Do you want to feed your large family healthy everyday on a budget ? Then you are absolutely at the right place. Here you will learn some practical tips that you can consider while making your grocery list for your large family.
It’s not easy to manage a large family and I feel it is a work of proud and you should always appreciate yourself for managing your family. So, the same way it is not easy to plan for healthy groceries for a large family.
Healthy groceries does not only includes food items but it also includes all the other products that we use in our daily life. These can be cleaning products, self care products, laundries, toiletries etc. Simply because what you eat and what you use directly and indirectly have an impact on health.
Though it is not easy to plan for the groceries for a large family and that too even having health in budget as the priority. So, with a little planning it becomes a bit easy to plan for healthy groceries. So, let’s get started.
Tip 1 Always Plan In Advance :
It is important to plan for the groceries always in advance. You can keep a separate notebook just for planning the groceries. So, you can plan for the next whole month in advance, for example you want to plan for February then you can start noting down the items in the last week of January.
I am sharing some simple steps that you can follow to start your grocery planner :
- Firstly you need a new notebook or a notepad in a large size not the pocket sized one
- So, go to your kitchen and look at the things in the kitchen
- Have a rough paper with yourself and a pen or pencil
- Start dividing all the items you see in your kitchen in different categories
- Write the categories on the rough paper
- Like when you open the cabinet in your kitchen and you see spices
- Write spice as the category number 1
- When you open another cabinet and see rice, grains, pastas etc
- Write Grains as the category number 2
- In the same above way divide all the items in categories and write them down on the rough paper
- As I mentioned above that groceries does not only includes kitchen items, so divide all the other things in different categories
- Then in your grocery planner write your first category on the left side and 2nd on the right side, draw a straight line in between.
- Using the above same method write 2 categories on a single page and draw line in between
This way you will have a clean and clear grocery planner.
Tip 2 : Writing Your Needs :
When your grocery planner is ready you can then write down things you need in your kitchen, laundry, personal care etc.
Make sure to write down the quantity for each item that you will be in need for the next whole month. Whenever you write the items always check before to see how much quantity you already have.
This way it becomes easy to manage the stock of groceries without letting them go bad.
Tip 3 Mark The Perishable Items :
Many items in our groceries includes perishable goods like fruits, vegetables, bread etc. These type of items does not last for long time. It is best to buy them almost once every week.
Mark all the perishable items using a different colored pen, So it gets highlighted.
Tips 4 Avoid Packed items :
I know almost everything comes in a packet when you buy from a super market but I am not saying to avoid everything. You just need to check the label for ingredients and the price.
Packed foods like cereals, biscuits etc. Many other goods like cleaners, soaps etc, often comes with nasty ingredients and preservatives.
When planning for healthy groceries you must try to avoid as much as packed goods as you can. Also the packed goods are charged high because of packaging, transporting and middleman cost.
You can try making them at home instead, Using healthy and non toxic ingredients. You can buy the raw material in smaller quantities first and then if you feel everything good, buy them in big quantities.
Also when you buy raw material in large quantities you often get some discounts. This helps to reduce the overall cost and keeps you healthy in a budget too.
Ok, so I am sharing some common things that you can easily make at home and replace the store brought
- Instead of buying sugar and flour loaded cookies – Make healthy multigrain cookies at home
- Instead of buying packed frozen snacks – Make some healthy frozen snacks at home and store them in the zip lock bag
- Instead of buying packed juices that are loaded with sugar – Buy fresh fruits and vegetables to make their juice at home
- Instead of buying packed energy bars – Make healthy bars at home using dry nuts, seeds, dates and oats
- Instead of buying costly soaps and scrubs – Make natural soaps, fresh scrubs at home
- Instead of buying toxic air fresheners – Make at home using essential oils
- Instead of buying toxic cleaners – Make homemade natural cleaners
P.S. You can also check out these few simple recipes to make at home
11 Beauty recipes you can make at home
bathroom air fresheners using simple ingredients
Diy sugar scrubs for glowing skin
Tip 5 Go For Wholesome Foods :
You might be thinking what are wholesome foods, so the wholesome foods are basically those foods which are free from any processing or are very less processed. These foods are complete in nature, very close to their natural form and are not fragmented.
These foods includes fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, seeds etc. Wholesome foods are less costly when compared to processed foods. It is because they are not or very less processed, which reduces the cost of processing.
Not only wholesome foods are less costly but they are far more healthy than processed foods. As all the nutrients remain intact in them. Eating wholesome foods helps to boost immunity, helps in weight management, improves digestion and makes you overall healthy.
Tip 6 Explore Different Marts :
Many times I noticed the price for a same product differs from one mart to another. To keep your groceries in budget you need to explore different marts. There are some marts where the prices for almost every product is cheaper than the other.
Also many marts offer seasonal and festival discounts and you can take benefits from these discounts. Though there are discounts make sure to buy only those things that you are really in need.
It happens many times when there is discount, people tend to buy those stuff that they don’t even really need. This can cause clutter in your pantry and increases the overall cost of your groceries.
So, to keep everything simple, clutter free buy only those things that you know you and your family needs.
Tip 7 Explore Brands :
The way it is important to explore different marts, the same way it is also important to explore different brands. You will always find a difference in price for the same product from different brands. You can go for the brand which is affordable and fits in your budget.
Tip 8 Read The Labels :
Whenever you buy any product it is important to read the label to check the price, ingredients and the date of expire. As I mentioned above you can go for the price which you find that fits in your budget but make sure to do not underestimate the ingredients.
Look for the clean ingredients, which means the ingredients should be healthy and has the least chemicals and preservatives. For example there are two different brands of peanut butter and has a bit difference in the price.
One brand has the ingredients : Roasted peanuts, oil, salt, sugar, emulsifier and the other brand has only roasted peanuts. Then of course you should go for the other brand that has only the roasted peanuts.
So, you need to look for the price but also look for the clean ingredients and the product should be least or not processed.
Tip 9 Educating Kids :
Educating your kids is a must for maintaining the health of your family. You can try different methods to teach your kids about the difference between healthy and unhealthy ingredients. Show them videos, prepare activities at home to make them understand what is healthy for them.
This will help them to choose the better option while shopping for groceries in the market. Also they won’t ask for unhealthy products that are expensive.
Tip 10 Check The Total Cost :
After buying your groceries, you can write down the cost of each product you brought in front of the product name in your grocery planner. Then write the total cost in the end. This will help you to get the idea of how much cost you need every month to maintain healthy groceries for your family.
Tip 11 Cross Checking The Products :
If the total cost is exceeding your budget, then you need to cross check the products you brought. Look for the product that you can replace with the cheaper one for the next months or sometimes skip it.
Just for the example suppose you brought a jar of mixed fruit jam made from lots of real fruits and berries and it is quite expensive. Then you can easily skip it because in your groceries you may have already brought fresh fruits and berries.
If you really feel you need the jam then you can make the jam by yourself at home too using those fruits and berries your brought.
Another thing you can do is to look for some other brand next time which is cheaper and healthy.
Tip 12 Keep The Money Aside :
When you start maintaining a grocery planner in about 2-3 months you will get the idea of average cost you need every month for groceries.
Then it is good to always keep the money aside in an envelop for the groceries. Try to buy all the groceries in that particular amount you kept for buying the groceries.
This will ensure your groceries are not going out of the budget.
Final Thoughts :
Above are some of the tips that I use to keep healthy groceries in budget. These tips will help you to manage your groceries every month by making sure they are fitting in your budget even if you have a large family.
