When I started posting pictures of our weekly menus on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, I figured it would be a matter of minutes before most people would be like, “DUDE. Nobody gives a rat’s half-apple what y’all are having for dinner.” But it turns out people actually like it! This is further proof that, as a blogger, I never have and never will know what’s going to be a hit and what’s going to bring the crickets. Menus! Who knew?
Lately, a lot of people have been asking questions, like why we started menu-planning in the first place, how we decide what the weekly menu will be, if it saves money and where I find recipes. Some have said this is something they’d really like to do but have no idea how to start. So, to answer all these, I’m going to go through the process step-by-step.
We started menu-planning on a weekly basis in the first place because our monthly grocery spending was out of CONTROL. Like, RE. DICK. YOU. LUSS. Especially given that we are but two adults and a baby. Y’all know I generally think boundaries are for suckers, but I’m too embarrassed to tell you what our food budget used to be. We ate out way too often, threw away a truly shameful amount of food every week and ended up eating a lot of unhealthy convenience food when we were too tired to cook anything else. In other words, the menus were initially an act of desperation, not some attempt to be Suzie Q. Homemaker.
I Googled “ways to save money on groceries,” and while I found a myriad of tips and tricks, the one consistent piece of advice was “plan a weekly menu.” I figured all these bloggers couldn’t be wrong, so I gave it a shot. Lo and behold, it works! I’m still not going to tell you what our grocery budget is, only this time, it’s not because I’m ashamed, but because the actual number isn’t the point. The point is that most months, our spending is HALF of what it used to be! And believe me, guys, I’m am not some home economist extraordinaire or budgeting whiz. If I can do this, then I assure you that every single one of you reading this can do it as well or better than I can.
(And besides, what seems like a small grocery budget to me may be enormous for another family or vice versa. I found one blogger who feeds her family of six – quite healthily, actually – on $60 per week. And while she’s managed to build a successful blog concept around a meager food budget, it didn’t start out as a gimmick – $60 a week was all they had.)
Before we begin, a piece of advice: Stay the course. It used to take me HOURS on Sunday evening to plan the week’s menu. Now that I’m used to it, it goes much, much faster. It’s like anything else – the more you practice at it, the easier it becomes. I timed myself this week, and it took me just a little over 12 minutes. Twelve measly minutes to cut my grocery budget in half? Don’t mind if I do! But it certainly wasn’t always that easy.
And away we go.
1. Clean out your fridge, freezer and pantry. Everything does NOT have to be perfectly organized – a trip to the Container Store is strictly optional here. You ain’t doing this for Better Homes & Gardens. You just need to know what you’ve got to work with. I do a quick clean-out once a week, right before I go grocery shopping. (Thankfully, nowadays, I throw out a whole lot less than I used to. And what I do throw out can often go into my gorgeous new compost bin, which The Guy built for me.)
The Guy + a circular saw + environmentally responsible garbage disposal = Me-YOW!
2. Check your calendar. In my own case, I take note of the nights The Guy has to work late, I have a deadline or we have an event to go to. For instance, if I’ve got interviews and appointments and know I’ll be gone most of the day, then I need to plan a Crock Pot meal or something else super easy and quick.
3. Look at the sale papers. Now that I’ve been doing this for a while, I have a pretty well-stocked pantry and freezer – some weeks, I don’t have to grocery shop at all except to pick up fresh items like vegetables and fruit. Ideally, you’ll mainly use what you have on hand, but if you’re just beginning, you may not HAVE much on hand. This is where your sale papers come in – look to see if there are any specials, particularly on meat and/or fish, at your local grocery stores. In Shreveport-Bossier, sale papers usually come in the mail Tuesdays and Wednesdays, or you can pick them up at your favorite grocery store. And in my experience, most of them are pretty honest about what constitutes a sale price.
You can also use coupons, but that’s a whole other post. For now, let’s keep it simple for the menu-planning newbies and focus on the sale papers. And besides, with sale papers, you can save a WHOLE lot of money without ever using the first coupon. (For the record, I do use coupons sometimes, but I’m definitely not one of those people who can get a week’s worth of groceries for $4.80 or anything like that.)
Besides meat and fish, stock up on sale items that your family eats often. Our local Kroger periodically runs a “10 for 10″ sale on dried pasta, and when they do, we stock up. Recently, we got several packages of tortillas in a “buy 1, get 1″ sale, and any time we see pre-packaged shredded cheese less than $2.50 per bag, we stock the freezer. We’re planning to buy a chest freezer sometime in the next couple of months, and then, folks, it’s gonna be ON LIKE A CHICKEN BONE. My cheese and tortillas and I will be UNSTOPPABLE.
Also, and not to get sappy on everybody or anything like that, but the other good thing about keeping a stocked pantry is that when you hear of someone in need, you’ll already have items on hand to help out. It may not seem like much to you and me, but a couple boxes of oatmeal, a jar of peanut butter, a bag of coffee and a box of crackers can make life a little easier for a family that’s struggling. And it’s nice to be able to just load up a couple bags and help right away rather than having to write a check or make a trip to the store.
4. This is when the fun begins! Well, depending on your precise definition of “fun.” Now that you know what you have, what you’ll be doing and what’s on sale, get out a pencil and a piece of paper and start menu-planning!
Here’s how the process went for me. Recipes, when I use them, almost always come from Pinterest.
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We have a package of tilapia that is not long for this world. Need to use it, like, YESTERDAY. What goes with tilapia? There’s a package of frozen broccoli in the freezer. Boom.
MONDAY: Sauteed tilapia and angel hair pasta with broccoli.
(On hand: tilapia, pasta and broccoli. Need to buy: nothing.)
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Tuesday, The Guy has to close. Meaning there’s about a three-hour window of time during which I can expect him home. Hmph. Also, we’ve got a fridge BURSTING with leftovers, and it’s been a while since we played Golden Corral.
TUESDAY: Leftover Buffet
(On hand: tons of leftovers. Need to buy: nada.)
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I have a deadline Wednesday, and I need to edit about 40,000 pictures, so I will be clinically brain-dead by 6 p.m. Mama no cooky Wednesday.
WEDNESDAY: The Guy’s Tuna Rigatoni Marinara (delicious!) and salad
(On hand: tuna, pasta, jarred marinara sauce, salad dressing. Need to buy: salad.)
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Pierremont Oaks Tennis Club is doin’ the cookin’ Thursday! SWEET!
THURSDAY: A banquet for The Guy’s work
(They get to do the shopping, too! Yippee! )
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Friday morning, I have a newborn shoot in Marshall, TX, and while I lovelovelove newborn shoots, they’re pretty exhausting. Friday’s dinner needs to be moronically simple.
FRIDAY: Soup and sandwiches
(On hand: everything except bread. To buy: bread.)
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It IS the weekend, after all. And what’s a weekend without pizza?
SATURDAY: Pizza and salad
(On hand: salad dressing. To buy: frozen pizza, salad.)
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We need something that will be easy to eat while watching Downton. PRIORITIES.
SUNDAY: Bean-and-cheese quesadillas with Spanish rice
(On hand: leftover pinto beans, shredded cheese [in freezer], tortillas [also in freezer], sour cream, salsa, rice. To buy: zip.)
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GROCERY LIST FOR THE WEEK:
Salad (2 bags)
Sandwich bread
Frozen pizza
Milk (it would probably be more economical for us to buy a cow, for reals.)
Baby Q-tips (Harper may or may not have eaten several Q-tips in a manner similar to Buddy the Elf.)
Gauze pads (The Guy sustained a pasta-water burn, after which I discovered that our family does not own gauze pads. Quelle horreur!)
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Then, if you wish, you can write your menu on your homemade chalkboard, take a photo of it and post it on the Internet for all to admire. Or scorn. Whichever.
And that’s how you do it!
So tell me: How do you keep the grocery budget monster from eating all your money?
Your mean old stingy Q-tip-hoarding
Kel
