Prioritized Living

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Meal Planning for Beginners: How to Save Money on Your Family’s Food

Meal Planning for Beginners - How to Save Money on Your Family's Food

For average Americans, roughly 15% of their income is spent exclusively on food. And, with the average household income sitting around $60,000, the typical family spends $9000 to keep everyone fed.

That’s no small chunk of change.

But what if you could slash your food expenses? What a massive difference that would make with your money!

After all, what could you do with the extra cash if you could whittle your food costs down to 12% every single month? To 10% month after month???

That’s precisely where meal planning comes in — a simple exercise that takes just minutes a week. And doing nothing more than sticking with a meal plan can keep your food budget small while freeing up your cash for other financial goals!

And it’s great for everyone — supermoms, busy retirees, cash-strapped students, kitchen-loving dads, and anyone looking to save money and save time.

If you’re new to the scene, you may not even know how to meal plan. No worries! This guide will take you from beginner to meal planning expert in no time. [Read more…]

How Much Should I Spend on Groceries?

How Much Should I Spend on Groceries?

Is your food spending normal?

Maybe you’re a die-hard fan of outsourcing your food prep. You eat nearly every meal out and use your oven for storage.

Or, on the flipside, you’re a frugalista — someone who shops for the best deals in-store and online, stocks up on discount groceries, meal plans like a pro, and whips up 40 inexpensive freezer meals in a day.

But everybody wants to know . . . How much should I spend on groceries? Is my family’s food budget on target, or are we way off?

Get ready to see whether your spending is in line with the average grocery bill in America. Learn how to create a custom food budget for your family. Plus, grab the FREE food budget calculator down below for calculating your family’s ideal grocery budget!

Here we go! [Read more…]

8 Everyday Products You Can Make for Big Savings

8 Everyday Products You Can Make for Big Savings

There are some things you buy over and over again.  And every time you buy them, you’re handing their manufacturer and your retailer a nice profit.

So it stands to reason that you can save a nice wad of cash by skipping the middle men and making those items yourself!

Think you can’t do it?  These 8 everyday items are not only inexpensive but easy to make right at home!   [Read more…]

Your Money in the Trash: How to Stop Wasting Food (Part 2)

This post is part 1 in the series Your Money in the Trash: How to Stop Wasting Food.

Your Money in the Trash - How to Stop Wasting Food

Note:  This post contains affiliate links.  Read my policy here.

In Part 1 of this series, we looked at how you can stop food waste — and money waste — by making a meal plan, being realistic about what you eat, and making your food visible.

I even recommended some food storage containers that not only allow you to see your food as it happily awaits your return to the fridge but also double as dishes for reheating.  Speaking of which . . . [Read more…]

Your Money in the Trash: How to Stop Wasting Food (Part 1)

This post is part 2 in the series Your Money in the Trash: How to Stop Wasting Food.

Your Money in the Trash - How to Stop Wasting Food

Note:  This post contains affiliate links.  Read my policy here.

Is it refrigerator clean-out day at your house?  You know that day . . . you dig through the recesses of your fridge, pull out forgotten-food-turned-moldy-science-experiment, and toss your unrecognizably icky food into the trash.

Most of us don’t like to handle stinky, bacteria-infested mystery foods . . . but we also hate to throw away money!  That food in the dumpster was something you bought and possibly even something you spent time preparing.

Waste no more!  It’s time to get serious about keeping your food — and your money — from winding up in the dump.  Here’s how: [Read more…]

Quick Tip: Having Cubed Bread Ready to Go

bread freezer bag

Now that you’ve got a homemade croutons addiction, you may be looking for a way to streamline the preparation process.  An excellent way to increase your efficiency in the kitchen here is to cube a big batch of bread, toss the cubes into a freezer bag, and store the bag in the freezer.  Then, when you’re ready to make croutons, just grab the quantity of bread cubes you need from the freezer. [Read more…]