Once I started working again (last september) two things happened. We were making more money and I was tired from working. So cooking kind of slacked off for a while. I had the money to buy premade stuff and get stuff for dinner from the store everyday on the way home from work. So I pretty much stopped cooking from scratch for a while. But now were wanting to move so we've been trying to save money so we can. My husband came up with the idea that we should make a meal plan and buy everything we need for the week. Now I'm used to buying stuff to stock up but I never really had a plan before. I'd just buy a large thing of beef and put it in baggies to freeze. Then when I wanted to make something beef I had meat. Same with chicken breasts.
So I shrugged my shoulders and said we'd give it a try. I went online a googled meal plans and such and turned up my nose. It was all detailed with breakfast and everything. My husband works at 7am and doesn't like food that early. On days I work I have a bowl of oatmeal. On off days I'll make french toast or waffles. No planning needed for breakfast. Same with lunch. When I get home from work I'll eat a small bowl of yogurt with frozen berries in it. My husband has leftovers from the previous nights dinner or a sandwich. (I get home before my husband because I only work 4-5 hours as a housekeeper)
So What I ended up doing is looking for a blank printable calender. I ended up on a site with free printable calenders. You can either just print the blank thing and write in the numbers depending on the month or you can get the current month. So thats what I did. I printed up a July 2014 calender page.
Then I asked my husband to start giving my dinner suggestions. My rules were that there had to be something meat in it with a starch and a veggie on the side. We ended up with: Sunday (that day) Meatloaf and mashed potatoes with peas. Monday Chicken and rice with mixed veggies. Tuesday Baked spaghetti with mixed veggies. Wednesday Mac N Cheese w/chicken chunks with corn. Ect.
So I wrote this on my blank calender days just the one weeks worth to try it out. Then we went to the store. I got larger sizes then we needed so that next week we can buy less and use up what we have on hand.
Pretty much we got 3 lb of beef that I sectioned into 1/2lb baggies to freeze (kept out 1lb for the meatloaf). 6 chicken breasts which I put into individual baggies to freeze. Big size bags of cheddar and mozzarella. And the odd things like tomato sauce (which I still have some cans from a case lot sale but we've been cutting down on sodium so we bought a few cans of no salt added tomato sauce).
We ended up spending $54 for the week with extras to carry over into the next week. We also bought staple items such as bread, milk, eggs, lunch meat, sliced cheese, ect. The sort of things we use regularly but not with day restrictions like the meal plan.
So we're on wednesday of the first week and I'm actually really enjoying it. There's no having to figure out what I'm going to make for dinner and having to go shopping after work. It's all on the list and all I have to do is make it, which I don't mind doing.
So far we've written meal ideas (shepards pie, chicken enchiladas, ect) on a sticky note that I stuck to sunday of next week so we can put those on days before we go shopping again. (oh and I didn't mention I hung the calender on my fridge for easy viewing int he kitchen).
This is how we did it and it's working for us so far. I do think we will save money this way because I'm not giving into whims for dinner and were buying bigger sizes which are usually cheaper. (The Chicken in the small 2 breast package was 3.99lb but 1.99lb for the big package. The beef was 4.59lb for the 1lb package and 2.99lb for the large package.)
If you're looking to save even more money on these things keep an eye on the ads and buy where you know things will be on sale or generally cheaper or even just the store with more options because with more options usually there's something cheaper.
In closing, when you're making the money to afford more it's easy to fall out of good spending and cooking habits. Just taking a step back and putting together some sort of plan can do a whole lot towards getting back on track and saving your money for things you want even more.
