Some tips I found

It is no secret, I am an internet junkie. I love to surf and now I have a new reason to. I have started surfing to some of the sites for our favorite food brands. Anytime I find a printable coupon, I try to blog about it and share it with those who may not have the time to sit and search. I was recently searching Ragu's site (alas no coupon there, sorry) but one of their articles for "Eating Well for Less" caught my eye. I have included a link to the page so you can go and read the whole article, but here are some of the highlights that we are trying at my house.

• Plan your meal so only one part of it must be prepared when you get home at night. For instance, have cold side dishes, salad or bread ready to go, with only the main course to cook. You can also prep as much of the dish as you can by cutting up onions and peppers to sauté or cleaning the meat ahead of time.
  

How many times when you got home did you not feel like cooking--so you just went and ate out?

• Plan meals for the week or month to save money and time. Give every family member some input - ask them to suggest recipes they’d like to see and offer choices between several menu items.

I found when we did this we did much better at both our diet, and on our budget. I will admit I have been a slacker at this point. My goal is to get us back on track!

• Make a budget and stick to it. You’ll be amazed at the inexpensive meals you can create with a little research and planning. Plus, by having a list and paying attention to sale items instead of impulse buys at the grocery store, you’re sure to save a few extra dollars.

I know, I know easier said than done. But if you plan your meals and then shop by the sales, it does work and it helps.

• Have fun with coupons. Sit down with your child and go through the paper, having a coupon treasure hunt. Or set up siblings with different papers and make it a competition – whoever saves the most money, wins!

My son loves to cut out the coupons for me, and I don't mind letting him help. Now I am trying to teach him the value. My hope is that I have him so used to clipping and using coupons, that when he goes to college, he will eat better for less than most of his friends.

• Make use of leftovers! Instead of leaving the leftover chicken in your fridge for a week and then throwing it out, plan ahead for recipes to reuse old dinners in new ways. When cooking, you can also make a double batch and freeze some for another night. For example, you can make pasta one night and add that pasta to a Chicken Margherita dish with Ragú® Old World Style® Margherita sauce.

I need to do better on this point. I have noticed that when we plan our menus and stick to them, we don't have a lot of left overs. Then the fact that I have an almost 13 yr old boy in the house might have something to do with it as well.

• Stock up on frozen vegetables, rice and other side dishes that you can have on hand and use again and again in new recipes for different meals.

Buy in bulk when you can, and combining coupons and sales and you can buy your frozen vegetables for almost nothing.

• Make dinner a tech-free zone. Turn off the TV, let the answering machine screen phone calls and turn off cell phones and texting during meals. Make communication a priority and allow everyone an opportunity to talk.

We do this when we splurge and go out to eat. No texting, or web surfing on the phones. Now I just have to get it started at home too. Wish me luck with that....lol