Meal planning is an excellent way to save time and money. Since I do this weekly, I figured it would be pretty easy to transfer over to the blog and maybe help some of you out with planning your week. To kick off our new “weekly” blog post, I thought I’d share a few reasons meal planning is so great!
#1- It saves money! I do my best to use what I have on hand. This saves money because I’m able to plan around what’s in the pantry, and that way I don’t need so many last minute, expensive, fancy ingredients. I can also look through the sales ads for the week for what I don’t have on hand, and meal plan accordingly. So let’s say I have rice in the pantry and frozen chicken breasts in the freezer from the last “super sale”. Then I also notice that summer squash and zucchini are on sale at the store. My mind would go “DING! we can have stir fry”! That kind of thinking is much cheaper than realizing at 2pm that you don’t know what to make for dinner, and you end up ordering pizza or Chinese food.
#2- It reduces waste! The first thing I do when I meal plan is think of all the things in the fridge that need to be eaten, and what boxed items in my pantry are approaching their expiration dates. Also, if I have a lot of one thing, I try to factor it into our meals as much as possible. For example, I have a TON of taco shells from couponing. I can usually get away with one taco night every 2-3 weeks, but occasionally as they get to their expiration, I know we’ll be having tacos once a week. Or if we get a bunch of something in the produce basket that won’t freeze and I need to use it up, I try to incorporate it into several of the week’s meals. Less waste= less $$ down the drain.
#3- It saves time! and frustration. I sit down once for about 20 minutes and make up my meal plan. Since I’m the main cook in the kitchen and I take regular kitchen Inventories, I don’t have to think hard about what we have on hand or what needs to be eaten. I enter what we will be eating each day in my gmail calendar, and set it to send me a reminder around noon each day. That way if I’m making homemade bread or a crockpot meal, I remember before it’s too late. Before I planned meals weekly, I would do my household duties and spend time with my son until about 4:30pm, and dinner was supposed to be at 5pm…AHHHHH! The rice is going to take longer than that to cook, I forgot to make bread, or (which happened most of the time) I couldn’t decide what to make and we’d end up eating cold sandwiches or WAY later than we should. Another great thing about planning ahead is I know what needs to be defrosted and can have things ready for cooking, instead of having to zap them in the microwave (which is good, because we don’t even own a microwave).
#4- It keeps us healthy! A well planned out week of meals can really help you see what you are eating, or what you need to eat more of. I try to plan a couple of Heart Healthy each week to keep cholesterol and saturated fats down, while increasing our whole grain and vegetable intake. If we’re eating something like steak, I try to plan in a side salad and a baked sweet potato.
For this first week, I’m going to post my plan for dinner each night, along with a short explanation of why and cost 
.
Monday: Italian wedding soup with homemade rye bread.
Why: We had leftover taco beef and an extra bag of spinach from the produce co-op. Pasta, carrots and chicken broth are all very inexpensive staples in our home.
Cost: The beef was purchased on sale with a coupon, so I spent probably $1/lb. This will use about 1/2 a pound, $.50 worth.
Spinach: Part of the produce co-op, so I paid *maybe* $1 for the bag. We’ll be using 1/4 of the bag, or $.25 worth.
Whole grain pasta: Free from couponing
Carrots: two carrots, frozen from a past produce co-op, maybe cost me $.12.
Chicken broth: Free- I made it from some $.19/lb chicken leg quarters I cooked for dinner last week.
Rye flour: purchased on clearance for $2.50, stored in the freezer. Used 1 cup, or $.30 worth.
Bread flour: 5lbs purchased for $.30 couponing. Used 2 cups, or $.05 worth.
The honey, yeast and spices for this meal are pretty negligable, but we’ll say all together they cost $.10.
Total cost of the meal: $1.32, or $.66 per person. WOW! And there will even be left over bread for tomorrow’s lunch.
Tuesday: We’re actually going out to eat with a work friend. We’ll be using buy one get one free entree coupons though, from our Citipass.
Wednesday: Tacos with a side salad
Why: Yes, we’re getting close to some expiration dates on the taco shells 
. We also have some ground beef to use up before our 1/8th of a grass fed cow arrives later this month! We have quite a bit of spinach and some pepper and lettuce to use from the produce co-op, hence the side salad
Cost: Taco shells are around $.50/box with couponing, and we use 1/2 box, so $.25 worth
Beef: $1/lb, will use about 1/2 lb or $.50 worth
Cheese: paid $.25/bag for kraft 2% cheddar cheese, and will only use on Mitch’s tacos, so probably $.05 worth, if that.
Hot sauce: free from couponing
Tomatoes and lettuce: from produce co-op, maybe $.10 worth (one tomato tops, and a handful of lettuce).
Side salad: Lettuce, spinach, bell pepper, avocado from co-op: Honestly probably about $1.10 with the avocado.
Dressing: Free from couponing.
Total cost: $2, or $1 per person.
Thursday: Chicken Curry with rice and broccoli
Why: We have chicken, coconut milk, rice and broccoli all on hand! This is one of our favorite meals and it’s a treat.
Cost: chicken breast was on sale buy 1 get 2 free, so I just bought one at 1/3 the price and used a $1/1 coupon (which doubled) making the final cost about $.30/package. We’ll use the whole thing for the recipe, since we want leftovers for lunch Friday.
Coconut milk: Free from couponing
Curry: I paid about $2.50 for a container of red curry sauce, and will use about a tablespoon. We’re looking at about $.50 right there.
Rice: $.30 from couponing
Broccoli: Free from couponing, and frozen. Will use olive oil spray, garlic and salt, then broil- So maybe $.05 from those things.
Total cost: $1.05 or $.53 per person. I know…that’s really scary low. But I lucked out on the meat and coconut milk deals!
Friday: PIZZA NIGHT!
Why: Because that’s what we do every Friday night, Brain…eat pizza, have a beer and watch a movie
Cost: Dough. This consists of bread flour, white wheat flour, water, salt and yeast, all either purchased in bulk or couponing- $.50c
Sauce: muir glen organic, free from couponing
Cheese: $.25 Kraft 20%, 1/2 a package, or $.13 worth for my hubby’s side of the pizza. PLUS, I use soy cheese on my half, which costs us around $1.50 for my half.
Toppings: pepperoni free from couponing, mushrooms and black olives about $.35 each, and one tomato from the produce co-op at about $.25.
Beer: $1.70 for both
Total cost: $4.78, or $2.39/person. More costly than the rest of the week, but it’s our treat! It keeps us from eating out as often.
Saturday: Stir-fry with a spring roll
Why: we need a meatless meal . We have rice, tofu, vegetables, soy sauce and spring rolls on hand.
Cost: Rice is free from couponing
Vegetables: some of these were free from couponing: broccoli, snap peas and some were from the co-op and frozen: summer squash, cauliflower. We’ll say $.25.
Tofu: $1.99 from trader joes. I had it on hand in case I needed to use it in place of eggs or milk in something, but now I just needs eaten . Will likely use about half of it, so $1.
Spring rolls: $.25 per box couponing. Will eat 1/2 of the box, so $.13.
Sauce: garlic, ginger and soy sauce, bought in bulk for from the co-op. I’m gonna go with $.10 to be cautious.
Total cost: $1.48, or $.74 per person.
Sunday: We have church life group that night, and will be bringing some kind of side or dessert. I try to spend about $1 or less, depending on what we bring.
So there you have it! Feel free to link this to your blog if you’d like to join us during Monday Meal Planning!
Here’s to living- Happier, healthier, more FRUGAL lives!
~~FrugalMegan~~
Welcome back to Frugal Friends’ Friday! I really wish I was better about getting these out every week…but maybe that’s another frugal tip- Less time on the computer means time and electricity saved! LOL
