Budgeting and Meal Prep

Recently my husband switched jobs and we now make $40,000 less a year. Though this switch was definitely the right decision for our family, it does mean that we have been trying to budget more and eat out less. I recently saw the below post on the Kids Eat in Color Instagram page and it got me thinking that though with these crazy grocery prices it may seem cheaper to eat out, it truly is cheaper and healthier to make food at home and to use clever ways to save the excess.

Kids Eat in Color Instagram Post

Cooking at home does take time and planning, but with the right tools, it can go by quickly and if everyone pitches in, cleanup is fast too as almost every single product we sell is dishwasher safe!

My least favorite part of eating at home is deciding what to cook. So to help me stick to my plan of eating at home every night, and to find meals that were nutritious, inexpensive, and easy to cook, I created a meal plan/grocery list. I even went as far as writing down the cost of each item from Walmart.com to make sure it would stick to my grocery budget I had set for each month. The first two weeks are available if you'd like to steal my list HERE.

Finding ways to save any excess foods you use as you are cooking is also incredibly important to the budgeting aspect of cooking at home. One thing I love doing is pouring any extra chicken broth or beef stock into a Cubo mold and letting it freeze overnight before I put the 1/2 cup cubes into a ziploc baggie. Then anytime a recipe calls for that, I no longer have to buy a giant thing of it, but I can use the frozen cubes after a quick reheating in the microwave!

Another wonderful silver lining of cooking at home is being able to relax after it is all clean. My family absolutely loves tea and drinking it after dinner is like a dessert for them. When we are all together we relax, make some tea, and play board games.

I hope to continue this tradition with my own family as Nellie grows older. I want dinner time to be a time we all gather as a family and celebrate our day together. There's just something so different when you make a meal and set the table and all sit down together compared to when you have those little obnoxious white takeout boxes that take up so much space both on the table and in the trash can.

Our goal here at Gourmet Kitchenworks is to help you spend less time in the kitchen, and more time with your family, all while getting healthier and I am so incredibly grateful for the products we have that help us do just that. I hope you save money in the process and create happy family memories as you celebrate your day at the dinner table.

Cheers,
Taryn Pratt, MPH

P.S. Have any questions?? The quickest way to get an answer is to DM me on our instagram @GourmetKitchenworks