Money Mondays....Why Meal planning saves us money

I hosted a Baby Shower at my house a few weeks ago and while I was mingling, I noticed that some of my friends had their heads in my pantry for quite a while. 

 When I finished talking, I went over to check out what was so interesting and apparently it was my meal plan!!  There is absolutely nothing exciting or special about my meal plan, but it wasn’t something that my friends did, so they thought that I was super organised by having one. The main reason that I write a meal plan is not because I’m super organised (if you know me well, you know that is not the case at all). I write one because it saves me money. I have only started writing one this year as we have become particularly serious about saving more money and not wasting it on food that we don’t end up eating.  

Here is why it saves us money

1. Writing a meal plan enables me to write a detailed shopping list. This means that when I’m at the supermarket I don’t buy things that I don’t need to.

2. I try to use ingredients that overlap, so there is no wastage. So for example,  I don’t want to buy mushrooms if I’m not going to use them up. So I might have a stir-fry and a pie in the same week. Completely different meals but it means that I’m not throwing out food that goes bad before I get to use it.

3. I shop weekly and have a weekly food budget but I write a monthly meal plan. Now I know that probably sounds ridiculous but there is method in my madness. If I know what I’m having in 2 weeks time and  It’s something that I see on special, then I grab it.

Here is an example of our meal plan. We are not fancy cooks or eaters by any stretch of the imagination. 

I only have to cook 5 nights a week, as we eat at church on a Sunday night and we order pizza on a Tuesday night as we have a bunch of teenagers over for Bible Study.
Friday's we are at Youth Group, so it's always a quick & easy dinner...and if I'm really unorganized on that night it turns into toast....oops!!

If you would like to use these free printable's, they are available at
http://thelittlesurprises.com/2015/12/11/diy-gifts-printable-calendar/ 

These are super simple things but they really do save so much money.

Kylie xx