Was I always a weekly meal planning on a budget person? Absolutely not! And as I reflect on those dreadful days I often ask myself, how in the world did I ever survive? 😂
Today, I’m going to offer you some guidance on how to get started with Weekly Meal Planning on a Budget! You’ll get access to my free Weekly Meal Planner, and I will also share with you my personal experience!
The consequences of not having a weekly meal plan!
Yes, there are consequences, trust me, I lived through them! Here are some of the consequences I experienced when I lacked a weekly meal plan. 😖 Just thinking about it gives me anxiety 😅 Let me know if you relate with any of these!
Stress & Waste
- Constant stress! -The moment I got into my car to drive home from work was the most dreaded time of the day! After teaching all day my innercity 6th grade class- this dark stormy thought cylce would start plaguing me:
- “What am I going to make for dinner today?” Then I would start thinking of what I already had in the house “Great! I have pasta & ground meat! I’ll make pasta and meat sauce” only to then realize “Oh, crap! I have no sauce” and then I would do the whole thing over and over again. I would finally arrive at my house and start franticly searching for something to toss together. If I was lucky, I would put something quick together. If not, we would just order something out.
- Wasted mental energy- I think this goes along with the first scenerio 🙄
- Wasted so much money- This was a huge one! I used to go grocery shopping, but never with a list! SO, as I walked the isles of the supermarket I would just be thinking on the spot “hmm, this sounds good. Maybe I’ll make this. This is on sale, why not get that too”. I would find myself spending over 50% what I spend now and still not having an idea of what exactly I was going to make for dinner and often forgetting another thing that I needed to make that particular meal.
- Food waste-Threw out A LOT of food! This was huge! Especially since I didn’t have a specific plan. I would forget that I had purchased something or would purchase too much of something else. Then, it wasn’t until I would clean out the fridge that I would be like “Oops, I totally forgot I had bought that!”
- Wasted time!
- By the time I was done shopping aimlessly, I had spent much more time at the store than I anticipated.
- By the time I was done frantically searching for what to make at home, I had wasted a good 30 minutes.
- If I didn’t find anything, we would head out to eat out somewhere or pick up something pre-made and that was a good 1-2 hours wasted.
It was time to make a plan!
I had to come up with a tight budget for food, my husband needed a list to know what to buy, and the trip to the store could only happen once a week. 🤯 This is when I was forced to meal plan on a budget. Boy! did I learn how amazing and stress free life could be and I haven’t stopped since!
My introduction to Weekly Meal Planning on a Budget!
The 2020 shut down arrived and my trips to the grocery store could not longer occur as often nor as long as I used to make them. And to top it all off, my husband’s income was paused for a few months, so we were forced to cut back on our spending.
This is when I created my budget weekly meal planning system!
My husband would go do the shopping while I would stay home with the kiddos. The dilemma was that I now had to come up with a tight budget for food, my husband needed a list to know what to buy, and the trip to the store could only happen once a week. 🤯 This is when I was forced to meal plan on a budget. Boy! did I learn how amazing and stress free life could be and I haven’t stopped since!
Rewards of Weekly Meal Planning!
- Bye, bye stress! Remember that dark thought cycle that use to plague me? GONE! Now, I don’t have to think about what’s for dinner because that’s already done! Now, I just get in my car and listen to my favorite podcast or listen to some music on my way home. I arrive to my house very relaxed and happy!
- My mental energy goes to creating other great things in my life like homeschooling my kiddos, blogging or creating my YouTube videos.
- I save about half of what I use to spend, barely waste food and have become a great steward of my time 😁
- I’m in a much better mood!
- Everyone knows what’s for dinner everyday!
- I only have to think about what I’m making for dinner 1 time per week!
It’s totally worth it!
How can you begin your Weekly Meal Planning on a Budget?
If you are starting from scratch, follow these steps to help you set up a budget.
- Write down a list of 10 meals that your family eats on a weekly basis.
- Print out my meal planner freebie here!
- Write down on each day which 5-6 meals you plan to eat for each day of the week. You can plan to eat out or order out on 1-2 days.
- Think about one meal at a time. On the grocery list write down the items that you will need to purchase.
- These should be things that you don’t already have in your home. Take a look in the fridge or pantry if you need to.
- Are there non-food items that you need to purchase? ie. paper products, toiletries, cleaning supplies.
- Now that you have your list you can go ahead and place a grocery pick up order or go shopping at your grocery store.
- I personally love placing grocery pick up orders because they save me time and money! It super easy to not have to go through the whole store with my kiddo’s and helps prevent impulse buying!
- Take a look at how much you spent on your grocery bill this week. Use this as a baseline for creating a budget for spending. You can always adjust it based on your family needs.
- If you would like to get some meal plan ideas you can check out some of the grocery hauls and meal ideas on my YT channel.
Do you want to see the process I go through when creating my meal plan? Go ahead and check out this Youtube video below from my channel!
Have any questions or comments about meal planning on a budget? Feel free to ask them in the comments!
