A meal plan is a regular, organized arrangement for budgeting, grocery shopping, cooking, and serving meals in a family or household. Many people find that having a designated meal plan helps them stick to their monthly grocery budget, and it saves time in preparing the household meals. Designing a meal plan depends on several factors.
The first step in making a meal plan is for the person or people who do the cooking to write down all the meals that can be prepared. Depending on the creativity or motivation of the cook, this may be a long or short list. When the list is complete, keep it in a handy place, so new recipes and meal ideas can be added to it as the need arises.
The next step is to consider your grocery budget for the month. Split the monthly total into weekly increments and plan the meals for your meal plan around this amount. The best way to stick to a grocery budget is to go to the store with just enough cash; leave the ATM and credit cards at home. This will prevent impulse buying that does not fit into your meal plan.
Next, plan the grocery shopping for your meal plan. If you go once a week, look at your meal plan list and decide which meals the household will eat during the given week. Then do a bit of kitchen inventory and make a grocery list to include everything you will need for each day. Be sure to include all meals: breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, and meals that will be packed up and taken to school or work. The meal plan will include every bit of food eaten by the household during that week, including any invited guests or special occasions. Also consider keeping a running grocery list on the refrigerator door, so that regular household items can be added to the list as they are consumed.
After you finish the grocery shopping for your meal plan, store the food in your cupboard and refrigerator or freezer in the order that you will prepare the meals during the week. Although meals can be swapped around during the week depending on household preferences, organization will make food preparation easier. Lastly, the cook or cooks in the household might consider checking the weekly meal plan each night before going to bed; this way, meat can be thawed in the refrigerator, or other items prepared in advance. The household will be surprised at all the time and money saved thanks to a meal plan.
As a final tip, you can leverage online tools to help you save money with online purchases like grocery shopping. In our Wikibuy Review, we discuss how you can use one of these tools to save hundreds of dollars a month.
