Making the Most of a Food Budget

When we moved to Denver, I started meal planning in advance and doing bulk grocery shopping.  The reasoning was the following: 1) I am not in school currently, so now would be a great time to get in the habit of meal planning so it will be second nature when I am in grad school and up to my eyeballs in papers & readings again; 2) I can control how much meat we eat & try to manage the nutrition of our meals (which, let's admit - totally goes out the window when it is 5pm, you're exhausted, and the last thing you want to do is try to come up with some great dinner - assuming you have all the ingredients on hand - let alone make it); and 3) I could save us money in the long run, and ultimately reduce our food budget to where we could buy mostly organic or natural food, which is something that is important for us and our family. If you are interested in saving money on food, eating healthier meals, and reducing the amount of stress that is involved in coming up with dinner every night (and even being able to try new recipes as well!) then read ahead.  I will warn you that this post is quite long, so you might need to take breaks periodically as you muddle through it.  I hope that this post will help you come to realize the benefits of this method of feeding your family, and start to implement them in your own way.

***

How do we save money by meal planning in advance?  Meal planning allows for you to sit down for a couple of hours and ultimately plan meals for the next 2 weeks or even the next month (some flexibility is allowed).  When you plan a block of meals at one time, you are more willing to use leftovers from a previous meal and transform it into a whole new meal, since you have this planned ahead.  Planning in advance allows you to actually schedule in nights for budget meals or vegetarian meals (always cheaper than meals that include meat).  Planning in advance also makes it so you can check your pantry inventory and buy only what you need (and since you planned a lot of meals at once, you can intentionally plan meals near each other that will use similar items - buying in bulk is always cheaper in the long run), and avoid buying extra stuff "just in case you decide to make dinner that includes this".  By planning meals in advance, you can shop once for two weeks or even longer, rather than going every day to every few days.  This saves you money because you aren't buying things in individual portions for that night's dinner (buying meat or other things in bulk is always cheaper than buying the individual packages) and you aren't tempted to buy lots of other things that you see every time you are in the store.  Also, not having to go grocery shopping all the time in order to have food to eat, relieves you of a lot of stress and you have the luxury of choosing when you want to go grocery shopping, since you have planned ahead.  I've also found that when you plan ahead, you have more time to try and utilize things in your fridge or pantry that need to be used soon because of expiration dates.  You also come to understand what you really need or what is just something that you want.  If you plan in advance, you already have breakfasts/snacks/lunches/dinners in mind for a set amount of time.  What if you run out of a snack item or an item that you usually eat for breakfast?  Instead of just picking it up the next day when you go on one of your frequent grocery trips, you either make do without (often better, since you don't really need all those snack foods) or you end up improvising or using up other things that need to be eaten (including leftovers).  Since we make lots of nutritious meals at home, we often do not feel like we are missing out on eating out at restaurants.  We do like to eat out on rare or special occasions, but honestly, if you plan ahead your meals, there is never the desperate last minute decision to eat out nor is there a reason too.  Once you realize how easily, cheaply, and deliciously you can make meals at home, it seems like a big waste of money to eat out often. 

By planning meals in advance, you can actually plan to cook in batches and freeze for another meal (for example: shredded chicken in bulk - can be used in an assortment of meals), and you can even come up with a working plan of what needs to be in your pantry at all times.  So, you only buy things to replace the things already used in your pantry, rather than ending up with ten cans of cream of mushroom soup when you only use that rarely.  This also allows you to take advantage of sales on frequently used items, since you know about how many and how often you use something (you can use your past meal plans as reference).  This also allows you to weed out the things that you are in the habit of buying but don't really use that frequently or can improvise with something else that is used frequently, hence reducing the amount of needless items in your pantries.  This method of meal planning allows you to use staple items as your foundation (things like frequently used meats, certain pantry items like rice or flour or beans, certain produce items) and then plan from there.  If you keep your staple items stocked, you will be able to make nutritious meals for cheap on weeks where money is tight.  For example, on weeks that are tight, you can stick to cheap meals that include beans or that are vegetarian because you have a well-stocked pantry or well-stocked staple items from the last grocery trip.  No need to go to the grocery store and buy meat or other things on tight weeks, because you will have a well-stocked pantry from which to make basic nutritious meals.  Also, because you know the items you regularly consume and you plan ahead, you can plan to use favorite recipes, try new recipes, and even keep an up-to-date price book for commonly used staple items at different grocery stores (this way you know if something is really a good sale or not, and how often sales happen - just buy enough staple items on sale to get you to the next sale).  

I mentioned above that I plan out meals in advance, but I also leave some flexibility.  By this I mean that the immediate week ahead is made solid after perusing the sales ads from the grocery stores (we shop at different stores to get the best deal on various items).  After the immediate week, the grocery list is fairly solid, but can be altered somewhat depending on whether or not there is a great sale on a type of meat or not.  Usually, if you have a price list, you will be able to predict when meat comes on sale and buy accordingly.  We tend to buy when on sale and then freeze for later.  But sometimes there are extraordinary sales around holidays that couldn't have been anticipated.  That is why the meal plans are fairly set, but there is room for flexibility.  Particularly if a special event or holiday is coming up - you can put a little more money toward food for that event (like Thanksgiving or the Super Bowl) and adjust a different meal to be a bit more budget friendly.  We try to shop at Costco at the beginning of each quarter for those staple items that we use a lot of and then store them for the coming months (especially since they now carry a lot of organic items).  We freeze meat in bulk, since there are often good sales on meat (particularly since we have started doing mostly organic meat, it is good to take advantage of sales).  A deep freezer is most helpful for this method of buying on sale and then freezing - we have been looking into a deep freezer lately since we have room in our dining room (even though we're in an apartment) and it could potentially save us a lot of money to have more room to freeze sale items and to pick lots of fresh produce this summer and then freeze for next winter.  

Another way that we have been saving money is that we have started baking our bread products each week rather than paying for bread.  After sitting down and making a cost comparison of how much we were paying for bread (and how much we use per week) versus the cost of making your own from scratch, I have come to the conclusion that the price of bread in grocery stores is robbery.  There is no other way to describe it.  When a loaf of bread made from scratch costs you pennies and is substantially more filling and more nutritious from scratch, and a loaf of bread that is the equivalent denseness or nutritional value at the grocery store costs several dollars, you really have to wonder why more people don't bake their own bread products?  We just recently started doing this, so I've only begun to do loaves of bread.  In the next few weeks, I hope to make all of our bread products (depending only on what we need for the week ahead - so we wouldn't bake all of these every week): sandwich bread, rolls, breadsticks, buns, bagels, english muffins, cinnamon rolls, muffins, etc.  I will do this baking on Sundays after we get home from mass, since John usually works for several hours in the afternoon on Sundays.  For example, for this coming week I will be baking a loaf of bread for sandwiches, blueberry muffins (this wasn't originally on my list, but there was an amazing deal on blueberry pints for only $0.99 this week - I bought 5 pints because Johnny loves them as a snack and they freeze well), soft pretzels (to be paired with a homemade cheese sauce for a snack or lunch), and possibly cinnamon rolls as a weekend treat.  All of these will be homemade on Sunday, so that they are easily accessible throughout the week to eat.  This means that there will be less temptations to eat unhealthy items or to go and purchase convenience foods.  I also like to make pancakes in advance and either freeze them or put them in the fridge for later, since Johnny likes to have them for breakfast, and I don't feel like whipping up batter and dragging out the waffle iron every day.  Scratch cooking is always cheaper and most often healthier, because you control the ingredients (even bread at the store has unhealthy ingredients in it in order to make it last longer on the shelf).

Here is a breakdown of two weeks worth of dinners that we have planned (Jan 25 - Feb 7):

We recently started doing themed days of the week, which makes it easier to plan since you just cycle through recipes for different times of the week, and it holds us to eating a certain amount of meat or fish or having a certain number of budget friendly meals a week.  The themes for each day of the week is as follows:

Monday - Vegetarian (no meat allowed, vegetables welcome! - budget friendly & healthy)

Tuesday -  Chicken (almost always chicken breast, but as you'll see in the menu plan, tonight is drumsticks)

Wednesday - Beef/Pork (we put these on the same night b/c we don't eat much of either, so we can cycle through the few beef or pork recipes we have only once a week.  We can potentially make a pork or beef recipe on one of the other themed nights that do not have a designated meat, but usually we don't.  But there is that flexibility.)

Thursday - Sandwich/Soup/Salad (we really like to try different recipes in this category, so we like this theme, plus it is really easy to use whatever is on hand from leftovers or whatnot for any of these three items; it is also a way to have another budget-friendly night, because we would rather have our money go towards organic or wholesome ingredients rather than always having meals with meat, though this theme can involve meat.  Also this is a really simple and easy meal to prepare on a busy day of the week for us.)

Friday - Fish/Seafood   (we are Catholic, so Fridays are supposed to mean no meat, except fish, not just during Lent.  Also it is recommended that you eat fish at least once a week for the health benefits.  This theme holds us to this.)

Saturday - Leftovers/Pizza (This theme allows for either homemade pizza or leftovers, depending on the kind of dishes from the previous week and the leftovers.  We try to alternate each week between leftovers night and pizza night - this allows for us to feel like we are not always eating leftovers for dinner and since I plan ahead, I can intentionally plan meals that have lots of leftovers for the weeks when we do leftovers on Saturday and then meals with not so many leftovers on the weeks with pizza - though some leftovers, since John does like to eat leftovers for lunch here and there.)

Sunday - Crockpot (I really like using my crockpot and often times these meals are cheap & nutritious.  This theme allows for me to use my crockpot at least once a week - though I could also use it on any of the other nights if I keep to the theme.  The other great thing about crockpot meals is that they are easy - just toss the ingredients in, turn it on, and walk away until dinner.  This is especially great on Sundays when we have mass, John works in the afternoon, and I'd rather spend my energy in the kitchen baking bread for the coming week than cooking dinner.  This theme allows for a very simple dinner so that I can invest my time in those things instead.)

Now that you have the breakdown of our themes for each week, you will have more insight into the actual meal plan below for the next two weeks.  

Mon Jan 25: Meatless spaghetti and green beans (we actually prefer meatless; the tofu dish I posted yesterday was our meal from last Monday)

Tue 26: Mexican drumsticks & salad {new recipe}

Wed 27: Breakfast Tortillas (cook enough bacon for the next night's meal - spend less time cooking & you stretch a food item for another meal; save time and money; if you set aside half the bacon you cook right away, then you will not be tempted to eat more bacon then you really need just because it is there - this forces you to eat healthier.)

Thu 28: BLT paninis & salad (using leftover bacon from night before)

Fri 29: Parmesan-crusted Tilapia (except we won't use Tilapia, since it isn't wild caught) & Olive Garden copycat breadsticks (made ahead enough for 2 meals - only use half tonight), with salad

Sat 30: Pizza & the remaining Olive Garden breadsticks, with fruit

Sun 31: 3 Envelope Roast w/ vegetables (Crockpot) and homemade rolls; bake bread for the next week

***

Mon Feb 1: Garden Chowder (very cheap filling vegetable soup) and remaining rolls from night before

Tue 2: Salsa Chicken (Crockpot) for tacos (this involves cooking chicken breast in the crockpot with taco seasoning & salsa and then shredding when cooked; we will do enough chicken breast tonight for tacos and to use in two more meals later in the week)

Wed 3: Baked pork chops, baked red potatoes, & green beans

Thu 4: Grilled cheese & tomato sandwich w/ creamy tomato soup (was going to make homemade, but I got a carton of organic creamy tomato soup for really cheap - on sale & with a coupon)

Fri 5:  Tuna casserole & broccoli (we buy cans of tuna in bulk when on sale; I'm not a big fan of tuna, but in an effort to use an ingredient that is super cheap when on sale and not have to eat tuna sandwiches since I don't eat mayo, I am going to make tuna casserole, which is super cheap & super easy)

Sat 6: Leftover night - shredded salsa chicken in wraps or on a salad (we used 1/3 of the chicken from Tuesday for tacos, a 1/3 for leftover night, and we'll use the last 1/3 the next night)

Sun 7: SUPERBOWL - we will have special treats for lunch and during the game, like Turkey Lil' Smokies for John since he loves them and they were on sale; for dinner we will make a healthy nacho dish uses the last 1/3 of the salsa shredded chicken as well as vegetables like avocado & tomato and some cheese baked over chips.  This is a super cheap meal & super easy since we used meat from earlier in the week and it uses minimal ingredients.  It is also relatively healthy, since it uses simple ingredients rather than the traditional nachos, and bonus: this is a great dish for watching football! :)  I will also bake bread for the following week while we are watching the game, since baking bread involves very minimal work (this often shocks people).    

Breakfasts, lunches, and snacks are usually not very varied.  Instead of plotting out what we will eat each particular day, I allow for a certain number or portions of our favorite meal items and we eat whatever we feel like on each day, but if we run out of a certain item, we eat one of the other items.  This way we eat what we have, and I can determine what sort of things we eat in a given week, so we don't eat tons of fattening items.  I can also vary this for weeks that we need to be tighter with money.  Only a handful of these items in each category will be available in any given week. 

Common breakfast items: cereal (John's usual choice), oatmeal (my usual), toast (Johnny's favorite), pancakes/waffles (everyone's favorite), muffins, bagels, english muffins, eggs/bacon with potatoes/grits, cinnamon rolls, fruit smoothies, yogurt with granola, etc.  These items are accompanied by a fruit item of choice - usually a banana for Johnny, since he likes to have this for breakfast.  Sometimes he chooses this multiple times in one day.  I really like grapefruit or berries.  John will usually eat a banana, but most of the time he is in a rush and doesn't have fruit. Tsk, tsk.

Common lunch items:  pb & j sandwiches, turkey sandwiches, leftovers, wraps (usually a caesar salad wrap, sometimes with shredded chicken if we have some already made), breaded fish fillets (not common, but Johnny likes these), chicken nuggets (we bought these at Costco in a big bag when we first moved to Denver and we're not even halfway through them - Johnny eats them only occasionally), leftover soup (canned soup is expensive for what you get and usually contains MSG - it is far healthier & cost-effective to make from scratch at home in a big batch and then freeze or refrigerate in smaller portions), organic mac 'n cheese (sometimes with leftover chunks of bacon or ham or even tuna), quesadillas (with leftover beans or shredded chicken), salad, homemade frozen bean or chicken burritos, etc.  This is probably the most diverse meal of the day - we are always alternating between options.

Common snack items: homemade granola bars, yogurt,  hardboiled eggs, cheese & crackers, ants on a log (raisins, peanut butter, celery), cheese (with apple), fat-free plain popcorn (sometimes with a little shredded parmesan cheese on top, but usually plain), applesauce, sometimes leftover baked goods (like muffins or cinnamon rolls), homemade soft pretzels w/ homemade cheese sauce, almonds or pistachios, veggies & dip, chips & salsa, organic animal cookies or graham cracker bunnies (for Johnny), chocolate milk, pinwheel wraps sliced into small pieces, etc.  Almost always accompanied by some sort of fruit item - favorites include: all types of berries, apples, mandarin oranges (navel oranges are too sour for Johnny), kiwis, avocado,pineapple, melons, cherry tomatoes, grapes, or pretty much any type of fruit.

Common beverages: We drink a lot of water.  Most meals are accompanied by water.  This reduces the amount of beverages we waste our food budget on, and it is healthier! :)  To be honest, all three of us love water, which helps.  I'm not kidding - Johnny is a water fiend! Johnny does get a small organic juice box on most days for snacks (unless he chooses organic chocolate or strawberry milk).  Johnny gets milk at 2 or 3 of his meals, and it is always organic 2%, which is all that we buy.  He is too old to drink whole milk now, which is really unhealthy.  For John & me, the beverages that we drink commonly are various types of tea.  We really like green tea, which has many health benefits, but we also have several other types that are always in our cupboard: oolong (another favorite), chamomile, and then the other box is usually a new type that we haven't tried before.  Tea is relatively cheap and often healthy for you, so it is a nice beverage to have once or twice a day when we're not drinking water.  During the hot months, we usually make iced tea rather than drinking hot tea.  I have the occasional pot of coffee (or very occasional latte from a specialty coffee place), John has the occasional glass of milk (we eat a lot of veggies & incorporate cheeses into our meals a couple of times a week, so we are doing fine for calcium; I take calcium supplements because of bone issues), and we usually make a pitcher of juice from frozen concentrate once every two weeks.  Other than that, we do not purchase soda or other specialty drinks.  Healthier and cheaper in the long-run.  Very rarely (like once every 6 months) John buys a 6-pack of his favorite bottles of beer, but neither of us are big alcohol drinkers (I don't drink at all).  Not having alcohol in our food budget also saves us money.

Common Desserts:  We almost never have dessert dessert, but we do like to give Johnny a little snack closer to bed, because it is our experience that he sleeps better with a full belly (since he doesn't go to bed right after dinner).  This is often something like some fruit or some crackers or a couple of animal cookies.  Every so often we will buy a container of ice cream and it will be a nice dessert treat.  About as often as the ice cream, I will be in the mood to bake something for fun, and so sometimes we have cookies or cupcakes or something in the house.  They generally go fast between John & Johnny, so I try to not make them that often - reserve them for special occasions or holidays. :)  

So, you now know our dinner plan for the next two weeks and common food items, you have an idea of how I make this meal planning method work for us.  It will be different for you and your family, but it will be similar.  Make your own nightly themes based on your needs and your favorite types of meats or dishes.  Try to incorporate at least one or two nights designated for vegetarian or budget meals.  It will help reduce your food costs and often will reduce the amount of unhealthy calories being consumed.  The longer you use this method, the easier it will get; eventually you will get to the point that this method is overall easier, cheaper, and healthier than before you decided to meal plan, cook from scratch, and research what you will buy in advance.   

By doing the meal planning that I have set out above, we have been able to cut our budget to the point that we are able to eat almost entirely organic food (including produce, meat, and dairy) and healthier overall, and we're spending less than we were spending before on non-organic (we did do some organic before) and unhealthy convenience items.  Don't believe me?  I challenge you to try this method for three months (you can't really get a feel for it in just a month) and see what difference it has made in your budget, your diet, and your peace of mind.  The first month will be the hardest - it will require you to sit down for a few hours and make a general inventory of your pantry, a list of meals you like, a meal plan, etc.  You will make a hesitant meal plan the first month, and when you are grocery shopping you will jot down the prices so you can make a price book.  Each time you do a menu plan, you will get better at planning meals around each other that save the most money and allow for a diverse amount of meals.  I suggest the first meal plan you do should be for one week only.  The next one for two weeks.  Try that out until you get comfortable with it.  Then move on to a month, if you feel you can.  Browse ads for good deals, but rely more on what you already have planned (because you know what you eat and how to make the meals work for your budget) and your price book.  The "sales" listed in sales ads aren't always sales, which is why a price book comes in handy, and the sales should be taken advantage of more if they already coincide with your meal plan or to buy in bulk and freeze for later.   Always eat something before you go to the grocery store (if you are hungry, you will be more likely to impulse buy), stick to your list, always always always compare prices on items (eventually you will have a price book and you will only buy when on sale, but until you get there, always compare prices - if your grocery store does not list the unit price then a calculator comes in handy for figuring out which container is cheaper for how much you are getting per cent).  Try different stores - compare prices.  Often one store will be cheaper on certain items, and another on different items.  Don't be afraid to split your grocery list between two stores - it can save you a lot of money.  Check and update your price book every few months - prices change and sale cycles change sometimes too (keep all receipts so it makes updating your price book easier).   

You don't even have to make your bread from scratch - even making changes by trying to make more meals from scratch rather than buying convenience items, or planning in advance will save you money.  Figure out if you can make certain sauces or seasoning packets from scratch (certain things like taco packets can be made easily from spices you already have on hand and for a lot cheaper than the packets you buy).  Only use coupons if it is really something you already buy and it is a good deal.  Often coupons are for name brand items and even with the sale, the generic or a different brand is cheaper.  Do not fall into the common trap of buying something "just because" it is on sale or "just because" you have a coupon for it.  If it isn't something you already buy or were planning on using, then it is making you spend more money rather than saving money.  Sometimes there are coupons from a particular store's ad that are for basic things like eggs or something and they are good, just be weary of the coupons that are designed to get you to buy products that are expensive or that you don't normally buy.  You also don't have to do everything from scratch - find the things that are easiest for you; every little bit helps.  If you don't want to have to go to the trouble to cook from scratch every night, make common things (like a type of meat - shredded chicken - or soups or casseroles) once a month and freeze, so all you have to do is toss it in the dish or in the oven when you are ready to eat it.

Will you take my challenge?  I guarantee you that you won't regret it.  It will be hard at first, but after three months, it will get a lot easier.  Especially if you keep a binder with a list of favorite recipes, a pantry inventory, a price book, sales ads, and a weekly calendar where you can write in your meals (just Google for "free menu plan templates" and you should be able to find one you can print).  After three months you will have a much better idea of how much food you actually need in a week, and you will have a better sense of how to plan meals around each other and save money.  I hope that my breakdown of this method above helped you to understand what we do, why we do it, and how it can be beneficial for your family.  If you have any questions, feel free to ask in the comments! :)  Happy saving!