An online lifestyle magazine for Christian women
Learning how to create a meal plan and grocery list is an important skill! Meal planning can help reduce food waste and save money. It also takes the guesswork out of making dinner. All you need to do is check the plan and pull out the ingredients for dinner that night. You can even plan simpler meals for days when you don’t have as much time to cook.
In this blog post, we’ll explore the process of creating a meal plan for your family, plus some tips I’ve picked up through the years!
Let’s get started on the planning process! I hope you find this guide helpful as you create your own meal plan.
Set aside a time to create a meal plan and grocery list. I do this weekly, but you could adjust this depending on how often you shop.
Take inventory of your fridge and pantry. What do you have already on hand? What could be used to create meals? What is about to expire and needs to be put to use? Keep all this in mind when planning your meals.
Examine coupons, circulars, or shopping apps first your favorite stores and see what’s on sale. Consider what meals could be prepped based on this knowledge. We shop primarily at BJs, and they have a shopping app that has a coupon clipping feature. I always check this out before planning my list.
Write down your meals for each day and note the ingredients you will need for each. Add the ingredients you don’t already have to a shopping list. I also recommend getting a handy planner to write down the meals. My weekly planner helps me plan one week at a time.
When you go shopping, make sure you have your grocery list and coupons handy. I keep my grocery list on a shared note in my phone. Both my husband and I have access to edit the list. I also create a checklist so I can mark what I’ve already put in my cart. If you’re looking to avoid harmful ingredients in food, check out this handy guide to help you pick out the best groceries.
If you stick to the plan, you’ll be able to save money! My husband and I stick to our plan on weekdays, but often we don’t meal plan for the weekends so that we can treat ourselves to eating out. If our budget is tight one month, we make sure to plan for the weekend meals!
Over time, I’ve picked up some tricks that have helped us save time and money when it comes to groceries. Here are some of my favorites!
We buy meat in bulk at BJs and then portion it in plastic bags to the amount we need for each meal. I store them in our freezer. The day before you need to use the meat, place it in the fridge to thaw. If you forget to do this, you can quickly thaw meat by placing it in a bowl of cold (not warm) water.
We shop at BJs, and the cost savings is worth the membership cost. We also have the store credit card, which gives us at least $20 in cash back rewards monthly that we can apply to groceries.
This doesn’t work for everything, but I have frozen strawberries, spinach, onions, peppers, and peaches. I just cut them up and store them in Ziploc bags or plastic containers.
For things that don’t freeze well, or that you’d rather consume fresh, consider this strategy. Have a weekly shopping trip for produce and do less frequent trips for foods that have a long shelf life.
What are your best shopping and planning tips? Share them in the comments!
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