The new year may be a time for fresh starts and new beginnings, but for parents it can also be a time to play catch-up. As we all know, there are so many priorities and tasks that get pushed to the wayside in the excitement of the holiday season.
I’m desperate to get my family back into the routine of wholesome, nutritious meals on the table by 6:30PM each night. However, creating meal plans is not something that comes naturally for me and then with the post-Christmas penny pinch, I’ve got the added pressure of making affordable meals that keep fussy stomachs full and happy.
Grocery prices rose by almost 10% last year, and I noticed myself spending more and more on my weekly shopping bill for my family of four. With the rate of inflation hardly wavering, now is the ideal time for parents to trial different tips and tricks to save money without compromising on the taste or nutritional value of family meals.
One alternative to your traditional grocery shop that I came across was meal kits. EveryPlate recently challenged me and my family to their Budget Buster Challenge to see whether their meal kit would enable me to feed my whole family a tasty, home-cooked meal for less than $5 per plate, every night for a week. To keep things interesting, I compared the cost of each meal we prepared with the cost of the same ingredients from our local supermarket.
By the end of the week, I had three main take aways from my week of eating in with EveryPlate;
- Meal kits cut down costs and give you autonomy over your weekly food budget
With meal kits allowing you to receive the exact amount of ingredients needed, the net price of your meals often comes out cheaper than buying packaged ingredients at the supermarket, with the added benefit of cutting down on food waste.
My favourite meal that I cooked throughout the challenge was the balanced and flavourful Seared Mexican Chicken with Roast Veggie Medley. With store-bought ingredients, this meal came to $7.60 per plate but, with the meal kit, we saved $3.16 per plate! With EveryPlate I ordered enough for six meals so we had enough to feed us for dinner and lunch. I know this doesn’t sound like much, but with every cent counting as inflation continues, it all adds up. The best part was seeing my family could enjoy such a tasty meal, while still saving.
- Kids love getting involved with prepping meals from the boxes
One of my personal highlights of this experience was how excited my kids were to get involved with pulling dinner together each night.
Home-cooked dinners are a treasured evening routine of family life in Aussie households, but it’s usually left up to mum. It was great to see my kids excited to get involved in every step of making a meal; from unpackaging the box to cooking and following the recipe, and of course enjoying the delicious meal we made together.
- They allowed me to focus on quality time with the family at mealtimes
With much of my focus on how expensive grocery shopping had become, I almost didn’t realise that another barrier to a successful shop is how time-consuming it can be, especially with two little ones.
By choosing when and on which day the meal kit was delivered, I got back hours of my day that would’ve been spent travelling to the supermarket, completing my shop, and unloading the groceries – all with two children vying for my attention! To put in simply, using a meal kit took the stress out of food shopping and meal planning for me.
Overall, I found my meal kit experiment with the Budget Buster Challenge to be enlightening, particularly from a financial and convenience perspective. It was a welcome surprise to see that, even with rising grocery prices, there is an alternative that allows families to save on groceries without compromising on taste and with the additional benefits of lowering food waste and saving time.
Challenge – complete.