Do you ever get sick of the “What’s for dinner?” Typical asked by any human and animal in your household the minute you walk in the door? Sometimes I look at my husband after an extremely long day and think “um, whatever you are making.” So then it’s a late night and you have nothing thawed so you default to Pizza or McDonald’s. Our go-to is subway but honestly, it’s not all that much better. We got to a point where it was just easy to forget because we knew we had that back up option. We were spending A LOT at subway and basically had it down to a science of what we would get the Kid’s from McDonald’s and us Subway and where to go first. We could probably even tell you what time of day was best to go to which subway. Then we would be like dang, where is all our money? Okay so it wasn’t so bad that we were going broke but in my over-dramatic mind, we were. Here are some of my favorite tricks to meal planning and budgeting that has really made a huge difference in our life.
Step 1: Inventory.
I like to call it an inventory because that is what it is. Make a list of your spices, baking and cooking supplies ie flour, oils, ect. I have this in a list that I know where it is and watch it. I inventory this because you don’t use that stuff a lot and so having to buy it every shopping trip is not all that common but it is always a good list to double check later to make sure things aren’t expired. Keep that list on the side of the fridge or in a list app that you love. I am a huge fan of Inkpad. *(This is not an ad, they don’t even know I exist) Inkpad is great because I can use it on iOS or Android and you can look it up online too. I save everything in there a list for camping and our yearly vacation. As we are either camping or on vacation and we forgot something or that would be nice for next year, bam, on the list.
Step 2: Gather all the recipes.
In today’s life, we get so crazy busy. School, Dance, Work, Soccer, Date Night, Volunteering, Cleaning the house, Mowing the lawn, are you tired yet just reading that? Me too! So what are you going to do about it? Make a plan and attack! One of my greatest goals in life is to totally kick it old school in as many ways possible. So I got out my trusty, rusty, recipe box. Don’t have one? Get one. Do it. Trust Me. Pinterest is great and I get a lot of extra ideas from that but it’s overwhelming with the options, you end up eating chicken 3 days in a row and let’s face it, it never looks like that when done. See post on tie-dye cookies and pumpkin Rice Krispie treats. For real. You know your family, you know their likes, dislikes, what you are willing to pick your battles on. I started a go to list for busy days or if we run out of one thing. So for example, I always have spaghetti and sauce of some sort on hand. These are easy, cheap, quick meals for the “crap, I forgot to take out the chicken this morning” dinners. Same with Chili in a bag (Brand name Darn good chili from Bear creek) or even frozen pizzas. Also have your calendar out while you do this list. Maybe your kid has snack for school one day or late practice and so making a bigger meal that night of practice doesn’t make as much sense as grilling out and you want to make sure you budget in the snack.
3. Make a list off those recipes for just 1 week.
This is where is gets technical. So when we grocery shop, we budget $100 per person per month. If you are a family of one or 2, the blog I got this from suggests starting at $300. So essentially, $100 per week for our family of 4. It doesn’t sound like enough until you start remembering that you only have to make that $100 last for 7 days of meals. I took this theory from Jordan Page at Fun, cheap or free.com. She is amazing and if you want some more great advice, check her out on YouTube. I love her videos! It seriously makes a lot of sense though. Write out the 7 days of meals. We are not huge breakfast style eaters and so we do some of our breakfast style items from Costco. We will get granola bars and pop-tarts., Mini muffins and fruit. Lunches are usually a little simpler. The kids love Homemade pizza lunchables (tortillas, squeeze pizza sauce and pepperoni), cheese quesadillas, pigs in a blanket, picnic sandwiches and breakfast for lunch. Dinner is meat, veggie, starch, fruit glass of milk. So now you have a weeks worth of meals listed by items. Find common items and see what the better bulk rate would be. For example, we do lunchables one day and so we need shredded mozzarella. I will then get a big enough bag of mozzarella to cover the salads for dinner and the lasagna etc.
4. Shop your list at home.
Now that you have that list, go though your cabinets at home and cross off what you already have. If you do a lot of pasta dishes, bulk pasta deals means you probably have some already in stock. This makes your list less overwhelming and helps keep you on track for just what you need.
5. Ads, ads, ads.
I am all for shopping local but sometimes other stores have better deals in the larger city nearby. I know some will be like LAME! Stay local for groceries but we are lucky because I work in another town with a lot of Grocery options so I can shop after work and it’s not like I’m going out of my way if they have a better deal. I have several stores that I watch for deals that week on. I really take a look the most at the meat and the fruit/veggie deals. Why you ask? Because those are the bigger “staples” of our meals and the fluctuate the most and can cost the most depending on season. *side note: farmers markets/stands are also amazing if you have some. We try hard to hit those up but we never seem to make it when they are open due to other commitments. So whoever is offering the best of those deals is most likely where I will be. To me, if Pick N Save is offering buy one get one free pork chops and so I can get 16 of them for $8 and somewhere else does not and so that same 16 is 12-16 dollars, my $100 for the week just made a huge stretch because those free ones can be used for another week and now that $100 can go further that week. Plus, 16 pork chops is essentially 4 meals in our house. If you do them 1 meals a week, and I only paid $8, that is a huge option towards covering fruit, veggies and other stuff for 4 weeks Worth if meals. Also, if you can get away from it, don’t be brand loyal. I’m promising you, a can of green beans does not actually taste better for you when it is $2 a can over .59 cents. Cheerios do actually taste the same out of a bag and rice is rice is rice. Watch too because some stores have apps for coupons or a buy more save more. I love pick n saves buy 5 get it for this better price. It doesn’t have to be the same product 5 times and so if you do it right and plan it right, you have some great deals.
6. Portions are a deal breaker.
Sometimes we do picnic lunches or lunches on the go. Little bags of chips are soooooo easy right!? Make your own! There is always a flavor that no one likes and you end up throwing them out. The pack is like $7-$8 for 20 bags. Buy a normal size bag of chips for $2-$3 of the flavor your family likes, individual serving size pack them in snack bags and put them in a bucket in your pantry. I’ll tell you we have gotten maybe 10 baggies out of a bag of Doritos and so if you find a deal of 2 for $5 in chips or sometimes even 3 for $6, you now got 20-30 of the flavor you will like for the same if not less. Plus, they are resealable and so you can throw them in your to go bag and finish them as the day goes on. We do it with pretzels, animal crackers, gold fish. Those are even better bulk deals. It’s a pain to set up, but I’m telling you, worth it.
7. Meal prep
Meal prep can be a pain. I absolutely hate it, until Tuesday morning when I over sleep and I am trying to throw together my lunch for work and it’s done and ready. I pre cut and bag my veggies and throw together my fruit. Because I had already planned out my meals, I know where it all is and can run out the door. My mom is watching the kids usually and so she can see my Menu on the fridge and can take something out of the freezer if needed.
8. Spend 6 days not having to stress because you have it figured out.
These are honestly so much easier once you have it under your belt and maybe it isn’t for everyone on the budget because you have food allergies or a specialty diet. But I am telling you, we are so glad we made this change. It’s easy to do too when you are paid every 2 weeks, you just double the weekly budget and menu and it makes a world of difference.
Here are some pics of our process and pantry:
Till next time friends 🤙🏼🎉
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