Meal Planning – A Fresh Start
Do you completely overspend on your groceries every. single. week? I realised just how much we spend on food when I looked over the mister’s bank statements this past week. Over £1,000 a month, easily. And yet each week by around Wednesday we’re stuck deciding what we can make from the contents of our cupboard.
Generally I shop online, and although it’s lovely having everything delivered to us conveniently, I often end up with substitutions I didn’t want (with the exception of Ocado, I’ve only ever had one substitution from them) or fruit and vegetables that have seen better days. I also forget things and end up going to the supermarket afterwards – and spending more. When I’m at the supermarket I see deals that I definitely never saw online, and then feel annoyed, too. Mid week we head to the local Co-Operative and spend more than we should on basics too. It’s getting ridiculous.
I always have basic idea of the meals I’m going to prepare for the coming week but I never actually plan properly for how much of each ingredient I actually need. So, with this in mind, and with the New Year just around the corner, which is when we budget, I’ve decided to try – properly – to meal plan.
I’ve made these Menu planning sheets and grocery list sheets for myself and for anyone who wants to join in – I’d love to hear any meal ideas too as I generally tend to cook the same things over and over – it’s the mister who’s creative in the kitchen, otherwise we’d end up eating cupcakes five times a week.I’ll be meal planning on Saturday mornings as Our Little Adventurer is out at Jiu Jitsu with the mister, and things are calmer here. How do you all plan your meals and grocery shopping – and more importantly, how much do you spend? Am I the only one with such a huge bill?
I meal plan! If I don't I spend way too much and the waste is unreal!
The kids like to know what we're having each day too so it keeps them happy 🙂
Over £1000 a month IS high, especially with one infant. We spend way less than half that with 2 adults and 2 (older than yours) children. Meal planning definitely helps, as does where you shop – if you are limited to the more expensive supermarkets or local shops it is harder to keep it down!
That is a lot to spend on food, however, managing anything with three kids and one being tiny is really hard. I am a menu planner and have managed to shop on £50 a week if we are skint. Take a look at Frugal in Cornwall and also Mortgage Free in Three or Utterly Scrumptious for some frugal meal plans and also Daisies and Pie does a fab affordable family friendly weekly menu plan.
I am SO bad about meal planning. I just never saw the sense of planning out a weeks worth of food on a Sunday because how would I possibly know what I am going to be in the mood for later in the week that far in advance?
I plan our dinners out ahead but this is the only meal. There are 3 of us and mom has Alzheimer's so there is only certain foods that she will eat. I have to make sure to keep those stocked up and then I fix a big supper. Groceries I have noticed have taken a huge increase here in the last couple of weeks even with the sales!
I would love to plan our meals ahead of time. Right now though I'm always so behind on these things and make our meals literally an hour before we have them.
I've tried to meal plan but the leftovers always throw me off. I should try again though!
I honestly don't do meal plan, but you got me thinking! I should really try this one. Sounds very helpful.
great post! We love meal planning! 🙂
I really need to be better about meal planning. The only thing I ever really seem to plan is what restaurant we want to go to.
Being frugal if really cool to me. I always add things up to see how much a meal has cost me. The lower it goes the happier I am.
Very nice worksheets! I have gotten very good at budgeting for my family of 6!
great idea. i am so much better off when i meal plan. great worksheets too.
Even with meal planning my bill is huge! We have 5 people in our family, live in an expensive state and love to eat meat. I'll be in debt to the grocery store forever!
You are definitely not the only one. We spend way way too much every week on groceries. We plan most of the meals that we are going to make but somehow still end up going to the grocery store several times a week. It doesn't help that we both work at home and have breakfast, lunch, and dinners to plan!
Fortunately, I love to cook, and am very frugal. Hubby asks what's for supper I say, "Moody (that's our last name) Surprise", and what it is is something that I've thrown together, and he loves it. He says the less it costs the better it tastes.
I'm a meal planner!!! Hubby however makes it tough to follow threw with the plan -_- lol
I guess if you plan your menu then it would be more economical. You only buy what you need. There's a lot of money wasted at times by impulse buying.
Though I plan my meals I am yet to have a proper planner of sorts
This is an awesome idea indeed. Doing it with planning each meal and have the grocery list together should work well. I don't really plan my meals. I try to go to the store once a month and always end up going back. Thanks for sharing.
We just started meal planning in our house this past year and it's made a huge difference. Instead of buying just anything and having to go back to the grocery store multiple times we get everything in one trip and save a lot of money.