For years I had just assumed that people who made meals at home had some magical power to look in the fridge and build a meal out of what they saw. It never occurred to me that they would plan out meals in advance, or buy groceries for more than a week. Looking back if I would have known about all of this, I really could have saved a ton and probably not gained as much weight, but I know now. Meal planning is great on so many levels. I have dinner under control every night, no more searching through the fridge and deciding to get take out. No more tossed veggies or going out to buy just one meals worth of groceries. If you are on a serious diet and need to count your calories, meal planning will save you from the guess work! So here is how I got into meal planning.
What I did do that has saved us a ton of money, is sign up for mPerks, and registered with Kroger, you can put your Kroger plus card with the account and get even more savings. They both have phone apps, so you can look up if something has an extra coupon, or log on and look at the store mailer. These two services have been amazing to us. mPerks will let you set "goals" for spending and then reward you with cash off your next order. Kroger you can actually register your account with a local non-profit and have your spending go towards something great with out it taking cash out of your pocket (mine go towards the non profit vet we take our dogs too! How cool?). With both services I highly recommend logging on and going through the coupons, you get access to all the coupons from the manufacturer, so you don't get left out of the deal and you can save some paper!
Another thing I do to cut corners is shop the "wild Wednesday" sales at the local markets. We live about 20 minutes from Dearborn's Super GreenLand . We went last Wednesday and I loaded up on all types of veggies, enough to get us through the rest of the month. I spent a day every two weeks or so blanching veggies for the freezer and prepping all of it for long storage. I load up on all the things that I know we will eat or I will freeze. You will have to pick through the veggies and fruits, I check everything before I put it in the cart, but its worth it when I can get a fridge and freezer full for 40 dollars a month(we got 82 items for 42.50!).
Another thing I do to cut corners is shop the "wild Wednesday" sales at the local markets. We live about 20 minutes from Dearborn's Super GreenLand . We went last Wednesday and I loaded up on all types of veggies, enough to get us through the rest of the month. I spent a day every two weeks or so blanching veggies for the freezer and prepping all of it for long storage. I load up on all the things that I know we will eat or I will freeze. You will have to pick through the veggies and fruits, I check everything before I put it in the cart, but its worth it when I can get a fridge and freezer full for 40 dollars a month(we got 82 items for 42.50!).
At first I tried to get into the coupon clipping, and I will still look before I go out to the store, but I stick to these two rules: I only print what I need and what I can remember while I am shopping (how much does it suck when you realized you could have saved if you would have remembered!), before I leave for the store, and I don't keep the coupons I don't use if they are a week from expiring when I am at the store (leave them on the shelf, hand them off to another shopper, give them to a friend!). However we don't subscribe to a paper service, if you do, get to clipping! For the most part, I buy store brand, when it comes to cleaners, paper products etc. Usually the coupons make the big brands the same price as the store brand, but if the store brand is cheaper I will always reach for it. I have a tiny coupon "wallet" I got at the dollar store, It is broken up by area in the house, easy to toss in my purse and flip through when I am trying to weave through the store.
I think any major change in my life, I have to take it bit by bit.I came up with two weeks worth of dinners I knew we would eat, were easy to prepare, and on sale. I found these amazing free print out calendars from "My Fabuless Life" they have an amazing site, check it out! I wrote out the week, and started to add foods that I could make a bigger portion of and freezer for later. Once a week I make a casserole of some time, a healthy bread, and a soup. I take half of all of those things, pop them in the freezer and once a week we break out something and eat it. Another thing is to color code your calendar, if something needs to be pulled from the freezer, I mark it, if something has left overs, I mark it, etc.
So, once I looked at the local adds for the week, created a two week menu, now its time to make a list! I use this amazing free list from Hi, Friend Design. If I know something is dirt cheap at one of the stores, I make a note of it, including the price in case it is a better deal at the other store. At the end of my trip I will also make a note of what I might have missed by highlighting it. Sometimes if something I need for a recipe isn't discounted or a little too expensive, I will highlight it to get later. Then I can go back or shop for it at another location, or use a substitution. We go grocery shopping every two weeks, one trip is the "bulk" of the month, and the other a lighter amount
The USDA determined that a family of two, aged 19 to 50 years old, would typically spend $347.50 on a thrifty food plan or up to $688.60 on a liberal plan, the USDA's moderate food plan average, which was $550.60 for a family of two adults. This blew my mind! That is so much money. So, how much were we spending, how much are we spending now, and the biggest question: are we actually saving any money?
In January we spent a total of $349.51 on groceries. This includes the 5 trips to the local market from my husband (bless him but he spent $100.58 on junk food he "had to have"). This number isn't amazing, but we only started meal planning on the 10th, so $93 of that was before we had decided to commit to meal planning. Even though I would love to see this number be lower, for the first month I did feel like it was a great start.
Two things I have started to add to my plan have been snacks, and sides at dinner. When I started I wasn't even sure what I wanted my dinners to be, and now that I have a clearer picture, I can prep for all my meals. I love meal planning! Not only am I controlling my calorie intake, I am saving money and dinner is easy to cook up every night. No more staring the fridge and deciding for take out! For financial and diet reasons we only eat meat 3 times a week at maximum. We mostly use chicken, and have turkey and on the menu maybe 3 times a month. I have started making lots of things we used to pay for, like dish soap, household cleaning products, and a ton of other things I will be posting soon. It does require a little bit of labor, and a fair amount of planning, but in the end it's what works for you.
In January we spent a total of $349.51 on groceries. This includes the 5 trips to the local market from my husband (bless him but he spent $100.58 on junk food he "had to have"). This number isn't amazing, but we only started meal planning on the 10th, so $93 of that was before we had decided to commit to meal planning. Even though I would love to see this number be lower, for the first month I did feel like it was a great start.
Two things I have started to add to my plan have been snacks, and sides at dinner. When I started I wasn't even sure what I wanted my dinners to be, and now that I have a clearer picture, I can prep for all my meals. I love meal planning! Not only am I controlling my calorie intake, I am saving money and dinner is easy to cook up every night. No more staring the fridge and deciding for take out! For financial and diet reasons we only eat meat 3 times a week at maximum. We mostly use chicken, and have turkey and on the menu maybe 3 times a month. I have started making lots of things we used to pay for, like dish soap, household cleaning products, and a ton of other things I will be posting soon. It does require a little bit of labor, and a fair amount of planning, but in the end it's what works for you.