Looking to reduce costs!

[torontokids]

I am looking for some ideas to reduce costs on my daycare expenses. I spend on average $150 a week on food for these kids. I'm a pretty good shopper but I know I could save more. My program is all homemade and unprocessed food (not organic). I have decreased the amount of meat I serve so we usually have 1-2 vegetarian meals a week. I have also let myself off the hook a bit and usually make one of those veggie meals an easy/cheap meal like pancakes, grilled cheese or veggie omelettes. I have also started to decrease the amount of snack I serve e.g. now I'll serve yogurt and fruit whereas before it might have been yogurt, fruit and a muffin. Lastly, I've decreased the fruit I serve. The kids were having fruit 3x's a day with me so I decreased it to usually 2 x's a day.

Any inexpensive meal ideas?

[5 Little Monkeys]

I also serve fruit 3x a day usually. However, it's paired with other things so it's not overly expensive because their servings are small. I have small eaters though so that helps!! I'm not kidding when I say a large apple or pear feeds all 3-4. An extremely large costco strawberry feeds one, a banana feeds 2, costco sized melons last all week, an avocado does 3-4 kids. I have started giving more veggies at afternoon snack tho instead of fruit for the 3rd time. Carrots, peas, cucumber, peppers and mushrooms are tolerated here. Broccoli is coming along but cauliflower is a no go. Hummus or ranch dressing is now offered.

I serve fruit, cheese, yogurt, applesauce or pudding along with different types of crackers, cereal bars, muffins, bagels, cereal, rice cakes for snacks.

Pancakes, cubed ham roast and a veggie is a big hit here. Super cheap. I'll add meat, veggies, pasta to ranch dressing for a cold pasta. I add all that same food to soup broth as well. Also all the same ingredients topped with spaghetti sauce and cheese make a casserole. Spaghetti sauce mixed with hamburger is a good cheap meal too. Stuffed mushrooms or peppers would be easy and cheap. A cooked chicken cut up in pieces and breaded and cooked make easy chicken nuggets. I make meatloaf in muffin trays and it's a great size for each child with some mashed potatoes and a veggie.

Eggs are a good choice. They love scrambled cheesy eggs with sweet peppers, ham and green onion omelettes or Denver's, fried egg and cheese sandwich. Grilled cheese and soup is cheAp. Sausage is usually fairly cheap too.

Chilies and stews are a great way around here to get lots of veggies in with a little bit of meat and potato. They like garlic toast so I'll add that to it.

They aren't overly fond of muffins anymore but I have a banana oatmeal cookie recipe and zucchini blueberry loaf that they really like.

Speaking of zucchini, it's another cheap and versatile veggie to add in. They really liked a potato acorn squash soup recipe I made too last fall. I also make a cabbage soup with lots of veggies and little hamburger soup that they quite like.

Crockpot oatmeal overnight is a great morning snack too!! Load it up with fruit and you can serve as is!


Cottage cheese is a hit and miss here but is filling

Tacos served in pita pockets was a hit too! Can do veggie, beef or chicken

Quesadillas are a easy way to use up leftovers

Homemade pizza is cheap, especially if you use lots of peppers, onions, mushrooms and just a bit of ham or pepperoni

[AmandaKDT]

I was actually thinking of posting the other day about how everyone was handling the increased food prices. I have noticed since last summer that I am spending around $20-30 more a week. This doesn't affect my daycare as directly since the parents provide all the food, but my income has to go farther to pay for my own family's groceries.

[kindertime]

For me, the answer is plan ahead. I have a large chest freezer in the basement. By November, I was feeling like I had "All the food." It was stuffed full. I bought 4 or 5 bags (10lbs each) of potatoes and spent a week cooking them and freezing them. Also lots of bags of frozen veggies, some prefrozen like Green Giant and some I did myself from fresh. Also in the fall when a lot of the meat is on sale, I got lots of chicken, ground beef and pork. I also bought 3 turkeys at $0.79/lb. Cooked them and frozen some of the meat. The rest I made into soup, lots of soup, and other things too, in the crock pot, like hamburger soup, chili, spaghetti sauce.

All of this was a lot of work and more expense in Sept, Oct, and Nov.but now I can spend less than $100/week on fresh groceries, (that's with my food too) and the freezer is still more than half full.

[bright sparks]

Buying in bulk when items are on sale and then cooking and freezing in a big chest freezer is how I do it too. I shop at Superstore using PC Points which saves me hundreds annually. I also have an app on my phone called flipp where I can price match every flyer available which is usually a lot more than what comes through with the paper each week. I personally think $150 per week for all unprocessed foods is really good. That's only $30 a day/ $6 per child and although reducing costs is always a good thing, I'd be worried that aside from price matching and buying only items that are on sale the only way to reduce that expense would be to serve more processed/convenience food which to me would be a shame.

[bright sparks]

I also serve fruit 3x a day usually. However, it's paired with other things so it's not overly expensive because their servings are small. I have small eaters though so that helps!! I'm not kidding when I say a large apple or pear feeds all 3-4. An extremely large costco strawberry feeds one, a banana feeds 2, costco sized melons last all week, an avocado does 3-4 kids. I have started giving more veggies at afternoon snack tho instead of fruit for the 3rd time. Carrots, peas, cucumber, peppers and mushrooms are tolerated here. Broccoli is coming along but cauliflower is a no go. Hummus or ranch dressing is now offered.

I serve fruit, cheese, yogurt, applesauce or pudding along with different types of crackers, cereal bars, muffins, bagels, cereal, rice cakes for snacks.

Pancakes, cubed ham roast and a veggie is a big hit here. Super cheap. I'll add meat, veggies, pasta to ranch dressing for a cold pasta. I add all that same food to soup broth as well. Also all the same ingredients topped with spaghetti sauce and cheese make a casserole. Spaghetti sauce mixed with hamburger is a good cheap meal too. Stuffed mushrooms or peppers would be easy and cheap. A cooked chicken cut up in pieces and breaded and cooked make easy chicken nuggets. I make meatloaf in muffin trays and it's a great size for each child with some mashed potatoes and a veggie.

Eggs are a good choice. They love scrambled cheesy eggs with sweet peppers, ham and green onion omelettes or Denver's, fried egg and cheese sandwich. Grilled cheese and soup is cheAp. Sausage is usually fairly cheap too.

Chilies and stews are a great way around here to get lots of veggies in with a little bit of meat and potato. They like garlic toast so I'll add that to it.

They aren't overly fond of muffins anymore but I have a banana oatmeal cookie recipe and zucchini blueberry loaf that they really like.

Speaking of zucchini, it's another cheap and versatile veggie to add in. They really liked a potato acorn squash soup recipe I made too last fall. I also make a cabbage soup with lots of veggies and little hamburger soup that they quite like.

Crockpot oatmeal overnight is a great morning snack too!! Load it up with fruit and you can serve as is!


Cottage cheese is a hit and miss here but is filling

Tacos served in pita pockets was a hit too! Can do veggie, beef or chicken

Quesadillas are a easy way to use up leftovers

Homemade pizza is cheap, especially if you use lots of peppers, onions, mushrooms and just a bit of ham or pepperoni

Wow lol My guys will all eat two pieces of fruit each a day if I let them. I make loads of baked goods and freeze them and take out what I need each morning. They are healthy goods too with whole grain flours versus refined white stuff. I buy all my grains in bulk as it's a lot cheaper. Raw veggies too. My guys will eat an entire pepper each or half a cucumber with hummus between them.

[AmandaKDT]

Buying in bulk when items are on sale and then cooking and freezing in a big chest freezer is how I do it too. I shop at Superstore using PC Points which saves me hundreds annually. I also have an app on my phone called flipp where I can price match every flyer available which is usually a lot more than what comes through with the paper each week. I personally think $150 per week for all unprocessed foods is really good. That's only $30 a day/ $6 per child and although reducing costs is always a good thing, I'd be worried that aside from price matching and buying only items that are on sale the only way to reduce that expense would be to serve more processed/convenience food which to me would be a shame.

I love the PC Points at Superstore. I was annoyed when I saw they were bringing in a member card, because the last thing I wanted was another card in my wallet. But it is pretty much a monthly thing that I get money back against my grocery bill.

[bright sparks]

I love the PC Points at Superstore. I was annoyed when I saw they were bringing in a member card, because the last thing I wanted was another card in my wallet. But it is pretty much a monthly thing that I get money back against my grocery bill.

I just use the app on my phone. I redeemed over $300 last year and I was only a member for the last half of the year. It's so much better than other programs because your offers are based on your shopping habits so aside from the odd thing, pretty much everything on offer each week is something I usually buy anyway. Add on a price match and quite often I can double dip on the savings.

[5 Little Monkeys]

Wow lol My guys will all eat two pieces of fruit each a day if I let them. I make loads of baked goods and freeze them and take out what I need each morning. They are healthy goods too with whole grain flours versus refined white stuff. I buy all my grains in bulk as it's a lot cheaper. Raw veggies too. My guys will eat an entire pepper each or half a cucumber with hummus between them.

I try to follow the guidelines too though. A cup and a half of fruit per day is the recommended serving for 18-36 months if i remember correctly. They get fruit here 2-3x plus at home so they are likely getting more than a cup and a half but it's probably close.

Sorry 24-36 months

[bright sparks]

I try to follow the guidelines too though. A cup and a half of fruit per day is the recommended serving for 18-36 months if i remember correctly. They get fruit here 2-3x plus at home so they are likely getting more than a cup and a half but it's probably close.

That's about two pieces of fruit I would think. 10 apples a day though...I don't think so lol that's why I supplement it with lots of other things. I'm not sure that many kids get that much fruit at home on a week day though as they only would generally have one meal and no snacks there.