Meal planning help

[Pilsy]

I'm looking for tips on meal planning. If I understand correctly, I need to skim the ad and plan meals using ingredients that are on sale. And then I buy only what I need to cook these meals. No extras, right?

How is this better than stocking up on things that are on sale?

Right now, when something we really like is on sale, I buy extra. I never buy said item when it's not on sale, but we have extra on hand so we don't go without those weeks it's not on sale. At any given time, I'm using fresh things from the most recent shopping trip as well as something I have on hand from a previous stock-up trip. Does this somehow cost more?

I'm trying so hard to reduce our food budget, and I'm doing something wrong. (And, honestly, I find it difficult to determine what any single meal costs - unless I get goofy and save receipts and do annoyingly detailed calculations - because it's not like my weekly grocery trip = cost of this week's meals.)

I'd love to hear your suggestions!

[tacokick]

Aug 28, 2012 10:19:27 GMT -5 Pilsy said:

I'm looking for tips on meal planning. If I understand correctly, I need to skim the ad and plan meals using ingredients that are on sale. And then I buy only what I need to cook these meals. No extras, right?

How is this better than stocking up on things that are on sale?

Right now, when something we really like is on sale, I buy extra. I never buy said item when it's not on sale, but we have extra on hand so we don't go without those weeks it's not on sale. At any given time, I'm using fresh things from the most recent shopping trip as well as something I have on hand from a previous stock-up trip. Does this somehow cost more?

I'm trying so hard to reduce our food budget, and I'm doing something wrong. (And, honestly, I find it difficult to determine what any single meal costs - unless I get goofy and save receipts and do annoyingly detailed calculations - because it's not like my weekly grocery trip = cost of this week's meals.)

I'd love to hear your suggestions!

What you are doing makes sense. I do basically the same and it is, of course, cheaper than buying whatever regardless of price.

[y4m]

I plan my meals around fresh ingredients that are on sale, because I know I am not the kind of person who thinks ahead of time that I should defrost some chicken breast for tomorrow night's dinner. But I do stock up on pantry staples when they are on sale--of course that makes sense, assuming you have the space for it, and you have some method for reminding yourself exactly what you have on hand so you don't buy it again.

[mrssavy42112]

Aug 28, 2012 10:19:27 GMT -5 Pilsy said:

I'm looking for tips on meal planning. If I understand correctly, I need to skim the ad and plan meals using ingredients that are on sale. And then I buy only what I need to cook these meals. No extras, right?

How is this better than stocking up on things that are on sale?

Right now, when something we really like is on sale, I buy extra. I never buy said item when it's not on sale, but we have extra on hand so we don't go without those weeks it's not on sale. At any given time, I'm using fresh things from the most recent shopping trip as well as something I have on hand from a previous stock-up trip. Does this somehow cost more?

I'm trying so hard to reduce our food budget, and I'm doing something wrong. (And, honestly, I find it difficult to determine what any single meal costs - unless I get goofy and save receipts and do annoyingly detailed calculations - because it's not like my weekly grocery trip = cost of this week's meals.)

I'd love to hear your suggestions!

That’s what I do also. I don’t really do meal planning because I don’t cook a different meal each night. We live off of leftovers for days. I think the key is to use up everything that you buy & not let things get thrown in the back of the pantry. In that case, what was the point of getting it, even if it was on sale? If I see something has been lying around for a while, I’ll try to think of a way to use it & then buy the ingredients for that (if I don’t already have them). The best way I’ve saved money is buying something on sale & a coupon. If there is also a store coupon you can stack, you’ve hit the jackpot.

[madringal]

I have a set weekly budget for groceries ($125 for my family of 4) that includes toiletries and household items, but not formula or diapers. I meal plan based on what is on sale and will "stock up" on sale items up to my allotted weekly budget. The only things I ever really stock up on a chicken breasts, spaghetti sauce, and boxed brownie mix. Everything else usually comes up for sale pretty often and/or gets wasted if I stock up on it.

So for this past week, green bell peppers were on sale for only 0.30 a piece, rather then a dollar a piece. I already had ground beef and rice - so stuffed peppers it is. I made an entire meal out of 1.80 from this weeks budget. I also bought an 8 lb bag of fresh chicken thighs. I used 4 lbs of it to make bbq chicken in the crock pot, and froze the other 4 lbs. So now I have enough meat for one, maybe two meals, down the road. It takes a while to adjust, but don't be afraid to try different cuts of meat, or substitute ingredients. Also, it helps me that I have been going to the same grocery store for about 8 years. I know the prices of almost all the foods I buy most often, so I know that even though it is on "sale" for 2.49 - the regular price is only 2.59 - so not much of a deal and no need to stock up. Also, I have a iphone app that I use for my grocery list and as I shop, I input how much each item costs. It also keeps a running tally of how much I have spent. This helps me stay in my budget and spot errors when I check out.

[mbcdefg]

I buy our meat based on what's on sale. However, I like to always have chicken breasts in the freezer, since they're so versatile.

To save on meat, I buy the larger packs of chicken breasts and slice/portion them out myself. I pick up a whole chicken when they're on sale for $4 or so. London broils (sometimes 2 for $7) and flat-iron steaks are cheaper cuts of beef. Big packs of pork chops are usually inexpensive. Bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs are cheap, usually something like $5 for a pack of 12. And I save the bones in a freezer bag, along with vegetable scraps (like the discarded tops of carrots and onions when I chop them), and when it's full I make chicken stock in the crockpot.

I keep certain things in the pantry at all times ... diced tomatoes, pasta, potatoes, chicken broth, cooking wine, etc. If there's a sale on these things, I stock up.

If I want to cut my food budget during a particular week, I try to plan meals that center around using up whatever's already in the house. I plan more pasta/meatless meals since they're cheaper. I don't buy cold cuts and instead plan to take leftovers to work for my lunch. I don't buy something unless we absolutely need it (a lot of my weekly shopping centers around, "Oh, we're almost out of [random pantry staple] so I'd better grab some more before we run out".)

Also, if I'm on a tighter budget, I buy things that can pull double-duty ... buying a whole chicken means we can eat roasted chicken on Night 1, a pot pie on Night 2, possibly get lunch or dinner out of it for a third day, and then I can make soup or broth with the carcass. If I buy ground meat, a pot of chili will last us a while.

[6fsn]

I shop sales and stock up. My meal plans are things are around fresh things on sale or just planning on using perishables that I buy. So things like taco night we'll use some sour cream, but not all so usually there is a stroganoff or baked potato within the expiration date to use it up. I also watch produce and meat that is about to go bad. Meat can go to the freezer. Veggies can get chopped up and frozen for stews, soups, or pasta sauces later (things that texture doesn't matter as much). Fruits get frozen as is or pureed and frozen for smoothies or yogurt mix ins or bread down the road.

[Pilsy]

Thanks, ladies.

I feel like I'm spending too much and wanted to rule out the really easy/obvious stuff before getting too creative or wacky. I think we've thrown out bad produce (worth a total of $4) maybe twice in the past two years, so it's not as if we waste food, which is a good start. We probably just need to eat less, which will not only cost less but also force us both to drop a few lbs.

[Deleted]

What your doing works perfectly well. I still think menu planning is good, but before your plan your menu, go look in the pantry, plan to use some of what you have, then go to the store to fill out the rest of your menu and plan to spend $X on good deal items that you want to stock up on.

[Roc A Bee]

How much are you spending a month? How many people are you feeding?

[kellbell191]

I have separate line items for stocking up (costco) and weekly grocery. Our weekly grocery list is always small and short b.c. we keep a lot of stuff on hand. Basically I just go through the produce and dairy aisles.

For meal planning, I try to plan meals around any ingredient I have that I know is going to go bad. If I have to buy something for a specific recipe (this week was goat cheese) I will plan multiple meals using that item. I generally skip recipes that have a ton of super pricey ingredients or work them into a week where I have a ton of cheap meals. Ex.: people have been raving about this mushroom gruyere lasagna recipe online, but both mushrooms and gruyere can get pricey so I'd balance it out with cheaper meals that week.

[darnkatz]

We don't buy a lot of canned foods. Those items can eat your budget if you use a lot of them. We eat a lot of beans, so we've started buying, making and freezing dried beans. It seems time consuming, but it's really not. I use the tutorial from the Annie's Eats blog. She also has a tutorial for making frozen spinach, which is great as well. Actually, I use a lot of her recipes. For things like coffee and milk syrups, sauces (pizza, caramel, fudge), breads/muffins/scones/crackers, pizza dough, even croutons. I never realized how much money I was wasting on things like that until I started making it myself.

I save a lot of money making a lot of stuff myself. I know that's not really specific to meal planning, but I thought I'd throw it in anyway. I generally just got a lot of it done on Sundays because we're home most of the day. I really enjoy it, and it's something I can involve our four year old with. She loves helping mommy.

We eat a lot of fresh veg/fruit in the summer months because it's in season, so H and I plan our meals around what's priced the best. We make a lot of stir fry, which can sound boring but can be really tasty if you mix it up with flavor combinations and use different grain options like brown rice, quinoa, barley, cous cous, etc.

I buy more frozen items in the winter months. Frozen veggies are frozen right at their peak, so they still taste just as good as fresh if you prepare them the right way. I buy frozen fruit like berries, mango, pineapple and so on in the winter as well and we just eat it in items like baked oatmeal, muffins, breads, smoothies, etc. instead of just by itself. I do still buy citrus and bananas in the winter because they are never in season here.

We also eat more meat in the winter and less of it in the summer.

H and I don't go to the store without a list. We usually come up with at least 8 or 9 different meals in case the price on something is really jacked up and then we can just swap out a meal. Coupons don't really work for us because we don't buy a lot of pre-made stuff, and the ads around here just focus on those items as well.

[Deleted]

Meal planning saves us money by making it less tempting to eat out and by balancing our intake of expensive ingredients (mostly meat) against cheap stuff (beans, rice, pasta, etc.). It also saves some time by making sure I buy all the stuff I need for the week, rather than deciding I want to make something tonight/tomorrow and going to the store multiple times (where I always buy more than the one thing I went for).

Generally, I'm a pantry stocker, though and buy stuff when it's on sale.

[smilelari]

My basic grocery process:
-Decide 4 meals to eat during the week (we don't cook every night because most meals we make enough for leftovers)
-Decide what we're eating for lunches and maybe a couple breakfasts
-Make grocery list
-Search coupon database online to find coupons for items that are on my grocery list
-Skim money saving blogs to see if any items we buy regularly are mega cheap (like chicken breasts, shampoo, razors, deodorant, laundry detergent)

Our current grocery budget is $150 per trip (so $600-$750 per month depending on how many Sundays there are) and that includes food, toiletries, cleaning supplies, etc

[Pilsy]

Aug 28, 2012 12:41:49 GMT -5 Roc A Bee said:

How much are you spending a month? How many people are you feeding?

There are only two of us, and we easily spend $120 - $150 a week. This covers breakfast, dinner and maybe 1/4 or 1/2 of our lunches. We also go out for dinner at least once per week, sometimes twice (i.e., Saturday night and maybe Friday or Sunday, too).

We are frugal in so many ways and make a point of saving about 15% of our gross income every month (in addition to 15% contributions to our respective 401k plans), so when I stumbled upon MM and realized other people were spending so much less, I was floored! DH is a big guy with an unbelievable metabolism and I eat a lot of salad, so I know those are contributing factors, but I'm sure we can find some savings somewhere.

Don't make me regret not resorting to an AE! haha

[mrssavy42112]

Well, I can see spending that much if I didn’t shop sales/coupons. But with that, I spend about $70-80 a week for 2 people. So that’s $320, plus an extra $30 a month for my vegan meat substitutes from Whole Foods. I’m vegan & he’s not, so we eat 2 totally separate meals. We bring 100% of our lunches from home. Due to finances, we eat out maybe once a month. It would be more often if we could.

[hz80408]

I am a bit surprised your bill is so high for two people. We spent $80/wk on two. We eat 5 dinners+, take our lunches 5 days a week and eat breakfast out maybe once a month. And we live in HCOL. Whenever meat is on sale, if we don't have at least three portians at home, I stock up. It's gotten to the point where we only buy chicken breast if it's $1.99/lb (compared to $5.99 regular).

I go through the ad to see what's on sale and sometimes even think for 2 wks at a time. For example, tortillas: we'll have enchilada's one week and the next week quesadillas; etc.

We buy mostly generics unless items are on sale. (For example, Chobani Greek yogurts at $1each instead of Fage at $1.69 each; unless Fage goes on sale for $1.25). It's also been interesting to shop around. Our high fructuose corn syrup-free bread is $1.99 at Target and $4.29 at Jewel. BBQ sauce at Whole Foods is $5.49 and the same brand/size is $3 at Jewel, etc.

[Pilsy]

Aug 28, 2012 13:41:54 GMT -5 mrssavy42112 said:

so we eat 2 totally separate meals.

We do, too, as I eat a pretty low-fat/low-cal diet, and my husband eats anything/everything.

[mrssavy42112]

Aug 28, 2012 14:21:45 GMT -5 Pilsy said:

Aug 28, 2012 13:41:54 GMT -5 mrssavy42112 said:

so we eat 2 totally separate meals.

We do, too, as I eat a pretty low-fat/low-cal diet, and my husband eats anything/everything.

Is he eating everything because he buys it, or do you do the food shopping? After about 3 trips together, I realized that we spend at least 20% more when DH comes along. I have my list & stick to it (pretty well). DH is always adding in impulse buys & then makes me out to be the bad one if I say no, like I’m his mother or something. So I shop early Sun morning when I know he’s too lazy to wake up & try to come.

Is there any way you can try to consolidate meals & both eat healthy? Do you use two completely different set of ingredients for everything? I usually try to keep as much of it the same for both of us. So like this week I made DH a turkey chili with tomato sauce, beans & veggies. I used the same tomato sauce, beans & veggies for my meat substitute. So I’m not buying so many different things. Plus, it shortens prep time. I’ll chop up the whole container of something & then divvy it up for both uses. We both will share brown rice or pasta.

[thoseareradishes]

We don't eat very much meat (I cook it once a week, and there are usually leftovers for another dinner) so I think that helps keep our weekly bill down. I also use the crockpot for some things, like beans and tomato sauce. We don't buy very many snack foods - H eats crackers, granola bars or fruit for snacks, and I eat yogurt, cheese or fruit.

Lately I've been eating bento box type lunches, and that helps use up stuff I buy for the week and I don't have to buy many separate things for my lunch.

I will also stock up when there is a good sale- I have a bunch of cans of tomato product since it was super cheap and I know I'll use it all up.

[Pilsy]

Aug 28, 2012 15:01:58 GMT -5 mrssavy42112 said:

Is he eating everything because he buys it, or do you do the food shopping? After about 3 trips together, I realized that we spend at least 20% more when DH comes along. I have my list & stick to it (pretty well). DH is always adding in impulse buys & then makes me out to be the bad one if I say no, like I’m his mother or something. So I shop early Sun morning when I know he’s too lazy to wake up & try to come.

Is there any way you can try to consolidate meals & both eat healthy? Do you use two completely different set of ingredients for everything?

For most trips, I'm on my own. I'ver heard stories like yours; you are not alone! My DH is unique in that he doesn't add much when he comes along. He's sort of frozen in the store and seems almost...afraid. He just wants to get out as quickly as possible. He has suggested a couple times that we shouldn't bother buying groceries, as he didn't when he was a bachelor and did just fine by picking up food from various take-out places on the way home every night.

I think I will need to try eating a wider variety of foods so I can start making one meal. I rarely eat anything other than a giant salad for dinner, whereas I make him meals that include meat, a starch and a veg. I do focus on buying meat that's on sale and occasionally give him beans instead. I do the pasta/red sauce for him once a week, too. It's probably "my" food that's the problem.

Thanks for all the feedback. I think the biggest lesson here is that I need a metabolism like his. Or we need to just do take-out for every single meal. ;D

[keh2oblue]

I'm really bad about couponing, but I've figured out that if I just pre-plan 5 meals/week, we automatically save money by not being tempted to eat out and not making last minute trips to the store.

[mrssavy42112]

Aug 28, 2012 21:48:57 GMT -5 Pilsy said:

Aug 28, 2012 15:01:58 GMT -5 mrssavy42112 said:

Is he eating everything because he buys it, or do you do the food shopping? After about 3 trips together, I realized that we spend at least 20% more when DH comes along. I have my list & stick to it (pretty well). DH is always adding in impulse buys & then makes me out to be the bad one if I say no, like I’m his mother or something. So I shop early Sun morning when I know he’s too lazy to wake up & try to come.

Is there any way you can try to consolidate meals & both eat healthy? Do you use two completely different set of ingredients for everything?

For most trips, I'm on my own. I'ver heard stories like yours; you are not alone! My DH is unique in that he doesn't add much when he comes along. He's sort of frozen in the store and seems almost...afraid. He just wants to get out as quickly as possible. He has suggested a couple times that we shouldn't bother buying groceries, as he didn't when he was a bachelor and did just fine by picking up food from various take-out places on the way home every night.

I think I will need to try eating a wider variety of foods so I can start making one meal. I rarely eat anything other than a giant salad for dinner, whereas I make him meals that include meat, a starch and a veg. I do focus on buying meat that's on sale and occasionally give him beans instead. I do the pasta/red sauce for him once a week, too. It's probably "my" food that's the problem.

Thanks for all the feedback. I think the biggest lesson here is that I need a metabolism like his. Or we need to just do take-out for every single meal. ;D

Well if you’re trying to save money, then take-out isn’t going to help! Widening out your diet really helps. There have been plenty of times where I’ve ‘invented’ meals by just putting together whatever I already have. Also, it’s good to be willing to try new foods if they are on sale for cheap or free. Obviously, not if it’s unhealthy. I don’t want the crap food, even if it is free.

Don’t expect it to change overnight, but try to do a little bit better each month. Each month I try to do a little better than the last. This next month, I’m going to do the envelope system for groceries to ensure I don’t go over.

[Pilsy]

Aug 29, 2012 7:55:01 GMT -5 mrssavy42112 said:

Well if you’re trying to save money, then take-out isn’t going to help!

Yeah, I was being facetious. He is convinced it's not only easy, but also inexpensive. I am not putting him in charge of that anytime soon!

Thanks for all your help. I like the idea of comparing month to month. I think I may recognize progress more easily that way.

[mrssavy42112]

Yeah, I know. Guys don’t always get it. If you hadn’t already done this, try shopping around to see which store around you is the cheapest. I have 3 large supermarkets by me. The one furthest, 15min, is the cheapest. Those 15min are totally worth it for the savings!