Grocery Shop to Cook on a Budget

Grocery Shop to Cook on a Budget You can cook on a budget but it doesn’t mean having to buy cheaper food. Generally cheaper food is less nutritious, less healthy for you and your everyday cooking should call for the most wholesome ingredients that you can find. So, if you have stress over cooking at home while still trying to cook on a budget, the first place to start is in the grocery store. This is where your food bill originates and there are some ways that you can lower your grocery bill without having to buy inferior products and still make cooking nutritious and fun. The first thing is to know your basic portions for the people for whom you cook. The average is five ounces raw protein, four ounces raw vegetable and three ounces raw starch in each meal. What this means is if you’re cooking for four people, five ounces protein times four people is twenty total ounces. That’s less than a pound and a half total. Now, you have a quantifiable number to buy. Don’t buy the three pound container of chicken breast. You’ll just overcook, over portion and waste food and money. Be able to do some simple math while you're in the grocery store because packages are downsizing. Notice that many boxes of pasta are no longer a full pound. Many have been downsized to twelve ounces but the price has not been downsized appropriately. You need to figure out the cost per ounce or some other common denominator, so you can compare correctly. However, this also goes with knowing portion size. In my household, I prepare 5.3 ounces of dry pasta for two people. This gives me three meals out of a one pound box and the tendency though is to buy the twelve ounce box and just over portion and make the rest. So, when you know your family’s portions, you can shop at the grocery store with your cooking in mind. There is less wasted food for preparing and over cooking. Less, little wasted leftovers as well. Your object in cooking on a budget is to purchase only what you’ll cook and cook only what you’ll purchase.