Delicious dinners on a budget: Easy strategies

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With the cost of essentials and groceries rising, you can feel overwhelmed with budgeting for food. Thankfully, with a little creativity and planning in the kitchen, you can prepare delicious meals on a budget. Here are a few strategies to help you save money and still enjoy tasty dishes at family dinners.

Plan your meals

Planning your meals makes it easier to know what to shop for and avoid impulse buying. Take some time on Sunday to determine which meals you’ll have for lunch and dinner throughout the week. Check your fridge and cupboards for available ingredients before creating a shopping list for the grocery store.

You can also pick out your favourite dishes from meal delivery services and have the ingredients delivered to your door. A good example of how you can save money is through cheap meals from EveryPlate. Having a meal plan for the week reduces the chances of eating takeout, which can be quite expensive.

Batch cook budget-friendly recipes

Save money in the kitchen by cooking in bulk. Whether you’re cooking for the whole family or for one person, preparing multiple meals in advance saves you time and cuts back on food waste.

For instance, instead of letting leftover vegetables go to waste, you can make an extra pot of soup and put it in the freezer. When you’re cooking lasagna, make extra batches for freezing.

Build meals around your favourite staple foods

Cook your meals around your favourite dishes. For instance, if your family loves dishes made from grains like rice, corn and wheat or vegetables, such as potatoes or yam, you can create delicious and filling meals with these ingredients.

Staple ingredients are usually inexpensive, and you can use them as the foundation of any meal. With staples like rice, all you have to do is prepare stews, sauces or stir-fries to add flavour and texture. Building meals around legumes in the grains is less expensive compared to focusing on meat.

Repurpose leftovers

Holidays aren’t the only time you should utilise your leftovers. For delicious meals on a budget, consider giving your leftovers a new life. If you cook roast chicken with vegetables and rice for Sunday dinner, you can use leftover chicken and vegetables to make sandwiches for Monday’s lunch.

If you have leftover sauce in your fridge, you can make burritos, wraps and pasta bowls. With leftovers, all you have to do is add one ingredient or find building blocks, like tortillas or dried pasta, to create a delicious meal.

Reduce food waste

When you are on a budget, you cannot afford to waste food. Throwing away food is equal to wasting your money and is also harmful to the planet. You can minimise waste by sticking to your meal plan.

When you deviate from the weekly menu, you will likely over-shop and have excess food that you will throw away. You should also check the best-before and use-by dates for the items in your cupboard, fridge and freezer. That way, you will not throw away edible food or fail to use ingredients on time.

Give gardening a try

You can reduce your food bill by growing vegetables in your garden. If you have a garden, you can grow herbs, chillies and vegetables. You can also grow some herbs in cans on the patio or sunny windowsill. Growing just a few herbs cuts down the cost of food.

You don’t have to settle for boring meals on a budget. With the strategies above, you can cook flavourful dishes without overspending. You will also enhance your cooking skills and save time in the kitchen.

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