Many home cooks believe that meal planning is either too much work or unnecessary, but I believe that proper meal planning can be both simple and sanity/money-saving! It is a fact that fewer trips to the grocery store means less money spent. I like to plan my family’s meals bi-monthly (every pay period). This means one big shopping trip and one mini-trip about every 2 weeks.
- Inventory your breakfast options
- Inventory your lunch options
- Inventory your dinner options
- Create a Menu Planner for a specified period of time (1 to 2 weeks are recommended)
- Carefully list ingredients on a well-organized Shopping List
- Prominently display Menu Planner on refrigerator or other convenient location
- Do your grocery shopping (without your children, if possible; this also decreases the amount of money spent on groceries)
- Remember to shop for only what is on your grocery list – unless it is hurricane/tornado season where you live, you do not need to stock up unnecessarily
- Look at your Menu Planner every morning so you are prepared for the meals ahead
- Enjoy the flexibility you gain from having a number of meals all planned out. I usually do a little rearranging according to my cravings, but at least you’ve got what you need.
ListPlanIt.com has planning pages for Meal Inventories, a Menu Planner, and about a variety of Grocery/Shopping Lists – all ready to print or download!
Related posts:
