'I'm a paediatric nutritionist. Here are my top tips for feeding your family on a budget.'

Times are tough right now – cost of living has increased, interest rates are on the up, and our wages aren’t doing the same. Feeding your family can be hard at the best of times, with waste a common occurrence, particularly if you have children. 

If you are reading this and nodding your head, you are absolutely not alone. Through my work with families, I can assure you that there is a huge collective of parents raising their hands in solidarity with you.

Along with this increase in cost of living, the grocery bills of families have increased significantly. So, whilst we have no control over the price tag of items, there are some strategies I recommend to help feed your family in a more cost-effective way.

Watch: Simple budgeting with a banana. Post continues after video.

Meal plan.

Whilst it can take a while to get the hang of, and can seem a little laborious at first, meal planning is essential to keeping your grocery bill as low as possible. It provides you with direction at the supermarket, lessening the chances of you buying unnecessary items. It can also mean that you can plan meals to utilise ingredients throughout the week – we’re all guilty of buying a punnet of cherry tomatoes, using half for a meal and the rest slowly festering in our fridge. 

Meal planning can also save you time – you cook one night and have leftovers for lunch the next day, or dinner on another night (cook once, eat twice). At the end of each week, instead of planning a specific meal, have this be a night where you use up all of your leftover veggies and pantry items to create dinner – make an omelette or egg scramble with all the leftover veggies, roast up your leftover veggies and make a veggie/fridge clean out pasta sauce, cook eggs on toast, etc. 

If you are someone who is easily tempted by the supermarket aisles, try to do your shopping online – not only will this save you time, but it can also save you money as it prevents you from straying from your grocery list!

Do a stock take of your pantry, fridge and freezer each week.

Prior to meal planning each week, I encourage you to do a little stock take of your pantry, fridge and freezer and make a list of what is there to be used – canned goods, pasta, grains, frozen meat, etc. Incorporate these into your meal plan each week.

Shop seasonally.

Not only is eating foods that are within season beneficial for the environment, but it can also be beneficial for your back pocket! When fruit and vegetables are in season, there is typically an abundance of them, and they can be grown locally, making them less expensive.

You can find a list of what is in season and when in Australia here. 

Use portions of leftovers for your kids.

Do you find you have a small portion of leftovers from certain meals? If this is you, start to create a freezer stash of child sized portions of bolognaise sauce, curry, risotto, etc. You may even have a single adult portion left over that you would typically throw out. Could this also be frozen to create a stash for those really busy days, or days where you just can’t be bothered? Instead of buying takeaway, you can rely on your collection of frozen leftovers.

Listen to This Glorious Mess. On this episode, we speak to Derek McCormack, Network Director at Raising Children, about how to budget for your family. Post continues below.

Other tips for the supermarket.

Compare prices where possible. 

Does your local greengrocer (who typically sells local produce) have cheaper fruit and vegetables than the supermarket? Do you have a local bulk buy store or Aldi near you, where products are much the same, but cheaper? Does your local butcher provide better value for money or offer weekly meat boxes at a lower cost?

Check specials.

I would advise against shopping purely for specials as this can lead to unnecessary spending, but once you’ve created your grocery list, check if any of your items or similar alternatives are on special. This is even easier to do when shopping online. 

Opt for home brand products.

Don’t be afraid of purchasing home brand products. There is no nutritional difference between brands, just less spending on production and pretty packaging. 

Use canned and frozen goods. 

Canned and frozen fruit and vegetables are nutritionally on par with fresh (frozen is arguably better as it is snap frozen at its freshest) and can help to reduce waste. It can also be a great way to feed your kids, enabling you to take out a small portion of a fruit or vegetable, without the remainder going limp in your fridge.

Check the unit price. 

Don’t necessarily just check the price tag of a product to find the lowest price, instead check the price per 100g/unit etc to see which of the products is best value for money.

Other tips at home.

Try to incorporate 1-2 vegetarian meals per week.

Not only is this great for your grocery bill, but it also great for the planet and for your health. Some examples are tofu in curry, lentil bolognaise, dhal, chickpea curries, veggie burgers, etc.

Use cheaper cuts of meat and slow cook.

Cheaper cuts of meat can be a bit average on their own or pan fried as they are typically a little fickler to cook, but slow cooked can be really delicious. Can you roast up a chicken for a Sunday roast and use the leftovers in sandwiches or salads throughout the week?

Bulk up meat based dishes with lentils or beans.

Make a family bolognese or shepherd’s pie with one tray of mince and two tins of lentils. Or make a stew or curry, with one portion of meat and add in some chickpeas or beans. 

Aimee is a Paediatric Nutritionist that provides families with strategies to make feeding their children simple. You can find her here or Instagram.

Feature Image: Getty.