52 Week Meal Planning

Hello again.

One of the biggest ways to save is to cut down on your grocery bill.  Now just because I said that don’t
go trying to cut everything out at once. You don’t need to necessarily eat only oatmeal, bean and
rice everyday. That would get boring very quickly and once that happens you won’t be able to stick to
that plan.

My best suggestion is to make a weekly meal plan. This can save you tons of money because you
decide what you want, pick up those ingredients, and you can have your meal.  What I try to do is
make up a plan for 4 weeks that I can rotate through.  This way I am able to stock up on the various
ingredients as they go on sale.

For example, Potatoes are on sale for $1.99 for 10lbs, these store well so I have the chance to
pick up 30lbs for $5.97. During the winter we use these a lot in our meals.
Normally these are $2.98+ for 5 lbs or $0.59/lb, so taking advantage of the sale, makes it $0.19/lb ,
a savings of $0.39/lb.  If we look at the amounts at regular price 30 lbs of potatoes cost $17.88 vs
buying them on sale for 30lbs for $5.97, this will save you $11.91. You can in turn splurge on some
higher end ingredients for your meals or buy some extra baking items for an afternoon surprise.

Again it is the little things that can really add up to larger amounts. Here is an example of a typical 4
week meal rotation for my family.

WEEK 1		Week 2		WEEK 3		WEEK 4
Ghoulash		Sloppy Joe		Shephard Pie		BBQ Chick Leg
Beef Stew		MB Grinders		Stuffed Peppers		Hot Dogs/FF
Pork Chops		Roast Chic		Chic Alfredo		Roast
Fish		Chicken Pot Pie		Burgers/FF		Taco
Chicken Parm		Meat Loaf		Fajitas		Spaghetti
Pizza		Zuppa Tusc		Pork Ribs		Beef Strog
Hamb Helper		Lasagna		Saus/Onio/Pepp		Beef Broc

Now that I have this rotation I can make my master grocery list. I break down all the ingredients
into my list and first I “pantry shop” to see if I have already the ingredients. If not then they stay
on the list.

Now I have both a weekly and a monthly list. This may sound way to complicated but it actually
makes my life easier. There are some things that I need for week one’s meals, lets start with the
steak for the beef stew. While I am out shopping I see a managers markdown on steaks. I know
that I need 1 for this week but I also need some for week 3’s fajitas and week 4’s Beef Strogenoff
and Beef/Broccoli. Now I can either just buy the one steak I need at the reduced price and possibly
have to pay full price for 4 more steaks later in the month. Or pick up all 5 steaks, freeze the extra 4
for later in the month. Most of the time the mark downs can reduce the steak from $5/lb down to $2/lb
at my local grocery stores.  It could be as much as looking at $25 for 5 steaks for the month or $10 for
5 steaks. I personally will choose $10. Also those meat markdowns are a great place to look for
other meats that you will either need later in the month or just as a good stock up.

I have actually been able to get higher quality meats by choosing to purchase from the meat mark
downs. Thus feeding my family better food for less money.

This post is part of my series 52 weeks of Meals. In this series I am looking for ways to save money,
and feed my family better food.  I look forward to sharing this with you.