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Start Meal Planning

How to Start Meal Planning When You Have No Clue Where to Start

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It used to be, when we made our budget at the end of the month, groceries and restaurants were always the highest of our discretionary expenses.

Like, embarrassingly highest.

Now they’re still a bulk of our spending but not nearly what they were. And that’s thanks to meal planning. 

When we were paying off our student loans, putting all of my salary and then some toward debt, we got our grocery budget to an impressive $50 per week and spent less than $100 on eating out for the month.

That’s because I was strategic in meal planning.

How to Start Meal Planning

Meal planning isn’t just good for your wallet, it’s good for everyone. American households throw away $640 worth of food every year and food waste has increased by over 50% in the last four decades. Not to mention we eat more than the average person did 40 years ago.

So here’s how I meal plan in five easy steps.

1. Take Inventory

Restaurants use the acronym FIFO: First In, First Out. They use the produce they have before they use the new stuff, which is how they save money and stay profitable. In order for your kitchen to stay profitable, it makes sense to adopt the same rule.

I look at my fridge and pantry and write down a few things I want to use this week based on what’s going bad and/or the FIFO rule. Y

If you have a long list, order it in priority based on what’s going bad first. You may not be able to get to everything and you might have to throw something out. Mourn the loss and do better next time. (RIP celery, literally every time I buy it.)

2. Look at Sales

I’ll then look at what’s on sale in my grocery store’s weekly ad.  

Note that not everything advertised in your grocery ad is actually on sale. It’s unfortunate but true. A large portion of the flyer is advertising space the store has sold to product manufacturers, leaving the “featured” price the same as any other day.

Rules of thumb when finding sales: Ignore brand name products and read the fine print on “quantity” sales. Advertisements for fresh and store brand products are usually legit sales.

They’re usually seasonal produce and products so it’s not hard to identify them. The ad might also state “new low price” or “originally $X.99” when the item is truly on sale.

3. Evaluate Your Calendar

Then I’ll pick the nights I want to cook, nights I’ll need to use a freezer meal, and the nights we won’t cook at all.

This is all determined by what we have going on. Which nights I’m recording Frugal Friends, nights Travis is working late, nights we’re getting together with friends, etc. It’s even important to know days we won’t need lunch to plan the size of the recipe to make. 

Figure how many dinners and lunches you need for the week and the amount of time you have to make them. I like to average four dinners in my plan but if we go to my in-laws on Sunday I know I’ll take leftovers home, so it could be a three dinner week. (#LearnToLoveLeftovers)

4. Select Recipes

All right, here’s the big one. With your inventory priorities, sale items, and schedule assembled, you can take to the internet and cookbooks to find recipes that meet your time and ingredient requirements.

When selecting a week’s worth of recipes we’re not trying to be Julia Child over here. Pick simple recipes and get creative when you know you have time. It’s unlikely you’ll be able to include all of your desired inventory or sale items, so prioritize by using what you have first and incorporating sales where you can.

Another way to make recipe selection faster and easier is assigning each night of the week a theme. Typical themes are Meatless Monday, Taco Tuesday, Water Chestnut Wednesday, whatever works for you.

We used to do a frozen pizza every Wednesday (one of the reasons we got away with a four-recipe meal plan), but we’re trying to minimize our carbs now so we’re trying new things.

5. Make Your Grocery List & Stick to it

Now you have everything you need to make your grocery list. This is another process I start during the week because toilet paper and deodorant never show up in recipes. I like scrap paper, usually the back of envelopes from credit card solicitations, but there are apps if you prefer.

The advantage of using an app is you can have an updated list of what’s in your pantry without having to write it down every week. Finished off that bottle of dried dill? Erase it from the pantry list and move it to this week’s shopping list, or don’t, because how often do you use dill? AnyList is what I use and I love it.

And most importantly, when you go to the grocery store: LIST IS KING. Don’t deviate from it unless you absolutely have to. All of your previous work will be for naught if you don’t follow this simple rule.

Done-For-You Meal Plans

Doing your own meal planning isn’t hard but it does take a little work.

If you’re in a season where this is all too much for you or you’re having trouble getting the hang of it, then pay to have it done for you. You’ll lose the savings of about $10 per month but you will still see 99% of the savings.

And if saving 4+ hours a month costs $10, sign me up. Here are the services I use:

Cook Smarts

Cook Smarts is everything you need to lower your food costs in one affordable service.

They offer seasonal meal plans that utilize the produce most likely to be on sale, custom grocery lists, weekend meal prep instructions, and the ingredients build on each other, meaning less food waste.

You’ll get four meals every week that you can use or swap for one in the archive. Each recipe has a regular, paleo, and vegetarian version and those are always interchangeable as well.  

I love the variety and ease of the Cook Smarts recipes, some of them even have instructional videos if there’s a new or unique cooking style. When someone says they can’t save money on food because they can’t cook I always point them to Cook Smarts

The service is $6-$8 per month depending on how long you pay for upfront. And you always get your first 3 weeks of meal plans free so it’s a no brainer to at least try it out!

MyFreezEasy

The MyFreezEasy meal plan is from Erin Chase over at $5 Dinners. If you’ve never heard of her she is the queen of cooking on a budget. You should definitely check out her website for budget-friendly recipes and tips to save on your grocery bill.

This plan is for making freezer meals (which we all need) every month. Whether they fill in for the days you can’t cook or you give them to new moms or people who need them, this is a great service for making sure your freezer meal corner is stocked.

For $10-$12 per month (depending on how long you sign up for upfront), the MyFreezeEasy provides a dozen different menus with five recipes each (or create your own) that you can assemble in less than an hour and freeze for the month.

There’s also a MyFreezEasy mobile app that lets you take your grocery list with you and meal plan on the go. And if you’re still confused by freezer cooking (like what to do after freezing, which is a legit question) then check out Erin’s free workshop on it.

One Last Note About Saving on Groceries

If meal planning still isn’t helping you cut your grocery spending, Erin also has a free Grocery Savings Workshop. Even with all the things I’ve learned about saving on groceries I still found some great wisdom from Erin who’s been doing this a lot longer than I have. I highly recommend it.

And beyond that she has a 10-week course, The Grocery Budget Makeover, that will teach you how to wholistically cut your grocery spending no matter what stores you have available to you.

Just like MyFreezEasy, her course is super legit and includes printables, worksheets, and video demos. If you need extra help, I highly recommend investing the $49 to take it.

This Post Has 17 Comments

  1. I come from a poor country and to see my family waste food… makes me cringe. It’s sad to see so many people just waste food. I only buy what I’m going to use that day and yes I’ll cook it all at once for the week. This is so helpful. Thank you for the wonderful reminder we need to take action to have a healthier life. -Jocelyne from resonatecreations.com

    1. Thanks Jocelyne! It makes me cringe too. I’ve eaten some questionable things just to avoid wasting 😉

  2. I hate food waste. Since I am a gluten free blogger, I have to cook a lot for the blog. It has a bearing on my meal planning, of course. You know that show “Chopped?” I play that with myself sometimes. Thanks for your reviews of the various services. I really didn’t know there were such businesses out there.

    1. That’s awesome Amanda! Haha. I love that show. You’re welcome too! I love introducing people to things that will make their lives simpler!

  3. Superb! Your article is amazing, Meal planning isn’t just good for your wallet, it’s good for everyone, I too provide Meal Planning services, But, the strategy you used for meal planning is Awesome! It will really work. Thank for giving such useful information to all of us.

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