How my Meal Planning saves on Groceries!

Meal planning, while kinda tedious, saves us SO much money! We were spending $200+ a week on groceries. And it just wasn’t sustainable. We all know the price of groceries is crazy. And if it’s not the price going up, it’s the size of the product going down.

So my husband gave me a challenge. Could I get a weeks worth of groceries for $70-$80? Now let’s be honest, this isn’t happening EVERY week. But I feel like I’m usually between $85-$150 I’m really proud of that number. I also got a Costco card for Christmas so this is where I go to get a lot of our day to day snacks, like granola bars and Edamame and even Frozen Pizza. (I haven’t calculated the cost of Costco into the budget yet as we’ve only on once so far, but I’ll update once we get into a routine.)

I also only have myself, my husband, and our 15 month old to feed. She’s still breastfeeding so she only actually consumes so much regular food throughout the day. But I’m super lucky that she will try literally ANYTHING!

Alright, so how do I make my Meal Plan? How do I know what to cook, when to cook, how much to cook? This all changes by the week. But it’s also part of how I’m able to save on groceries. So keep reading to see my process. (It’s not that hard, I promise)

• Step 1: Make a list of all food in the house.

And by all, I mean the things I’d generally use/need for most cooking. I note down if we have Milk, Eggs, Cheese (an important staple in my house) Do we have any meat in the fridge or freezer? What vegetables and fruits do I have? Do we have pasta, sauce, rice?

Please note, I’m old school. I’m an elder millennial, I still make lists on paper. Important things get done on my computer instead of my phone. I make a grid, one section for Fridge, one for Freezer and one for Pantry. Then I do the same at the bottom of the page for what we DON’T have. This way, when I move to the next step I don’t forget what we need.

So now I’ve got my lists. Now’s the time I get my laptop.

• Step 2: Check the weekly Grocery flyer for what’s on sale.

This is the tedious part. I buy my groceries at 2 different stores. While it makes life a little harder, it saves me at least $10 a trip! I buy all my center store groceries (boxed goods, pasta sauce, shelf stable goods) at Walmart. Now like, real take here, I didn’t shop there for YEARS. I didn’t love some of their corporate policies. But with only being on one income, I need to save every dollar I can, and shopping there is how I make it possible. I will also on occasion buy my meat in a “family pack”. Then I freeze it into separate dinner portions and take it out as needed. This helps me keep my grocery price down the rest of the month.

I get all my produce, meats, and dairy products at Hannaford. It’s a grocery chain in the North East. (They are owned by the same people as Food Lion, if that helps for a comparison.) So I look at the Hannaford flyer and have tabs open on my computer for both Walmart and Hannaford. As I find what’s on sale, this is when I decide on a recipe, if I havent cooked with it often, I’ll look up a recipe. Luckily for my husband, I’m a pretty good cook. I did a semester of Culinary classes in college. (I suggest people take a cooking class if they are able, just getting the basics makes a Huge difference.)

This week ground Turkey was a good price so I figured Turkey Burgers would be good! (I made Tacos with ground turkey last week so I didn’t want to repeat this). Kielbasa was on sale, but its not something I cook with often. So, I did what we all do, I googled a recipe! I found a sheet pan Sausage, Broccoli and Potato recipe and figured that sounded great! Easy peasy. I also already had frozen shrimp, so Shrimp Scampi is an easy fix, and all I need is a small bottle of wine!

Something helpful if you’re not a super confident cook is to start with a few staples. (And I don’t mean a bowl of cereal) Learn how to make Spaghetti with meat sauce. You don’t even have to make the sauce! (I buy jarred and Zhuzh it up!) Tacos are an easy meal that everyone likes! You can use hamburg or turkey or chicken! I always add extra spices then just the taco mix. You could make your own seasoning mix if you wanted as well! As you get more confident, you can change up your dishes a little at a time, or branch out and make something similar. Make your own garlic bread for your pasta night! Make a burrito instead of tacos!

Once you feel a little more confident, you’ll be able to branch out into new dish’s and new ingredients! This will help you as you get your groceries as you’ll have more ideas for what you can cook out of what’s on sale. Even if you look up a recipe, you can always use it as a guide, and make it your own! I do this often!

I hope this was helpful! I’ll update again as we figure out Costco and how that affects the budget. I’ll also post recipes as well! Feel free to comment and let me know if this helps, or if you have anything that works really well for you!