9 Simple Ways to Save Money on Your Groceries
It never fails, we budget for our groceries, but the bill always ends up being more. We underestimate, run out of things faster than expected and overall, everything is becoming just too darned expensive! To make things a little bit easier, here are 9 simple ways you can start saving money on your groceries.
1. Go with a List: Yes, I know…it’s a pretty obvious suggestion, but it’s amazing how effective it can be. You can purchase only what you need and avoid all the other yummy distractions of the grocery store.
2. Meal Planning: Planning your meals in advance makes it easier to get your list together and ensure you buy only exactly what you need. You can get help with your meal planning at Dine Without Whine AND they actually put your grocery list together for you too.
3. Eat Before You Go: Another classic tip. If you’re hungry, you’ll want to buy (and instantly eat) everything! Have a meal or good snack before you go to avoid impulse purchases.
The Importance of Family Meal Planning
What has happened to us? There once was a time when we would all come home from school or work and sit down with our families and enjoy the ritual of family mealtime. It was the best meal of the day, offering a wide variety of nutrition and family conversation.
Today, less than half of American families eat dinner together and when they do, these meals last less than 20 minutes and are lacking in proper nutrition.
The fact is our life styles have changed from those magical days of Ozzie and Harriet. Thanks to the Internet, cell phones and palm pilots, business is conducted on an almost 24/7 basis. Even conversations with our children are often times through text messages or cell phone.
10 More Reasons to Gather Around the Dinner Table
I received a lot of compliments on my post about “24 Reasons to Gather Around the Dinner Table” – well, compliments and a challenge: come up with even more reasons families should sit down to dinner together.
But first, if you find the idea of family meals daunting, take a look at Dine Without Whine. It’s a monthly subscription, which gives you weekly meal plans, recipes and grocery shopping list. Dine Without Whine definitely simplifies meal planning and preparation.
Ok, now back to my challenge. It’s been hard, but here you go, 10 OTHER reasons to gather around the dinner table:
1. You’ll have a ready audience for your jokes.
2. You can get instant feedback on new recipes you’ve been wanting to try.
Diabetes Meal Planning Made Easy
If you have diabetes, it’s important to watch what you eat to maintain your health. Meal planning can help manage your diabetes, as well as save you time and money.
The bestselling Diabetes Meal Planning Made Easy is a comprehensive but easy-to-understand guide to all aspects of meal planning for you.
Meal planning is one of the most crucial—and sometimes most difficult—aspects of managing diabetes, but this book makes meal planning simple.
This newest edition incorporates the most recent nutritional recommendations of the American Diabetes Association (more…)
Menu Plan Monday – Vacation & Baseball Edition
Hubby is on vacation this week, and we are finally catching a baseball game (first this season) on Friday. Should be a fun week! Here’s our menu plan for the week…
Monday – hubby is grilling ribs, baked beans, corn on the cob
Tuesday – spaghetti and meatballs, salad, garlic bread
Wednesday – grilled chicken, mac & cheese, corn
Thursday – chicken enchiladas, Spanish rice
Friday – baseball game… hot dogs & beer at the ball park!
Saturday – brisket on the grill
Sunday – headed to family’s for dinner
Don’t forget to head over to Meal Plan Monday for even more meal and recipe ideas!
24 Reasons to Gather Around the Dinner Table
How often does your family have dinner together? If you’re like most families nowadays, the answer is probably, “Not very often.”
It’s understandable. Modern families are busy. Both parents work and sometimes get home at different times. Children have activities to go to, and Mom’s got to drive them all over the place. Really, who’s got the time and energy to even cook dinner every single night?
You, that’s who! Eating together is good for you and your family. So you better make time and find the energy to make home-cooked meals and sit down and eat together more often.
Researchers have found many benefits to home-cooked meals. Watch this video to learn about some of them. In my own experience, though, there are many more. Here are 24 reasons I have found to share family meals more often:
Menu Plan Monday – Busy Week Ahead
This is going to be a super busy week, so I’m shooting for a simple meal plan.
Monday – meatloaf and homemade mashed potatoes, corn, rolls
Tuesday – grilled chicken thighs, salad, garlic bread
Wednesday – leftovers (chicken enchiladas probably)
Thursday – tacos, Spanish rice
Friday – steak, baked potatoes, salad
Saturday – going out to eat!
Sunday – bbq ribs, beans, potato salad
Don’t forget to head over to Meal Plan Monday for even more meal and recipe ideas!
Why Meal Planning is so Important During These Bad Economical Times
Can Planning Meals Save You Money? You Bet!
OK….let’s see a show of hands. How many of you know how much money you spend on groceries per month?
A recent unscientific survey conducted outside a grocery store in San Francisco offered some surprising results. It doesn’t seem most people keep track of how much money they spend on groceries, because trips to the grocery store usually include non-food items such as health and beauty products, pet products, etc., and there are usually several trips per week. Who scrutinizes receipts? Do most of us go to the grocery store armed with a list of just the essentials? The answer is a resounding “NO!”
The 4 Fundamentals of Proper Meal Planning
Is meal planning necessary for weight loss?
I think the question you should ask yourself is why not?
Determining how to eat properly and when is a lot like figuring out how are will get to the next city or how you will pay for those new pair of shoes. You need to have a plan.
Planning is essential in most everything you do nutrition included. Do you just aimlessly get in your car and start driving and hope you get to the proper desitination?
This is essentially what you are doing when you just haphazardly put food in your mouth and hope that you will eat less and lose weight.
Here are the benefits of mapping our your meals.
* You know how many calories you are consuming
* You control the nutrient ratio and don’t overeat too much of the wrong nutrients.
* You can easily make changes to your plan because you know what you have been eating and what is working or not working.
* You are less likely to stray with your eating
1. Your plan should be laid out so that you will know how many meals you will eat every day. Approximately when you will be eating these meals is also important so you can write that down as well.
2. Next layout how many servings from each food group you will be eating and at which meal you will be eating them. This is the key to avoiding wasted grazing and snacking on unhealthy choices. It also helps you define how many calories you will eat that day and in what ratio.
3. Then prepare your grocery shopping list so you know exactly what you are purchasing for the week and how much.
4. Finally prep as much food as possible by cutting up vegetables you need for the week ahead of time. If you are eating chicken and other meats cook them all at once so you just have to heat them up or pack them in your lunch and they are ready to be eaten.
Purchase many different tupperware containers to store your food in so that again it is easy to assemble your meals and you aren’t wasting time figuring out what you are going to eat and how you will obtain the food.
By following these simple, but essential steps to proper meal planning you will have a much higher success rate when it comes to weight loss and dieting.
A laid out planned meal plan is the same as a well thought out exercise plan. You have a goal or objective and you then have a plan to succeed with that goal. Now it is up to you to carry out that plan. I guarantee your chances for success will increase significantly and you will be loving yourself for following and sticking to your plan.
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Meal Planning Benefits
Meal planning can help you to successfully organize the daily routine of preparing meals for your family.
If you often find yourself searching for something to prepare for dinner, meal planning may be just the thing you need to make meal time less stressful.
Below are some of the benefits of meal planning.
1. You’ll save time.
Knowing what you’re going to cook for dinner means you can get the meal on the table faster because you won’t have to decide what to make.
In addition, when you plot out what meals you’re going to fix for the week, you can simply make one trip to the store and buy all the food you’ll need for those meals.
You won’t have to search the refrigerator or freezer when dinner time arrives, and you can eliminate trips to the grocery store looking for something to eat that everyone likes.
2. You’ll save money.
Meal planning can also help you save money.
For one, when you know what you’re going to cook for dinner, you won’t eat out as much during the week because you can’t think of anything appealing to make.
By simply eating at home more instead of eating out, you’ll keep more money in your pocket that you can use for other important things.
3. You’ll be able to eat healthier.
If you tend to eat burgers and fries from fast food places a few times a week, meal planning can help you to eat healthier by replacing those meals with healthier ones.
Instead of greasy, fatty hamburgers or having pizza delivered, you could have a nutritious meal of vegetables, salad and a lean main course of chicken or beef for dinner.
In addition, if you need to restrict sugar or salt from your diet, menu planning can help you to consistently cook meals that fit your nutritional standards and stick to your diet.
4. You’ll be able to reduce meal time stress.
If you have your dinners planned out, you won’t have to figure out what to make while everyone is hungry and in bad moods.
You’ll already know what you’re going to make, and dinner time can go smoothly as everyone looks forward to the delicious meal they’re going to eat.
5. Meal planning is easy.
Planning what you’re going to prepare for dinner over the weekdays isn’t difficult.
It just takes a little time to decide beforehand what you want to eat, and then purchase the food.
You can plan your dinners for the week days, the entire week or longer.
However, start small by planning out, for example, five dinners for the weekdays.
Once you see what’s involved, you’ll have a better idea how many meals and how far ahead you’d like to plan.
Conclusion: Meal planning can help you to save money and time. Meal planning can also help you to eat healthier, reduce meal time stress, and isn’t difficult to do.
After you start meal planning, you may find that dinner time becomes family time again.
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