Quarantine Cooking

Putting food on the table is a stressful thing to think about for a lot of people during the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite state, provincial, and other benefits, many people continue to struggle to make ends meet. This means that more often than not, many households go without enough food. As a first-time Mom in the middle of a pandemic; I share your concerns and my heart goes out to you all. Here is what I’ve done to survive the COVID-19 pandemic. I’ll talk about how to shop, and where to shop for all your household essentials and, hopefully diminish some stress for many of you.

First off, depending on where you live there are subsidies, food stamps, and/or food banks and other programs you can access for help with food. I often package my leftovers for people in need. This is because during the pandemic I’ve: saved money and; shopped smart. I’m here to tell you how to do it.

I found out I was pregnant in March 2019 and my son was born in November of the same year. The pandemic had been announced the following January. So, I’ve banked every extra dollar I’ve had in my account since then. My trick is, spend what you NEED to, bank the rest; there will be times to spend what you WANT to when this is over. So first things first you should save every leftover penny you have. We have accounts and our son has piggy banks which will later go into an account for him. We buy one every month with a goal to fill them all. Once he turns one we’ll buy one every time he fills one. So far, he has 8 and one is almost full! We’ve got a long way to go but, it’s a motivation, and you can get them super cheap at the dollar store.

The next thing you want to consider is using coupons. This can save you a lot of money. You can get these online and in-store. A similar option to save money is “Subscribe and Save” with sites like Amazon. Buy things when they’re on sale otherwise. Shopping online can sometimes save a few bucks regardless, but look out for the deals. You can also save leftovers; make sure you know how long you can keep them for, however.

It ultimately doesn’t matter where you shop, but if you don’t go where it’s guaranteed to be cheaper, find somewhere that does price matching, like Wal-Mart. You can also save money by buying in bulk at places like Costco and The Bulk Barn. Dollar stores also sell food items now, and some restaurants will donate their leftovers that haven’t yet gone bad.

If you have an existing credit card, switch your card to a rewards and/or cash back card if you don’t already have one. If you don’t have a credit card, try to find one of these. Make sure, however that the interest rate isn’t too high and that the annual fee is $0 or relatively low, depending on your budget.

I try to keep things relatively cheap and simple by buying pricey foods like meets, dairy, etc. when they're on sale, only.

There are a number of ways to save money and ultimately diminish the stress associated with finances and putting food on the table for our families during the pandemic. It’s important to know how to shop and where to look in order to find affordable prices but; equally important to save every single leftover penny we have right now (despite pennies no longer being a thing where I live, so I guess every nickel?); because what matters most is being there for our families and, for each other.