Save Money and Time With Grocery Planning

Save Money and Time With Grocery Planning

Most people want to eat healthier, but feel that they don’t have the time to cook nutritious meals. Planning meals and grocery shopping will allow you to eat healthy any night you choose and save you money by making take out or frozen entrees unnecessary. Anyone can benefit from grocery planning, but families who struggle to find time to eat together will see the greatest improvement.

The first step is to list what meals that you eat. If you are like most people, there are a few meals that you eat several times a month. These may be your favorites, or they may just be what you fall back on because you always have the ingredients. Write down what you’ve eaten for supper for the past few weeks. If you have any favorites that aren’t on the list, add them in. You now have your master menu.

Using this list as a guide, plan a week’s worth of meals. While dinner is the most important meal to prepare for, write down what you and your family do for breakfast and lunch as well. Prepare your grocery list from this. Be sure to include some quick and easy meals, like pasta and sauce, for the days when you come home late and are too tired to cook.

The easiest way to make this list is to use a word processor or spreadsheet software on your computer, but you can also do this with pen and paper. A whiteboard in the kitchen is also a great way to keep track of what you need to buy. Have any family member post when something runs low, so you’ll know when you need to restock.

Another way grocery planning can help you save time and money is by allowing you to prepare your meals in bulk. Make a large pot of soup on the weekends, and then freeze the leftovers. Casseroles also make great meals that that can be stored for later. By cooking enough so that there will be leftovers, you’ll save yourself the hassle of preparing supper on nights when you are tired and rushed. These can also make great lunches, and save you the money that you would otherwise spend eating out. If you are trying to eat a healthy diet, you’ll enjoy the ability to control the ingredients and the portion size of your meals.

Far too often families are stuck with boring, expensive, and overly processed food in the name of convenience. While grocery and meal planning might take some initial time to set up, it will save you time in the long run. There will be no more emergency runs to the store, or going through the cupboards trying to figure out what to have for supper. These simple tricks can enable a family to save money that they can then spend on paying off debts, saving for retirement, or spending on entertainment.

Grocery and meal planning is for everyone, whether you are struggling to stretch a paycheck, make more time for your family, or reduce the sodium in your diet. Take just fifteen minutes to get started today.