By Carrie Johnson, SDSU Extension
I am extremely lucky in the fact that I currently have a 9-month position with SDSU and I get to spend the summer at home with my four children. However, that means I now need to plan three meals a day instead of one as well as provide snacks throughout the day.
I’ll be honest; the first few weeks we were home together I cheated a bit and didn’t plan well. I treated them to fast food on a number of occasions to make things easier on myself. I quickly realized that there was no way I could continue to afford this and had to come up with a plan.
Plan a menu and keep an inventory of what you have
The first thing I decided to do was make a two-week menu (including snacks). This way, I knew exactly what I needed to get at the store. I checked my pantry, refrigerator, and freezer before deciding on meals to see what was already available. I even let the kids help make the menu so there were options I knew they would eat because leftovers do not typically get eaten in our house.
Consider fruits and vegetables for snacks
Snacks are always tricky. If my kids could snack all day long they would. I try to keep a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables in my refrigerator all the time. This time of year is great for us because produce is a relatively inexpensive snack option, as long as I only let them eat it in moderation. We had to come up with a snack schedule so they would still get their snack AND eat an actual meal.
Make your own convenience foods
To save even more, I decided to make some convenience foods of my own. For example, I am making homemade pizza instead of buying frozen or take-out. This way I can sneak in some nutrition like making it on whole wheat honey crust which is I personally like the flavor better anyway. I even broke out the mixer my husband bought me for Christmas for the first time and baked some homemade cookies instead of buying store bought.
Stick with the plan
So far we are doing very well at sticking to our menu. I made sure to write it on the dry-erase calendar we use for activities so the kids know what they will be eating throughout the week. Now when they wake up in the morning they look at the calendar to see what they can have that day. Here’s hoping we can continue to save money on our summer food budget.
Loading ...