Money Management

Money Management


Frugal Meals
Tips on Making Frugal Meals

Frugal Meals
Frugal Meals. There are many ways to eat frugally, both at home and while dining out.

Find Tips on:

Buying Food and Groceries

Creating Frugal Meals

Dining Out

Dinner Parties

Dining Out While Travelling

Buying Food

Buying food frugally is essential in creating meals. Check out our Tips of Buying Food Frugally

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Creating Meals

Creating meals can be easy with a few tips and recipes. It isn't how much you spend on the meal but how you use the ingredients that you purchase. Here are a few tips.

  • Don't always choose meat as the main part of your dish
  • Find frugal recipes for new ideas
  • Choose pasta more
  • Try eggs for dinner - add a couple of vegetables and cheese to scrambled eggs or omelet
  • Eat leftovers for lunch
  • Use only fruits and vegetables that are in season
  • Freeze leftovers for meals later in the week
  • Subsidize the meal with homemade bread
  • Add soup to your mealMoney Management
  • Try popcorn for snacks
  • French toast for breakfast goes a long way

Get your family involved. Ask them what they like and don't like. Give them an opportunity to "vote" on the meals you try out. They will be more excited about it if you involved them in the process of creating your frugal meals.

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Frugal Meals- Dining Out

Dining out can be really expensive, but it doesn't have to be. With a bit of planning you can enjoy lovely meals at a lower cost!

Dine out less each month. By cutting out a few of your dining out experiences - even just once more per week - you will notice a difference in your savings.

Do your research for local area restaurants. Try to stay away from the chain restaurants as they are usually more expensive then local or family run restaurants. Local family run restaurants are usually less expensive.

Order from the appetizer menu - usually the portions are huge (especially in North America) - Sometimes I choose a quesadilla or salad as my main meal.

Only order side items for your main course.

Split a meal. My husband and I have similar tastes - so we will usually share something - even if it is just a sandwich in a shop where we know the portions are large.

Go during happy hour or early bird specials times. My In-Laws LOVE taking advantage of that.

Try restaurants that have just opened up. Usually their prices are a little lower to attract business.

Choose water as your drink - ice water not bottled. Soft drinks or Pop as we call it, are quite expensive in restaurants, avoid the cost by drinking water with lemon.

Go out for lunch instead of dinner. Many restaurants have the same or similar menus but for a lower price at lunch.

Choose the lunch or dinner specials - but make sure they are specials - and not features - so they are a bargain.

Take leftovers home and have them for lunch.

Go out for coffee and dessert instead of a whole meal.

Find discount coupons for restaurants. Use the Entertainment Book for your area, or other internet sites for promotions for your favorite restaurants.

Take advantage of special days. i.e. children eat for free on Tuesdays.

Whatever you do though, don't skip out on the tip - TIP according to your service. Plan your tip into the cost of your meal.

Plan out a splurge night for a special occasion - remember to live life not skimp out on it!

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Frugal Meals- Dinner Parties

Creating frugal meals for dinner parties requires some imagination and creativity.

Potluck Party
The traditional Potluck party is where each guest brings a dish. As the host/hostess, you can assign a dish to each guest, or sometimes the best parties come from letting the guests bring what they want. You may end up with lots of side dishes, but sometimes it ends up more colorful that way.

Set a Theme
Like a Hawaiian Luau, Mexican Fiesta or a Spanish Paella. These types of foods may be cheaper, and it will put a fun spin on the party.

Make it Brunch instead of Dinner
Brunch foods can be less expensive and most people don't drink alcohol at brunch.

Have a Barbeque
It is possible to reduce your costs by having a BBQ, you can choose burgers instead of steaks. Also you can buy them in bulk easily.

Make it a Buffet Style Meal
Less expensive to prepare buffet style foods than sit down dinner foods.

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Frugal Meals- Dining Out While Travelling

Having frugal meals while travelling can be easy. Check out some great ideas from our Frugal Travel Tips Page.

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Learn More about Frugal Living

To learn more about more about this type of money management and frugality see the articles below. More will be added regularly, so come back and check them out. To be up to date on the additions and changes to the Frugal Living section of Transform Your Money.com and the rest of the site. Join our newsletter or add us to your RSS, social bookmarks, Google, Yahoo or MSN (on the left hand side of this page).

These articles will outline how to live frugally day to day, tips on saving money, living frugally as a family, the benefits of living frugally, having awesome holidays while still living frugally, and my story of living frugally.

Best Ways to Save Money
Tips on how to save money with Food, Utilities, Finances, Entertainment - updated regularly - You can also submit your own if you don't see one of your favorites.

Frugal Food
Tips of buying food frugally.

Active Frugal Lifestyle
Tips for having and active and healthy lifestyle frugally.

Frugal Travel
Tips for travelling frugally.

Have a Frugal Holiday Season
Check out how to have a happy holiday season frugally.

Spending Plan
Frustrated with how to make a budget? Create a spending plan instead.

Frugal Meals are part of Frugal Living

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