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If you are new to Meal Planning, then let me be the first to say it – Woo hoo! You are about to embrace a whole new dimension of Organised with a capital ‘O’. You, my Babe, have just stepped up your housekeeping game to Pro level. Meal Planning is the number one thing to get more organised at home. Ready to get started? Here are 5 Meal Planning Tips guaranteed to save you time and money {and everyday sanity}.
Find more Meal Planning Tips here:
- How to meal plan
- Meal Planner printable
- The CEWK Meal Planning Binder {The Complete Recipe and Meal Planning System}
- Past Clean Eating Meal Plans
Why Should you Meal Plan anyway?
I know what you’re thinking. Meal Planning is a pain in the ass. Just another thing to add to your already over laden to-do list.
Well, that’s what I thought too.
The thing is – Meal Planning is a game changer. A few minutes spent filling out this one page planner once a week will transform how you run your household.
If you need a little inspiration on what to make for dinner this week, then take a look at our latest Clean Eating Family Meal Plans here or check outErin’s $5 Dollar Dinner Plans here.
The Benefits of Meal Planning
- Saves you money. You can shop the specials, reduce the amount of food you waste and use up food that would otherwise gather dust in the pantry.
- Saves you even more Money (Did I already mention that?) No more last minute takeout stops or expensive ready meals. Meal planning lets you plan ahead for busy nights or special occasions so you never get caught short.
- Makes grocery shopping a whole lot easier when you know exactly what you need to buy.
- Helps you make healthy eating choices –Meal planning eliminates those last minute crappy food stops, keeps the calories at bay and increases the amount of fresh foods you family eats.
- Saves you Time – even though you are cooking more meals at home, meal planning still ends up saving you a bunch of time. You can batch cook or even freeze meals to give yourself an easy night a couple times a week. If you are interested in saving money and time (and let’s face it, who isn’t?) then take a look at Freezeasy.The Freezeasy Plan includes recipes, meal plans and pretty much takes freezer ready cooking and prep work to Masterchef levels.
1. Keep it Simple
Family meals don’t need to be complicated. Weeknights are busy. Keep your meals simple during the week and don’t stress yourself out with complicated recipes, fancy sauces or countless side dishes. Keep these recipes for special occasions or indoor rainy days. Start by making a list of your families favorite meals. Aim to build up a list of around 30 dinner recipes. Then simply rotate these meals every month.
2. Avoid the Store Trips
Plan to only go to the grocery store once a week. I know that some salad and vegetables are stretching their use by date by the end of the week, so use your freezer and cut up and store serving size portions of fresh fruits and veg for use later in the week. It reduces waste as well as saving you time later on.
You will save a bundle of money by avoiding those extra store trips. Even a $10 splurge a week from the extra trip adds up to $520 over the year. I also find I waste more when I start doubling up on grocery shopping trips. I get tempted to buy extra fruit and veg instead of using up what I have. I really don’t like throwing away food because I was careless. Throwing away just $10 of food a week doubles that extra spend to $1040 a year. Agh.
3. Check your Pantry
When deciding on your meal plan for the week, go through your pantry, freezer and fridge. See what you have in stock and add it to your nest meal plan to use it up before you head to the store. You don’t want to spend more than you need by buying double, or throwing away wasted food. It also forces you to clean out your fridge once a week. I read recently that a fridge can house as many as 8000 bacteria!
4. Stick to your Grocery Budget
Your grocery budget is one of your biggest household expenses. In our home, it is bigger than our mortgage payments. But this means it also has the most potential to reduce your monthly spending. Unfortunately, the grocery budget is often ignored because it takes the biggest amount of organising. When I get this wrong, I can easily spend double my budget in a week. Lack of planning means a few more trips to my local store and, because I’m easily tempted, a lot more impulsive purchases and ‘quick fix’ meals.
–>> Tips on How to Save big on the Grocery Budget
Because it’s such a huge part of our spending and also responsible for keeping your family healthy, I believe it should sit fairly high on your ‘get it organised list’.
Want to have a little fun …. WORK OUT HOW MUCH YOU SPEND ON GROCERIES EVERY YEAR.
First, a little bit of Mommy math.
- Start with: How much do you spend on groceries every week?
- Now multiply by 52. Feel free to use a calculator for this :)
What number did you get?
This is the total amount you spend every year on Groceries. Scary hey?
If you are not sure about how much you are currently spending on groceries, go through your bank statements and add up all the amounts you spent on food for a few weeks. This will give you a good idea of how much you are currently spending. Include fast food trips, dinners out and takeaway lunches. Include all spending done on food.
5. Stick to a Grocery Routine
Establishing a rock solid grocery shopping routine will help you get organised.
Having that fixed grocery day forces you to keep on track with meal planning, pantry checks and budget tracking. It all starts with setting a weekly grocery date and sticking with it. I used to do my weekly shop on a Monday, but after we started eating more Whole foods, I had to change it to the Friday as I needed fresh fruit and vegetables for the weekend and school lunches. That Monday shop was leaving my cupboards a little bare and was making Monday morning school lunches hard. Find a day that suits and then set it in stone.
Choose a day of the week that you can spend 5-10 minutes meal planning, checking your pantry and making a shopping list. Then choose another day of the week that you’re going to go grocery shopping. Put it in your calendar and make sure that it’s done every week at the same time.
Having that grocery shopping routine in place is the first step to getting your food plan organised. It allows you to budget effectively, forcing you to be accountable for your diet and also your spending.
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