I consider myself a fairly frugal person, except when it comes to the grocery bill. I pay pretty close attention to my family's budget, and the one category that has always bothered me is our food bill. Not eating out, but the grocery bill. We're a small family, but you'd think we feed a family of ten as much as we spend on groceries!
So when a friend taught me how to do meal planning, I knew this would be the answer to our outrageous grocery bill.
Meal planning has many benefits, but the greatest one to me is the money we can save on food each month. By doing meal planning, I know exactly what I need to buy at the grocery store, and I don't waste time or money buying things we won't eat. Before I started planning our menu a week ahead of time, we wasted a lot of food because we never got around to eating it. I also go to the store much less now, and when I do go, I don't make silly impulse purchases. So for me, the money we save on groceries each month is worth far more than the time it takes to plan our meals each week.
Another huge benefit from meal planning is the time you save. People who don't do meal planning tend to spend a lot of time searching through recipe books or surfing the Internet for meal ideas. They also tend to go to the store a lot, because they don't know what's for dinner until well... dinner time. And that means frequent trips to the grocery store to pick up stuff for dinner. Meal planning can save you several hours a week because when you plan your menu ahead of time you always know what's for dinner, and you go to the store less often because you already have the ingredients you need for dinner in your fridge and pantry.
Another huge benefit you get from weekly menu planning is that it helps you eat healthier. People who do meal planning tend to eat better because they go out to eat less often. By eating out less often, you cut out a lot of the fatty foods that you would normally eat at fast food restaurants. Also, when you cook at home, you're more likely to select fresh, healthy ingredients for your meals.
Now you see the benefits of meal planning. So how do you actually do meal planning? Here are some steps to help you make meal planning fun and easy:
1. Write down all of your family's favorite dishes. Keep a recipe book or binder handy so you always have dinner ideas.
2. Look through the weekly grocery sale ads. You're looking for dinner ideas, but you're also looking for items on sale so you can save money too.
3. Take an inventory of the food you already have on hand. Do you have any perishable food that needs to be eaten right away? By planning your meals around food that you already have, you'll spend less money at the grocery store, and you'll waste less food.
4. You've got a good idea of what you want to cook for the week, so the next step is to write it all down. Write down the meals, recipes and the day you want to serve them. You also need to make your grocery list. There are many free worksheets available on the Internet to help you with your meal planning and shopping list.
5. The last step is to post your weekly menu for the whole family to see, and then to cook your meals of course! Once you get the hang of meal planning, you'll see how much time and money you save, and your week will go much more smoothly now that you don't have to panic about what to cook for dinner each day.
So when a friend taught me how to do meal planning, I knew this would be the answer to our outrageous grocery bill.
Meal planning has many benefits, but the greatest one to me is the money we can save on food each month. By doing meal planning, I know exactly what I need to buy at the grocery store, and I don't waste time or money buying things we won't eat. Before I started planning our menu a week ahead of time, we wasted a lot of food because we never got around to eating it. I also go to the store much less now, and when I do go, I don't make silly impulse purchases. So for me, the money we save on groceries each month is worth far more than the time it takes to plan our meals each week.
Another huge benefit from meal planning is the time you save. People who don't do meal planning tend to spend a lot of time searching through recipe books or surfing the Internet for meal ideas. They also tend to go to the store a lot, because they don't know what's for dinner until well... dinner time. And that means frequent trips to the grocery store to pick up stuff for dinner. Meal planning can save you several hours a week because when you plan your menu ahead of time you always know what's for dinner, and you go to the store less often because you already have the ingredients you need for dinner in your fridge and pantry.
Another huge benefit you get from weekly menu planning is that it helps you eat healthier. People who do meal planning tend to eat better because they go out to eat less often. By eating out less often, you cut out a lot of the fatty foods that you would normally eat at fast food restaurants. Also, when you cook at home, you're more likely to select fresh, healthy ingredients for your meals.
Now you see the benefits of meal planning. So how do you actually do meal planning? Here are some steps to help you make meal planning fun and easy:
1. Write down all of your family's favorite dishes. Keep a recipe book or binder handy so you always have dinner ideas.
2. Look through the weekly grocery sale ads. You're looking for dinner ideas, but you're also looking for items on sale so you can save money too.
3. Take an inventory of the food you already have on hand. Do you have any perishable food that needs to be eaten right away? By planning your meals around food that you already have, you'll spend less money at the grocery store, and you'll waste less food.
4. You've got a good idea of what you want to cook for the week, so the next step is to write it all down. Write down the meals, recipes and the day you want to serve them. You also need to make your grocery list. There are many free worksheets available on the Internet to help you with your meal planning and shopping list.
5. The last step is to post your weekly menu for the whole family to see, and then to cook your meals of course! Once you get the hang of meal planning, you'll see how much time and money you save, and your week will go much more smoothly now that you don't have to panic about what to cook for dinner each day.
About the Author:
Krissi Ann loves to cook and loves to save money. Learn how to save money with meal planning and download free worksheets and other menu planning tools.
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