With every person or family, there is one thing that stands out as the biggest hurdle in a budget. Quite often, it’s an everyday thing, something that you don’t ever really think twice about. That is, until you start to nail down just how much you are spending on it. In our house, food is our issue. Food is our biggest waste of money.
My wife is an excellent cook.
Except for Pot Roast.
Golden Corral makes better Pot Roast than she does.
But issa ok. She can make things from seemingly nothing in the pantry. Give her some chicken tenders from the freezer, some rice or a mis-match of pasta, and a veggie, and she’ll come up with some concoction that will require a name, just so we know what to ask for the next time.
She didn’t get these culinary skills from her mother.
Except maybe the Pot Roast.
I can only assume that bad cooking skips a generation in the genetic fibers.
The ironic part is that she isn’t a big fan of cooking. She would prefer that someone does it for her. But adding to my belief that cooking skips a generation is the fact that my kids can’t cook. So my wife has to by default.
She also hates to go grocery shopping, but just like cooking, she’s good at it. Or at least she should be by the frequency in which she goes.
It seems that we go to the grocery store at least four to six times per week. A totally ridiculous amount. Our problem here is a lack of planning. We don’t plan out our meals for more than one to two days at most. So that means that we have to shop every one or two days. Oh, sometimes we can get away with making something that may be in the freezer/pantry. However, usually the recipe is missing “something” that will require us to run to the grocery store anyway.
Here in California, the grocery store is just down the street. Compared to when we were in Arizona and the grocery store was 20 minutes away. However convenient it now is, it also means that we go there WAY more often. Going way more often, without a list to strictly stick to, means that we spend way more money. To help with this, I have instituted THIS LITTLE GEM.
You have to love the giant money-sucking snowball that this move has turned into for us.
Add to that the part about being a busy family to include two teenagers and their activities. Which means that we as parents are wrapped up into their activities as well. At least as much as an Uber driver would be. This means that we don’t always have time to cook a good meal before or in between the “next big activity”. Then of course we have no choice but to buy food from some type of restaurant, usually fast food. It may not be as good for you as say, take out from a regular restaurant, but it’s definitely quicker and cheaper.
Of course you have to add in the “I don’t know what to make anymore” factor. Then the “I’m getting tired of cooking the same old thing” factor as well. These two factors help to contribute to the “Let’s eat out” common denominator. Having two teenagers means that we spend a minimum of $35 at any fast food joint and around $80+ at a sit-down restaurant, and that’s without a bar tab.
….and I could certainly use that drink.
So, with my budget not even accounting for food of any origin, we are already in the red by our first hunger pang. I’m not scared, as I believe that there is a bit of cushion built into the budget. However accidental it may be, due to inaccuracy mainly, we can cover the food within reason. But, of course, not having a plan does not a good budget make (Shakespearean?).
Freezeasy Meal Plans
In my search for budgeting techniques I came across a few things. These will not only save us some money on food and eating in general, but possibly even help earn some money that wasn’t there before while shopping for it. The first is the Freezeasy Meal Plans. Erin, the founder of Freezeasy has been on a mission to help people do two things: spend less money on groceries & make amazing meals at home for less. When life gets crazy like it does as the parental Uber unit, these meal plans are ready for use to heat and eat. They also don’t cost a ton of cash to make. Certainly cheaper than dining out, in any fashion. You will definitely be hearing more about this program from me.
ibotta
The next thing I found was ibotta. With the app or even on the website, you pick your deals and tag them. Then after you have made your purchases, you scan your reciept with the ibotta app and ibotta pays you the money from the deals you chose. In some cases it was as little as $.25, but in others I saw, it was as much as $4.00+, just for one item. After a grocery trip, with some smart shopping and ibotta(ing), you could be well ahead of the game.
ebates
If you are a fan of shopping online, like I am, then you have to check out ebates. With ebates, you pick where you want to shop and they tell you how much cash back you can earn in doing so. It brings you to the same site that you would have gone to anyway, so there really is no reason NOT to use it. It would be silly not to take advantage of free money/discounts.
The way I see it. if you are going to spend money anyway, you might as well get something back for it. With these apps, it makes needing to spend the money, you know, like to eat and stuff, not feel so bad. Since you have money coming back in at the same time that it’s going out.
Dave
This post may contain affiliate links and by clicking on those links, I may get paid.