Like many of you, I am a former work-at-the-office wife turned stay-at-home mother. Which translates to: your family lives on one income now and must budget, budget, budget. I will confess that when I was working, menu planning was not something I did – unless you count dinner reservations as meal planning! Most nights, I’d dash into the market grab whatever looked good and throw a meal together quickly, we’d order take out or hit our favorite restaurants. We were easily spending $400 per week on groceries and restaurant meals. For two people. Crazy, isn’t it. Now that I meal plan every week, I’ve reduced our grocery bill to around $150 per week – and there are three of us eating. And, I do it WITHOUT using coupons!
That office that I mentioned was in the corporate office of a big ol’ restaurant company, so you can imagine that I’ve learned a thing or two about menu planning and preparation. You may be thinking “How is her former career going to help me? Who cares where she used to work?” I hate to break it to you, but you ARE running a restaurant. And to ensure your family’s restaurant is a success – which means you operate with LOW overhead and LOW waste – you need to be diligent in your planning. Here are some best practices {fancy business phrase for “great tips“!} that I follow for my meal planning sessions.
Each week, with coffee in hand, I sit down at my desk with my calendar and a few magazines to start my weekly meal plan.
I reference my planner to write in any events on my meal plan that might make the evening meal time a challenge. Like The Texan playing rugby two nights a week, or a local free music festival where I’ll need to bring a picnic meal. Once I have that filled in, I get to work on the easy stuff first. Breakfast. The Texan has the same thing to eat everyday, Monday through Friday, eggs and bacon. Sometimes with Grits, unless he’s following the Paleo diet. I write this down to remember to buy eggs, because I don’t eat them. The Boy and I have waffles, pancakes or cereal. Sometimes we have French Toast.
Next step is planning dinner. I flip through the pages of the magazines and make my choices like that – or I remember that a few weeks ago we had such and such and it was so good I have to make it again this week. I also bookmark recipes that other bloggers have shared and often include those in our weekly meal plans. When making dinner, I try to prepare a little extra for lunch the next day. If I don’t have enough meals that will yield leftovers, then we have to make something fun – like Chicken Caesar Salads. It’s easy to plan The Boy’s lunch – he loves Peanut Butter and Just-About-Anything sandwiches.
I spend about 20 minutes planning our meals – including snacks – and that’s how I make my grocery list . Including the snacks has helped to avoid extra purchases and extra trips to the store.I write my list in the order that I shop. Doing it that way makes the shopping trip faster and helps to avoid extra purchases. Once my list is written, I head to the kitchen to check my inventory. If I have enough of something on hand, I cross it off. Everyone loves to cross things off a list. Most days, I scratch of a few things and do a little celebratory dance before heading off to the store.
I’m geeky like that.
You’ll remember that I mentioned earlier that I don’t use coupons. That’s because I shop mostly at Trader Joe’s and they don’t carry many national brands. On occasion, I may receive a coupon or two in the mail for an item that I would normally buy {like Kashi anything or Stonyfield milk} so I do use those when I head to the Stop & Shop {our large chain store} for things that Trader Joe’s doesn’t carry – like dill relish or baking soda. When it comes to produce, I buy from a local vendor who sells wholesale to the public. I find a lot of great deals there – like five pound bags of potatoes for $1.50 and pints of berries for $1.
Keep these tips in mind when planning your family’s meals, you’ll be feeding your family healthy meals and saving money, too!
- Meal plan at the same time, in the same quiet space each week.
- Review the weekly advertisements for the markets in your area, and purchase in bulk when it makes sense.
- Shop your local farmer’s market or wholesale to the public vendor for seasonal produce.
- Be inspired by recipes in current issues of food magazines.
- When it comes to household items, buy the same brands consistently so that you’ll become familiar with what their average price point is and when they’ll go on sale again. Keep in mind that large chains typically cycle their sales every six weeks.
Menu planning for a family can be intimidating, but like anything, it gets easier with time. Do you menu plan each week?
I need to start doing a menu plan again. I used to get the eMeals plan every week which made it REALLY easy, but I don’t do that anymore. Thanks for the tips to get me started!
Good luck! I’m just getting back into it this year myself. This post was a reminder of how I did things and how much stress it reduced for me! Also, menu planning ensures we’re eating a variety of foods. To me there is nothing worse than being stuck in a food rut!
I shop with specific recipes in mind, but I don’t meal plan. I’m scared really. It sounds silly, but what if I spend all this time meal planning and then decide half-way through the week that I don’t want to make a roast, or that tacos don’t sound good anymore?
Shary, I think you’re menu planning without noticing it! If you have the ingredients for Tacos and Lasagna, it doesn’t matter what day you eat them, you’re still eating them! Menu planning takes the 5 o’clock stress out of my day, adds healthier choices to our diet, and a bit of cash to the wallet!
At least your shopping with recipes in mind, and not randomly tossing things into your cart. That’s when you get in trouble.
Agreed. I cannot coupon, I tried, but by planning our weekly meals, we definitely save money!
I didn’t put much effort into using coupons. I find that the national brands with a coupon cost much more than what I would pay at Trader Joe’s – and TJ is generally a healthier choice. One example I often share is that a box of TJ “O’s” cereal costs $1.99 every day. A box of Cheerios is $4.99 – even if you saved a $1 per box, TJ is still the way to go. And they don’t any funky stuff to their “O’s” either!
I’m trying to get into menu planning, but I know I need to be much more organized like you are for it to work. I was happy to have planned out my dinners this week 🙂 I like that you write your list in the order you shop – I do that too! It’s just sensible LOL
I used to make two lists – one listed what we were eating & the ingredients below it; then I transferred that to a second list that was laid out in the order that I shop. It got to be time consuming, so now I just use different sections of my shopping list & hope that the produce doesn’t overlap into the dairy section!
I don’t menu plan but I should – it would save trips to the grocery store – which is in walking distance, but still.
It would save you money Jaime, but you’d be giving up a little exercise by not making so many trips to the grocery store!
These are GREAT tips! We started meal planning at the beginning of the year when DH started his diet and it really helps. I’ve swapped a lot of days, but a plan is still really good and prevents the last minute “let’s just go out” temptation!
I think having a plan to eat 7 specific meals in a week is great – you don’t always have to have Taco Tuesday and Pizza on Friday. But sticking with the meals you planned to cook, regardless of the day will save you time and money in the end.
Great tips! I do use coupons to save, but only on things I was planning to purchase anyway. We’ve started making almost all of our meals at home (we had a bad habit of eating out…a LOT!) and it’s so nice to have leftovers to take the next day for lunch.
I catch a lot of flack for not using coupons, but by the time I spend $5 on the paper – there’s rarely $5 worth of coupons in it! It’s not a savings to me. I used a coupon today – it was stuck to the product that I was buying. I saved $1 – apparently my grocery store doubles coupons. I had no idea.
Have a great weekend!
Just one of the many things that I need to start doing again. When I get home from work, I don’t like to think, which is why I need to start meal planning again! I have no problem eating cereal every night for dinner but my husband? He thinks we need to have meat at every meal.
I wonder if your husband and mine are related! My husband doesn’t think he’s eaten if there isn’t some type of meat served! Like you, I could eat cereal {or pasta} every night, but my husband will have no part of that. Planning our meals makes it so much easier – and everyone is happy. There are times that I make sides that are hearty enough for me to have as a main course {sans meat}, while my husband noshes on steak or chicken.
I’d be fine to eat meat {which for me is chicken, turkey – no pork or beef} just once a week and go back to my vegetarian ways, somehow I don’t think that my Texan husband would go with that!
I menu plan 1 month at a time. I’m thinking of cutting back to just menu planning weekly.
1 month at a time?! How do you do that?? Do you shop once a month, too?
Great tips! I always try to prepare a little extra for lunch too. Sometimes sandwiches can get a bit mundane.
Sandwiches do get a bit mundane – but I try switching them up a bit. My favorites are grilled cheeses, I mix up different types of cheeses with fruits or meats (never fruit & meat together). I’m a bit funny about leftovers, there are very few things that I’ll eat twice. Generally, I try to make the leftover into something else! If we had roasted chicken one night, the next day I might have chicken on a salad or make a pot pie for lunch.
Thanks so much for visiting!
These are great tips! I really need to start menu planning again.
Thank you! It feels great to menu plan – knowing that I don’t have to think about what I’m going to cook for dinner is great. And, it lets my husband know what we’re eating so he can start prepping if I’m not home in time.
I love how organized you are, I totally need to do this.
Thanks, Amber! It took a while to come up with a system that worked best for me. Now, I just need to be more consistent about it!
Have a great weekend.
I so need to get back into the habit of meal planning! My hubby usually goes to the grocery store while I get in a little work on the weekend, so he buys what he thinks we want to eat during the week. That’s not a huge deal, but I want to get back to where we planned before shopping so that it was a mutual decision.
Not to mention, it would reduce the number of little trips to the store we do during the week because we forgot to buy something!
That’s great that your husband tackles the grocery store! Grocery shopping is my least favorite “chore”, but I find when I have an organized list it’s a bit more tolerable!
I live by some of these rules – they are awesome!
Thanks! It certainly makes life easier when you have a plan!
I’m inconsistent with meal planning but I love your point about running a restaurant! I like to arrange my list in order of how I walk the store so I don’t have to keep searching my list and back tracking. Now if only I could remember to pull things out of the freezer on time.
My dad has an Excel sheet with his “inventory” set up in the order of how he walks the store! I’m sure that’s where I get some of my menu planning organization!
If I need to set something out that’s frozen, I schedule a reminder on my phone. It works great…unless it goes off when I’m not home. Also, many things can be quickly defrosted in a water bath. Just be sure to change the water frequently so that your food defrosts at the proper temperature. And never, ever thaw ANYTHING at room temperature.
I really need to start making a menu plan again. I was doing it for a while and then life just got crazy.
Life will be less crazy once you’re back into menu planning! I fell off the wagon for a while, and feel much more relaxed & organized since I started planning our meals again!
You find some good local deals! I do menu plan every single week. I don’t necessarily decide what gets eaten on what day. But each week I set out with 5-6 recipes. We usually eat out one day a week, but sometimes we eat leftovers.
I love to meal plan, it’s fun and I never have to struggle with what’s for dinner tonight!
Menu planning makes life so much easier, don’t you agree? I find that my day goes much smoother when I don’t have to wonder what we’re having for dinner! I’m pretty flexible about when we eat each meal – unless I’ve purchased seafood, we have to eat that on the day that we buy it!
I have to start planning menus. We waste more money and food with the whole “last minute run to the store to get something for dinner” thing. I may be moving to an area where the nearest store isn’t 5 minutes down the road anymore, and we’ll all starve if I don’t start learning to plan ahead! Thanks for the tips!
One of my favorite things to make is a whole chicken in the crock pot. We generally have enough left to make enchiladas, chicken pot pie, or chicken pesto pasta the following day. Not only does that cut down on time spent in the kitchen, it also saves money!
Best of luck to you on your menu planning adventure!
I find that meal planning helps SO much…however when I work on weekends I often forget to sit down and write out a plan for the week. I’m hoping to get back on track with that soon!
Which magazines do you find have the best recipes? I feel some of the ones you see take WAY too long to prepare or the list of ingredients is just ridiculously long. Also, do you do any crock pot meals?
Danielle at Framed Frosting
Hi Danielle,
Generally, I look to the Food Network Magazine and Rachael Ray’s Everyday with Rachael Ray Magazine for delicious, easy to prepare recipes. Many of them can be prepared in 30 – 45 minutes. Also, I try to coordinate my meals and chop once/use twice (or more). For example, if I’m using onions in a sauce recipe on Tuesday, I’ll chop enough onions for tacos on Wednesday. I’ve found that really helps me with time – and to ensure we’re eating healthy meals! If I cook a whole chicken, I plan that the following night we’ll have something with the leftovers – like fajitas, chicken pot pie, or salads with chicken.
I do use my crock pot, but it’s generally to cook a whole chicken. I just pop the chicken in, add salt, pepper and garlic & we’re good to go for dinner. One of the first recipes I shared on the blog was for crock pot chicken marsala, the recipe is delicious – though I must warn you that the photography is horrible. Maybe I’ll make it again soon to fix those photos!
I hope this helps you out! Happy to answer any other questions you may have. Thanks so much for stopping by today.