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Large Family Grocery List: 12 Must-Have Items to Keep Everyone Fed and Happy

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Large Family Grocery List: 12 Must-Have Items to Keep Everyone Fed and Happy
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Keeping a large family fed and happy is a difficult balancing act. Each family member likely has competing allergies, dietary needs, and taste buds, which makes meal planning and writing a large family grocery list a challenge. For big groups, we love “build your own” meals like chopped salads, taco bars, and rice bowls. 

They allow everyone to customize their portion with the ingredients and flavors they love, keeping   the whole family satisfied. If you keep a few low-cost staples on hand, you’ll be able to cook modular recipes that even the pickiest eaters will enjoy. Here are 12 must-have items to include in your large family grocery list. 

Crowd-Pleasing Large Family Grocery List

Beans 

Beans
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Beans are a surprisingly good source of protein, especially considering how affordable they are. One cup of cooked black beans has 15 grams of protein, plus essential vitamins like iron, thiamine, magnesium, and manganese. Depending on the variety, dried beans typically cost $1 per pound or less, making them one of the cheapest proteins available. 

Beans are incredibly versatile and can be prepared in lots of unique ways. You can mash up beans with bread crumbs and fry them to create satisfying bean cakes. Pinto beans can be refried with oil to make a satisfying burrito or taco filling. Bean salads or dips are also delicious ways to increase your fiber and protein intake. Plus, you can add them to sauces, soups, and casseroles for an extra dose of protein.

Chicken Breast 

Chicken Breast
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Chicken breast is one of the most affordable sources of protein for a large family grocery list at just $4 per pound on average. A cup of chicken has a whopping 43 grams of protein to keep the whole family satiated. You can easily stretch chicken breast and make it go further by shredding it up and adding it to recipes like soup and casserole. Pounding it flat can also help you get multiple portions from just one breast.

Pasta

Pasta
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Pasta is a versatile pantry staple and family favorite but is sometimes regarded as being unhealthy. However, pasta provides many important nutrients including dietary fiber, B vitamins, iron, magnesium, selenium, and more. It’s also a good source of complex carbs, which provide essential energy for children who are active and growing rapidly. Plus, pasta has a surprising amount of protein—about 5g per 100g serving. 

Thinking outside the box when it comes to pasta will help you make nutritious meals. Although many of us default to white pasta, there are many varieties available, including chickpea, black bean, whole wheat, quinoa, and more. To add an extra health boost to spaghetti night, try blending extra vegetables into the sauce or topping your pasta with beans and greens. Instead of serving garlic bread on the side, opt for a side salad for extra fiber.

Rice 

Rice
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Rice is another affordable source of carbohydrates, the body’s main fuel source. Brown rice especially provides many key nutrients, including fiber, manganese, selenium, magnesium, and B vitamins. Rice is a staple in many different cuisines and can be used in a variety of dishes, including Spanish rice and beans, risotto, pilaf, fried rice, and paella. Plus, rice is a great base for build-your-own bowls. 

Oats 

Oats
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Oatmeal is the ultimate customizable breakfast and a great addition to any large family grocery list. You can make oatmeal with milk or water for lactose-intolerant family members. Each person can top their portion with their favorite add-ons, such as cinnamon sugar, fruit, peanut butter, and cocoa powder. You can even make a delicious oatmeal with ingredients like eggs, greens, and mushrooms. No matter how you prepare them, oats have roughly 10 grams of protein per 300-calorie serving, making them a nutritious way to start the day.

Bananas 

Bananas
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Bananas are one of the best affordable snack foods for large families. Although grocery prices vary by region, bananas usually cost under a dollar a pound. Since they have a peel, they’re easy to throw in a bag and take to sports practice. Adding a few spoonfuls of peanut butter can turn a banana into a complete snack with protein, fiber, and vitamins like potassium and B6. Bananas can also be turned into protein pancake batter by mashing them with eggs and flour.

Spices 

Spices
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The right spices can completely change the way foods taste, helping prevent food fatigue. For example, adding cajun seasoning to basic rice and beans can elevate them into a flavorful meal. Don’t be afraid to get creative and try new spices to expand your family’s palate. Ethnic grocery stores often have cheap bulk spices, allowing you to sample a variety of new flavors at an affordable price.

Cheese 

Cheese
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There is no shortage of options when it comes to cheese. Sliced, shredded, or block; mild, stinky, or sweet. Cheese can be a filling snack or a satisfying addition to any meal, including salads, sandwiches, tacos, pizza, lasagna, and more. 
Cheese is not only delicious but also a great source of protein and calcium. Whether you have little kids with growing bones or adults and seniors starting to worry about brittle bones, the calcium in cheese can be a positive addition to your family’s diet.

Nut and Seed Butter

Nut butter
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Everybody loves nut butter, which is a great source of protein, healthy fats, vitamins, and minerals. If someone in your family is allergic to peanut butter, they may be able to eat a different variety, such as cashew, almond, or sunflower butter. Nut butter can be spread on toast or fruit for an easy breakfast or snack. It’s also a great addition to many entrees like peanut noodles, satay chicken skewers, and peanut stew. Plus, nut butter can be added to yogurt, oatmeal, or smoothies for an extra protein boost.

Canned Tomatoes

Tomatoes
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Canned goods are processed to preserve freshness and can be a great option in the winter when fresh, local produce isn’t readily available. Looking for low-sodium options can help reduce your family’s salt intake, preventing issues like high blood pressure down the line. 

Canned tomatoes are one of my favorite pantry staples for a large family grocery list due to the variety available. You can find them stewed, diced, crushed, fire-roasted, and even turned into salsa. This makes canned tomatoes perfect for a wide range of culinary applications, including soup, chili, enchiladas, casserole, stew, and more.

Popcorn

Popcorn
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Popcorn is a classic movie snack, but did you know it can actually be healthy depending on how you prepare it? Popcorn is a whole grain that’s low in calories and high in fiber. However, you have to be careful when buying packaged or pre-popped popcorn, because they often contain extra oils, colors, and flavorings. 

Fortunately, it’s easy to pop your own at home in an air popper or pan on the stove, allowing you to control what goes in it. You only need a few dashes of salt or seasoning and a little oil spray or butter to make your popcorn delicious.

Flour

Flour
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Flour is always on my large family grocery list because it can last up to 8 months and only costs about a dollar per pound. It’s a baking staple that comes in handy when making bread and desserts like cookies and cakes. Even if you aren’t much of a baker, flour can be used to make pancakes, thicken sauces and soups, or make drop dumplings for stew. 

What are your favorite items to add to a large family grocery list? Share your staples in the comments!

7 Ways To Save Money on Groceries

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It’s so easy to overspend on groceries that there are plenty of ways to cut back. However, you’ll want to pace yourself so you don’t get overwhelmed — try one of the following savings tips at a time. [Read more…]

5 Tips for Eating Well on a Budget

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eating well on a budgetI have heard many arguments that one of the main reasons obesity is such a rampant issue is because eating well is so much more expensive than buying ‘junk food’. This is something I have always argued.

Buying convenience food is substantially more expensive than buying fresh, and I live in an area where food is very expensive. There are certain things you must do if you want to eat well on a budget.

Make it a Priority

If you don’t make eating well on a budget a priority the rest of your efforts won’t make any difference. I didn’t say it was easy to eat well, especially on a budget but it will be so worth it for you and your family.

Learn to Cook

You have to learn how to cook. If you can read then you can follow simple recipes and cook. The reason people shop for convenience food is often because they’re lazy, don’t know how to cook, lack time or simply don’t care. Basic cooking skills will go a long way in stretching your budget. At the grocery store this week I noticed a single-serve frozen entree on sale for $3.00 each. Instead I made a delicious pasta dish from scratch for $6.00. Double the price but provided 8 sizable servings. It definitely pays to learn how to cook!

Make Better Choices

This week I could have bought three large bags of chips for $6.00, instead I opted to buy the two-pound container of blueberries for $7.00.  Though $7.00 seems like a lot for a single fruit it will accompany our meals for at least five days. There is often always a choice. Don’t waste your money on pop and juice, water is a healthier and cheaper option.

Canned and Frozen is Ok!

People often forget about both canned and frozen fruits and vegetables. I buy large bags of frozen fruit to make smoothies or add to yogurt at a fraction of the cost of fresh. We also stock up on canned goods when needed. Just make sure your veggies are not canned in salt and that your fruits are canned in either water or natural juices instead of syrup.

Grow Your Food

Even when I lived in a one bedroom apartment I grew some of my own food. I had a few small containers on our deck where I grew peppers, tomatoes and herbs. For a low upfront cost I was able to grow and enjoy a substantial amount of food.

Eating well is a challenge. You have to learn to meal plan and shop the sales. Putting the effort into learning or refining your cooking skills will go a long way for providing good food for you and your family. The better you eat now, the less complications you may experience long-term. Eating well may help keep your medical bills down afterall, living with obesity isn’t without its own costs. 

What do you do to eat well on a budget?

5 Easy Ways to Lower Your Expenses

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lower grocery costsIf you’ve resolved that 2014 will be your year financially, take heart that there are many things, small and large, that you can do to improve your finances.  You don’t have to go extreme to make a real impact on your finances.  In fact, with careful planning, you can live the same lifestyle you are used to at a fraction of the cost.

Here are some smart choices you can make to conserve your funds:

1.  Use coupon and rebate sites.  If you buy things on the internet (and who doesn’t nowadays), make sure to take advantage of the many sites out there that offer coupons or discount codes.  Try to never make a purchase without using an online code or getting free shipping.

Also take advantage of rebate sites like Great Canadian Rebates.  Typically, with these sites, you go to the rebate site first, then are redirected to the online store and earn a rebate.  This can add up surprisingly quickly if shop online frequently.

2.  Find cheaper ways to get the services you need.  If you have a land line still, consider switching to a service like Ooma Telo.  You’ll pay less than $5 a month for home service, including long distance calls.  If you still have cable television, can you cut the cord and pay for Netflix streaming instead?  At only $8 a month for Netflix, you’ll save over cable.

3.  Save on groceries.  Feeding your family a healthy diet is important, but there are ways you can do that on a budget.  If you don’t already, consider shopping at a discount grocery store like Aldi or Food4Less.  Another option is to calculate how much your regular repertoire of meals costs.  Try to make the meals with the lowest cost per serving more often than the other ones that are pricier.

4.  Embrace minimalism, to a point.  Many of our financial struggles come from our culture of excess.  Even if you’re a shoe connoisseur, how many shoes do you really need?  Do you need more than five?  Sure, you may want more than five, but focus on what you need.  Asking yourself before each purchase if you NEED something is a good way to cut down on excess consumption and save money.

5.  Consider buying used.  This concept may take a while to get used to if you haven’t bought used, but with diligence, you can find what you need used and save 80 or 90% off the price of buying new, especially for tools and household goods.  This principle also applies to cars.  Considering the loss of value in a new car when you drive it off the lot, buying used makes sense.  Let someone else take the financial hit.

Utilize some or all of these strategies, and you’ll find your bottom line improving faster than you thought possible.

What strategies do you use to keep your expenses down?

How to Save Money on Food

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fresh foodOther than housing, food is probably the second largest component in a family’s budget. With food prices only rising, it is important to save as much money as possible without compromising the integrity of your family’s healthy diet.

Eating well and cheap is possible but requires effort and planning. When just starting, expect to set aside at least an hour every week if you plan on getting serious about saving money on food for your family.

Here are some tips for how to save money on food and still eat well:

  • Meal plan. This is the easiest way to save money on food. With a meal plan, you can shop for the items you need for the whole week ensuring not only that you have all required ingredients, but also that you don’t end up back in the grocery store. When you make multiple trips to the store unnecessary costs will likely occur.
  • Shop with a list! If you don’t have a list you’ll navigate the store aimlessly and put more things in your cart than required, as well miss items you may need.
  • Always shop the parameter first. Grocery stores are designed to have all the fresh and frozen items on the exterior of the store. Non-perishables are found on the interior. Fill you cart with the health items first then move to the interior aisles.
  • Shop late at night. Shopping late at night may mean you score daily mark-downs. At the end of a normal day (usually around 7-8pm) a lot of grocery stores will start marking down things like their meats in preparation for the next day. They need to make room for the fresh product and will start marking down older or near expired items. I have found this to be particularly true for meat and bread.
  • Coupon. I don’t have a lot of advice to offer on couponing since there are many restrictions on coupon use here in Canada, but I know if done correctly, you’ll be able to save a lot of money and even score free product.
  • Keep a price book. For items that you frequently buy, keep a log of the different grocery store prices. Compare frequently and watch for sales. This will help establish a budget for your weekly spending.
  • Freezer cook. Freezer cooking involves preparing multiple meals at once, freezing them and using them as required. I recently partook in a ”Big Cook” where we prepared over 30 meals at once, froze them and had dinners for over a month. Most freezer cooking meals can adapted for crock pot or oven. Thaw the night before, put in slow cooker in the morning and have dinner cooked!
  • Take advantage of your farmer’s market. Utilizing your local farmer’s market is an easy way to save money on food and get a great product.
  • Buy seasonally and freeze. We have a large blueberry season where I live so in the summer we’ll go to a local u-pick lot and pick berries to freeze. We eat some fresh then freeze them to use throughout the year for things like baking and smoothies. This is much cheaper than buying them frozen throughout the year.

With a little planning and preparation you’ll be able to save money on groceries for your family and still eat well. It will soon become a routine and take no time at all.

How do you save money on food for your family?

3 Ways to Cut Costs at Home

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keep an eye on youe electric meter to save costs

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If there is anything any parent these days knows, it is that a family really needs to save to make sure that there is extra money for the things that really matter. The economic slump in my country has been the norm for many years now. Here, it really is a matter of how much you are taught, how skilled you are when you leave school, how much schooling you get and the kind of schooling you get as well, that will help you in carving out that great future for yourself and for your family by getting that high paying-high reward kind of job.

Now knowing this, know that education in my country is by no means cheap. There is public schooling much the same way there is in America wherein parents only pay a minimum amount for the education but, with the arguable exception of the State University High School, the quality of these schools is not good enough for a high paying job in the future. It is a cold, hard, unfortunate fact. Our schooling system is dying for improvements and the funding that will enable fantastic teachers to continue teaching…but that is another issue altogether.

That said, you can imagine how hard it is for parents to make ends meet. If you want quality anything, you have to pay- quality health care, quality education, quality housing. I do not know how it is in America but I do know that, in the United Kingdom for example, there is some support from the government. There is very little support for single parents as well (I think I have mentioned this before).

So, if you are a single mom like myself, you will want 1) a good paying job 2) still decent work hours 3) to live in a good area of the capital city or in a good area in any of the other major cities across the country 4) a good budget. These are all essential in the creation of a base that will allow for giving children the right education and rearing they need to succeed. Does it sound medieval? Victorian maybe? Well, again, it is the cold, hard fact of life.

So, there are ways to cut expenses in a household that may differ somewhat from what those people who live in the U.S. or U.K. know.

1. Cut on electricity as much as possible

In my country there is one electric company and this electric company seems to increase and give rebates on electrical costs when they feel like it (it feels a lot like increases more than rebates to be honest). This is also a tropical country so you really feel only one of two things- heat or humidity. There are air conditioners in almost every viable office and a lot of homes can boast of one air conditioner as well. Naturally there is the refrigerator and television. Aside from this, there are households- those of middle income earners mostly- that also use such items as a rice cooker, toaster, coffee brewer, washing machine and dryer, iron, and a microwave oven. One way to cut on electrical costs greatly is to cut out all the peripherals and to keep only the essential and to use these really only when absolutely needed. So, in my house, I have gone back to basics. I use the old-fashioned pot to cook rice, I hand wash most of the time, iron once a week for a couple of hours maximum, nix the brewer, toaster, and microwave oven. Air conditioning use is strictly regulated to 6-8 hours a day only, and the rest of the day being cooled by electric fans. I keep energy-saving bulbs and try to shut lights whenever possible. I can say this works because this brought my bill down from a 7000 bill to a 3800 bill.

2. Create a grocery list that reflects your budget and stick to this

I do my grocery once a month for most things. I think most people will agree that, when you buy in bulk, it is cheaper. So I get bulk cereal and oatmeal, bulk milk, bulk kilos of meat and fish, etc. The things I reserve for weekly purchase are easily consumed items like eggs, butter, tea, and vegetables. After experimenting with half month grocery shopping and weekly grocery shopping, I have found that this is the best way to buy food that will last, on a budget. Here we do not have coupons or discounts so every peso counts.

My kids, naturally, want everything every time I go to the grocery and this just isn’t realistically possible (I also really do not believe on giving them everything they want, every time and any time they want it). So I shuffle the items around a bit making the months menus very different. This way, I stick to the budget and the people in the house do not get bored. It is a trial for me to resist the urge to buy those perishables before the end of the week but sticking to the budget and the plan is a key element in making the whole thing work.

3. Save water

This is the easiest bit. This really just requires regulating your laundry days to three to four times a week. This is for many reasons. One, too much laundry at one time is taxing on the person washing. Two, the amount of water used for large bulks of clothes is a lot of water. Three, big batches of clothes may be too much for any extended clothes line to carry as well.

These are the three things I find I can control in order to have a budget that will include all the basic living requirements, the kids to go to good schools, and to have a family life as well however simple.

How do you cut costs at home where you live? Is it any different?