Living the Good Life with Good Food Part 1

I've recently had a conversation with a friend about 'buying local' and it got me thinking about lifestyles and life choices. There is so much that I want to write about so I think that my next few blog entries will be dedicated to this topic.

 As a pregnant woman I am now starting to think about the financial impact having another child will have on my family.  Thankfully I live in a country that recognizes how important it is to both mother and baby to spend that percious first year together.  I will be paid, granted at a much lower rate, for the first 9 months of my maternity leave and will still be guaranteed job security up until a year after the birth of my child.  Much better than the appalling 6 weeks I was offered at my job in the US during my first pregnancy!  Even though I will be receiving Statutory Maternity Pay for 9 of the 12 months, I will still be earning significantly less than I currently am.  This added to the cost of purchasing baby products, especially diapers and possibly formula is testing my mathmatically challenged brain to the max!  It's made me take a very close look at our spending habits and family budget. 

Food is an obvious place to cut back and I've found some fantastic sites, especially Sainsbury's Feed your Family for a Fiver page.  Netmums Cooking on a Budget is also a fantatic source of inspiration.  Some of their top tips that I have fully embraced include:
1. Make it yourself
   prepared meals and processed foods are less nutritious and contain much higher levels of sodium, sugar    and chemicals than fresh whole foods.  Yes it takes more time and effort to prepare things yourself but in the end it costs less and is better for you.  Make it fun and include your kids!  One of my daughter's favorite meals is pizza.  At least 3 times a month we make pizza together .  Not only is it a cheap and healthy meal, it's also fun and easy to do.  Here is the recipe I use for Whole Wheat Pizza Dough . I've also started making my own stirfry sauces.  When you look at most ready made stirfry sauces they have a ridiculous amount of sugar.  To make my favorite sauce I use
            soy sauce- about 2-3 tablespoons
            jarred giner- about 1 teaspoon
            1 clove of minced garlic
            1/2 finely chopped chili pepper
            1 tablespoon ketchup or tomato puree (obviously the ketchup makes it sweeter.  if you like the    sweetness but don't want to use ketchup try adding a drizzle of honey)
            sometimes I add lemongrass or sesame seeds, depends on what's available really! 
           
           
2. Plan Ahead
   Believe it or not I have turned into a meal planner!  I still pride myself in my ability to come up with a fantastic meal based on the ingredients found in the fridge and cupboard but planning meals has been a lifesaver!  Not only does it save me money at the grocery store but it's also really nice to come home after a tiring day at work and know that I have all of the ingredients for a quick and healthy meal.  It also gives me a chance to plan more labor intensive meals for days when I have a bit more time and save the quick meals for busier days. 
My 2 Top Tips on meal and shopping planning are:
         1. Check the offers and sales and plan meals around that
         2. Buy store brands- the price difference between canned tomatoes for example is astonishing.  In my local grocery store name brand canned tomatoes cost 99p a can while the store brand basic ones cost 33p, a third of the price!  No contest there really!

This month I am also going to keep track of every penny that I spend on food and at the end of the month I'll take a close look at my spending habits and see where cuts can be made.