Before my husband and I had kids and when we were both working full-time, we would talk in the afternoon and decide what we wanted for dinner that day. One of us would stop at our local grocery store, grab the ingredients we needed, then come home and make dinner. We had the time and financial freedom to make monthly Costco trips for our deep-freeze, and to buy everything else we needed at will.
Add three kids, a Pastor's salary, and me returning to self-employment, and things have changed. Drastically. They've changed for the good, I believe, because I meal plan every week. It cuts down on stress, it cuts down on our grocery bill, and it cuts down on waste. You might think that you have no time to meal plan, but those fifteen minutes you spend will save you that many minutes (And more!) per day.
Sit down with a pen and paper (or an app, if you prefer)(I like pen and paper). Write down the days of the week, and what meals you have planned for each day. Build your grocery list around those meals. I like to make my list in order of the aisles I'll hit, to make it easier. I also plan meals with similar ingredients, to reduce waste. If plans come up and you need/want to move meals around, food won't go bad.
Here are the reasons why you need to meal plan:
1. It reduces stress. Say goodbye to the #whatsfordinner dilemma. (I see that hashtag on Twitter and it gives me anxiety. I can't imagine to be the one typing it an hour before dinner needs to be on the table.) I write the week's meals on a chalkboard in our kitchen so that everyone knows what to expect, and us adults know what to take out of the freezer each day.
2. It saves you money. I don't browse fliers as much as I should, but I do flip through them often and grab sweet deals. The biggest thing, for us, is doing a big shop once a week at a discount grocery store. I'll then shop at our local grocery store mid-week for fresh veggies, sandwich meat, etc. I do my best to grab what's on sale.
3. You have less waste. After my big grocery shop, our fridge is pretty full. By the end of the week, our fridge is pretty barren, but things aren't turning into a murky soup in our vegetable drawer.
Do you meal plan? Why or why not?
If you like saving money, check out How to use point cards to save on groceries and Taking the stress out of daily finance tracking.
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