How to economically feed a large family. How to feed a family quickly

If you approach the issue of nutrition rationally and reasonably, you can save a lot, while having the most diverse and complete daily menu. How? Now I will tell, based on the experience of my family and numerous relatives.

To begin with, of course, I will list the immutable and well-known rules, but I cannot but mention them. The very first - buying groceries in large shopping centers for a week at once. About 10% of their cost you would probably leave as a plus if you go for bread and butter to the store closest to your house. The second rule to follow is compiling a list of products. For a couple of trips to the store on Sundays, you can easily determine what is included in your weekly diet. And you need to follow this list clearly and without concessions. This will avoid temptations in the form of delicacies that neither your stomach nor your wallet needs. And it is advisable to go to the store only with a certain amount.

Well, the following rules concern just the very same diet. Let's talk first about meat. We are all used to buying ready-made semi-finished products due to our employment. But in cheap semi-finished products there are a lot of vegetable proteins, preservatives and flavors, while high-quality ones are very expensive. You will be surprised, but it will be cheaper to buy the freshest meat on the market or in a trusted store and, after spending an hour and a half on a day off, make dumplings, meatballs, cabbage rolls and meatballs yourself from cooked homemade minced meat and fill the freezer with them. Enough for the next month. By the way, if you take meat in half with chicken, this will not only reduce the cost of minced meat, but also make it even more tender and tastier.

I’ll tell you a little about: for our convenience, chicken drumsticks and thighs, legs and breasts are now sold separately. I brought it home from the store and immediately into the pan. Well, if you buy several whole chickens or broiler chickens in a supermarket and butcher them yourself at home, then about 20% of their cost individually will probably remain in your wallet. Before throwing into the freezer, do not forget to sort and arrange the butchered bird into bags. Signatures on them will not interfere at all: the date of packaging will tell you how soon you need to cook the product, and the inscription about the contents of the package without defrosting will tell you what is inside. Wings and thighs are very tasty when baked, drumsticks go well in soup, and fillets in main courses. And from bony and unnecessary, at first glance, chicken backs, a very fragrant and rich chicken broth is obtained.

Soups it’s not at all necessary to cook from a whole piece of meat: let’s remember grandmother’s cooking methods and buy beef or pork bones, and add boiled chicken meat to the already prepared broth. In terms of taste and richness, it is not inferior to meat broth. The same method can be applied when cooking pilaf, stewed potatoes or cabbage. Pork, beef or lamb, added in small quantities to chicken fillet, will greatly improve the taste of the prepared dish. Believe me, it will taste as if you have prepared a dish from a kilogram of pure meat.

Don't forget about fish. It is much cheaper than meat, of course, if it is not salmon, salmon or trout. And the benefits in the form of protein and minerals will bring your body no less. From inexpensive white fish (cod, pollock, haddock and hake), you can cook minced meat, from which, in turn, make fish fingers and fish cakes. Do not discount pink salmon - it may well replace the widely advertised and very expensive Norwegian salmon steaks. Instead of ready-made preserves, which we also mainly buy because of convenience and time savings, you can easily make lightly salted herring or mackerel yourself by buying fresh-frozen fish.

In addition to common pasta and potatoes, homemade cutlets can be served with cereals or legumes. For a change, prepare a side dish of vegetables. Cabbage in all forms (stewed, fresh in a salad, sauerkraut), caviar from eggplant, zucchini or beets goes very well with meat. By the way, it is advisable to buy all vegetables in season. It is very profitable to buy potatoes, onions, carrots and beets in autumn at bazaars and agricultural fairs, where a kilogram of vegetables costs literally a few rubles. You can stock them up for the whole year. From the most common cabbages, beets, carrots and radishes in winter, you can cook very sophisticated and unusual salads that will become a hit on the festive table. And how many vitamins are in them!

The rule of buying in season applies to berries and fruits. It is very profitable to buy fruits during their ripening period, and there are much more vitamins in them than in greenhouse strawberries and apples imported from distant countries or other exotic fruits. In summer and autumn, you can make jam from fresh berries (believe me, anyone, even a not very experienced housewife, can do this), so that later you don’t spend money on imported jams and jams. Also, do not forget to freeze the collected or purchased berries a little. In winter, it is great to cook compotes and jelly from them, which will enrich the diet that is poor in vitamins. Also, well-frozen berries go into sweet pastries. Cherry or raspberry pie will certainly bring the whole family together for evening tea!

These are just a few of the principles of grocery shopping and housekeeping that bring significant savings to the family budget. Of course, each family has its own tastes, its own rules, and each one acts as it suits him. But I think that some of the above tips, not invented by me, but tested on myself, will be useful to someone.

For a long time, being the mother of one child, I believed that there was no difference in how many children to feed one or several children, and the problem was solved by increasing the size of the pan, however, in practice everything turned out differently. Each of my children due to age, your daily routine, your nutritional needs, as well as “I love” and “I won’t”, between which there is maneuver.

It became necessary for me to strike a balance between the convenience of kitchen life for me, the taste and benefits of dishes for children, as well as a special feeling for each member of my family that you are at home, that you are here food you love, and which is nowhere else.

And the first was taken into service very simple principle: children should eat the same as adults, and adults should prepare food so that children can eat it.

Cooking food every day, in small portions while spending no more than an hour and a half a day in the kitchen. Pretty much everything I do is done fast very fast or by itself. My main helpers in the kitchen are oven and multicooker.

Multicooker helps to prepare breakfast cereals in the evening, by the specified time, spending no more than 5 minutes on it. In addition, it is very convenient to keep porridge warm if all family members have breakfast at different times.

Right after breakfast for all dishes of today's menu I clean and cut vegetables. Those for dinner I put in an airtight container in the refrigerator. I spend no more than 10 minutes manipulating meat, chicken or fish for the evening and also put the semi-finished product in the refrigerator. Be sure to cook a small pot of soup just for today. Sometimes I make a preparation for a vegetable salad.

Children are always happy jelly or compote, in between you can bake some cookies, chocolate cake, or knead the dough for the pie. All my baking recipes with minimal cooking time. A bread machine does an excellent job of kneading dough, and I like to bake cookies that are baked as one layer and cut into portions after it cools down. Baking pies, the smell from the kitchen - makes the house lively and cozy, and children love baking very much. All these operations take no more than 1 hour.

For an afternoon snack I prepare various smoothies and cocktails from cottage cheese, natural yogurt, and fruits for children. At the same time, it is sent to the oven or to the slow cooker. dinner who is preparing for the appointed time without my participation. If the dough came up in the bread machine, I make one cake on a medium-sized baking sheet and also send it to the oven. In total, it takes me no more than 20-25 minutes. Total I spend no more than 1.5 hours a day in the kitchen.

Unfortunately, we rarely sit down at the table with the whole family, because of the completely different schedules of work, study and other affairs of my household. But when we still find ourselves at the same table, we sometimes very fun and delicious. I have big family, I have someone to try for - and this is the main thing!

Coming home after a long day at work, you don’t want to stand at the stove and cook lunch or dinner from several dishes. Feed your family with a hearty dinner as soon as possible and sit comfortably on the couch with a cup of aromatic tea with a few simple and yet effective tips.

How to quickly and satisfyingly feed the family, read on.

Recipes for quick meals for busy housewives / How to quickly and satisfyingly feed a family?

For very busy women, the problem of preparing a quick dinner or lunch is solved quickly if there is a certain set of products in the refrigerator.

If you have dumplings in your refrigerator, then preparing a hot dinner will be easier than ever. However, such a dish quickly gets bored and there is a need to eat something more homemade.

For example, pasta with bolognese sauce. Behind the original name lies a hearty appetizing dish similar to pasta with Bolognese sauce, but without cheese and herbs.

Pasta with bolognese sauce

Ingredients:

• pasta
• chopped meat
• vegetable oil
• garlic
• onion
• tomato paste
• pepper

Cooking method:

1. Fry garlic cloves in vegetable oil, then diced onions.
2. Add minced meat and cook until done. Salt and pepper.
3. Lay out 1-2 tbsp. l. tomato paste, mix and simmer.
4. Boil pasta. Serve pasta with bolognese sauce on a large plate.
5. Sprinkle with grated cheese and chopped parsley if desired. All cooking takes a maximum of 20-30 minutes.

Macaroni with cheese sauce

Ingredients:

• pasta
• grated cheese
• vegetable oil
• mayonnaise or cream
• pepper

Cooking method:

1. Mix grated cheese with mayonnaise or cream.
2. Heat the vegetable oil in a frying pan, pour in the cheese and cream mass and heat until the cheese is completely melted. If necessary, add a little boiling water.
3. Salt and pepper. Serve the sauce with pasta, boiled buckwheat or potatoes.
4. I recommend stewing meatballs or mushrooms in cheese sauce. It turns out a real delicacy in the style of Mediterranean or even French cuisine. Sauces can be divided into small containers and frozen.

Pasta, like a lifesaver, will help feed even a large family. Moreover, pasta every day is not as boring as dumplings. They can be boiled and served with sausages, small sausages, sausages, a piece of boiled or fried fish, a cutlet or a chop.

On weekends, we all do a lot of household chores, do laundry, clean, cook large pots of soups and compotes, sometimes bake pies or pies for a whole week. This is not entirely correct.

A large pot with borscht takes up a lot of space in the refrigerator, and on the third day no one wants to eat it. And the pies become stale and lose all their appetizing properties.

What to do? How to cook a lot of food for the whole week, but at the same time eat varied? There is an exit!

In your free time, try not to cook hot food for the future, but make preparations from semi-finished products that are easy to cook at any time. You will need baking foil, a roll of plastic bags, freezer containers. And of course, the products themselves.

Preparations for a quick dinner

quick soup

Put a handful of rice, 2-3 diced potatoes, one chopped onion, a little grated carrot and chopped greens in a bag or container.

Seal the bag and put it in the freezer. When you need to cook a quick hot soup, just put the contents of the package in a saucepan and pour water.

Optionally add a piece of fish, chicken or sausage. Soup takes about 20 minutes to prepare. Very convenient and simple. By the same principle, blanks are made for pickle, hodgepodge, mushroom soup, cabbage soup or borscht. The ingredients can be anything.

Stew

Any vegetables will do. Store in the freezer.

potato wedges

A wonderful side dish or main hot dish with any sauce. Wash the potatoes, peel and cut the tubers into 4-6 parts along the entire length.

It is best to divide the tubers into slices. Store in the freezer. Potato wedges are deep-fried, boiled or baked in the oven.

They just took it out of the freezer and put it in oil, 10-15 minutes and the potatoes are ready.

Fish or chicken for dinner in foil

Portioned pieces of fish or chicken, such as fillet, grate with salt and pepper. Cut the foil into squares. Pour a few drops of vegetable oil into each square, spread out onion rings and a portioned piece of fish or chicken.

Wrap the foil in a tight envelope, put in the refrigerator. For dinner or lunch, get the required number of servings and cook in a hot oven, grill or steam. You can diversify the envelopes with a circle of lemon, tomato, champignons, mayonnaise, soy sauce or cheese.

If you put a few slices of potatoes in envelopes, you get a portioned dish already with a side dish.

Compotes and kissels

Keep a few bags of frozen fruits and berries in the freezer. Fragrant compote or jelly will delight your loved ones.

With these tips and recipes in your culinary arsenal, you can quickly and satisfyingly feed the whole family, spending just a few minutes of your precious time.

Video recipe Quick soup with meatballs in 30 minutes!

I wish you bon appetit and good health!

Always your Alena Tereshina.

Regardless of our income, we are all tightening our belts when it comes to our refrigerators. One third of all food worldwide is wasted in production and consumption systems. Using these losses, you can save money for other needs of your family, creating new nutritional standards, maintaining physical health and family time.

Steps

Preparing for Success

Make lists and don't over-buy. When you go shopping, don't bring anyone with you who might get in the way of following the list.

Set a budget. Take only cash with you and leave your cards at home. If you have a limited amount of money, then only you can spend it. Grocery stores often try to add a few extra items to your cart; it is very easy to be tempted to do so. With a limited amount of cash, you can stay within your budget.

Plan ahead with the whole family. Think about how much you can afford to spend and what you don't need to spend on. Consider the options that are most attractive to your family and try to find a balance between them. Compromise is the key to changing your buying habits.

Look for sale ads. It may seem counterintuitive to shop well in advance of cooking, but you'll save more if you plan your meals around what's on sale. If something interesting comes up on sale for a great price but you don't know what to make, look for new and exciting recipes for you and your family.

Cut/print coupons. Look for coupons for groceries in newspapers and on the Internet on special websites that cover the latest promotions in the food industry.

Shop less and save more. Try to limit yourself to one productive shopping trip per week. This will give you enough time to make a list, check out the available products and collect coupons. The more you take care of your future while shopping, the more money you'll save, as well as time and energy, because you won't be able (or won't want to) buy another "one extra thing".

Go to several shops. Some stores offer better prices for eggs, milk and cheese than others. Others may have the best prices on toilet paper, while your favorite vegetable stand offers the best prices of any other fruit and vegetable vendor in your area. Do your research and ask your friends about their personal experiences with saving.

• Take advantage of each store, but remember to take into account the distance between them. It makes no sense to save on toilet paper if you spend more on gas.

1. Track your expenses. Control how much you spend at the grocery store. This way you will keep your budget under control. Don't throw away checks. Save them to avoid unnecessary expenses in the future!

Cook at home with the family

Cooking together with your children will awaken their interest in healthy food. Although they will still have a love of snacking due to childhood, the most important thing is how they eat most of the time.

Bake bread yourself with your loved ones. Bread is fun and easy to make at home, you only need a few simple ingredients. Look for recipes and involve your loved ones. So you save money, and your house will be filled with the wonderful aroma of freshly baked bread!

Prepare large meals such as stews, soups, casseroles and so on. Meals that you can eat for a week will ease the load. You don't have to think about what to cook for dinner. Dinner will be ready.

• Expand your horizons! Some cuisines, such as Mexican, Peruvian and Italian, use inexpensive ingredients to feed large families and communities. Introduce your family to other cuisines and take the opportunity to explore new places.

1. Cook with cheaper meat. The right gravy or the right sauce can turn a less expensive cut of meat into an unexpectedly fantastic dish. Just keep in mind that some tenderloins tend to be tougher than others when cooked, so consider cooking in a slow cooker (you can buy a new one or a cheaper used one) to add more flavor to the dish.

   Try to have a fast day once a week. Cooking with vegetables and grains is cheaper without meat and is also a great experiment. Such meals are good for the health of your family, your wallet and the environment.

To begin with, in the store we choose (you can write out or remember) which products are the cheapest - usually everything, without exception, cereals (naturally, in kilogram packages, and not in bags for quick cooking), flour; vegetables and fruits tend to depend on the season. So we choose what this season is the cheapest.
As options (according to the season): onions, cabbage, garlic, carrots, swedes, beets, zucchini, paprika, potatoes, cucumbers; from fruits: apples, plums, watermelon, berries.

Here I have to sing an ode to the freezer (deep freeze).
I freeze EVERYTHING!
For example, when there are berries and greens (and, as a rule, there are so many of them that relatives, neighbors, friends (their own options :)), they have nowhere to put them, and they shove all this stuff to someone.
It is a must to use!
So, we take it, and ... we freeze, we freeze, we freeze ... - right through the plastic bags (without holes), and into it-darling-freezer.
And if no one gives, then you can buy according to the season very, very cheaply.
And there are fruit drinks, and teas with raspberries, and kissels, and pancakes with fresh berries, mm-mnyamka ...
Never miss an opportunity to stock up on seasonal vitamins!

The same with mushrooms.
Can you collect mushrooms? (I personally, unfortunately, no) Then go ahead, into the forest, and there is a lingonberry and something else (well, you know better there).
Salt mushrooms, pickle, freeze - all this, oh, how it will save your hard-earned money, especially in such a difficult period as it is now (and there, you see, a thaw ...)

And the tests are different! Pies, pancakes, pancakes, dumplings (the filling is also delicious, but economical!), dumplings - there are many options! For example, charlotte from jellied dough with apples is yummy, almost for free!
Take the dough from the most cheap products: kefir, flour, eggs, yeast, vegetable oil (this is not a recipe). Do not bother with the complexity and high cost - what is inexpensive and simple is also very tasty!

I deliberately do not write recipes here, because I myself, in the same way, find them on the Internet.
What I personally have been doing for the last month - by the way, this approach also saves me a lot of time!
I take minced meat (approximately 450-500g in a package) And a bunch of different seasonal vegetables (today I had carrots, onions, garlic, herbs, multi-colored paprika, skinless tomatoes, celery). spices (pepper, lavrushka, salt - everything available), 10-12 minutes before the end of cooking, put the minced meat, cook to the end, cool, and. folding 4-5 sachets, I freeze!

Thus, for about 10 days I get off cooking with a slight fright, namely:
Previously (each time), defrosting 1 bag - (for example):
1) Cook buckwheat + roast
2) Pasta + roast
3) Plovik with roasting
4) Roast + cabbage + potatoes + water = soup
5) Stew: potatoes, a little water, boil, add roast - delicious! (Don't forget about salt and spices!)
Then there are options for dishes to your liking…

Despite the same taste of roasting, the dishes are radically different in taste!
And of course roasts can be from different vegetables.
I even made a roast for borscht once, it turned out a lot - I put it in a bag: roast, diced potatoes, chopped cabbage, froze, and then just added water - and the borscht is ready.
You can also cook a hodgepodge and any soup, according to the principle- "just add water".
Broths can also be cooked at once a lot, and then, after cooling, freeze.
Fish, bone, chicken ... Everything is used: bones from meat, heads and fins from fish.

Groats! This is poetry!
This is barley porridge with cracklings (or just fried meat products, any).
And it’s also very tasty with sauerkraut (we cook everything together for 3-4 hours, add fried meat products - something like bacon is better, but you can even use sausages.)
Pea. - Well this is a holiday, a song (hee hee, literally and figuratively :).
Soak overnight, cook until puree, add butter, and enjoy the taste (my favorite porridge since childhood)
And buckwheat with mushrooms! And, everything in a row.

egg oil(butter 1:1 with hard-boiled eggs, on a grater, + a bit of salt) - very tasty on a bun for breakfast! Kids love it!

And where do you put the humpbacks? Feed them to a poor husband? Don't the kids eat?
They will eat! - If, of course, you, having saved up for a week, make crackers, any soup with them will go with a bang!
Well, as usual, preliminarily fill with milk, put the softened humps in minced meat (you still need to add ingredients there :)

By the way, finely chopped fresh vegetables can be added to the cutlets - onions, cabbage, potatoes, carrots - and in general, anything you like - experiment! Just put an egg for a bunch, otherwise you will eat stew.

from cabbage- in general, a klondike of delicious and inexpensive dishes!
Dare, be creative, and your family's food will become a not-so-essential expense item, while remaining tasty and healthy!