Menus for Frugality

[ChickenMomma91]

Who here plans out a menu with your pantry in mind so that the stuff you can't seem to store is figured out and you don't have to make last minute runs to the store?

Well I do and it saves us loads of money. It has cut back on the impulse buys (except gardening stuff, not allowed in the garden center unsupervised hehe) and I always know what I'm making for dinner! For two weeks and this includes general merchandise items such as toilet paper and pet food we spend $200 or less. That feeds us three square meals a day and gives us enough leftovers for the day before trash day (gotta love cleaning out the fridge). Plus it allows us to be able to purchase our meats from a local butcher shop rather than the big box store that we still have to use.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I always intend to do that.... sigh.

 

[ChickenMomma91]

@frustratedearthmother it's not as complicated as some people make it out to be! I go buy a simple planner at the big box store and use the month view for my menu. Honestly the hardest part is planning around my stepson being a picky kid and attempting to refuse to eat.

 

[ChickenMomma91]

This is what I'm fixing this week. I kinda theme out some days to make the choices narrow down a bit. Monday is meatless Wednesday is leftover night and Fridays are really hectic with picking up Joey that I do slow cooker meals on fridays

 

[baymule]

I used to plan out meals, but now it's just me and the hubby, so it's not a big issue.

 

[ChickenMomma91]

Most of the time it's just me and billy but with us both working the night shift I have to have dinner prepared before work so I can take some with me and he can heat some up when he comes home for his hour lunch break

 

[Denim Deb]

I used to plan out meals, but then hubby decided that he didn't want to eat what I made. So now, unless he's working, I don't normally make him dinner. I need to go thru my freezer and see what I have and start planning my meals again.

 

[ChickenMomma91]

@Denim Deb I could so hear the sass in that! Love starting my day with a laugh

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I don't necessarily plan like I should - but I do like to 'cook big'. Even though it's just the two of us I'll make a huge pot of chili or soup, or maybe a big ol' boston butt roast and make different dishes out of it. Neither one of us minds recycled meals, lol.

 

[Britesea]

I plan my menus every payday (2 weeks)- first checking what we have on hand that probably needs fixing soon, then checking the grocery ads of my 2 favorite stores. I plan a menu around that, then add items that we might be running low on, like Worcestershire, or TP. We also are able to keep the household budget down to $100 a week since I started cooking nearly everything from scratch; no sense paying someone else to make frozen lasagna when I can make it fresh myself for less!

 

[ChickenMomma91]

I need to clean out my deep freeze so I can make some freezer meals and we're not sufficient enough to not buy frozen dinners or hamburger helper sadly. I don't make them often though. Only when I find them on sale and can't think of anything else