Keeping My Grocery Budget Under Control - Meal Planning/Shopping My Stocks

Last year, I started a "series" on my grocery budget. That series made it for a whole two posts. This year, I am determined to share every way I keep my grocery budget so low while feeding us so well.

One of the ways I feed our family of four (hubby and I, and our two boys - aged 5 and 2) on $25 a week is by meal planning. Every Sunday when we sit down to eat lunch together, I make sure to have a pen and paper handy. I take suggestions as to what the boys want for dinners for the week.

(photo credit)

I then take that list and head to the stockpile. If there is a dinner on the list that I have all the ingredients for, that dinner gets to stay. If there is a dinner on the list that we really want, and I only need one or two ingredients for (usually the item I need to buy is sour cream), it gets to stay.

With the remaining meals (if there are any) I make a list of ingredients I don't have. That way, when I am looking at the grocery ads I can make a list of the ingredients we need to make the meals we want. I will wait until these items hit their rock bottom price and stock up.

Through out the week, I glance at the meal plan and pick a meal. I already have all the ingredients for that meal in the pantry/freezer which means I don't have to run to the store to grab something. And we all know when you run to the store to grab one thing, you more often than not grab something else too. Plus, since all my meals are already planned out, it resists the urge to pick up take out.

Meal Planning is fairly simple, just takes a few minutes to get done. And it saves me a lot of money each week!