Saving money on groceries is easy with a little preparation step called a Meal Plan. Whether shopping for a family of one or a family of eight, a meal plan can make grocery shopping more efficient and affordable by allowing more days between shopping trips and by limiting impulse buying.
What Does the Family Eat?
Gather the family and ask them to name main dishes that are served on a regular basis, and that most of them like to eat. Write down all the ideas. Ask about side dishes that could accompany the main dishes and write those down. Ask about dessert ideas. This is a good beginning for a one-week meal plan.
Write down a list of staples that are purchased weekly. Items like ice cream and popcorn are not considered staples. Staples are things like bread and milk, that get used up quickly. If someone in the family often cooks “from scratch” then staples would also include flour, sugar, butter or margarine, salt and spices.
Write down commonly purchased breakfast foods, avoiding the more expensive pre-packaged items. Write down commonly purchased lunch foods. Write down a list of the beverages the family drinks. Add a few snack foods and treats to the list. Only write down favorites that are frequently requested.
How To Create a Meal Plan
The persons who do most of the cooking and grocery shopping should be the ones to create the actual meal plan. Write the seven days of the week down the side of a page. Divide the page into three more columns: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner (or Supper). Look at the family's calendar of events. Decide which days' meals must be prepared quickly or ahead of time, and which days allow more time for food preparation. Decide which meals will be smaller or larger.
Look in the refrigerator and cupboards to see what items or leftovers should be eaten up right away. Select recipes that can utilize these items. Choose the dishes that will be served on the various days and write them on the meal plan page in pencil. If the majority of the family prefers cereals for breakfast, that makes the breakfast column easy to fill in; just make sure to include seven days' worth of cereals in the grocery list.
Making Up the Grocery List
People don't like to have to retrace their steps in the grocery store. Here is an idea for writing an efficient grocery list. Lay a blank page sideways and draw some columns on the paper representing the major aisle divisions in the grocery store. Do not be a perfectionist and try to recreate a complicated map of the store! Look at the meal plan and go through each day's menu items, writing down the grocery items needed to make the meals. Write each item on the shopping list on its approximate position within the store. This method turns the grocery list into a sort of store map.
When shopping, the buyer starts at one end of the store and follows the handwritten, mapped grocery list, placing only those items written on the list into the shopping cart. Make as few unplanned purchases as possible. Do not cross off items once they are in the cart. This list will be useful in making up future lists. Circle any items on the list that were out of stock. Find a substitute item if possible.
Using the Meal Plan and the List
After the groceries are put away, tape the Meal Plan to the refrigerator. Every evening, look at the Meal Plan and take tomorrow's meal ingredients out of the freezer or pantry. Store the used grocery list in a folder or binder, and post a new blank grocery page somewhere obvious. During the week, items that need replenishing can be jotted down on the new list. At the end of the week, the old meal plan should be stored with its matching grocery list in the binder.
When time is short, looking up old meal plans or even copying an old grocery list can provide a week's worth of meals without a lot of planning. Always note the page number of book recipes used when writing down meal plans.
A pleasant side effect of having a posted meal plan is that family members know in advance what foods will be served each day of the week. The promise of a favorite meal helps keep teenagers home for dinner and can bring a spouse home from work on time.
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