In a world where outgoings are multiplying, many of us are trying to find ways to cut costs and one area where significant savings can be achieved is in your grocery budget through effective meal planning.
Not only does meal planning help you save money, it also helps to prevent food waste.
So, how do you meal plan?
First of all you need to assess what ingredients you already have in your cupboards, fridge and freezer. This prevents you from buying things you already have and allows you to plan your meals around what you already have.
Ideally you want to set yourself a budget of the maximum of what you want to spend each week. Having a clear budget in mind will help you make more conscious choices while shopping.
Next you want to start planning your meals for the week. You need to think about your weeks schedule, work commitments, any leftovers you have and you and your families preferences. You want to look at recipes that have ingredients in common as this helps to prevent food waste. It also helps to think of recipes that use seasonal fruit and veg as these tend to be a bit cheaper (and tastier!)
Once you have decided on what recipes/meals you re going to cook, you need to create a shopping list and you need to stick to this list when doing your shopping and avoid impulse buying.
Another way to save money longer term is to but items like rice, beans, pasta and oats in bulk, which reduces the cost per serving.
As well as buying in bulk, try cooking in bulk too and freezing. Not only does this prevent food waste, it also saves you some time!
Cooking from scratch, rather than buying convenience foods also helps to save money per meal as convenience foods tend to have a higher price tag.
And finally another way I try to keep the cost of our meals down is to grow our own food. I plan what food to grow by what we like to eat, so the food isn’t wasted and also what food is more expensive to buy in the shops, which gives me a bigger saving.
Soft fruits are very easy to grow, take minimal effort, taste a lot better but are quite expensive to buy.
Happy planning!
Amy