In this economy, I think saving money is an area of interest to everyone. One way I have been able to cut my grocery bill over 60% is by menu planning.
As Kimi has posted before, you can save money just by preparing creative meals out of what you have on hand. For me, this works great since our freezer is normally filled with garden produce and I buy my staples in bulk. But, this was not always the case!
When my husband, John and I were first married, we lived off his stipend while he was in graduate school. It was quite challenging and made budgeting a necessity. With our family just starting, one large dish could last the whole week so, my meal planning consisted of deciding which ONE casserole to cook for the week. These economical meals not only saved money but also my time! Variety was not so much an issue with my husband (provided it wasn’t bad), but I tried to make sure each dish was nutritious and microwaveable!
After graduate school was completed, we moved to lower Alabama and enjoyed a lucrative job. As our income increased, so did our grocery budget – only it increased dis-proportionally! Before I knew it, we were spending $800 per month on food. Granted, we had 8 children at the time but I thought this was excessive and wanted to decrease the amount – I considered it a challenge.
One problem for me is frequent unplanned trips to the store. Frequent trips encourage impulsive buying and falling prey to convenient processed foods. So, I have made the conscious decision to shop on a monthly basis except for fresh produce. But, to implement monthly shopping, you must have a menu plan!
To begin my menu plan, I first made a list of all the homemade meals that we enjoy. Then, using a blank calendar, I filled in meals for the whole month. I placed it and others like it into a plastic sleeve and displayed it on my frig. So, at a glance, I would know what was for dinner. This also helps to know what preparation needs to be done, such as, soaking grains or beans.
Next, came a monthly shopping list. Checking my pantry first, I made a shopping list according to the recipes on my monthly menu. This was a bit overwhelming at first, but the results were well worth the effort. By simply planning meals for a month and shopping accordingly, I was able to lower our food bill to $400. That was a 50% savings!
Now, if you are really serious about lowering your food budget, you can further tweak the menus by figuring out the cost per serving of each individual recipe. Yes, this takes more time and effort, but what else do we mothers have to do? 😉 I found that by expanding my recipe collection to include additional, more economical meals (red beans and rice was added) I further cut expenses to $300. This was not as big a jump, but the result was less expense with healthier variety.
Now, with 7 children still at home, and the other 3 frequenting our dinner table with their own families, my meal planning revolves around eating out of our three freezers (2-25 cu ft and 1-17 cu ft). We are blessed with a very productive garden and we raise our own cows for grass-fed beef (which we butcher ourselves for additional savings). Our family milk cow provides plenty of raw milk from which we make our own yogurt, kefir and cheese. We normally prepare a healthy breakfast, have our biggest meal at lunchtime (thanks to the farming lifestyle) and a light dinner. Even with the family growth, I am able to spend less than $400 per month on food.
While menu planning does take more time initially, for our family, it has saved money on our grocery bill while providing variety and a guide for the preparations needed for upcoming meals.
Hi, I am Dina-Marie, the mother of 10 children, 7 of whom are still at home. I live in West Texas with my husband who also happens to be my best friend. We decided to make a lifestyle change in 2008 and left the corporate world of southern Alabama and moved to West Texas. We now have 27 acres of grapes, 2 family milk cows, chickens and raise our own beef. Working the vineyard together as a family is hard work but very rewarding.
Moving to West Texas to begin a vineyard has brought many changes including a return to health through the GAPS diet, learning about “real” food and becoming a chapter leader for the Weston A. Price Foundation.
Cooking REAL food for a large family has been challenging and fun. I love trying new recipes and sharing them with others. I have a passion to spread the healing potential of real traditional food, as well as, to encourage others with a nutrient dense diet and simple family living.
I would love to have you follow our adventure in real food and vineyard life at my blog, Cultured Palate.
Latest posts by Dina-Marie Oswald (see all)
- Old Fashioned Boiled Custard - September 20, 2013
- Frugal & Delicious Italian Pasta Salad (plus 10 other pasta and pasta sauce recipes!) - August 2, 2013
- How a mother of many uses meal planning to keep food costs down dramatically - May 30, 2013
Love this!! I plan my meals weekly, but I have never thought about planning out a whole month! We spend way to much money on groceries. I am going to try this out!
Thanks!
-Erin
Wow. HOW motivating and inspiring. I am the worst about running to the store for one thing, then coming out with $50 in groceries that last about two days. I need serious help in this area, and I only have 2.5 children! 🙂 (The .5 one is still on a liquid diet…)
Great encouraging post! Thank you for sharing! I’ll be sharing with my readers! Livesimply.me offers weekly free real food meal plans fully planned with lots of nourishing recipes if you or any readers are ever in need of some extra meal planning ideas. Meal planning is certainly the number one reason our family is able to keep our food costs down while nourishing our family with organic, pastured, foods! I’d love for you to stop by and check them out anytime 🙂 http://livesimply.me/index.php/category/real-food/menu-plans/
These are great tips. I’ve only started menu planning in the past 2 years. Planning a monthly menu seems like a great idea – something to strive toward. Thank you !
I’m not sure how I found your blog, but I’m glad to be here reading your posts! Meal planning is something I strive to do but rarely do I manage it. I usually can get an idea for a couple days’ dinners and do grocery shopping maybe once a week, but I definitely fall prey to impulse buys. Today we went to Costco and tried some Asian potstickers, and they were so good that they came home with us. I know they will be tasty but now I have to remember to use them!
In today’s digital age, I have been trying out different ways to use my phone and iPad in menu planning. I use an app for keeping my grocery list – this is a HUGE convenience, and since my husband’s phone also has the app, he can get an updated list and pick up any essentials after work. I have tried various websites for storing my ever expanding collection of recipes, and my current favorite is Ziplist.com since you can add any recipe from any URL. You can build a grocery list from selected recipes, which is very convenient. My main problem with all of this digital convenience is that I lose track of time browsing through potential recipes instead of just using my memory and cooking things I know we have liked in the past. Thanks for the reminder to keep it simple!!
These are really great ideas! I am wondering how many hidden costs there may be that you calculate in such as feed for the cows and packaging of the meat, etc. (I like to crunch numbers 🙂 At this point I’m just trying to figure how much our garden costs us and saves us (not counting the health benefits of fresh produce which are difficult to put down on paper but are very real). Thank you for sharing your system.
Do you plan for just dinner or lunch and breakfast too? I’d love to see a sample of your menu plan. I am meal planning 2 weeks at a time, but still spending too much on groceries. How do you keep a balance of being well stocked and going without in order to keep the monthly cost down? Thanks for writing this post. Too often, when I see posts on cutting costs, they don’t take into consideration eating a nutritionally rich diet (let alone allergies to wheat or dairy!).
Christina, I plan for lunches which are our main meal and dinner which for us is more snacky – bread and cheese, sandwiches with homemade bread, homemade granola …. and often includes a yogurt or kefir smoothie.
I try to keep organized in my pantry and use what I have. When I first started, by the end of the month I often had to be more creative especially if we have entertained more than I anticipated.
I find myself envious of your space: I can’t imagine doing so in any of the places I’ve lived purely due to space constraints. My pantry was six 8″ by 8″ shelves at one point (home canned goods were kept on a shelf in a hallway), and an additional freezer is still a bit of dream. Fortunately, I wasn’t cooking for 10!
I only have one child and he’s getting older now but even with our small family grocery shopping gets expensive. For someone with more children and a larger family I could see how shopping would be a terrible experience. Everyone needs to eat of course but spending all of your hard-earned money on food just doesn’t seem like you’re getting much. The idea of meal planning however sounds great because you know what to get at the store before you even go there. This is great advice for families of any size.