Last updated on June 26th, 2021 at 03:34 pm
It is always exciting to try new recipes, especially after a good year and a half of limited outside dining. Add it up to the stress of keeping the meals fresh and less redundant, and having to think of what’s for dinner for basically, forever. You get the idea.
Last night I was watching one of my go-to YouTubers, Christine of Frugal Fit Mom. She specializes in meals on a budget. It was a pleasant surprise to see her discuss something different like the Amazon Prime Deals happening this month.
It got me excited at first, but later on, felt slightly nervous, then overwhelmed. That was the same feeling I had when I went to a grocery store here in the U.S. for the very first time. The variety seems to be endless and if you’re not familiar you’ll be caught in a whirlwind of thoughts of needing and wanting and if you’re not prepared enough, will give you an “oops” moment at checkout.
Then come Instagram Reels and TikTok food trends that will make you drool and say to yourself “That looks yum, I’ll go try that”. You’d print the recipe (If you’re a paper binder girl like me), then shop for the ingredients. That’s cool, but if you’re not careful, you might end up spending more than what you intend to.
If you’re new to meal planning, these are some of the things to keep in mind when trying new recipes, without wrecking your budget.
Start simple.
Trying a new recipe can be fun and exciting, but not ideal to do it everyday. Not only will it be time-consuming, but you will also probably end up having an excess of ingredients that might go bad when not properly planned. That’s wasted money, and we want to avoid that.
Schedule accordingly.
More than often we tend to underestimate the time needed to undertake a certain task. The same thing goes with cooking. Especially when it’s a new recipe, we have to be more realistic as to how much time we actually need to prepare our ingredients, thaw or temper something out, the chopping time, etc. Another tip is to check your week’s activities and see if which day it will be most feasible to try out something new. Is it a slow weekend with family, or do you have some events to attend? And please don’t have a trial run when there are people coming over. You may as well try out a small batch for your family first, before making it for a larger crowd.
Adjust and allocate
You don’t really have to overspend from your budget to accommodate that prime cut of meat or seafood. Extra pat on the back if you are aware and mindful of your food budget. Prepare a week before, maybe underspend a couple of weeks before, setting aside that money to get those exotic or top dollar ingredients. Or if dry/frozen, maybe wait for a decent sale and snag it then, then schedule the meal to your calendar.
Get your family involved
Are you craving to try a new recipe and successfully made it, only to find out that you’ll be eating it for the rest of the week (because, ehrm, no one else wanted it)? Yep, it happens. You’d feel that all efforts have been wasted.
Next time, ask your family if there is something they would be willing to try. Get them involved and have their suggestions on hand. I started doing this with my husband when I watch cooking shows. Just a simple “would you try that if I make it?” will do the trick. My son would even come up to me sometimes and point out to a picture “maybe we can try this next time, Mommy.” It helps when people contribute their ideas, expectations can be set, and everyone gets excited.
Dine out to try first
When you dine out, more often you end up ordering something you don’t normally have on a regular basis. Dining out is a way of exploring different tastes and flavors, with the added ambiance. It may be a fun activity to do but gets expensive real fast if you do it regularly.
If there’s an order staple that you know the whole family enjoys, go ahead and order it maybe 2-3 more times while building up that confidence and memory of the flavors involved. Then put it to your “to try” list.
I hope you’ll learn some new recipes that will become a staple and fool-proof meal for you and your family!
