How Meal Planning Can Save You Some Serious Dough

       We’ve all been there – just getting home from work, tired and cranky, and the family asks “What’s for dinner?”.   The last think we want to do is figure out what to make, make it, and clean up – so we order a pizza.  Not only is this not healthy for us, but it isn’t very good for our pocket book, either.  The solution is easy – weekly meal planning. 

     Every Thursday when the flyers come in, I write down what is on sale.  Then I look in my pantry, fridge and freezer and make up a meal plan using items that I have or that are on sale.  You can find great cookbooks for free at the library, and the internet is an invaluable resource when it comes to cooking (and just about everything else).  I write down a weeks worth of breakfasts, lunches, dinners and snacks and I shop for that list.  Not only does this save time because I don’t have to make countless trips to the grocery store, it saves me money as well, because I am utilizing what I have and taking advantage of sale prices.  It also makes it easier when you come home on one of those hectic days to know what you are going to have, and many times you can prepare some of it the night before.  I always ask my family for input on what they might like, and it turns into a fun family activity.  Just don’t forget to take left overs into consideration when meal planning – they make great lunches, or can be turned into a totally different meal! 

     The thing I love most about meal planning is that you never have to sacrifice taste, quality or the things your family loves.  You just plan them around the sales!  It’s a great way to save some money and cut back without feeling deprived.  I do this on a weekly basis now, and my husband and I look forward to sitting down and planning the coming weeks meals and then going shopping.  And we find that there is so much less stress when we don’t have to sit down and figure out what we are going to make. 

     There  are different ways of doing this each week – you can do it yourself , like us, or subscribe to websites or use books that assign weekly meal plans for you.  And excellent, and the most common, approach to this was found in the book Be Centsable by Chrissy Pate and Kristin McKee, and follows:

 You Will Need:

Three Ring Binder, or Large Recipe Box
Tab Dividers for option selected above
Highlight, Pen or Marker
Copies of your family favorite recipes

 What To Do:

1.       Gather your family’s favorite recipes.  Write them on index cards, photocopy the originals, or print them off from the computer.

2.       Look through each recipe in detail and mark the items that could be included in your stock pile.

3.       Label the dividers by main ingredient (eg. Chicken, pork, vegetable, beef, etc.)

4.       Organize the recipes in the same manner and place them in binder or recipe box.

5.       An optional but very helpful step: including a ranking of the expense of the meal at the top right corner of the recipe page or card and sort within each category by these numbers. (1 = least expensive, $0 to $5 meal: tacos, chili, etc., 2 = more expensive, $6 to $10 meal: homemade pizza, grilled pork loin, 3 = most expensive, $11+: lasagna, shrimp fettuccini, etc.)

     While all this may sound tedious, it actually helps!  And preparing a book or recipe box full of your favorite recipes, you ensure that your family will always be happy!  Just don’t forget to throw in some new and exciting recipes you get from friends, find in a magazine or from a new cookbook to spice things up a bit!

     Try this out and let us know how it works for you!

Until next time!