Unfortunately, when our country entered the era of developing capitalism, very many found themselves on the line or even below the poverty line. Retired, medical workers, teachers. Therefore, the question of how to save on food is far from idle for many of us, but very relevant. First of all, it is worth considering exactly which articles will help reduce costs in our family budget.
Much depends on what useful skills we have. For example, if someone in the family knows how to sew, this can help reduce the cost of clothing. From improvised materials you can make not only interior items, but also furniture. Thus, you do not have to buy an expensive headset, and things made by yourself do much more. And then the question of how to save the
family budget disappears. You can also reduce
utility costs
: for example, put meters everywhere, monitor the timely turn off of lights and electrical appliances, buy irons, kettles and other household appliances with low energy consumption.
If, nevertheless, the question of how to calculate the family budget so that it is enough for the next salary remains, you can think about other ways of saving. For example, in Russia fuel is relatively cheap, but in the West (for example, in France, Germany) it is unprofitable to travel everywhere by car due to the high cost. It is customary to use public transport there or
change bicycles. Both for healthier and for the wallet.
Often, puzzling over how to save on food, we do not see obvious solutions. The first tip you can give: try to make your life easier. Do not chase culinary delights, firstly, it is troublesome and long (well, unless someone likes to stand for hours at the stove or mess in the kitchen), and secondly, it is not very useful. By analyzing your diet, you can understand how to save on food: for example, switch to simpler dishes. Say, you can not make meatloaf stuffed with prunes, or a complex cake, which will require a lot of whipped cream, candied fruit, eggs, condensed milk and so on. Instead, you can boil the meat and serve with vegetables. And for dessert, make simple cookies. In fact, the body does not need and even harmful complex dishes, and energy for life and proper development can be obtained from the simplest products.
The second tip is to consider how much money is spent on “empty calories” and “on pleasure”. Take a simple example: if we care about how to save on food, instead of a large packet of chips, it is better to buy a pack (4 servings) of buckwheat. One package of cereal is enough for a side dish for two people. Fried vegetables can be served with porridge (and even better boiled vegetables: both faster and cheaper, and you do not have to spend money on fat or cooking oil), boiled meat or some white cheese (such as Adyghe or feta). In general, the whole frying, especially deep-fried cooking, is better to minimize: firstly, it consumes a very large amount of oil, and secondly, fried is much more harmful to digestion and health. It’s better to grill without fat.
The third tip is to cook several dishes from one product. Think this is impossible? And here you are mistaken. For example, a kilogram of chicken costs less than a kilogram of fillet or chicken legs. At the same time, we will make one dish from the fillet, and if you buy chicken carcass, you can cook a delicious soup on the broth, and use the meat for another dish, for example, salad. Also try to abandon convenience foods and ready meals in favor of self-cooking. Kebab, already pickled, will cost more than kebab meat and independent pickling, in addition, you will have the opportunity to make sure the product is fresh.
Well, the last tip. Pay attention to the prices. In fact, in large stores, the lack of price tags is not only a staff oversight. This is designed so that the buyer will not find out the price, but simply put the product that he likes in the basket. And only then at the checkout it turns out that we have to pay a little more than we planned. Products of different manufacturers most often differ not only and not so much in quality as in price. The latter depends on how much this manufacturer spends on advertising, promotions, the corresponding position on the shelf and other means of promotion. For all this, the buyer ultimately pays. Please note that the same product can be about twenty to thirty percent more expensive in a shopping center than in a small shop around the corner, where, of course, the choice is more modest, but the margin is less.