How Menu Planning Saved Me Money
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I have been menu planning since before I knew there was a catch phrase like “menu planning” for the idea. In the beginning, the reasons I planned were simple. I am a list maker, I am a planner and I was new to cooking so I thought I’d better have a plan or I was sure to fail at the new venture of mine, making home cooked meals for my new husband, who by the way loved to eat.
I caught on to cooking easy; after all, I had watched my mom cook for years and helped a bit here and there. The decision of what to make took a little more thought, and pleasing my husband even a little more effort, as he is a big eater and I cooked like my mom did, in small portions and thought 3 veggies for dinner was enough, not my husband, he wanted to know “Where’s the meat?” Now nightly our meal revolves around that “meat”.
Therefore, meal planning or menu planning was just about a necessity for me as a young newlywed because I had to be sure I had that all-important ingredient in every meal, meat to satisfy my hungry husband’s craving.
Now, if you haven’t checked the local grocery store’s meat section lately then you may not realize but meat can be quite pricey and we were on a tight budget as we still are and most families today can relate to. That’s where menu planning became yet another plus for me. Planning ahead helped me to be able to buy meat in larger quantities, or when it was on sale, and plan ahead its uses so that I’d have enough, but I’d save some cash at the same time.
In addition, I learned that I could alternate my meals in my menu plan to not only satisfy the husband’s cravings, but also keep my budget in check. With that handy list of meals I knew that my husband enjoyed I could quickly find enough for a week’s worth that would work within the amount of cash I had available. This became especially helpful when I seemed to have more month left than money.
So, if you deal with any of these issues, or maybe some that are similar then you could probably benefit from menu planning. It really is simple to get started and will save you time, energy, sanity and most importantly the green stuff we call cash!
About the Author
Alyssa Dees Avant is a Christian author, blogger, podcaster, speaker, and business owner, when she is not speaking to audiences of young girls and their mothers, she is writing as a freelance and ghostwriter. Whether she is sharing her passion with girls on the topics of beauty, modesty, and etiquette or with their moms on time management and organizing Alyssa has a true passion for helping others. Visit her at http://beautybydesignonline.com or http://organizedlifebydesign.com
Posted by adavant
LOL, Alyssa, that was me, too. I started cooking in 1977 in my first apartment. My boyfriend and I alternated cooking — one night at my apartment, one night at his. I had lots of Cooking for Two cookbooks and that was how I learned to cook.
I was always frugal so I’d get the food section of the San Jose Mercury News out along with the ads. I’d see what was on sale and then go through my cookbooks looking for recipes with those ingredients. Then off to the store I’d go. I felt like a grown-up!
We ate great and it didn’t cost much money either.
Now my daughter is in college and although she learned this stuff while she was growing up, it didn’t really sink in. On a recent visit I took her on a grocery shopping expedition and showed her how to eat well on the cheap.
Our first stop was to the meat clearance section where we got a meatloaf mix and a nice large chicken at 50% off each. We discussed all the ways she could use the chicken (roast first, remove meat for lunchtime sandwiches and pop the carcass into a pot for some lovely broth and soup). It was Easter so a ham was in order — again a discussion of all the meals she could fix with a detour to the split pea soup aisle!
We perused the cereal aisle looking at the per unit pricing and she decided that she’d go with oatmeal instead of packaged cereal. When we got to the bread aisle she decided to get two loaves of the house brand whole wheat bread instead of the name brand.
The best part is that her boyfriend works at the store so after frugal shopping, she used his 10% house brand discount. She was very proud of herself and we had so much fun!
Thanks for sharing, Alyssa. Frugal is fun!
Cindy Morus, The Money Mender
http://www.MendYourMoney.com