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.