Saving Money on Groceries 101: Meal Planning!

People ask me to tell them how to save money on groceries. Yes, shopping with coupons is fun, especially when you can "buy" several things for cheap or free. However, I have to say that the first and most important step in saving money on groceries is learning how to plan meals effectively. It's one of the most important jobs we have as moms, wives, keepers of the home, and for our own bodies. How do you plan interesting, nutritious foods that offer variety and are pleasing to the members of your household? Add to all that, how do we do that at an economical price, too?

When I first got married, I was mostly focused on my career. I barely knew how to cook a few things. Microwaved baked potatoes, spaghetti, and fish sticks were some of my "specialties." After 17 years of marriage, experience and practice add a lot. Here are a few more practical suggestions.

* Start by planning all your evening meals for the week.

In addition to the main protein source, include all the side items, veggies, fruit, grains and dessert if you are serving dessert. If you plan to go out to eat, include that event in your weekly meal plan. I find that having all my meals planned out ahead of the time GREATLY reduces my stress in the late afternoon. No fretting about "what are we going to have for dinner." It also helps me to work out that we have balance nutrition and ample variety during the week.

* Plan your meals based on what you have in your pantry and freezer.

At least half of my weekly meals are based on what I already have in my freezer and pantry. If you have a tough time thinking of what to plan, you can make a list of all the chicken dishes your family likes, all the beef dishes, all the pork dishes, etc.

* Plan your other meals around what is on sale this week.

Between using what is in my freezer & pantry, and perusing the sale flyers, I can usually fill up my meal plan for the week. Of course, when chicken breasts are on sale for 99c/lb, I buy up extra to stash in the freezer for following weeks. For ideas on how to use what is in your pantry or what is on sale this week at the stores, I recommend using web tools such as Allrecipes.com or DinnerTool.com. These web sites allow you to search for recipes based on your desired ingredients. Who needs to buy a cookbook anymore? The most exhaustive cookbook is at our fingertips: the internet!

* Consider adding vegetarian meals to your menu plan.

Vegetarian meals are usually low in saturated fat and high in plant-based nutrition. Plant-based meals are often lower cost than meat-based meals. Although I have a meat-loving husband, we have added vegetarian fare, or at least low-meat meals to our rotation, and he loves my veggie lasagna! For some ideas on veggie cooking once per week, you can visit www.meatlessmonday.com.

* Add a breakfast meal for dinner.

Here is something that helps add variety for dinner. We don't regularly cook big breakfasts in the morning, so having this for dinner usually pleases the crowd. You can't tell me that thinking about bacon, eggs or omelets, biscuits, fruit salad, smoothies, sausage, bacon, waffles, pancakes, and scones doesn't make your mouth water!

* Have an alternate meal idea, just in case.

Sometimes best-laid plans still run awry. It's always a good idea to have a backup plan. Sometimes you get home later in the afternoon due to unexpected delays. Sometimes someone gets sick and your time should be focused on helping your sick one. Sometimes you get sick. Having a quick meal in the freezer helps avoid the temptation to "run out and pick something up." Or, you can have sandwiches, an easy pasta dish, or some other alternative plan. We all know that home cooking tastes better and is better for you than take out. (LOL!)

* Add more meals into your meal plan.

Once you have mastered planning seven evening meals, begin adding more meals to your plan. Add in a special weekend breakfast. Plan ahead a few meals for the following week. Do you have a special meal on Sunday after church? Some frugal home keepers plan out each meal and snacks every day. (I confess that I do not meal plan to this level.)

* Check out some meal planning blogs.

I'm always keeping my eyes open for fresh, nutritious, frugal meals. There are a lot to be had around the blogging world. You can check out these wonderful sites to glean some new ideas.

www.orgjunkie.com hosts menu planning Monday. Find out what's on her menu and the menus of others.

www.5dollardinners.com has some interesting low-cost meals based on what is on sale in your area.

www.lifeasmom.com hosts an "Ultimate Recipe Swap" every Thursday on a different topic. I have found some great recipes there, too.

Blessings to you and to your meal planning efforts!

Do You Ever Have Frugal Duds?

Do you ever "buy" something that is free with coupon or pennies on the dollar, and later it turns out everyone hates it? That happened to me with the free Dano-nino yogurt. It just didn't fly at our house. I didn't even try to put it into smoothies. As much as I hate waste, I'm just not going to make my family eat something (or use a health and beauty aid product) that they hate just becuase "I got it free with a coupon!"

Shopping with coupons allows me to get free things every week. We get to try a lot of new products that I would never buy without coupons. Many things we like. A few things go into the garbage. If these yogurts were not perishable, they would have gone to a food drive.

It is important as home keepers that we bless our families with our frugal shopping. My goal is not to make my family groan over the things I bring home from shopping, but that it will be a delight. Let your money saving ideas be a blessing and not a curse!

Going Green: Stepping Up Your Recycling With Very Little Effort

We are very fortunate to have a trash and recycling company that collects a huge amount of recylables (paper, all plastics 1-7, cardboard, aluminum, steel, junk mail, glass, etc.) However, they do not collect plastic bags or styrofoam.

Although I do have six reusable grocery shopping bags, which I use almost all the time, I still do seem to come home with the occasional nefarious plastic grocery bag. I stick one of these in my laundry room (behind the door). Over the period of about two weeks, I add all the plastic grocery bags, produce bags, newspaper bags, and any other recyclable bags that come into the house. I also stick in foam produce trays and egg cartons.

When this bag gets full, I pick it up on my way to the grocery store. My usual store has bins right out front for paper bags, plastic bags, and styrofoam. Fortunately my kids help me, since my arms are full with reusable shopping bags, coupon box, and grocery list! One kid will pull out the styrofoam items, and another will wad up the bags into the appropriate bins.

Earthbound Farms estimates that if everyone in the US used one reusable grocery bag once per week, it would keep 16 billion plastic bags out of landfills every year. Whole Foods states that in 2007, Americans threw out "100 billion plastic bags annually, according to the Worldwatch Institute, and only 0.6 percent of them are recycled."

More recycling, not much effort.

Kids and Chores

Do you wish your house were cleaner?  Do you wish you could teach your kids to be more responsible?  Do you wish you could spend less time on house cleaning?  I know I do, and I think one of the most under-used resources in home keeping is our children.  Since we all live here and all are blessed by a clean, organized home, we all share in the responsibilities of home keeping, each according to their ability.

It's that time of the year again, right after school is out, when I work up new chore schedules for my kids.  Summer is a great time to teach kids new skills, and house cleaning is no exception.  Then, when school starts again, a good routine is already in place.  It's good to change around chores, so they don't have to keep doing the same chores year after year.  I also think that chores teach a great habit of responsibility that will (hopefully) last them a lifetime.

Here are the chore lists we worked up this year.

Daily Chores - everyone

(Mostly this is just cleaning up after yourself!)

Make Bed

Put away dirty clothes

Put away shoes when they come off

Fold and put away your own clean laundry (oldest 2 kids)

Put your own dirty dishes in the dishwasher, and clear your place

Put away all your toys and things (that have migrated throughout the house) at the end of the day

Chores for 10 year-old son

Monday - Collect trash from wastebaskets and put into the garage bin (not kitchen garbage)

Tuesday - Wipe out the microwave & clean front

Wednesday - Clean bathroom downstairs toilet

Thursday - Clean master bathroom toilet

Friday - Clean kids bathroom mirror (He's the only one tall enough!)

Saturday &  Sunday - none

Chores for 7 year-old-daughter

Monday - Vacuum the stairs with hand vac

Tuesday - Sweep the garage

Wednesday - Wipe down the sinks and counter in the kids' bathroom

Thursday - Clean the kids' bathroom toilet

Friday - Dust the downstairs rooms

Saturday &  Sunday - none

Chores for 4 year-old-daughter (She loves to feel big & important by having chores!)

Monday - change the drinking cups in the bathrooms

Tuesday - Windex the TV screen

Wednesday - Wipe the fingerprints off kitchen windows

Thursday - Wipe fronts of stove and dishwasher

Friday - Wipe down the outside of the kitchen trash can

Saturday &  Sunday - none

What chores do your kids have?

Thrifty Tip: Going Green by Doing Away with Paper Products!

Here is one of my favorite ways to go green and save money too.  About a year ago I gave up paper napkins for cloth ones.  Originally I started using cloth napkins everyday because I thought they looked more elegant for our evening meals, and then I noticed how much fewer paper napkins we consumed, which also meant less paper waste going to the landfills.  

I also switched out paper napkins for cloth ones at breakfast and lunch.  I even pack a cloth napkin in my kids' lunch boxes.  It's funny.  I still have half a package of paper napkins in the top of one of my cabinets.  It's over a year old.  we will probably use it up on our camping trips.

I love using cloth napkins.  They seem so much nicer to wipe your mouth on, and they make the table so much more appealing.  Another surprising aspect of using cloth napkins is that they actually do not take any more work to use them.  Since I am doing at least one load of laundry every day, I just add the used napkins to that day's load.  I do not iron them (except for special occasions) and just pop them back in the drawer right next to the kitchen table.  (I have a set of napkins in the washer right now!  LOL!)

Hand in hand with using cloth napkins, I also love to use cleaning cloths instead of paper towels.  I find them to be more absorbent and better at those things that need a little more scrubbing power than paper towels.  I keep a few stashed in each bathroom for handy cleaning.  When they are wet or dirty, I just lay them on top of the washer to wait for the next day's laundry load.  

I do still use a few paper towels.  I still find them handy for really greasy jobs such as cooking sausage or bacon.  I bought a six-pack of paper towels last summer, and I still have half of them unused.

Have you substituted cloth for paper in your home?