How to Save Money With a Meal Plan

Keeping to a strict grocery budget is difficult and nearly impossible unless you have a well thought out meal plan. Taking a little bit of time each week to develop your family's meal plan will allow you to save money on groceries, ease the weekly budget and make weeknight meals much easier to prepare and serve. Give your family a break from the hectic daily schedule and enjoy dinner together by following a meal plan.

Step One
Gather all of your family's favorite recipes together. If you use a cookbook, then write the name of each recipe and the page number where it is found on a piece of paper. This will allow you to easily look up the recipes on your meal plan when it is time to cook.

Step Two
Use a free calender that you may receive from your bank or some other business. Alternatively, you can invest in a dry erase board to plan out meals for the week or month. I all else fails, print a free calender from a gmail or yahoo email account.

Step Three
Gather the weekly grocery store advertisments and make note of any good discounts on meats, vegetables, fruits or other foods that your family enjoys regularly. These advertisments usually arrive in your mailbox during the week and most sales start on Wednesdays. Purchasing discounted items regularly will provide you with variety while you save money.

Step Four
Choose your favorite recipes for the week's meal plan to take advantage of the weekly grocery sales. For instance, if chicken breasts are on sale and your family loves chicken parmesan and baked chicken, plan on enjoying both recipes that week. Space a few days between chicken dishes to avoid chicken burnout. If broccoli is on sale, you may serve broccoli as a side one night and make cheese and broccoli soup as a main dish another night.

Step Five
Plan out three meals a day for the entire week using these methods until the weekly calendar is full.

Step Six
Make your shopping list by referring to the weekly meal plan. This will ensure that you purchase all of the necessary ingredients for the week and help eliminate or reduce last minute trips to the grocery store which will save money over time.

Step Seven
Hang your meal plan in the kitchen or somewhere everyone can see it. This eliminates surprises and will help you remember to defrost meat for dinner the next night.