Simply Life

Do planning meals and grocery shopping seem way too costly and time-consuming?

I know I”m a nerd and probably look forward to doing this more than the average person but while it seems planning meals may be too time-consuming, it could in fact could save you tons of time throughout the week when you’d otherwise be staring blankly at the open refrigerator and looking through take-out menus.

Plus, cooking meals from scratch is often healthier and can save you tons of money!  Although planning several meals throughout the week may seem like that grocery bill can get awfully expensive when you need a teaspoon of this, half a cup of that and a handful of something else, there are plenty of ways to stretch your hard-earned dollar a long way!

Tip #1: Plan meals that use similar ingredients!  Take the last five meals I’ve posted about, for example.  Do you see a trend?  (Yes, I am nerdy enough that I’ve color-coded them).  All of the main ingredients are repeated in at least one other meal.  The other ingredients, like couscous and parmesan cheese, I already had at home –> Tip #2: See what you already have available before planning meals!  This means I only needed 10 ingredients for 5 completely unique meals.

Arugula Parmesan Prosciutto Pizza: pizza dough, proscuitto, arugula
Chickpea Vegetable Soup:  chickpeas, carrots, onion, tomato paste, peas, broth
Moroccan Chickpea Stew: chickpeas, carrots, onion, tomato paste, broth
Chickpea Pot Pie with Gouda Biscuit Topping: chickpeas, carrots, onion, peas, gouda
Prosciutto Gouda Roll (served w/ Arugula Salad): pizza dough, prosciutto, gouda, arugula, carrots

This was a week’s worth of meals for us. I usually plan about five meals a week and the other two we leave open for nights we may go out, eat leftovers or have something quick and simple like eggs.  Each of these meals was fairly inexpensive to make and definitely never made us feel like we were “eating on a budget.”  The most expensive item we bought was the prosciutto and I have it very thinly sliced so I only need about 1/3 lb. for two meals.

Now I know that when you’re buying groceries, dinners aren’t the only thing you have to think about.  Here’s how I plan for the rest:

For breakfast, we both typically have oatmeal so other than a few toppings like frozen fruit or nut butter, we don’t need to buy much for this.  Lunches usually consist of leftovers, pb&j, salads (using leftover veggies, beans, nuts, etc. from planned meals), snacks I’ve received for blog product reviews and/or fruit.  This means making sure we always have staples like peanut butter, bread and fruit.

While our grocery list looks different each week, these are some of the tips I follow!

(Disclaimer: I know that everyone’s budget is different and I am not assuming everyone can afford these items.  This is just what works for us).

Back to that Proscuitto Roll.  Proscuitto all rolled up with warm gouda cheese and a crisp homemade pizza roll.  Need I say more?

I’m happy to continue giving my meal-planning tips and ideas if you’re interested! Please just let me know!

~Do you plan meals?  What are ways you try to save money?

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