I've discovered something amazing. Are you ready for this? Monthly meal planning! Do you do this? I never think beyond the week I am in. Every Wednesday I sit down and plan my weeks dinners and make my grocery list and then on Thursday we hit the grocery stores.
But no more! I subscribe to Confessions Of A Homeschooler and last week she sent out an email about her monthly meal plan (you can see it at the link above). I thought, 'I'll give this a try', and I sat down and customized her meal plan for our family to include breakfasts, snacks (am & pm), lunch & dinner for an ENTIRE month for all 4 of us. Then I wrote out weekly grocery lists (a separate sheet for each week). On my first week of the month grocery list I included things I could buy for the whole month (meat & bread, that I can freeze, frozen fruit, pre packaged snacks etc), that means I could go to Costco and shop my heart out!
I keep my weekly grocery lists up on my clipboard by my computer so if anyone in the house thinks of something they can't live without they can put it on the list for the applicable week.
I was super impressed, I got a months worth of meat, snacks, frozen fruit & bread for $221 and that means I'll most likely be spending about $30 a week on veggies, milk & fruit. I'm quite happy with this as it should lower our grocery bill from $600 a month to about $450! Not only will I save money but I will be spending a lot less time preparing my weeks food and shopping!
Seriously check out her blog on Monthly Meal Planning, it will change your life!!
Consider buying the bulk of your groceries mid to end of the month. Stores raise their prices at the beginning of the month since so many people are using their food stamps and the demand is high (or in other words, because they can get away with it.) I've even noticed this with the dairy products at Costco.
ReplyDeleteAnd don't you love Confessions of a Homeschooler? She has some great ideas!