Last year we paid down over $56,000 in debt. One of the biggest areas of savings for us was reducing our spending on food. So, what did we do, just eat rice and beans?
Nope.
If anything, we ate higher quality food than the previous year. Meal planning made it possible to slash spending without sacrificing flavor.
What is Meal Planning?
Meal planning is exactly like it sounds. You plan your meals in advance.
When we were evaluating our spending we noticed a huge amount of money being spent on going out to eat. In particular, lunches and dinners at fast food restaurants jumped off the list.
Slash your Food Spending
It occurred to us that most of the fast food purchases were not us trying to treat ourselves, but rather poor planning. Meaning that we either didn’t have time or the ingredients handy. My wife and I both work full time (if not more than full time) jobs. When we would come home from work, tired from the day, we would find that we didn’t have anything defrosted or were missing essential ingredients. We would throw up our hands and run to the nearest drive thru or call the pizza place.
A pizza dinner from the typical delivery places would usually run about $20-$25. We were hitting up the delivery guys almost weekly. With a little planning, and just a smidgen of cooking skills, we are able to make our own for much cheaper… less than $8.
A fast food lunch runs $8 to $10 easily. We were indulging at least a couple days out of the week. Homemade lunches run less than half that, with a typical lunch of a turkey sandwich, apple, and chips running about $3 to $4. Subbing out 104 fast food lunches (two lunches per week) with homemade meals would save you on the order of $400 to $700 per year.
Additionally, by planning out our meals, we save on the grocery bill. Knowing what we need for the week allows us to buy certain items in bulk from warehouse stores, such as Sam’s Club, and reduces the number of times we have to run to the grocery store mid-week to buy missing items, which usually means smaller packages at higher unit costs, plus there’s the lost time and fuel costs associated with the additional trip.
Don’t shop like this!
Improve the Quality of Your Food
I don’t know about you, but I don’t really consider fast food to be high quality. It’s generally greasy and stuffed with unhealthy types of fats and sugars with little nutritional value and often bland taste to boot. Most ingredients are selected for shelf life rather than freshness.
When you plan out your meals you have the time to think through your recipes, shop for the freshest ingredients and prep them to save time. You have time to brine or marinade your proteins to maximize flavors without being heavy handed with fats (commonly added to improve taste).
In the summer, we take meal planning to the next level by planting a vegetable garden chock full of the most common ingredients we use. You just can’t get fresher than that!
Get Healthier!
We credit meal planning as a major factor that allowed us to lose over 20 pounds each last year. Planning our meals ahead allowed us to keep tight control over ingredients and portion sizes. And when the occasional craving hit, meal planning allowed us to have healthy options available.
Getting Started
When you first start off meal planning you need to make sure you have the necessary equipment:
Next, review what you have in the pantry and start thinking about recipes that feature the ingredients that you already have. For instance, if you have a bunch of cans of beans… think chili! I recommend planning about 1 week of meals at a time. Once you have the meals planned, then prep your grocery list and get to it!
Think about a day in advance so you can get frozen ingredients thawed or to allow time for brines and marinades.
A Taste of Our Meal Planning
Our meal planning typically starts on Friday or Saturday, which is usually when we go grocery shopping. We sit down and bounce meal ideas off of each other. Sometimes we will get a head start and text each other ideas during the work day. Once we’ve written down the recipes we group the ingredients into regular grocery items and warehouse store items. Generally produce, baking ingredients, bread, pastas, sauces, snacks, eggs. and dairy come from the regular grocery store. Warehouse store items typically include proteins (chicken, fish, pork, beef, etc.) nuts or bulk items. The regular grocery run occurs weekly while the warehouse store visits are usually only once or twice a month.
Sunday is the normally the biggest meal prep day. We will get a head start on the week by prepping and packing breakfasts and lunches for the first couple days of the week. Each morning during the week (or the preceding evening) we will get out the frozen protein of choice to defrost while we are away at work so it is ready for cooking upon our return from work.
Favorite types of recipes include:
- Overnight oats for breakfasts
- Chicken salad for lunches
- Hard boiled eggs for salads using bulk greens for lunches.
- We love this southwestern scrambled eggs, turkey, and potatoes recipe from SkinnyTaste for breakfasts or lunches.
- Chili (either beef, turkey, chicken or venison) and soups are popular for dinners and lunches in the colder months.
- I love smoking a pork shoulder or ribs during the weekend. This provides for a number of meals throughout the next week.
What are some of your favorite meals for prepping in batches? What kind of savings have you seen?
Thanks for reading!