Divorce can be a time of financial uncertainty. When I was going through it, I was pretty freaked out by some of the alimony numbers that were being thrown around in mediation and I didn’t know how much money I’d have left to live on. Even though I became super-cautious economically, I didn’t want to skimp on taking good care of my kids, which included feeding them healthy food. So I learned a lot about how a dad can feed his kids healthy meals while being pretty frugal with the money. Here are some tips I can pass on to you:
1. Use Grocery Store Apps for Discounts
Many grocery stores have apps with digital coupons that can help you save a surprising amount of money. I’m lucky to have two big grocery stores in my town—one from the Kroger company (King Soopers) and one from the Albertson’s company (Safeway). Both have apps where I can clip digital coupons that change every week or so. When I look at the receipt at check-out, I typically discover that I’ve saved at last 20%, and sometimes it’s as high as 50%. So if you have at least one decent grocery store in your town that uses print or digital coupons, take a look, since “clipping” the coupons (really in just a matter of minutes if it’s in the app) can lead to significant savings.
2. Stock Up When Prices Are Low
Keep an eye out for sales and stock up on the healthy foods your kids will eat. My son likes bacon for breakfast—I know, not super healthy, but not awful—and it’s often on sale, so I buy several packages when it’s cheap and freeze it. Other meats and often on sale and can be frozen, like chicken breasts and ground beef. Outside the freezer, there are plenty of other foods that have decent shelf lives that you can stock up on when they’re on sale. You’ll typically find things like cereal and oatmeal on rotating sales. Skip the cereals with lots of marshmallows or chocolate, but maybe grab three or four boxes of Honey Nut Cheerios.
3. Stick to Affordable, Healthy Staples
Despite rising prices, there are still may affordable, healthy foods that can form the basis of meals. Eggs are a great example. Even at $6 or $7 a dozen, they’re a bargain, providing quick, healthy options for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Fresh produce like broccoli crowns, cucumbers, and bananas are often inexpensive and nutritious. Both of the local grocery stores I mentioned above run weekly sales on different kinds of berries, so I usually buy whatever’s on sale. Same for apple varieties. Spend time in your grocery store’s produce section to identify affordable “go-to” foods and run them by your kids to see if they’ll eat them. And… if you live in an area where the closest thing to a grocery store is a dollar store, you can still eat healthier than you might imagine. Skip the Doritos, Takis, and Pop Tarts and instead pick up some cans of tuna and the other overlooked healthy options that even those stores offer.
4. Avoid the Fast Food Trap
It’s a myth that fast food is somehow cheaper or more convenient than cooking meals at home. Simple meals with healthy ingredients cost less and are better for you and your kids. Learn a few basic recipes and repeat the ones your kids like. Cut out unnecessary, unhealthy expenses like soda—it’s a waste of money and terrible for everybody’s health. Give your milk or water (even cans of carbonated water, if you want) to drink instead. By making these small changes, you’ll save money and provide your kids with healthy meals without breaking your budget.
5. Make Healthy Dinner Fun
Buy some spring greens, rice or couscous, cherry tomatoes, a cucumber, and some hummus, and let your kids make healthy “bowls” that they might find at restaurants like Cava. For an extra $7, you can buy a package of chicken tenders to pan-fry, cut up, and throw in the bowls. Buy a few different pasta sauces (which are frequently on sale), make some spaghetti or penne, and have a “pasta buffet” where everyone gets to choose their own sauce. Add a Caesar salad mix for around $4. There are any number of restaurant options that you can recreate at home with inexpensive ingredients, and it will make dinner with you a source of fun as well as nutrition. And don’t forget the classic dad meal: Breakfast for dinner!
Don’t be a cliche. Don’t be the dad who can’t even boil water and has to drive his kids through Burger King or Taco Bell every night he has them. It’s not hard, and it’s both cheaper and healthier to prepare a few simple meals at home rather than relying on fast-food, snacks, and soda to keep your kids’ bellies from growling. Even amid the uncertainty of divorce, focusing on healthy habits like these can help you feel more responsible, more grounded, and more in control of your own situation. Also, you’ll be giving yourself and your kids the healthy sustenance that anyone needs when they’re going through a challenging time.