Financial Freedom Fridays-Menu Planning
| January 14, 2011 | Posted by Jessie under Financial Freedom Fridays, Yummy Food |
Ok, now that you are committed to revamping your finances, here is a useful tip that has worked wonders for our grocery budget. Plan your menus and make one weekly trip to the store. Mike and I were spending way more money than we ever realized on food. We would make one big grocery trip as planned…but as the week went on we would each stop a couple of times and pick up something little to throw together dinner. All those little trips really add up. So to cut back on grocery expenses, we have turned to Sunday dates at Walmart. Very romantic, I know. After church we head straight to Walmart and get our groceries for the week. Walmart is actually the farthest grocery store from our house-about 15 minutes-but I don’t think I will ever shop at another grocery store (unless it’s an emergency) again. We shopped around at different stores and the savings at Walmart are insane. The best part is, the dress code is sweats and no make-up (unless you want to stick out). You may cringe when I say Walmart and you don’t have to shop there, but trust me, you are overpaying everywhere else and I don’t notice any difference in quality. So hollerrrr for
If only they’d pay me…they have no idea how much I advertise for them.
Anyway, even if you don’t want to hang at Walmart, a great way to save on groceries is to pick a few main ingredients (chicken, peppers, pasta, etc.) and plan your meals around that for the week. We generally feast on chicken and ground turkey as our main meats and choose meals from our recipe book that coordinate. This will cut back on costs, especially if you buy in bulk. So, plan out 5 meals (or however many you typically eat at home each week), lunch items, and breakfast items, and if you are anything like us, there has to be a dessert on the menu, and create your grocery list from that. You will be shocked at how much money you save each month by simply planning ahead. So, go forward, and save!
PS-Make sure you come back Monday. There are a slew of projects happening at the Hyde household this weekend and I can’t wait to share them next week!
Well I also shop at Wally World but typically don’t take a list and hardly EVER get out of there for under $100.00/week. It seems I always see things I think I need and probably don’t so the list idea would make a huge difference I’m sure. Great FFF tips!!!
Thank you for talking so much about budgeting, and also showing that a beautiful home is possible at the same time. I plan on taking many suggestions from your blog and hope to some day catch up on debt although we have a single income family of 6, I know it can be done!
Wow, it sounds like you have your hands full! A positive attitude can get you a long way and it sounds like you are determined! Thanks for checking out my blog. Hopefully there will be some helpful tips you can use!