Feeding our families well is one of the biggest things we can do to ensure their proper development, growth, health, and happiness. Nutrition is a BIG deal to me. We spend a lot of money on food, but I have learned some tricks to keeping our food costs down without compromising the quality of our food.
As a homemaker and mother I put a lot of emphasis on eating at home, at a table, together as a family. Because Devil works from home, we eat all of our meals together. This means a lot of cooking or preparing foods.
It Didn’t Happen Overnight
Mind you, I didn’t used to prepare every meal we eat. When we were dating and early on in our marriage, Devil worked in an office and would eat lunches out. I was also working and would pick something up during my breaks or would eat something snacky and easy for lunch (not recommended).
I grew up knowing how to cook but I had a long way to go before I became a “good” cook. Luckily we have some Frens here who can help you with that. Check out Octopod if you haven’t already.
I have also tried a lot of different types of meal planning. Both for Devil and I when it was just us, then as a new family who still ate out a lot, and now as a family who eats out only a couple of times a month. And that’s usually when I fail to plan.
Failing to Plan is Planning to Fail
When I don’t do a meal plan, I always struggle to get dinner on the table. I forget to think about which meats to pull out of my freezer to thaw. We don’t use a microwave so quick thawing isn’t an option here. I won’t have the ingredients I need on hand to make certain things. I spend too much at the grocery store. We end up eating out, which isn’t optimal for our health or our budget.
Types of Meal Plans That Work for Us
I’m going to share two types of meal planning that have worked well for us as a family.
For the most part, we usually eat the same thing for breakfast each day. Lunches usually consist of left overs from dinner the night before or from during the week. If not, I make what I call a “platter lunch” which consists of salami, summer sausage, or other types of easy to eat lunch meat and finger foods.
You could easily add breakfast and lunches to these meal plan types depending on your needs.
Type 1:
Plan your week out in advance. I usually go shopping on Thursdays, so my meal plan for the week starts on Thursday. You’re going to plan dinner for each night of the week and stick to it. You can easily add in a flex day if you’d like. When I did this I would make one day of my week an “eat out” night. If we didn’t have time to make dinner that night or something happened during the week that was unexpected, I would trade one of my planned meals for the empty night and shift things around a little.
Here’s a sample meal plan that I did earlier this year. I also like to write a list of specific groceries we need next to this. Then I take a picture of it and go shopping. I don’t have to carry a separate list, and I know what we need!
Type 2:
When I found Type 1 to be too restrictive, I switched things up and I have been using this type of meal plan for a while. It works well for us, especially when we aren’t feeling a certain thing for dinner. I like the flexibility it provides.
I make a list of meals I want to cook for the week, making sure I have 7 dinners planned (with enough food for a few lunches as left overs). I also throw in other things I would like to make during the week.
Tips for Success
Make sure you plan things you know your family likes to eat.
If you like variety, include a night during the week where you try a new recipe.
Plan your week according to your schedule. If you know you’ll be out late one evening, plan something simple to eat for dinner, bring dinner with you, or prep something ahead of time.
We have tacos every Tuesday night and they never get old. This staple dinner makes planning easier for me.
Have a fallback plan. For us this a list of quick meal ideas that I can use in a pinch.
Another Way to Ensure Success
Sometimes, when I have time and I am feeling motivated enough, I will meal prep on a weekend day. I will do this if I know we have a busy week ahead or if I don’t want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen during the week.
For me this looks like cooking some staple foods that I have IN my meal plan already. For example I will:
Boil potatoes
Make stock
Hard cook eggs in my instant pot
Make and freeze burger patties
Bake sourdough
It just depends on what I have planned for the week! This significantly cuts down on time I spend in the kitchen making dinner.
Ideas for Saving Money on Your Grocery Bill
Food is our biggest expense in our home. Some ways I have found to combat grocery costs have actually proved to be quite handy lately.
Get to know your farmers and buy direct when you can. I highly recommend Eat Wild. This is how I found both of my meat farmers. My egg and honey farmer I found when I drove by her farm. I got lucky! Keep your eyes out for signs in rural parts of your town.
Buy in bulk, especially when non-perishables are on sale!
Plan your meals! This saves me so much money because we eat out less and get more meals off of what I make.
Cook in bulk. If you’re going to roast a chicken, roast 2 and eat one for lunch the next day by either eating as is or using the meat in another recipe.
Don’t buy junk/snacky food. Eat healthier snacks like fruit, meat, cheese, homemade sourdough, etc.
Grow a garden! Shoutout to BowTiedFarmer and his substack!
Visit farmer’s markets and eat seasonally.
What has worked well for your family? Please feel free to comment or DM on Twitter @bowtiedangel if you have questions.