Last week’s column talked about hope and finances in a general sense. But what would it look like in a specific instance?
Here is an example, courtesy of the YouTube channel “Tried & True.” You can view the video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69p6tHh7qag.
However, if you want a quick summary, the basic idea is that if you are buying a lot of prepared, or even semi-prepared foods, you can save significantly by making your meals from about 20 basic ingredients.
It can be hopeful for many people to realize that they can save on their food bills without giving up on the quality of their meals. As an example, last night I followed one of the suggestions and cooked a whole chicken instead of buying chicken parts. The whole chicken, a large bird weighing over 4 pounds, cost less than 2 chicken breasts that I had purchased on a previous occasion. Obviously, the whole chicken came with 2 breasts, so everything else on the chicken (for example, drumsticks, thighs, wings, back, giblets) was essentially free if you compare it with my other purchase of just the chicken breasts.
There was the extra work of carving the chicken after it came out of the oven. Similarly, I spent some time bagging chicken for freezing. The upside is that when I want a future meal that involves chicken, it’s already cooked. All I have to do is defrost it. Thus, the extra work now will be at least partially offset by less work in the future.
Another way the video gives hope is that it’s not an all-or-nothing plan. That is, you can start with a couple of items in your meal planning and gain savings there. Maybe, for whatever reason, you get to a point where you are following the plan for 80% of your meal preparation and you don’t want to go any farther. No problem, you reap the rewards for that 80%.
If you try the ideas in the above video, you can track your before and after expenses in hledger (or whatever accounting system that you use) and quantify your savings.
And I am hoping that you find many ways to bring hope to your finances and your life in general.