Missed the first posts in the Simply Saving series? Read them here.
Welcome back to another installment in my series, Simply Saving – Never Pay Full Price Again! Today we’re continuing the basics of saving money with three reasons why meal planning is so important!
Why Should I Meal Plan?
We plan our work schedules, vacations, and retirement. We plan our date nights and make schedules around TV shows and kids’ activities, but we don’t give a lot of time to meal planning. If you haven’t thought about trying this, it can be a lifesaver for you.
Keep your sanity.
By having a meal plan, I have peace of mind, feel better about what I will be eating during the week, and save so much time. Meal planning keeps me from just wandering the aisles of the grocery store and backtracking the whole time I am there.
Stay organized.
What I have found, and so many others, is that it is critical to create a meal plan before you head to the grocery store. It can be as simple as knowing what meals you will be making, instead of just shopping for whatever your mood is. Meal planning is not only good so you know what you are going to fix for dinner each night, but it also helps you know what to put on your shopping list.
Save money.
Meal planning eliminates overbuying, which leads to waste. It enables you to make food purchasing choices with realistic expectations of what your family will consume.
Honestly, planning ahead for my family’s meals was not something I was excited about. At first it felt like another chore to do around the house and I didn’t see the value in getting organized to that degree. In my mind it was going to take a ton of work and be very time-consuming. What I found, however, was quite the opposite. It wasn’t that hard to stay organized. Also, the savings far outweighed the work I put into it. Check out my Free Downloadable Meal Planning template for help in getting organized in this area!
The “Why Should I Meal Plan” post is brought to you by E-Mealz. You can find out more about E-Mealz Meal Planning Subscription services on their website.
Do you meal plan? I’d love to hear how and why you do!
Some weeks I am really good about meal planning. Others…. not so much. The weeks that I do have meals planned out there is virtually no food wasting. When I do meal plan, I look through the circulars and try to pull recipes out of my head from what I see (The pictures help lol!) If my brain is really just not working, I’ll flip to the index of a couple of cookbooks and search them with what is on sale. I’ll usually do this the same time I am planning out my coupons, so it is all done at once. This is usually on Sunday evenings when I can get my husband to take care of the baby 😉 The other week (not a week I planned out) I had to throw out way more food than we have had to in a while, and I felt like I needed to do some Hail Marys or something… so I think I am going to be more persistent about meal planning. Thanks for the reminder Kelly.
You’re welcome, Ruth! Your Sunday night plan sounds like a good one!
I absolutely meal plan! There are two main reasons. Eating Healthy and Saving Money.
If we do not meal plan we end up eating out and excusing it.
This is also saves so much money at the grocery store and prevents us from un necessary snacking.
Thank you so much for this! I just downloaded your template and I love it! Do you have any meal plans you can share? Meal planning has been a lot harder for me since having our first baby a year ago, but seems more important than ever, especially since she is sharing meals with us now.
Hi Suzy,
You can find meal planning tips here and here. Plus, I do have lots of my family’s menu plans up here. And you’re right, it really is important, so hang in there! Hope this helps!
Thank you so much, Kelly! 🙂
Right now, it’s just my husband and I but I’ve been trying to plan my meals each week and it definitely helps me be less stressed out when I get home from work. I know what I’m making, have all the ingredients I need and have things defrosted. I love that I don’t have to come up with something on the fly and since we usually have leftovers we already have our lunches for the next day. I love having a plan!