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SAVE MONEY WITH A MONTHLY MEAL PLAN.
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Do you plan your monthly meals, or do you stand in the kitchen and decide just before making supper?
Why plan your meals for the month?
Planning your meals makes it easier because you already know what you’ll eat. You won’t have to wonder what you’ll cook for supper.
Planning your meals also helps you save money and time. You know what you are going to be cooking, so you dont have to take a drive to the supermarket to buy food items for supper.
I come across so many people asking what I can cook for supper.
Planning your meals for the month is not crazy. What meals do your family enjoy eating? Ask your family what food they enjoy eating. This will help you get a better picture of how to plan your monthly meals. My kids love chicken nuggets, meatballs, egg noodles, and veggies.
I make my chicken nuggets from scratch, and it really doesn’t take much time. Making your own food puts you in control of what you add to your meals. Lately, when reading the ingredient labels on food products, I see more filler ingredients being added.
Save time and money planning your meals and, hopefully, fewer trips to the grocery store.
Before you go shopping for the month, go through your kitchen cupboards and fridge and look at what food items you have. What ingredients will last until the end of the next month?
Another way to save money on food costs is to bulk cook and freeze portions for later meals. This will save you lots of time because you can just reheat the food in the microwave. Think mac and cheese, lasagne and stews. My kids love mac and cheese.
WHY MEAL PLAN FOR AN ENTIRE MONTH?
YOU CAN AVOID WASTING FOOD.
Wasting food is never good, and planning your monthly meals can help your family not only save food but also help your family reduce food waste.
Knowing what you are cooking every day helps you avoid going to the shops for food ingredients you do not have on hand. You have hopefully already done your monthly shop and do not need to go to the shops to purchase food items.
Taking stock of what you have really helps you get a good picture of what ingredients you need to buy for the month. Please do your best to only buy what you have on the shopping list.
My family doesn’t mind eating the same meal for two days in a row, but for some families, it may not be a good idea. If you dont like eating the same meals two days in a row, you can bulk cook and rotate the meals.
Pasta, rice, tinned beans and tinned tuna are food items I always stock up on.
YOU CAN SAVE LOTS OF TIME.
Planning your meals for the month may not sound exciting, but it can save you a lot of time in the long run.
Think of the times you have no idea of what to cook, and you are standing in the middle of the kitchen wondering, pondering what I am going to cook for supper.
If you plan your meals for the month, then standing in the middle of your kitchen wondering what to cook is likely to happen less. Those busy days when you may be just too tired to cook and rather opt for take-away meals. Planning ahead helps you buy fewer take-out meals when you dont know what to cook.
To save time batch cooking, I use minced meat and add lots of veggies like green and red bell peppers, grated carrots, tomatoes, celery and onions. From the minced meat dish, I make a batch of language, cottage pie and a batch of savoury minced meat. I also freeze portions for later meals.
YOU SAVE MONEY.
This is my favourite part of planning my meals for the month.
I get to save money because I have planned my meals for the month and know what my family is eating. I save money on groceries. I do not go shopping on a whim because I have to go and buy ingredients.
Effective meal planning helps you save money. You must stick to your meal plan. If you stray from it, you may not save money. Do your best to stick to your meal plan.
Bulk buying helps you save money on food items, but please be careful and only buy items you are going to be using, not items you are not certain of. Check the expiry date of the products you are bulk buying. I check to see if the products are going to last for at least one to two years.
I store my pasta, flour and rice in the fridge or freezer. I always keep track of what I have so I do not buy any unnecessary food items.
HOW TO MEAL PLAN FOR THE MONTH.
Here are some tips to help you with planning your meals for the month.
Take stock of what food you have. It is so important to know what food items you already have so you do not buy items you dont need for the month.
Go through your kitchen cupboards and fridge to see what you have.
Plan the meals your family will be eating for the month. If you are not sure about the meals, you can have a look online. You will find many ideas for meals you can cook.
You can write out your meal plan or print it out. I prefer to hand write my meals for the month and my monthly meal plan on the fridge. I tick off the meals I have cooked. This way, I stick to my meal plan.
My kids love homemade pizza, so on Friday nights, we have homemade pizza; on Fridays, we have fish and chips with veggies. If there is a special occasion in the family, then we plan ahead on what we will be eating for the special occasion.
Bulk cooking helps because you can have the meal for, let’s say, Tuesday night and again on Wednesday night. Freeze portions for another night. Chicken with green peppers, onions, peas and mushrooms frees well. Have it with rice or pasta.
Making your own pizza dough and stocks helps you buy fewer ready-made items. I make my own pizza dough, and my kids help make the dough and decide which toppings they want on the pizza.
There may be occasions when unexpected events happen, and you may need to swap meals.
PLAN MEALS YOUR FAMILY ENJOY EATING.
Okay, this is very important when you are planning your meals for the month.
Ask your family what meals they enjoy most. Roast chicken is a firm family favourite for many families around the world. Yes, my family enjoy eating roast chicken on Sunday evenings. The beauty of having roast chicken on Sunday night is you can use the leftover chicken for other meals on Monday.
Corned beef is another favourite of my family. We usually have it for supper, and the following evening, we have corned beef hashbrowns with veggies. My son enjoys eating corned beef and cheese toasted sarmies for lunch after school. You can also have a corned beef salad or corned beef soup.
Be creative when planning your monthly meals.
STICK TO YOUR MONTHLY MEAL PLAN.
Let’s be honest: it is pointless to plan your monthly meals and then not stick to them. Why spend the time planning your meals if you have no intention of sticking to them?
Make sure to have meals your family will eat; if not, you will just be cooking meals you did not plan to cook. Cooking meals you did not plan is going to cost you money. And this is money you could have rather saved.
Planning meals for the month saves me money on food and time cooking meals.
Remember, there are going to be the odd days when something happens, and you sway from your plan. If this happens, just get back on track with your meal plan.
So, do you plan your meals for the month or week, or do you just decide on the day what you are going to eat for supper? Some people really do not want to sit and take time out of their lives to plan meals for the month.
At the end of the day, you should do what works best for you and your family.
Please take a look at the following post to learn more about how you can save money when grocery shopping.
If you are a good cook and want to find out how you can make money cooking from home, read this post.
CONCLUSION: SAVE MONEY WITH A MONTHLY MEAL PLAN.
Do you plan your meals for the month?
If you do, what do you enjoy about meal planning? Have you got tips for people on meal planning? What are your favourite meals to cook for the month to save you time and money?
My family enjoys mac and cheese, homemade pizza, chicken nuggets, schnitzel beef or chicken and cream chicken pasta.
I hope you have found this post informative and helpful.
Please share this post with your family and friends. Thank you! 😊
