Feed many mouths and within budget

News 15 March, 2018
  • Archival Photo Chantal Poirier
    Natasha Lepine, who has nine children does not go unnoticed when it made its ” big grocery store “. It sometimes need two baskets.

    Antoine Lacroix ,
    Dominic Scali and
    Marie-Eve Dumont

    Thursday, 15 march, 2018 01:00

    UPDATE
    Thursday, 15 march, 2018 01:00

    Look at this article

    It is focusing on the cost per serving and optimizing to the maximum the products they buy that two mothers of large families manage to eat well by following a solid budget.

    • READ ALSO: She has raised three children while she earned $ 9 per hour
    • READ ALSO: Plan, cook, store so as to pay less expensive

    “When I see packages of ground beef or chicken on special, I jumped on it and I buy several, at least five or six, tells the story of Natacha Lépine, Saint-Pie, Montérégie. What saves me is that I have three freezers, it doesn’t bother me to freeze things for later. “

    For the mother of nine children aged three to 14 years, the grocery became the main expenditure of the “small” family, who can spend up to $ 1700 per month only on food.

    This is approximately $ 155 per person per month, or the $ 55 less than what The Newspaper has allowed us to use a family of Montreal, who was to be the experience to cut half its budget at the grocery store. It is about 840 $ it remains to a family of four, including two parents working at minimum wage to feed themselves.

    Far from being rich

    “We never miss anything here. We are far from rich, but we made choices in logic to get there. For example, we never buy alcohol “, said Ms. Lépine, 34 years of age.

    On his side, Denise Jones, Cowansville, optimizes the possible of the products it purchases in order to arrive at well to eat the seven members of his household, even if all his wages goes.

    “I buy a real chicken grain of the beef. Not the one from the supermarket which is filled with water, illustrates the beneficiaries attendant for 36 years. My salary 13.05 per hour is used entirely to pay for groceries. “

    With a chicken of 15 books, she manages to cook three dinners for the household as a whole, four children aged 13 to 17 years, and a roommate to help pay with the rent of his room. But it is included in the mouths to feed.

    It is estimated to spend $ 1500 per month at the grocery store and pharmacy, 214 $ per person, an amount similar to that which was available to the family that fed to the minimum wage in the published folder last weekend.

    They can afford fresh vegetables every night, and steak regularly. There was a time when pasta was a little too present in the plates of her children, and when macedonia canned, replaced the fresh vegetables, ” she recalls.

    Focus on the items in the fridge to save

    The families would have an advantage to make maximum use of the items purchased in a grocery store instead of having to dispose of it, according to two authors of cookbooks which explain how to save money while eating well.

    “We must learn to focus on what you have in the fridge and use it to the maximum to give him more lives, to avoid losses “, explains Florence Leah-Siry, author of The art of cooking without waste or ruin.

    This last, which is estimated to save an average of $ 100 per week compared to her former mode of life, do not hesitate to buy more quantity, leaving to freeze some food for later re-use.

    Creativity

    “For example, I always buy whole chickens. Even if it takes more time to arrange them, it’s cheaper and then I use up the carcass. The bones can be used to make your own chicken broth with the scraps from my vegetables. It is a economy, ” she said.

    It invites people to become more creative, a way of life that is acquired over time.

    The author of many cookbooks, including Zero waste, Caty Bérubé, abounds in the same direction, believing that the secret is good planning of the menus of the week, according to the balances and the contents of the refrigerator.

    “It sounds elementary, but some don’t do inventory of their fridge and end up wasting food. For example, when you see that vegetables are on the verge of not being good, you should cook them to save them “, she says.

    According to her, people should realize that investing a little more time in the preparation of meals saves money in the portfolio.

    “But the people lack the time, without realizing that they would be the winners to do that,” she concludes.

    A chicken, three dinners

    • Rice with vegetables and chicken
    • Hot chicken
    • Club sandwiches

    To add accompaniment : French fries and peas