Planned meals

For those of you who plan meals before going shopping, do you find that it helps you keep from wasting food, and end the end wasting money?

We used to do planned meals but then we just started randomly shopping and I feel like we are wasting money on food we don't eat bc we just bought it on a whim bc at the that moment it sounded good, but later didn't. Money is a tad bit tight until our tax money comes in, and the rest of my husband's settlement. Like we went from doing alright with me being a SAHM and living off savings/half of my husband's settlement to only having a couple hundred in savings and needing to renew plates on the car I drive (with car seat base) and our school loans being due in just a few days, on top of other bills due at the end of the month like cell phones and house payment.

Yes meal plans help a ton. I know exactly what I have to buy and that we will have enough food to last us until the next trip. Saves the headache of what to make tonight which usually ends in us going out.

Quoting Jennybananna:" Yes meal plans help a ton. I know exactly what I have to buy and that we will have enough food to last ... [snip!] ... enough food to last us until the next trip. Saves the headache of what to make tonight which usually ends in us going out. "

do you rotate meals, like say you go every other week so you have 2 lists of meals to rotate out? I feel like that's why we stopped, we just kept getting the same meals over and over again

I have a friend who's so organized to the point where their house eats the same thing every single week for dinner. So every week they go grocery shopping, the list is organized not only my isle, but by what item you are closest to as you enter the isle. which means she goes down each isle the exact same way every time. They have their shopping list printed out on many pages so they just cut one off, take that sheet of paper, and away they go! I'm sure she saves money! and she said it was especially nice when her youngest son was born because then her hubby could go do all the shopping and not worry

Meal planning,while it does take time, saves a ton of time and money in the end. You get everything you need for each meal and nothing is wasted. If you're buying on a whim, you'll miss out on ingredients in certain recipes you may want to use. It makes life 100% easier lol

I have a meal list. I rotate meals every 2 weeks. Looking for new meal ideas since we're getting burned out on this rotation, but we ALWAYS eat what we buy. When we don't have money to go buy other food, we get over it real fast. I spend approx $400 a month on food.

Quoting He's my Momma's boy:" do you rotate meals, like say you go every other week so you have 2 lists of meals to rotate out? I feel like that's why we stopped, we just kept getting the same meals over and over again"

We do everything on a spreadsheet. I have one that has a list of all the meals we eat. I do 2.5 weeks at a time on our plan and I just fill in so there is a pretty good rotation. I also try to do 1 new recipe a week.

I totally think it helps. I don't write down a Callender or anything but I know what foods can be split and what each meal needs. So like I buy a bunch of veggies and meat. Then cut it up and store the meat in the freezer and pull it out the night before use. The veggies go in the containers with the other veg for that meal. So I use 3 kinds for one, one kind in another, etc and all the left overs go into a stirfry. I can do really good about sticking to a list. That's how I plan it out. I feel planning each day is too restricting from making what sounds good.

We eat most of the same stuff. We hardly ever try anything "new" so I always buy the same exact stuff every time I go shopping. I don't do legit meal planning but I always know what I am going to cook so I know what I need to have on hand.

We do a meal planning of sorts. For the mot part we eat the same things over and over again. I just buy enough for a few meals of each of our favorites and then enough for one meal of a new recipe I want to try. Then we just rummage through the cabinets and decide what we're craving that day,.

Quoting lil*Mama*Bear™:" I totally think it helps. I don't write down a Callender or anything but I know what foods can be split ... [snip!] ... about sticking to a list. That's how I plan it out. I feel planning each day is too restricting from making what sounds good."

that's kind of what we do. we buy in bulk, meat, and veggies, but then we see something that looks good but don't end up eating and what not. I feel like we are getting wasteful. It doesn't help that we spend $60 on formula bc we buy 3 containers at a time and then add an additional $25 for diapers. and then if we need wipes which we buy in bulk that's an extra like $15 there.

<blockquote><b>Quoting He's my Momma's boy:</b>" that's kind of what we do. we buy in bulk, meat, and veggies, but then we see something that looks good ... [snip!] ... time and then add an additional $25 for diapers. and then if we need wipes which we buy in bulk that's an extra like $15 there."</blockquote>




I buy all those in bulk too. One thing you could do is at least for pee wipes, use wash clothes. I wouldn't want to for poo because the mess and cleaning. Eww. But pee. And it's more sanitary for babies. what kinds of things do you buy? I find that we both get more junk when we both go. I like Togo alone so I can stay focused.