maker. With this device you can prepare six 150 gram jars of yogurt at a time. You will need one liter full fat milk and a special sourdough starter that you can purchase in the store.
9. Dairy. Instead of expensive advertised curds, kefir, cream and other dairy products, pay attention to the products of local dairies, the cost of which is much lower.
10. Bread– factory bread, after lying in the bread bin for several days, begins to become covered with black, green or yellow mold. The cause of this phenomenon is kept secret by the manufacturer. High-quality bread is very expensive. The way out of this situation is homebaked bread. If you don’t know how to bake it, or you don’t have enough time for this, purchase a bread machine. You will only need a few minutes to put all the ingredients into it, and it will do the rest of the work itself. This way you will get healthy, tasty and cheap bread.
11. Cereals– opt for products from domestic manufacturers, which are sold by weight. This way you won’t have to overpay for packaging, and you can save 15-20% of their cost.
12. Frozen vegetables no need to buy in supermarkets. Don’t be lazy, prepare them yourself in summer and autumn. You can also actively use salting and pickling foods for the winter.
13. Seeds, dried fruits, nuts It is much cheaper to buy in bulk than in packages.
14. Candies and cookies. On store shelves we see colorful packaging with confectionery products. But if you buy loose cookies and sweets, you will significantly save your money, because you will not have to pay for beautiful packaging.
15. Tea and coffee. It is very profitable to buy these goods in bulk, since in this case the discount on it can reach 25%. This is especially noticeable when you buy loose tea and elite varieties coffee.
16. Beer. If you have beer lovers in your family, you can save money by buying this product in bulk. Set up your own small “beer cellar” at home; to do this, you need to find a cool, dark place in the house where you can store the boxes without moving them. Thus, the beer will remain fresh for about six months. Buy your favorite drink during the summer sales season, it is during this period that you will receive maximum discounts.
17. Alcoholic drinks. All alcoholic drinks in retail chains they are quite expensive, but for wholesale purchases the discount on these products is about 20%.
18. Bottled drinks. This means mineral water, carbonated drinks and juices in plastic bottles. This product has a long shelf life, and the manufacturer provides a good discount for large packages. It's also quite profitable to buy drinking water in large packages of 6 liters.
19. Ready flakes can easily be replaced with a cheaper analogue, for example oatmeal porridge.
20. Vegetable oil. Experts advise purchasing in bulk not only sunflower oil, but also more exotic oils(e.g. olive, corn, grape seed oil).

The cost of purchasing food is about 30-40% of the family budget. We buy about half of our food in supermarkets. Therefore, if you approach this process wisely, you can save a significant amount of the family budget for other needs.

What food and products do you save on when there is not enough money in your family?