The following is a guest post by Connie at Smockity Frocks ^[1]!

See “Feeding a BIG Family on a Small Budget – Part 1 ^[2]” and “Feeding a BIG Family on a Small Budget – Part 2 ^[3]“.

The fastest way to cut your food budget is to eat at home.

For a big family, eating out can cost anywhere from around $40 at a fast food restaurant, to well over $100 at a nicer restaurant. That is for a single meal! Consider doing that several times per week, and the costs skyrocket!

You can see why a big family on a small budget would be motivated to eat at home!

Simply buying packaged, prepared foods to eat at home can save you big bucks. For instance, for under $20 you can feed a large family frozen lasagna, store bought garlic bread, and salad in a bag at home. That same meal at Olive Garden costs around $9 per person, so for our family of 10 that would be nearly $100 when eating out.

That is a considerable savings, but if you take it one step further and learn to cook from scratch you can serve that very same meal for 10 people for around $10!

Considering I can make a delicious, restaurant quality meal for my entire family of 10 for $5-$10, restaurant prices, or even prepackaged frozen foods are just not at all practical for us, and seem downright wasteful! I could even feed each person in my big family a fancy steak dinner at home for under $25 total.

It’s true that cooking from scratch takes a little extra time, but if you consider the savings you can rack up every day, I think it is definitely worth it!

Are you thinking, “I like this idea but, I don’t know how to cook from scratch!”?

With just a little research and practice, anyone can learn to cook from scratch and save your family money!

It’s simple to get started with “from scratch” cooking with these steps:

• Get a good basic cookbook, like this Betty Crocker Cookbook ^[4]. It has definitions for cooking terms and simple step-by-step directions for even simple tasks, like boiling eggs.
• Stock your pantry and fridge with the basics of scratch cooking like flour, sugar, vegetable oil, baking soda, baking power, tomato sauce, rice, pasta, and spices.
• Learn a couple of recipes that you think your family will enjoy and perfect those. (My entire family loves my oven fried pork chops ^[5] and chicken spaghetti ^[6].) After you find confidence in cooking those from scratch, try something new.

You can become a “from scratch” cooking expert and save your family a bundle of money while serving them delicious meals they will love!

Connie is the mom of 8 rowdy kidlets, wife of one hunky dude for 25+ years. She is a former public school teacher who currently teaches her own children at home and writes daily at Smockity Frocks ^[7]. She has recently published the FREE ebook Homeschool Tips From a Homeschool Veteran ^[8]and is currently finishing Cooking For a Crowd which will be released in June. You can connect with her on Twitter ^[9]and on her Facebook fan page ^[10].

Stay tuned next week for Part 4!!