So, you're running low on funds in your grocery budget for the month, but you still have a few meals that need to be made. You might be thinking that cooking a delicious meal on a budget might not be possible but, affordable family feasts are possible!
Here are 5 delicious budget friendly meals to help!
Roasted Chicken and Root Vegetables - While purchasing a whole chicken may be more costly upfront, the amount of meals you can get from one chicken can really help stretch your budget. The first night, you can enjoy slices of roasted chicken and delicious vegetables. The next night you could turn leftovers into a chicken pot pie. Finally, use the bones to create a tasty soup!
Refried Bean Quesadillas - Recommended by a reader over at the Simply Frugal Facebook page as a budget friendly meal, I found this tasty looking Refried Bean Quesadilla recipe that I'd love to try! Instead of using a whole bunch of cheese, which can get expensive, you can fill your quesadillas with beans! To make this meal even more budget friendly, here's a recipe for Homemade Refried Beans in the slow cooker!
Black Bean & Salsa Burritos - This is one of my personal made up recipes, but I happen to think it's a great budget saver and it's packed with protein!
Pulled Pork - This was another meal recommended by a Simply Frugal Facebook reader. She likes to buy cheap pork cuts when they go on sale for $1/lb. She roasts it then freezes it in bags in meal sized portions. The meals she enjoys creating with the pork are nachos and salad rolls with corn bread and coleslaw.
Pasta with White Bean Sauce - Pasta is cheap, especially if you stockpile it with coupons! I can't wait to try this recipe because not only does it sounds tasty, it also uses beans for protein instead of meat. Love that.
What are your favourite Budget Friendly Meals that come in handy when your grocery budget is running low?
Stephanie is looking for some advice! Can you help her out?
I’m looking for tips or advice please! Two jobs, shift work for both. I can’t seem to plan meals or find time to cook them, so I’m always eating in the go. I like to eat healthy, and try as much as I can, but that’s hard when you generally get 2 days off a month.
Building a cloth diaper stash can cost you a pretty penny, which makes it hard to consider using them in the first place. However, it is possible to build a great diaper collection on a budget! Here are some tips I learned while building our stash, that will help you to save big:
Buy used
Quite often, you’ll find someone selling their cloth diaper collection on sites like Kijiji and Craigslist. This is a great way to acquire an entire collection at a fraction of the cost.
Check those daily deal sites
I wanted to try a variety of different cloth diapers to see if I had any preference so I took advantage of a few deals on daily deal sites. I scored some AMP’s and a Baby Kicks diaper that I love. You might want to consider signing up for the email lists of sites like BabySteals and Sweet Baby Dealz so you know when cloth diapers are up for grabs!
Make your own
CheekyDiapers.com has a long list of great tutorials about making your own cloth diapers! Even if you have limited sewing skills, it could be quite easy to create your own stash! Sewing your own diapers seems to be becoming quite popular too, as I’ve noticed my local fabric store carries quite a good selection of cloth diaper fabrics.
Don’t buy name brands
If you want to save a bundle, stay away from the major brands such as Fuzzibunz, AMP, and bumGenius. The majority of my stash is made up of Kawaii diapers. Individually, Kawaii diapers cost about $7, compared to $20 or more for the brand name diapers. I even saved a bit more by purchasing a package deal (12 diapers)
Tell your friends and family
Make sure to mention to your friends and family that you’re going to be cloth diapering. A friend of mine gave me a couple of bumGenius diapers because she realized that cloth diapering wasn’t for her. I also received a wonderful cloth diapering “kit” (a diaper, bum cream, laundry detergent and a waterproof tote) from a friend as a baby gift because she knew I was intending on going this route.
Use prefolds/covers instead of AIO’s or One Size diapers
By going with the prefold and waterproof cover system over the All-in-One’s, you’ll save yourself a ton of money. But, I really recommend doing some research beforehand to determine the method that will suit your lifestyle best. I personally, wanted diaper changes to be as simple as possible so I knew prefolds and covers were not going to be for me. Though, now that I’m a bit more “experienced” prefolds and covers are more appealing!
Are you a cloth diaper user? What are your money saving tips when it comes to building a cloth diaper stash?
I love ice cream. So I especially think an Ice Cream Sundae party would be a pretty ideal way to have fun. You could even make it more frugal by asking guests to bring their favourite toppings!
This post was a long time in coming since we actually did our mini kitchen reno over a year ago! Regardless, we still learned some valuable tips to help us get the most bang for our buck that may come in handy when you set out to do some renovations.
Our main goal in our kitchen renovation on a budget was to replace the counter top. Not only was it an awful colour (burnt orange) it was showing signs of major wear. The other not as important aspects, were to replace the broken dishwasher and leaky tap.
Here’s what we did to stay within our $1,000 budget:
Used as much existing stuff as possible
We don’t intend on living in this condo forever so it wasn’t important to us to have that “dream” kitchen this time around. So, since the cupboards were still in pretty great shape we opted to leave them in place. This saved a huge chunk of money and time! I believe new cupboards are the most expensive part of a kitchen renovation, so if you can work with what you have already, you’ll be well on your way to staying within budget! The stove and fridge were also not an expense for us since they were both in working condition.
Price things out
It’s important to check out all your options and price things out before you get started on a project. In our situation with the counter tops, we had a few different options:
Special order the counters in the arborite of our choice in the exact measurements we required and have them professionally installed.
Purchase premade counters from the shelf at Home Depot, then have the counters cut to our specifications and install them ourselves
Purchase plywood, glue the arborite on top, then install ourselves.
In the end we opted for the second option because this was the most cost effective and time efficient option in our situation since my Dad and my husband can be pretty handy. We chose the arborite pattern that appealed to us the most then purchased the lengths we needed according to our measurements.
Do it yourself
In almost every situation, opting to do it yourself is the way to go if you want to save some change. Since my Dad and my husband are quite handy and are good at figuring things out, this was obvious to us. A couple of times they had to do some Google searches to figure things out, but not only was the reno a success, I think they had fun too. 🙂
Hire professional services when necessary
Since we decided to buy premade counters, we were left with some angles needing to be cut into our long rectangular counter tops. Rather than attempting to do this ourselves, we thought it wise to pay a small price to have the counters cut with the proper saw at a local business. The possibility of ruining the counter tops (thus having to purchase them again) was enough to convince us to not do this step ourselves.
Shop around
On our list to purchase was a dishwasher, a tap, a sink and counter tops. We shopped around at Rona, The Home Depot and some local hardware stores and decided that The Home Depot had the best options and prices for us. Except the dishwasher. We bought that from a local furniture store. Even though we bought most of our stuff from one store, it was still worth it to see the other options available to us.
Search for clearance items
I decided I wanted a really basic (read: cheap) kitchen tap. I wanted to pay less than $100 since I knew I didn’t want to sink money into a home we wouldn’t be staying in forever. There were a few options but none of them were really jumping out at me. They seemed very poorly made and I was afraid we’d end up replacing it again. Low and behold, my husband spotted a really nice name brand tap on clearance for $90 ($100 off!). Once he pointed it out I made up my mind and bought that one. Long story short, watch for those bight coloured clearance stickers!
Ask for a discount
When it came time to purchase the dishwasher, we were on the hunt for a basic white dishwasher. We found a great one on sale at a local furniture store. Turns out, only the floor model was left. So I asked for a discount to make up for any wear and tear it may have received from others looking at it. The sales associate obliged! I learned that day it never hurts to ask for a discount!
A year and a half later, I’m still commenting to my husband about the spectacular counters he installed for me and the amazing, unleaky tap he found on clearance. 🙂 With all the tips I listed above, we were able to update our little kitchen for about $1,000. While the results aren’t spectacular, I’m happy to have a more updated counter top and functioning appliances!
Have you got any tips for saving money on a renovation?
