A Recession Proof Food Budget

If you have been watching the news, especially the economic news, experts have been saying that the recession is technically over. Ok, but employers are not hiring and you may have been lucky enough to keep your job, but with a reduction in salary, you really are stretched financially. How can you save money? You need to watch your food budget. How should you do this?

You can do it the old fashion way and take a look into your pantry and refrigerator and jot down and make a list of what food you already have. Then, pull out your dusty cookbooks and take a look at what you can make with what you have. Write down the ingredients you need to buy and head off to the grocery store with your shopping list. That’s not a bad method at all, but very time consuming. Why not use technology to make your life easier.

With all the different recipe websites now on the internet that will help you find awesome recipes, you shouldl use them. Here’s how: Perform a google search on “recipes by ingredients” and google will return a list of recipe websites that you can select from.

Now that you’ve found a website to find recipes based on the ingredients you already have, it’s time to jump onto the site and give it a whirl. When on the recipe website, type in the ingredients or groceries you already have at home and search for what recipes you can make with those ingredients. It’s that easy!

I like to do this routine each Sunday for the entire week. I add in all the ingredients I already have at home and then select 5 recipes for the week. This will generate a list of groceries I need to buy for these 5 recipes. Most sites will allow you to print out this list to take to the grocery store.

I usually spend around $50 for 2 people (my wife and I) for the entire week (Monday through Friday). This means we spend around $200 per month and this saves us probably around $100 each month or $1,200 per year in savings. Most of these recipe websites are free, so give them a shot!

Try this awesome site if you are looking for a food budget or are on a tight grocery budget.