In tip #4 we talked about the importance of not going when you or your kids are hungry, to read the previous article click here. If we’re hungry and we’re shopping, everything sounds good. But then we have all this food that we aren’t necessarily using, and it becomes wasteful. So tip #5, is the food prep part of it. 

So in that food prep part of it, there are things that you can do in advance. So for instance, if  knew during the week was the busiest time, I was teaching and coaching, but I was still mom, right. . So I did more planning, and we literally lived out of a crock-pot. I would burn through a crock-pot every single season. At the Black Friday, they have the crock-pot that always goes on sale. I would get it, and by the next season it would be dead. Totally dead.

I would use it, at least two to three times a week. So, that was a great way for me to be able to put all of my dinner items in, leave it for work, and then when I came home, there would be dinner ready. I didn’t have to think any more about it. It was done. And then oftentimes we’d have leftovers that we could utilize the next day. So tip #6 was coordinating those leftovers to fit my schedule. For instance, if Tuesday night I made a big meal, Wednesday night, we were heading right from school and work, then often to church. So we would do quick leftovers, and it would be a faster, easier transition. So the less stress you make of it, the more enjoyable it can be. As well as the less money you’ll spend on it. Because then you’re not going and grabbing things to go.

Your family is eating better. Tip #7 about that food prep is also the many things that you can actually do at home that most people don’t realize. So for instance, every kid loves peanut butter and jelly, right? Most people don’t realize how easy jam is to make, and how much money they make on jam. So you can make your own at home, super easy, super simple. So oftentimes, berries you can get at the end of the season at an even better price; because they’re just trying to clear them out. So I would wait until the end of the season to get those berries or fruits, because I always mixed mine. You throw it in a pot, you cook it, you throw in your sugar, you throw in your pectin, put it in a jar done. It’s that simple guys, it is.

You can even do freezer jam if you’d prefer that. It isn’t hard, it isn’t complicated. Just takes a little bit of prep. I had to actually plan out, this is the time. So every year I would plan ahead in the summertime to make my jam, I would can vegetables and fruits. I remember when green beans used to be 25 cents a can. And now they’re like a dollar a can, absolutely ridiculous. The green beans haven’t changed guys. They’re the same. So what I did also, we were able to grow a garden. So certain things that my family loved, like green beans didn’t always do so well in our gardens. Snap peas did great. So we did that with lettuces and things that we could eat all summer long. And then I would go to the Farmers’ Markets, and buy the green beans and I would just spend the day and can them.

Overall, I might have spent three full days doing those food preps for peaches, green beans, jam, and tomatoes. But it would feed my family for the whole year. I would have those available in my pantry all year long in our garage. I wouldn’t have to take a freezer space, and it allowed for us to not have to spend the money on that. And it always tasted better. My family loved the green beans a lot better than the ones that we got in the cans.