Family Meal Planning, Save Money, Time & Gas

When you are doing your best to stick to a budget, you try to save a few dollars wherever you possibly can. One way you can help cut down on grocery costs is by thinking ahead. Family meal planning in advance, before you head to the market, will save you time, money and gasoline, and that means more dollars in your pocket for food.

First, make a conscious decision to visit the grocery store or super market no more than once a week. On that trip, you will need to purchase everything you don’t already have on hand that you’ll need to feed your household for seven days. This is a lot easier if you preplan what you are going to serve for meals. If you preplan the menu for each day, and then check the larder to see what you already have in the house, you will only buy what you are going to be using. It just makes sense. Actually, it also makes dollars and cents!

Family meal planning can be quite simple. Get yourself a notebook or a calendar with a page per day. On each page, write the meals and then list what you want to serve. If you are all having cereal, milk and fruit for breakfast every day for the entire week, then you will put cereals, fruit and a gallon of milk on your shopping list. If lunch is going to be soup and sandwiches, you can stock up on canned soups, bread, etc. The idea is to not spend money on things that you “might” use. By planning ahead, you’ll be sure that not one penny of your grocery budget is going to waste.

So, save money by buying less furniture  and save time, by not making extra trips to the market. You will save gas for the car, too. Another big plus is you’ll take the stress out of the question, “what’s for dinner?” because you’ll already know the answer.