Meal Planning

Besides couponing, meal planning is possible the most effective way to lower the cost of your grocery bill. I have been meal planning since I first got married almost 4 years ago.

This is my method:

I always look at store ads first. I base it on either meats that are on sale or meats I already have stock-piled in the freezer. BTW, I will not spend more than $1.99 on chicken breast, $2.49 on 85/15 beef, or $1.99 on pork loin.
After I figure up the proteins for the meals I than decide what meals to make.

A big tip is to plan meals where they can domino off each other. Dominoing meals is shown through the meal plan example below but basically it means you use parts of one meal to make one for the next meal.

Here is an example of 5 days worth of planning for you to see:

Monday-
Breakfast: Cereal and milk
Lunch: Bread, lunch meat, carrot sticks, chips, and banana
Dinner: Crock Pot chicken- Whole chicken ($.79 lb FoodCity), spices,
potatoes,carrots, and onion. Sides- veggies from the crockpot, crescent
rolls,and green beans.

Tuesday-
Breakfast: Cereal and milk
Lunch: Left over Crockpot Chicken
Dinner: Spicy Chicken soup- left over chicken pulled from bones from crock
pot meal, onion, garlic, jar of salsa, 2 cans of diced tomatoes, 1 can whole
tomatoes, 1 can tomato soup, chili powder, 1 can of corn, 2 cans of chili
beans, 8oz sour cream.

Wednesday-
Breakfast: Cereal and Milk
Lunch: bread, lunch meat, carrot sticks, chips, and banana
Dinner: Left over soup for a quick meal before church

Thursday-
Breakfast: Oatmeal
Lunch: Bread, peanut butter, jelly, yogurt, orange
Dinner: Spaghetti- ground turkey or ground beef, sauce, noodles Sides: Salad,
garlic toast

Friday-
Breakfast: Cereal and milk
Lunch: Left over spaghetti
Dinner: Italian Chicken- 2 chicken breasts cut in half, pepper, salt, italian
dressing, bag of frozen veggies, basil Sides- veggies already in the meal and
crescent rolls.

After you have made your list like so, go through your pantry, freezer, and fridge to see what you don’t have.
In my case I would need to purchase:
Salad
Bananas
Oranges
Milk
Bread
Sour Cream

All the rest I have stock-piled through couponing when I got it free or super cheap! :)

Stick to your meal plan. When you venture off is when you get into trouble with going outside your grocery budget.
Sometimes it's good to have a pantry clean out week of food. There are things that will continue to get overlooked in your pantry. Take a week and try to only cook and eat out of items you already have or have had for a while. I used to dread it but now I like it because you can get creative with coming up with new meals to add to your meal plans later on! :)

If I have left anything out or if you have any questions just comment below! :) Have a great night!