Of all the expenses that come with having children, food is one of the big ones. Mainly because, unlike private school fees, designer clothes or the latest and greatest toys, food isn’t an optional extra. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the average household spends around $204 a week on food and (non-alcoholic) drink. For families with dependent children though, that amount skyrockets to almost $300 a week. That’s approximately $15,600 a year, just to keep ourselves fed. Eeek! Baked beans on toast, anyone?
Food for thoughtThankfully, there are plenty of ways to save on the spending. Even if you can manage to save 20 per cent on your food bill, that’s $3000 a year back in your pocket, and who wouldn’t want that?! To get you started, here are my top tips for feeding healthy and nutritious food to your growing family – for less cash!
* Have a menu. One of the things that I do every weekend is sit down with a piece of paper and a pen and write out a menu for the week to come. Nothing complicated, simply the dinners I plan to cook. I then write a shopping list, incorporating the ingredients I’ll need, as well as breakfast and lunch supplies and whatever other household staples are running low. It takes about 10 minutes, tops. Having a list means that when you hit the supermarket, you have a plan. It helps to stop you buying stuff you really don’t need.
* Cook in bulk. Whether it’s bolognese sauce, a casserole, a curry or lasagne, there are plenty of delicious meals that can be cooked in bulk and frozen in portions. This means that when you’ve had one of ‘those days’, you can defrost a tasty meal in a few minutes, rather than resorting to buying takeaway.
It’s a huge saving!
* Shop around. Depending on where you live your options might be limited, but changing your shopping habits can be a fantastic way to save some cash. CHOICE’s 2009 supermarket price survey, for example, found ALDI to be significantly cheaper on many staples by an average of 25 per cent. Private-label or home-brand products are also worth trying out as the price tends to be a bit lower.
* Download an app. Some of the biggest drains on the grocery budget are those forgotten items we have to make a special trip for. The loaf of bread, the extra packet of nappy wipes or the jar of coffee can all end up costing us a lot more than we intended, simply because we usually come home from the shops with half a dozen other impulse buys as well! Keeping a running list of items that you need to top up on (and remembering to take it to the supermarket with you) is a great way to avoid extra, expensive trips. Personally I use a free iPhone application called ShopShop, but a note on the refrigerator works just as well. (Speaking of apps, there are also ones that track the use-by dates of what’s in your kitchen – handy for avoiding wasting money when stuff needs to be thrown away, unused.)
* Just make do! The easiest way to avoid impulse buys is to shop just once a week with your trusty list. So make a vow that, unless you run out of an absolute necessity such as bread, milk or nappies, then you will simply make do with what you have until the following week. It’s amazing how creative you can
be with your meal preparation if you have to be!
GALLERY: Healthy family meals on a budget
Until you get into a routine, it can be tricky to find the time to coordinate your food planning. But with food being second only to housing costs for families with kids, the financial payoff can be huge!
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