Meal Planning

Wow.  Long time no-type...

Hope you have all been enjoying time with family since I last wrote... AT EASTER!  Talk about neglect.  If any of my readers follow me on social media, you know that I've recently started a small, home-based business.  It's been taking up so much of my time but I'm so thrilled to be doing it! That's a post for another day, though.

Today, I'm talking meal planning.  I meal plan religiously and NEVER grocery shop without doing so.  So many of my girlfriends have been asking how I do it so I thought it would make for a good post.  Most of us are too busy enjoying the gorgeous summer weather to be focused on craft projects anyway, right?

I am a proud stay-at-home-mom.  Adam and I made this decision when I was pregnant with our first. Initially, it was a decision made of practicality when considering the cost of child care in comparison to my salary.  The more we talked, however, it became a personal conviction that one of us stay home with our children.  It's what was right for US and OUR family.  I firmly believe that each family's circumstances are unique.

With that being said, we are by no means affluent and we changed our lives dramatically to accommodate this lifestyle.  Thus, I meal plan!  Even if you are not on a tight budget, why not save where you can?  I think this is an excellent way to be good stewards of the money God has blessed us with.

Before you start:
Before starting a meal plan, I think it's important to start with a family budget, in general.  I'm sure most of you have a dollar amount, at least an approximate one, that's set aside each month for groceries.  Meal planning is simply applying that dollar amount in the most beneficial way possible.

Have you ever come home with $100 worth of groceries but still didn't have everything you needed to make dinner?  So then you ordered take-out or ran back to the store a half-dozen times over the month?  Are you constantly eating out?  Do you go grocery shopping each. and. every. time. you. want. to. cook.? While you're there, how many extra things get tossed in the cart?  Yeah... not good for the pocket book OR the waistline.

In a nutshell, the benefits of meal planning are:

• Saving money. Meal planning isn't something I necessarily WANT to do (though I do enjoy it)... It's something I MUST do for the sake of our finances.
• Saving time.  Have you taken 2 kids under 4 to the grocery store?  Yeah, I'm only dealing with that noise 1 time a month, not 17, thank you. Plus, it's only fun when you do it once. After that, no thanks.
• Saving my waistline. Preparing great meals at home is SO much healthier than eating out/take out.

Below is a step-by-step list of how I prepare a meal plan:

• Budget - As I alluded to previously, Start with a family budget and decide how much you are going to spend each month on groceries, household items, and toiletries.
• Count - Look at a calendar and decide how many dinners you need, how many lunches you need to pack and how many lunches you will have at home, and what you want to have on hand for breakfasts.  I do 18-20 dinners/lunches at a time and grocery shop every 3 weeks, for example. I rarely have any food spoil.  (There will be some tips below.)  However, you can easily shop weekly, just divide your budget for the month accordingly.  The point is to organize your funds in a way that is manageable for your lifestyle.
• Choose - Select your meals.  TV, magazines, online, and friends/family are all great resources.  Just be sure to get it on paper.  Try building off items you already have, if you can.  This is a great way to eliminate waste and save you money!
• List - Make a list of your meat and decide, roughly, how much this will cost.  This is the biggest portion of most grocery budgets.  If you find it's adding up too fast, go back and change out a meal or two for something more economical.
• Expand - Fill out your list with all other necessary ingredients for those meals.  Take a look at what you already have! Don't forget pantry/stock items and your household items/toiletries.
• Wants - Once your "needs" are on paper, add the things you "want" like snack items or paper plates.
• Add - Write a $ amount/price next to each item.  Think about what you paid approx, for that item the last time you shopped. Now add these numbers.  Are you within budget?  Revise if need be. It is rare that I need to do this.  It will be for you, too, the more you do this.

Here are some additional tips to save you cash:

• Avoid prepackaged meals.  It's rare to find prepackaged anything that isn't loaded with salt and calories and if you do find a healthy option, it certainly is NOT cheap. We do our very best to keep this type of food to a minimum.  To give you an example, I can buy a whole chicken and veggies for the same price as a bag of chicken nuggets.  That being said, there's a time and a place for everything.  Just something to consider, if you can.
• Cook at home.  You can easily prepare a meal in 30 minutes or less,  There are at least 3 TV programs I can think of right this second that are devoted to the topic.  You'll find recipes on their websites for FREE.
• Use your freezer and a slow cooker
• Become passionate about cooking.  Know what's going into your body and on your children's plate.  Cooking can be SO relaxing and a great stress reliever.  Best of all, it's a learned skill.  You don't have to be the next Iron Chef, just someone who wants to feed your family.
• By half your produce fresh and half frozen to last you through an entire month or split your meal plan in half and shop twice.
• Add what you're tossing into your cart as you shop and cross items off your list.  If you came in under budget at the end of your list, THEN you can toss extras in the cart.  Otherwise, if it's not on the list, it doesn't go in the cart.
• Shop where you know you can get a good price.  I have my favorites and will share them with you if you ask ;)
• When planning your meals, choose dishes that will feed you twice or even 3 times.
• Consider adding vegetarian dishes to your meal plan.
• Make this FUN!  Grocery shopping is one of my favorite things to do with the kids.  I always pack a picnic style lunch for the kids, go at lunch time, get a mommy cart (the kind with a bench seat and is the size of a semi), and they eat while I shop.  It's once a month people... we eat good lunches at the table every other day of the month so spare me... lol
• Once you're home, write down your meals in order (approx.) of food spoilage.  You'll rarely have any rotten food to throw out, thus saving you money.  Plus, you'll always know what's for dinner.
• Cook with your children.  Being able to prepare a meal is a life skill.  This is something your children will need to know how to do one day.  Provide them with those skills.  This is time to bond.
• Adam is rarely home when I cook but I know how much it means to him to come home to a good meal.  That's a source of pride for me and I find it fulfilling.  If he is home, he keeps me company and plays on the kitchen floor with the kids while I cook.  Bottom line, this time is special because we make an effort for it to be that way.
• Eliminating paper products is not only a trendy thing to do as it's "green", it's also practical.  We use towels, not paper toweling, cloth napkins, and I wash dishes.)

Final thought:

• If, even after trying to get into cooking, it's not your thing... look up "minimal ingredient recipes", "15 minute dinners", "slow cooker recipes", "dump recipes", etc.  You've gotta eat, people. haha.
• Most slow cooker recipes rarely require anything more than putting raw food in the cooker.  It is your best friend if you hate to cook.
• Start small. Try to buy half the amount of prepackaged meals as you usually do and start there. 

  

They say that the proof is in the pudding and here is mine:  I did my budget, meal plan, and grocery list in 1 hour today and immediately went grocery shopping.  I shopped for 3 wks for our family of 4 and came in $15 under budget, even after tossing a few special things in the cart.

I wish you all lots of success with your next trip to the grocery store and hope that I gave you some good ideas.  Please... if you have questions, ASK! You CAN do this!

Cheers,
Alyssa.