How Meal Planning Can Save You Money

The number one rule when it comes to meal planning and saving money is: stick to the plan! If you spend 30 minutes or so each week planning out your meals and then cave when you pass your first Chipotle or Panera Bread, that’s known in the business as NOT sticking to the plan.

Chipotle and Panera are there for people who have not planned out their meals, not for those, like you, who have. Why even plan your meals for the week if you know those plans will be broken as soon as you reach the intersection of a time crunch and fast food? So, remember as you continue reading and well after, stick. to. the. plan!

Inflation…no, I’m not an economics professor, but I do know that inflation causes prices to rise due to an excess amount of money in the economy. And man, have prices gone up in the grocery store which is why it makes even more sense to plan your meals in order to save money. Below are a few tips that can help you save money by planning out your meals.

• Sit down and make a meal plan. Yeah, I know…this is in the title of this post so it should be obvious, right? Wrong. Making a plan involves more than coming up with ideas in your head. In order to get this right, you’ve got to sit down for a few minutes in front of the computer or with a pen and pad and plan out the meals for your week. Look at your and your family’s schedules, work and otherwise, for the week and then go from there. See which evenings are best for family meals together and which are not. Make alternate plans if you’re not going to be home on certain nights, like cooking ahead. Simply put, try to track who’s going to be where come 6:30 PM every evening that week and work from there.
• KISS: keep it simple, stupid. Sorry if I offended, but that’s what the acronym means. Keep your meal recipes simple with a limited number of ingredients and quick prep and cooking times. Avoid those fancy, complex recipes from all those food and recipe websites that show those amazing pics of fantastically complex dinners. Find recipes with 5 ingredients or less to keep you under your food budget and go from there. You’ll be amazed at how delicious and inexpensive recipes are out there with 5 or fewer ingredients. Of course, MagicKitchen.com has reasonably-priced complete meals that you can purchase, stick in your freezer, and have for a fast, nutritious meal.
• Use a meal planning app or calendar. Yes, there are apps to help you save money by planning your meals. They generally help you to easily organize your weekly meals by generating shopping lists, tracking nutrition and, in some cases, providing simple, inexpensive recipes. Paprika gets ranked very high as best overall meal planning app, while Cozi seems best for families. Yummly offers the best free option and mealpreppro is best for easy recipes.
• Go meatless at least one night a week. One of the largest expenses in any meal is the protein, especially if that protein is animal based.  Have you seen the price of beef, chicken and/or seafood lately? By working at least one meatless meal into your weekly meal plans, you’ll certainly save money and there are plenty of delicious vegetarian recipes out there. I should know, I’ve been a vegetarian for over 20 years.
• DO NOT WASTE FOOD. This is also referred to as saving the leftovers. Take the leftovers from two or meals and combine them into something new and delicious. There are plenty of leftover recipe sites out there, like allrecipes, love food hate waste and delishably.
• Plan your meals around what’s in season. Like everything else, the price of vegetables and fruits have increased as well, especially if you purchase them out of season. Depending upon where you live, certain fruits and vegetables are cheaper when it’s their season. For example, currently, here in the northeast, there are few fruits or vegetables in season, but not for long.Certain fruits and vegetables will come into season in the late spring and the prices of those items will drop. Things such as asparagus, carrots, leeks, mangos (obviously imported), and potatoes come into season in the spring. Check the internet machine to see what types of produce are in season where you live.

Look, the primary reason meal planning can save you money is that it prevents you from wandering around the grocery store, aimlessly grabbing what appeals to you in that moment. It should also stop you from spontaneously grabbing not-so-nutritious and somewhat expensive food from the drive-through. However, that only works if you stick to the plan. Remember that and stay strong out there.