It’s hard to start frugal meal planning. Shoot, let’s take it back a bit and say it is hard to do meal planning, period. But one of the easiest ways to cut your grocery budget by 10 – 15% is creating not only a meal plan, but doing some frugal meal planning. Here are some easy frugal meal planning tips to get you started.
Frugal Meal Planning Tips – Easy, Healthy & Delicious
Create an inventory of items already in your pantry or stockpile and try to use them in your plan. Besides the fact that you have already paid for each and every one of these items (and if you use a price book, you know you bought them for the lowest price), it also helps you not “overstock” which can lead to waste and expired food.
Dedicate 20 minutes on Sunday to do some Frugal Meal Planning. And make sure you right down the plan on a piece of paper…no one else in your family will know the plan if it is all in your head. (Here are some more thoughts on creating a meal plan.)
Choose to incorporate at least one vegetarian meal into your plan. Meat is the most expensive single item in any meal, by choosing to eliminate it or cut down on its use, you’ll save significantly over the course of a month. (Here is a list of some of my favorite vegetarian staples to use.
Don’t cook things you know your family won’t eat. Even if you have all the ingredients for Chicken Casserole, it won’t matter if your family won’t eat it and you throw it away. Waste is waste…regardless of how cheap the ingredients. You don’t have to eat unhealthy when you start frugal meal planning.
Choose your meals wisely. Don’t make lasagna if you need to buy cheese, meat and noodles. Make lasagna if you only need to buy noodles and sauce.
Use strategic shopping principals to help you save money. Use your price book, price matching, coupons, and smartphone apps to help you save even more money at the grocery store.
Finally, if all of this because too cumbersome, remember that just following a meal plan like eMeals (for $4.00 per month) can save you 10 – 15% on your grocery bill. And eMeals has a ton of different options to fit every lifestyle.
What about you? What advice can you give?
