Taking care of your family is a priority no matter who you are or how little you make. When you find yourself flat broke there are choices that you have to make. Everyone’s definition of being broke is different but there is usually one common aspect. This aspect is that you are having difficulty covering all of the expenses and acquiring the things that you need.
How do you provide food for your family when you are broke? You might be able to get some form of assistance to help you through the rough time but it might not be enough. What do you do when the assistance still isn’t enough or you can’t get assistance at all? You still have to feed your family and take care of bills such as the rent or utilities. You can check the phone book for local churches and other areas that offer food banks for families in need. (Some require income statements, but they are willing to help and don’t try to make you feel guilty.)
When you are broke providing food for your family can be a struggle but there are ways that you can manage it. Examining the way you spend the money that you do have will help you. Reducing the amount that you have no choice but to spend on bills is an important step in helping to keep food on the table. The light bill is one that is easily reduced or at least made so that you spend the same amount on it each month. What other areas can you cut back on?
While things such as cable and Internet are nice to have unless you work from home using the Internet you don’t need either of them. How much do you pay for these services? $45 to $100 a month? That money could easily buy food for your family if you are careful with the shopping that food can last a family of three at least two weeks. What about the phone bill? How many phones do you have? Can you cut at least one of them off to lower the amount spent?
Angel Food Ministries offers affordable pricing on food boxes with quality meats, fruits and vegetables available. Ordering one of the regular boxes is only about $30 and can feed a family of four for one week. Even if you can only come up with the money to buy one box at the time you order this is still at least a week out of the month that your family is fed. If you reduce the portion sizes you can stretch the box.
Little things such as loaves of bread for sandwiches can add up quickly especially when you go through a lot of them. Substituting homemade biscuits and corn bread for slices of bread at mealtimes will make the food in the house stretch further. It takes fewer biscuits and pieces of cornbread to help you feel full. Cooking a side of rice to mix with vegetables can make the vegetables go further. Buying cheaper cuts of meat, portioning it out to servings the size of the palm of your hand and leaving meat out of some meals all together will help to keep the family fed when you’re flat broke.
Rice, noodles, and dried beans are all fairly inexpensive to purchase. Adding rice or noodles to meals can easily make them go further. Dried beans can be the vegetable for meals at little costs. While reducing the amount spent on food and meals go further can help you to provide food for your family when you are broke so can avoiding waste. Making sure that leftovers are eaten either as leftovers or incorporated into the next meal it will help you to feed your family a little longer. When you are flat broke you can still feed your family, you just have to be more careful.