by Hope
Other than rent or housing, our largest regular bill is food. I imagine this is the same for many families. Over the years, we have really honed cutting down on our food costs. We do a great deal of meal planning, food prep and most importantly cut down on eating out.
But one thing that has continued to be an issue for me, for us is how quickly fresh food spoils. Well, any food really, especially when you have any number of teenagers in the house and they notoriously open things and don’t close them back properly. Please tell me I’m not the only one who finds bags of chips half eaten, cheese packages not sealed, cereal boxes left open and on and on.
I’ve finally come to the point where I am chopping all my fresh veggies as soon as they enter the house, parceling them out in plastic ware for the different meals I have planned and then freezing them. This is saving me lots of money in spoiled veggies.
We’ve been chopping and freezing:
- Bell Peppers
- Squash
- Zuccini
- Tomatoes
- Onions (some, but I’m not a big fan of the results)
I’ve also begun freezing bananas and berries when they get to a certain point. Then at least we can use them in smoothies. (We occasionally have other fruit, but mostly stick to berries since it’s low carb for this diabetic conscious mom.)
I’d love any tips you have for making fresh produce last.
School Lunches
With school starting this week, we decided on bento box type meals. I prepped three days of meals for the kids, and they were just able to grab what they wanted and head out the door. We had bags of grapes, granola bars, bottles of water (although I encourage each of them to take a refillable bottle,) cheese, meat and crackers, veggies and dip and apples. I might have snuck a few pieces of candy in each of their backpacks on their way out the door.
I absolutely refused to buy lunch boxes. Notoriously, the kids would start off all excited about them and then within weeks, would not want to carry any more than they have too. We have some old ones around (from years ago) but I doubt they will use them. (Gymnast was the one most upset about not getting a new one.)
But we are off to school with two seniors and one sophomore! And a solid plan for a crazy food needs.
Oh, one more thing, we’ve decided to eat dinner at 3pm every school day. I’ll have a meal ready by the time they get home. Therefore, the girls can grab food and change clothes and be at work by 4pm on the days they have to work.
Hope is a creative, solutions-focused business manager helping clients grow their business and work more efficiently by leveraging expertise in project management, digital marketing, & tech solutions. She’s recently become an empty nester as her 5 foster/adoptive kids have spread their wings. She lives with her 5 dogs in a small town in NE Georgia and prefers the mountains to the beaches any day. She struggles with the travel bug and is doing her best to help each of her kids as their finish schooling and become independent (but it’s hard!) She has run her own consulting company for almost twenty years! Hope began sharing her journey with the BAD community in the Spring of 2015 and feels like she has finally in a place to really focus on making wise financial decisions.
I dramatically extend the life of herbs like cilantro and parsley by putting them in a glass of water, covering them with a plastic bag, and putting them in the refrigerator.
Funny, I just read about this today in an Amazon review. Thanks for the tip, I will definitely try this.
I like the fact that your freezing your food. I hate opening up the fridge and finding food thats spoiled. Money wasted. I like too splurge when veggies ate on sale and pack the freezer. It definitely does make it easier for getting dinner ready.