Planning Your Meals Saves Time and Money

One of the biggest grocery budget busters is going to the store without a plan. We’ve all gone to the store to “buy a gallon of milk” and then are shocked when the total comes to $15 or more because we got a few extras. The little unexpected things that end up in your cart can seriously blow your budget!

One way to avoid overspending at the store is to plan out your meals and write down a list of items needed. Having a shopping list designed around your week’s menu saves time, money, and additional trips to the grocery store.

Here are some tips for making weekly menus work for you.

Start simple
Plan out a simple menu for one week’s worth of main dishes for dinners. Include any plans to dine out or eat leftovers.

Put in on the calendar
Once you have a week’s worth of dinner planned, put the plan on your family calendar. That way you can quickly glance at what’s for dinner and know if you need to make any special preparations like taking something out of the freezer.

Slowly add more menus
As you become more comfortable with planning out dinners and putting them on the calendar, slowly add side dishes in your planning. Then add lunch and breakfast plans and finally snacks. The more specific you make your menus the better prepared you will be at the store.

Plan around sales
The best way to slash your grocery budget is to buy things when they’re on sale and plan your meals around them. For example, if I find that lettuce and tomatoes are on sale, I’ll plan meals that use them for the week such as tacos, salads and so forth. This works best with perishable items as you should aim to slowly build up a supply of staples to have on hand and replenish when they go on sale.

Be flexible and do what works for you
The best plan will only work if you make it simple. If you do most of your grocery shopping every two weeks like me, plan a menu for two weeks or even one month. If one day you don’t feel like spaghetti, switch the menu with tomorrow’s dish since you should have all the items needed from your weekly shopping trip.

The most important thing is to have a plan and then stick with it. As you do this you will see your grocery bills decrease and free up more money to pay down debt or add to savings.

Weekly Menu: Black Bean Chili

One of the greatest ways that I save money is by planning out weekly dinner menus. Here is our dinner menu for this week. I’ll admit that I’m working on making our breakfast and lunch menus more organized.

Dinners:
Monday: Black Bean Chili* with sour cream and cheese, cornbread muffins
Tuesday: Dinner out for Anniversary
Wednesday: Baked Potatoes with leftover chili, steamed veggies
Thursday: Thanksgiving with family, we’re bringing rolls and sweet potatoes
Friday: Barbeque Chicken Pizza, fruit
Saturday: Fajitas
Sunday: Chicken Enchiladas, side veggies, biscuits

*Black Bean Chili ($3.70/8 servings or $0.46/serving)
1/2 lb ground beef, cooked (can increase to 1 lb)
1 1/3 cup dry black beans, soaked and drained
2 8-oz cans tomato sauce
2 15-oz cans tomatoes
6 cloves garlic, crushed
2 t. lime juice (can substitute lemon juice)
1/2 t. ground cumin
4 t. chili powder (or to taste)
1 onion, diced
2 t. Italian seasoning
1 tsp salt
2 cup water
6 T chopped cilantro (opt)

Combine all ingredients in slow cooker. Stir, cover and cook on high for 2 hrs them low for 8.

*Note: Can garnish with cheese and sour cream which would bring cost up to $4.25-$4.50/8 servings or $0.53-$0.56/serving.

Baking

Since the computer was in the shop this week I got a lot of things done around the house. One of the major projects that I tackled was baking. Our family saves a lot of money by baking items from scratch, and it’s often healthier too!

A lot of times if I’m making muffins, pancakes or waffles I’ll double the recipe, cook it all up and freeze the extra for later. Then future breakfasts and snacks are a snap. Here are some of the items I made this week, in addition to our lunches and dinner.

Monday:
Homemade Granola

Tuesday:
Banana muffins
Corn bread muffins

Wednesday:
Hashbrowns
Tortillas

Thursday:
Breakfast burritos (with the homemade tortillas)
Chicken Nuggets

Our weekly menu: Homemade Hamburger Helper

I am a little late posting our dinner menu for the week but here goes. Since I’m just starting out this blog, I’ll keep it simple and just put the main dishes.

Monday: Sausage Stew
Tuesday: Homemade Hamburger Helper*
Wednesday: Turkey Log
Thursday: Stroganoff
Friday: Pepperoni Pizza
Saturday: Spaghetti
Sunday: Tim’s cooking (probably chicken/rice dish)

As a note, our son is allergic to milk, eggs and peanuts so many of our dishes don’t have dairy in them or the recipes are modified. In addition, I cook with more fat since he isn’t getting the essential fat he needs from milk and I’ve stopped breast feeding.

*Homemade Hamburger Helper:
1/2 lb hamburger
2 cans (8 oz) tomato sauce
2 cans (8 oz) water
2 cups noodles
1 Tb Taco Seasoning
1/2-1 cup cheddar cheese

Cook and drain meat. Add all other ingredients but the cheese to the pan. Cover. Simmer on low 15 minutes or until the pasta is soft. Mix in cheese.

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