Saving money has been on the tops of people's minds lately and when it comes to cooking, food is no exception. As something that everyone does every day, eating can be an expensive unless you take a few steps to reduce the costs, and cooking at home is a great place to start. Here are the top 5 tips to successful budget cooking that you can implement for savings right away.

Make a Plan for Budget Cooking

If you go out and shop without a list you will probably come back with some ingredients that you don't need and that may even be wasted. Take the 15 minutes to plan out the meals and the ingredients list so that you know what you have to get at the store. Unless you have been cooking the same things for years and know exactly what to get you need to make a list. When you make the list you can also look for deals that can be substituted on the list when you get to the store for even greater savings.

Shop with a Budget

Going into the grocery store without a defined amount of money to spend is a risky proposition that could leave you dumbfounded when the cashier reads out the total. Our minds usually aren't great at adding several little things and then calculating taxes in real-time. You can save a lot of money by sticking to a budget and allocating certain amounts of money for each group of foods such as $50 for meats, or $25 for vegetables. When you develop a bit of a pattern you can also get coupons to reduce the amount that you are spending to buy a special ingredient or even buy better quality ingredients.

Cook Amount Going to Eat

Try to make a conscious effort to estimate how much food will realistically be consumed. Pre-planning the portion sizes, when you are accurate, will not only save money but also reduce the amount of overeating. It takes a bit of practice but when you are able to cook only the food that needs to be eaten you save waste, calories, and some money. If the foods are easy to store and eat as leftovers this becomes less of an issue, but you have to then prepare the foods for storage as quickly as you can to prevent food borne illness.

Store and Eat Leftovers

When cooking a meal that stores well such as casserole or well done meat dishes, having a plan for storing and eating the leftovers will allow more successful budget cooking to be done. Leftovers when done properly can be a great meal that is oftentimes better than the original meal but you need to use the appropriate containers and store them properly. Just putting it in the refrigerator while this will most likely keep the food borne illnesses away, it dries out the food and can make it unpleasant to eat. Putting excess food into air tight containers and then putting them into the refrigerator, freezer if storing for longer periods, will reduce spoilage and costs.

Stick to the Edges of the Grocery Store

Staying to the perimeter of the grocery store is a great budget and health tip to use. The perimeter includes the fruits, veggies, dairy, meats, bread, and other raw ingredients. Cooking from these less processed and healthier foods will help you save money and increase the healthy food that you consume. Although items in the center isles can be useful in your weekly meal planning, they tend to be more processed foods and higher priced. Using the top 5 tips to successful budget cooking will help you save money and eat better. Making a plan, sticking to a budget, only cooking what you need, storing the leftovers and shopping the perimeter of the grocery store will save you time, money, and calories as you increase your culinary skills.