I am delighted to have my friend Becky from Simply Intentional Life here today to talk with you about how to meal plan on a budget! Becky has a really inspiring story about how she and her husband got started with budgeting and paying off debt. She’s worked so hard to pay off debt and reduce her own grocery expenses – she has lived this stuff personally!
Becky has lots of experience with meal planning on a budget and lots of ideas that I know will encourage, inspire, and equip you to do it yourself! I’ll let her take it from here!
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Guest post from Becky Simply Intentional Life
I started meal planning in 2014 as my husband had this great idea to start a budget. We just had my second son 2 months prior and I was still hormonal. Probably not the best time to ask your wife (who is a spender) to cut back on her spending, but nevertheless we started this budget thing. I knew our grocery budget needed an overhaul and figured if I wanted to reduce it I would need to meal plan on a budget.
Let me start by saying that I HATE MEAL PLANNING! Actually, I should say that I used to hate meal planning. I recently came up with a system that works much better for my family and now only takes a few minutes per month, but I still don’t love it.
I realized early on in this whole budget thing that I would need to have a huge motivating factor as to why I was putting myself through the torture of meal planning and not spending.
I came up with my big why.
I wanted to budget and pay off debt so I could be home with my family more. I liked my job but really didn’t like the 10 hours days I was working for a local medical office. I wanted to be more available for my family and I wanted to not feel so stressed out.
Being a mom of two little boys and working 32+ hours per week was stressful and I knew that if we got rid of some of our debt that I would be able to be home more.
So I started thinking of ways to cut our grocery bill. I was in charge of all that business so I figured I should get my butt in gear and figure out ways to meal plan on a budget to save money.
I had been shopping at stores like Giant Eagle and Marc’s here in Ohio, but heard great things about this store called Aldi.
I ended up giving it a try and I was shocked by how much I liked it! Their food was so much less expensive and they actually had a great variety to choose from. It was amazing and I spent a ton less. Before the budget, I was easily spending $200 per week on food and other essentials.
When I shop at Aldi, I can spend $180 for 2 and a half almost 3 weeks of food. My goal is to keep our grocery budget under $425 per month and I have been able to do it by shopping at lower cost stores and by meal planning.
Here are some other helpful tips to Meal Plan on a Budget:
1. Shop at inexpensive stores
I used this one already, but it bears repeating! Don’t shop at super expensive stores if you want to save money on groceries.
2. Have a mix of more expensive and less expensive foods.
Pasta is cheap. Eggs are cheap. Meat can be expensive. Having a mix of foods in your meal plan will help you balance out your grocery bill.
3. Shop at Farmer’s Markets
Buying fresh grown fruits and veggies will save you money. Most Farmer’s Markets sell produce in bulk also so plan on freezing some of the fruits and veggies to use during the winter months. We freeze blueberries and strawberries to use in smoothies for the winter months.
The price for out of season produce is expensive so buying in bulk and freezing the extra fruits and veggies will save you so much money!
4. Make Food from Scratch
Make pizza dough and pancakes from scratch. It is so easy to make homemade pancake batter and pizza dough. You don’t have to buy the convenience mixes. This will definitely save you money at the grocery store.
5. Have a Meal Planning System
I know that meal planning can take forever! I used to hate meal planning (did I mention that already?) But finally I came up with a system that works for us and I can plan our dinners for the month in less than 15 minutes. It is a super easy, low-key system that I share in The Busy Mom’s Guide to Meal Planning. It has saved me hours of time in planning my meals and I can actually stick to the plan!
6. Have Fridge and Pantry Staples for When You Forget to Plan Ahead
This has saved me on so many occasions. I have about 5 back up meals I can turn to when I forget to take something out of the freezer. The meals are super quick to make and before I go grocery shopping I make sure I have these back up items in my pantry in case I need them. I talk about that in the meal planning ebook also and give 10 recipes of meals I have on hand in case I forget to plan ahead.
7. Use Money Saving Apps Like Ibotta
I especially like using Ibotta when we shop for things like toothpaste or deodorant. These things can add up in price but when you can get cash back from Ibotta, it doesn’t seem so bad.
I use Ibotta for things that I would normally buy. It is easy to look through the app and kinda go crazy for some of the deals, but try to just stick with things you would normally buy for groceries or toiletries.
8. Plan Meals that Stress You Out First
I think for most women, dinner is stressful (followed closely by school lunches for kids). If this is the case, plan that first. Keep the other meals easy. For example, during the week, limit breakfast options to yogurt, toast or fruit and make pancakes or waffles on the weekend. Limit lunch options to a few choices or leftovers from the night before. I go over this in the meal planning ebook I wrote.
9. Know Which Cooking Style is Best for You
Do you like freezer cooking or batch cooking? Do you prefer quick easy meals throughout the week? Which method is the easiest for you to stick to?
Knowing your cooking style will help you stick to meal planning and ultimately save you money.
If you have not been consistent with meal planning in the past, likely it is because the method wasn’t ideal for your cooking style or the way you planned your meals wasn’t the way that fits you the best.
Try altering how you plan meals. For example, I used to plan out every single meal and put it on my fridge. I think this process made me hate meal planning more! That’s when I ended up limiting breakfast options for school mornings. I couldn’t take the pressure of having to get up and make a bigger breakfast while running around trying to get myself and my family ready.
I figured out a way to use a thermos to pack warm lunches for my kids or I give them 2 options of what I can pack in their lunch. I can get this done in minutes. Having a system for meal planning will save you so much time and money.
Meal planning on a budget is totally possible and you can save a ton of money. We have consistently stayed under our grocery budget for years and have successfully paid off over 100,000 of debt by cutting expenses. I now work 16 hours per week for a local university and it is a dream job! If you have a dream of paying off debt, go for it! You can make it work!
Becky Wolfe is a wife, Mom of 2 little boys, Physician Assistant, business owner and blogger at simplyintentionallife.com. She helps Moms meal plan, budget and manage their time well so they can pursue their dreams and achieve their goals.
Isn’t Becky a wealth of good information when it comes to meal planning on a budget? I’m always looking for ideas on how to make the meal planning process simpler, yet affordable.
If you need help meal planning, I hope you’ll check out Becky’s ebook The Busy Mom’s Guide to Meal Planning. It was designed for busy moms (like you!) and to help you save money, time, and make meals that your families will actually eat! Be sure to use coupon code: plan40 at checkout and you’ll only pay $11 (code expires on 4/21).
Have a wonderful week!
