So then, as I planned out a menu, I figured out my family’s likes and dislikes. I figured out which foods & spices and flavors and different things, but it took trial and error, right? So, the plan is the biggest thing planning out that menu. After planning out the menu figuring out what I currently have in the pantry, because the key is so it will be easy for things to go into the pantry and never come back out. It’s like, in a vest. It’s kind of like the washer with socks, right? 

So you want to be rotating things. So, if you’re constantly buying, buying, buying, then you’re not using what’s actually in the pantry, spices will get old things of that nature. So then once I figured out what my family’s likes were, as I had things in the pantry, I would instead, when I would go to my menu planning, I’d pull out what I have in the pantry. What can I make with what I have and I would see. Okay? Oh, I’ve got, you know, these seasonings. Oh, I have some excess hamburger. 

So anyway, so the first part is feeding your family on a budget. You need to plan meal prep. So the planning comes in setting a menu. When you do the menu, you can figure out what you currently have, and then you can add to that what you need to from the grocery store which helps to eliminate overspending. Especially key to that?  Don’t go shopping when you’re hungry ever. Don’t take your kids shopping when they’re hungry ever, ever, ever.

Those are key factors, right? I always carried snacks with me in the car and offered them before we went in the store because the more hungry they are the more hungry they become just like us as adults do right? So then it’s always “Mom, I want this!” and they really don’t necessarily want that. They’re just hungry. So the same is true for us. If we’re hungry and we’re shopping, everything sounds good. But, then we have all the food that we aren’t necessarily using it. It becomes wasteful. 

The second part of that is that 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 you know or I knew the week, was the busiest time. So I was teaching, I was coaching. I was still Mom, right? And it was the busiest time ever was during the week. So, I did more planning and we literally lived out of the Crock-Pot. I would burn through a Crock-Pot every single season.

 You know, at black Friday, they have the crockpot 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 and I didn’t have to think about it anymore, it was done. So, it was and then often times we would have leftovers that we could utilize the next day. So part of my prep was always planning and preparing based on the time because those leftovers the next day, I would coordinate 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, and your family is eating better.