Food
- Make a meal plan and then a list of the ingredients to buy.
- Shop at discount food stores or buy store brands whenever possible. Also check the local deli to see if any soon-to-expire foods have made it onto the rack.
- Don't go shopping when hungry.
- Buy in bulk. Especially cereal if you have a house full of cereal killers. Bagged cereal is much cheaper than boxed cereal and even some brand name cereals are starting to offer big bags.
- Buy fruits, cheese, nuts, and seeds for snacks. Or bake your own snacks.
- Prepare your drinks, snacks, and meals for work or school at home. Eating out and vending machines can add up very quickly!
- Prepare more homecooked meals. Sites like AllRecipes.com have a wide variety of recipes for every meal, occasion, and time available for cooking.
- Buy a deep freezer to store lots of frozen food.
- Refrigerate or freeze leftovers that can be eaten later.
- Buy or hunt your meat, or pay somebody to do that for you. The deep freezer really comes in handy for this.
- Plant a garden if you have the room and time for it.
Infants
- Create your own baby food by steaming fruits and vegetables, and then slaughtering them with a fork or in a blender. Many babies go bananas for bananas, which is unsurprising because we are primates. Be cautious about grains though, and don't give a kid under one year old any honey, nuts, peanut butter, milk, or seafood.