7 Simple Ways To Make Your Groceries Last All Week

If you’re a mum, particularly a mum of teenagers or boys, there’s one thing you definitely know: kids love to eat.

The challenge is figuring out how to make your weekly shop last against their raging appetites all week.

One of the toughest jobs of every mum is budgeting so your food stretches to the last day of the week. It’s a tricky balancing act to provide healthy food and stretch that penny-pinching budget. At Stay at Home Mum,  we give you some smart but simple ways to make your groceries last all week.

1. Start Meal Planning

Regardless of whether your children are big eaters, meal planning makes sense for families trying to keep an eye on their budget. It produces less waste as you buy ingredients specific to your needs, and it makes it much easier to see where your food is being used. For those trying to keep a lid on their grocery spending, planning bigger meals that produce leftovers is a great way to spread the weekly shop even further.

Doubling the amount of cheaper ingredients, such as vegetables, in a meal will mean there are leftovers for hungry kids to eat all the time.

To start with – make double batches of whatever meals you are currently in high rotation – and build from there!

If you are just starting out with Meal Planning – read our Meal Planning for Beginners.

2. Bake ‘n’ Freeze for Later

Mum’s do not want to be rushing around the kitchen trying to get together something for their kids to eat every single day, especially if it’s baked goods which can so easily be cooked in advance. If your kids love muffins, or you’ve figured out that healthy muffins are a great snack that doesn’t break the bank, bulk baking is the answer. Depending on how many mouths you have to feed, double, triple or even quadruple your muffin, cake and loaf recipes.

Then simply wrap the extras in cling wrap and put them in the freezer. The added bonus of this is that kids need to defrost them prior to eating, which will make them take their time.

Check out our Freezer Cooking Recipe Section for more great ideas!

Next Page: More Smart Ways to Stretch your Groceries

Clare Whitfield Chief Editor

Clare Whitfield is the Editor of Stay at Home Mum and a recognised voice in practical home management for Australian families. Based in the northern suburbs of Sydney, she balances editorial leadership with life as a stay at home mum to two school age children. Her background in home economics and more than a decade of experience in recipe development, family budgeting, and household systems inform her work.

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