Five Reasons Why Meal Planning Helps Save You Time and Money

In today’s world, most people are so busy that they don’t have time to cook a healthy meal every day (or even once a week!). Work and family leave you exhausted at the end of the day, so it’s no wonder that so many people pick up dinner from a fast food place or pop something in the microwave instead of cooking a nutritious meal. While most of us have good intentions, life just seems to get in the way of cooking health dinners most of the time.

The Key to Eating Healthy is Planning Your Meals Ahead of Time

The key to eating healthy, delicious meals on a regular basis is to plan your meals ahead of time. Meal planning is exactly what it sounds like – taking the time to plan what you’re going to eat ahead of time. This can be weekly or monthly, whatever fits your schedule best. There are many benefits to planning your meals ahead of time, including eating healthier, saving money at the grocery store, and having more free time to spend with your family.

Meal Planning Helps You Save Money at the Grocery Store

After you’ve decided what you’ll be cooking for the week, you will need to complete your grocery list. By planning your meals in advance and preparing your shopping list based on only what you’re going to eat that week, you will save a ton of money at the grocery store. Why? You’ll waste less food because you will only buy what you need for the week, and if you’re like me, you’ll go to the store less often, resulting in fewer impulsive buys. The money I save at the grocery store is by far the greatest benefit I get from meal planning.

Save Time by Spending Less Time at the Grocery Store

I don’t know about you, but before I started meal planning, I was what I would call a random shopper. I would wander down the grocery aisles just hoping I would spot what I needed rather than taking a list of items we needed. As you can imagine I frequently went home without buying things we needed, thus causing myself to have to go to the store multiple times a week. With meal planning you always shop with a grocery list, which eliminates the need to have to go to the store several times a week. This was a huge time saver for me.

No More Spoiled Food with Meal Planning

In addition to saving time, by shopping with a list (as a result of my weekly menu planning), I only buy the food I know we’ll eat that week. This means we have a lot less food spoilage than we used to. I don’t know how many times I stocked up on fruits and veggies only to see them spoil because we didn’t eat them in time. With meal planning, I know exactly how much food we’ll need for the meals I plan on cooking that week, so I no longer buy food only to watch it go to waste before we eat it.

Fight Rising Food Costs with Meal Planning

With the cost of food rising, meal planning is more important than ever. I can’t tell you how much money we save on our grocery bill by planning our weekly menu based on what’s on sale, and even more importantly, by only buying the foods we need each week. In today’s economy every little bit helps, so if you haven’t tried meal planning yet, try it out – you’ll be amazed at how much healthier you eat, how much time you save, and how much money you can save.

Menu Plan Monday – May 18 Edition

This week is full of graduations and graduation parties, so I only have to plan dinner for a few nights this week

Anyway… here’s my Menu Plan Monday for the week:

Monday – meatloaf, mashed potatoes, hot rolls

Tuesday – hamburgers on the grill, grilled veggies

Wednesday – graduation ceremony, will either eat out or eat leftovers

Thursday – dh’s birthday, plan is to go out to his favorite steakhouse

Friday – steak, baked potatoes, salad

Saturday – graduation party, will be eating at sil’s house

Sunday – brisket (yum!), homemade mac & cheese, corn on the cob

Hope everyone has a great week.  Don’t forget to head over to Meal Plan Monday for more great meal ideas!

Menu Plan Monday – April 27 Edition

Here’s my Menu Plan Monday for the week…

Hubby has been itching to do some grilling, so I’ll let him cook a couple of nights this week

Here’s the menu plan for this week:

Monday – tacos, spanish rice and refried beans

Tuesday – chicken on the grill, will probably do a whole chicken and have mashed potatoes, green beans and some type of bread to go with

Wednesday – leftovers!  we have tons of stuff in the freezer, so it will be a buffet leftover night

Thursday – steak (got on sale last week and froze several), potatoe casserole, salad

Friday – pizza (from Papa Murphy’s – didn’t get it last week, so going to try again this week)

Saturday – ribs on the grill

Sunday – not sure yet, will probably do meatloaf or maybe spicy beef sandwiches from the slow cooker

For more menu planning ideas, head over to Meal Plan Monday. Have a great week!