Money Matters Monday: Cut out Conveniences

One of the biggest ways to save money is to cut out the convenience foods. You might not even realize that you could be substituting homemade for these convenience items! I know I didn't.

Cooking from scratch not only saves you money but is so much healthier. AND it isn't as tough as it looks. For the past year I have been attempting to make more things from scratch and I was a working Mom! I know how it is when you get busy. Adding the words "cooking from scratch" is NOT usually a time saving idea for a busy Mom! Now it can be incorporated. Don't let it intimidate you!

My family used to eat boxed hamburger helper. My husband and I both grew up on that and we used to make it for our kids too. We haven't had a hamburger helper in our house for over a year. We make it from scratch! It is so easy too! You can mix up the packages and then all you have to do is add water and ground turkey/beef just like you do to the regular hamburger helpers! If you are going healthy, you can even substitute whole wheat pasta and ground turkey. My kids love it!

I love cooking once and eating twice. This saves so much time. When I am making a pan of lasagna or casseroles I always split it up into (2) 8x8 pans instead of a 9x13 pan. My family can usually eat one 8x8 pan at a time so this saves us money by not wasting and it saves time by having a casserole on standby in the freezer ready to go!

Get rid of the juice! I stopped buying juice. Not only is it really bad for you, but it just leads to sugar addiction. I really believe that. As a treat sometimes we will buy orange juice, but not very often. Juice just isn't as nutritious as fresh fruit with no artificial colors or sugars. We drink filtered water and while I am not 100% sure our water is amazingly pure, I do know that it doesn't have the man made chemicals that the juice contains. I buy a huge container of the Performance Orange or Lemon Lime hydrating drinks and we mix that with water from our filter and that is what we drink when we are craving a sweeter drink or my kids are playing outside. It is like a hydration drink and full of good stuff for you with no additives, preservatives or sweetners. It makes 5 gallons, lasts forever and is yummy and safe!

We also gave up microwave popcorn! I blogged about how I got a popcorn popper for Christmas and that is how we make our popcorn. I can buy a huge bag of popcorn for less than $2 and get 10 times the amount of servings that came in a box of microwave popcorn! Once again, no man made chemicals! Just the coconut oil, and the popcorn kernels!

Bake your own bread. This one I will admit I haven't quite mastered yet. I am working on it. I haven't quite found the right recipe. If you know of one, let me know! :)

Stop buying canned beans! Buy a big bag of dried beans. WAY less sodium and once again, not all of those preservatives and chemicals in the canned ones. And if you are a worrier about BPA Chemicals, you won't have to worry about that by skipping the cans.

Instead of stopping by the gas station for yucky gas station food, grab a lunch bag and fill it with snacks and aluminium bottles for on the go! I LOVE my shaklee bottles! :) Can you tell?! haha Invest in some great aluminum bottles for on the go! Don't waste your money by buying bottled water that probably came from the tap anyway! Take a few extra minutes to fill up your bottles before you leave the house.

I can't stress enough the importance of planning ahead. If you look at your menu's ahead of time and lay out what you need then you will save so much time and money. Don't forget to use up what you already have in your pantry and freezer! :)

Do you have any tips or tricks on cutting out the convenience foods and making food from scratch?