wit wisdom & food

connecting with food

starting to meal plan

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Starting to meal plan can feel daunting if you have been handling dinners in any other manner for years. There are simple ways to make the process easier, more attainable, and enjoyable. All of that creates a habit you are likely to stay with instead of ditching after a frustrating and time-consuming week or two.

starting to meal plan Easy steps for a meal planning habit that will save you time & money

This process is the number one action that has saved us the most money when we started to pay attention to such things. We were slow to responsible money habits and I hate creating routines that I then feel pressured to keep up with, for more examples we could talk about cleaning and exercising! This habit kept me on top of what I spend at the grocery and the results were so impressive I couldn’t ignore them. It hasn’t just saved us money. We have also dramatically reduced the amount of food that we waste.

The routine has also encouraged me to plan an easy dinner night, making for at least one night that I don’t head to the kitchen kicking and screaming. As a person always certain there is something more interesting going on when it is time for chores and responsibilities I had to come up with a few ideas to me stick to this. My top three things to make planning & cooking less stressful and take up less of my week are a tradition night, leftovers, and a small collection of seasonal recipes.

build in tradition night

Why over think every night? We have added in taco Tuesdays and Friday pizza nights. The tacos vary every week. Some weeks are easy and some weeks are complex Rick Bayless recipes, but it helps me narrow down what I am looking for while making the meal plan on Sunday morning. Pizza night keeps it really simple. I make multiple batches of pizza dough and then freeze them so they are ready to be pulled out of the freezer to thaw before dinner. Then everyone gets to make their own and dinner is ready in 20 minutes.

Pro tip: stop by the store and pick up the topping at the salad bar. It saves time and reduces waste even if it doesn’t save money.

build in a leftover night

Luckily, my husband and I don’t mind eating the same meal two nights in a row. So making a tray of lasagna or a roast chicken that makes lots of leftovers makes for an easy dinner the second night. This frees me up to some of those, assuredly, more exciting things I think I am missing on other nights. That usually equals spend time hanging out with Tom & Olive instead of standing in the kitchen cooking.

Build a collection of recipes

Building a collection of recipes that you want to cook from on a regular basis can help you cut down the time it takes to meal plan. I own a nice collection of cookbooks, have a pile of recipes handed down from my parents, and a decent Pinterest habit. This adds up to overwhelm when I sit down to meal plan. I created two binders that have recipes and an index of my favorites from cookbooks. One binder is for spring and summer and the other is fall and winter. This way it is more likely that what I am looking at will be in season and will match the weather.

When you are ready to start planning for the week

Untitled designGrab your collection of recipes

Gather whatever resources you use for recipes. Have them all in arms reach so creating the grocery list will be easier.

Pull out your trusty meal planning sheet
(or plain boring paper)

If you don’t have a special sheet for meal planning yet you can download the one I created by signing up for my mailing list or just use a regular piece of paper.

Check the weather

You don’t want to plan the BBQ when it is going to rain and you don’t want to be slaving over the stove is you have not AC and it is going to be 90 degrees outside!

Check the calendar

Got a special date night that is going to keep you out of the kitchen? Got a late meeting leaving the husband to feed the kids.

Look in the fridge & pantry

This a good chance to make sure you are using the things your already purchased and get a good sense of what you will need to pick up at the store to restock the pantry.

Pick the meals

This part always takes me the longest. It is part of the reason I have theme nights built in to make my decisions easier.

Write the grocery list

I divide my list into the areas of the store making it much less likely for me to forget something or have to spend time backtracking through the store for missed items.

Check the fridge & pantry for items you already have on hand

Save money and food and check the pantry and fridge one more time for items you don’t need to purchase.

Head to the store

And you are off. Now stick to that list and see if you can also stick to your hopeful budget.

setting a grocery budget

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I found that the hardest part of meal planning was deciding on a budget. There are a lot of reasons to meal plan. My main motivator is to stay on a budget, but setting a grocery budget wasn’t easy. I had a general I idea of what I thought we could afford but had no frame of reference as to if that was too much or too little. I can sometimes have expensive tastes and wanting to buy the best food is a blessing and a curse.

Stumbling on the USDA food cost guidelines gave me a much-needed framework. Each month, the USDA produces this chart. They largely use it to track fluctuations in food pricing when then helps to determine how much food stamp recipients get. I used it to give myself a reference for setting my own budget. I am using the April 2017 numbers for this article, but you can get the newer reports at the Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion website.

The USDA breaks down the budgets in a lot of ways, monthly, weekly, by age and gender. They also break it out to 4 separate cost plans; thrifty, low-cost, moderate-cost, liberal. To get to these numbers they assume you are preparing all meals and snacks at home. So this doesn’t include dinner out. The breakdown of what quantities of food groups, which was based on the food pyramid is less helpful in my opinion. Diving into that is also a longer post about nutrition, how the special interests helped the government create the guidelines. We will save that for another day.

USDA food costs - handy for grocery budget planning

I have been using the budget guideline for months now and I can tell you that most diets are possible on almost any budget. As many of you know we are in the process of growing our family. This made keeping costs down important. I fall someplace between the low-cost and moderate plans, $120 for a family of 2. as my starting point. I am so interested in meeting this goal I made a meal planning sheet this helps keep myself in check. A little frame of reference about our diet so you have a better idea about what I am buying.

  • we eat more than the recommended quantities of fruits and veggies
  • we eat meat, though we have cut back
  • we have enough food to pack our lunches (truth is that I can be lazy about this and we end up buying too many lunches)
  • we eat dried fruit and nuts as our main snacks & dessert

I can’t tell you which budget is right for you. Only you and your family can decide what is right, but here are some things to think about as you start deciding on your budget.

how important are organic fruit & vegetables to you

Buying organic is a personal choice and it can cost more than buying conventionally grown produce. While it is true organic fruits & veggies do cost a little more in some cases it’s not enough to make an extreme difference. For example, I bought basil at Trader Joe’s the other day and conventional was only about .30 cents cheaper so I opted for organic. This can have an impact on your budget so if you feel strongly about organic you may need to start with a higher budget than you think you need and see how your first few weeks come out.

how much meat do you eat

Meat eats up a good portion of my budget. We eat more veggies than meat, but it still takes a chunk. The impact of meat on the budget gets even bigger when you consider buying local meat or organic meat. If you eat bacon for breakfast, chicken for lunch and meat at the center of your plate at dinner time you are going to spend a lot more money than the person that gets their protein from eggs, legumes and other foods.

if you can afford it are you doing it

If you have more money coming in than the average family you really should find ways to get local and organic food into your shopping cart. It is better for you, your local economy, and the environment. Every purchase you make is a vote. A vote for the kind of food you want to see grown and produced. Since you have more money to spend you have more votes and by making those choices you help encourage more organic food production which in turn brings the price down for those that can’t yet afford to make that choice. If you can handle that higher budget reach for it and get all the best stuff.

where are you shopping

Learning which store has the best price can take some time, but it will make all the difference on your budget. It took me a while to get used to the layout and learning how to release a grocery cart at Aldi was a whole other learning curve, but they have great prices. It makes my budget stretch so much further. Shopping at Whole Food’s is a feast for the eyes, but it will catch up to you at the checkout. Costco and Sam’s Club can offer some great deals, but only if you are eating items in that large of a quantity. Blowing $6 on a huge tub of greek yogurt might not be your best buy if you only eat it once a week and could buy a smaller quantity for less money. Sure the larger container is a better value, but if you don’t use it you aren’t actually saving yourself any money. Seasonal produce at the farmers markets should be a stop you work into your week. Seasonal fresh produce can often time offer great savings and if you are willing to go at the end of the market you might even find some really great deals. The selection may be smaller, but farmers will want to sell what they brought and might be willing to sell it cheaper if you ask nice.

are you willing to cut back something else

Maybe you feel strongly about organic food, but your budget is tight. Do you have a $5 a day coffee habit you could cut back on? Maybe start getting your books from the library instead of buying them. There are lots of ways to adjust household budgets that will help you bulk up your food budget. Since food is what fuels you and is a large factor in determining how healthy you are it can be one of the most important choices you make. Shouldn’t you put as much money towards that as you can?

Have you set a grocery budget? How did you decide what that budget should be?

 

feature photo by: Nicolas Barbier Garreau

meal planning template and grocery list

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I have been looking for a meal planning template for a while. For the past year, I have been making an effort to add meal planning into my weekly routine. I like to be organized and have cute little tools to help me get things done so I, of course, needed a template not just a piece of regular paper.

I searched Pinterest and even had my brother design one for me, a design you may see down the road. None of them were quite right. Most took up too much paper. Some were too detailed with breakfast, lunch dinner and snacks. Others were too flowery and just not my style.

After a lot of trial and error and using versions I drew on paper I finally found a layout that makes it easy for me to write down the week’s plan, my budget and my grocery list on the same page and I have turned it into a PDF to share with you.

my meal planning template

I have some favorite features on this meal planning template. Like it is also my grocery list so I don’t have to carry two pieces of paper to the store. When I fold it in half the sheet of paper is an easy size to carry around as I shop.

meal planning & grocery list in one

plan, list & go

This sheet makes it easy for you to plan the recipes you are going to make and write them in the top section of the page. By keeping my budget at the top it also helps remind me to not to plan lavish meals of lamb, seafood or other pricey dishes. Not that we eat like paupers by any means. The treat area lets me feel like I am splurging just a little while staying in budget. This usually reads, hummus & pretzels.

When I am done finding the recipes all I need to do is make my list at the bottom. Starting at the beginning of the week and going all the way through Sunday I am sure not to miss writing down the ingredients for an entire recipe. Though I somehow frequently forget an item or two. This list also has more room for the areas of the store I spend the most money in, produce & pantry staples, which never seemed to be the case on other forms.

The size is also super convenient for me, as I mentioned. I tried using one sheet and doing it vertically, but it was cumbersome to carry around the store and see the entire list at once. It just kept flopping over. This horizontal version makes it much easier, even allowing me to fold it in thirds for an even smaller piece to carry or stick in my pocket from store to store.

date checking at the store

When I was using two pieces of paper, one for the menu and one for the grocery list, I would leave the menu at home. Then at the store, I would forget what night I was cooking a certain dish. So, I am looking at the whole chickens with a few dates and can’t remember if these will still be good on the night I need to cook a whole chicken. Or I would want to get asparagus for dinner, but I was shopping too many days out and my asparagus was going to be dry and lackluster by the time I cooked it. This allows me to make quick decisions, to change my plan on the fly, or rearrange some side dishes so the asparagus would be as fresh as possible when I wanted to cook it.

If you want to use this meal planning template & grocery list, simply sign up for my email list. If you are already on the list this is heading to your inbox as we speak.

If you do use it and have feedback please let me know. I would love to make this the most useful tool it can be. If you don’t do your shopping on Saturday or Sunday like I do and would like the days of the week in a different order we may be able to work something out.

5 steps to changing grocery shopping habits

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If your new year’s resolution is to lose weight or get healthy the first place you should start making changes is the grocery store.

Changing grocery shopping habits isn’t any easy task. Most of us walk in and do the task on autopilot. No list, no plan, and no budget. What ends up in the cart is a variety of easy to put on the table dinners and lunches, a host of snacks and whatever the kids are willing to eat. If you are like me, on the weeks I don’t plan our meals, you shop every few days and spend more than you ever intended and eat food you never intended.

There are probably many reasons for this that range from comfort to easy. Not to mention the grocery store has become a place filled with so many products it could take hours to navigate. Add in that it has quickly become a dreaded chore in our culture and it is no surprise we as a country eat so much processed food. Even after processed food has been shown study after study to be a leading cause of obesity, diabetes and heart disease.

The first key to any diet change is a change in shopping habits at the grocery store. Here are 5 easy steps to help you get started.

5 easy steps to grocery shopping success

Plan before you go

There is no step more important to changing your grocery buying habits than making a plan before you go to the store. Walking into the grocery store without a plan is like walking into Target without a mission. You are coming out with a whole lot more than you bargained for.

With a plan of the meals you want to cook, even just a loose plan, you will come out with what you need for the week and minimal add-ons. If the unhealthy food doesn’t make it into the cart it can’t make it into your house which means it won’t be eaten by you. Sign up for my email list to get a handy sheet that helps you meal plan and make your grocery list.

Don’t believe the hype

All those claims and labels on the box aren’t there to help you make healthy choices. They are there to make you spend money. 99.9% of them are marketing ploys to get you to buy. While my percentage isn’t scientifically proven and was chosen purely to make my point, it is likely not that far off. After over 12 years working in grocery stores, I have some insight in this.

In case you haven’t heard yet, fat-free doesn’t equal healthy. It can actually be quite the opposite. Unless you are talking about a fat-free vegetable, fat-free probably means add sugar and salt. So most things with fat-free in the label are just marketing. Those labels are not your friend. Don’t believe the hype.

Keep to the edges

You want the healthy food, stay to the edges of the store for all your grocery needs. Every store is laid out in a very similar way. Refrigerated perishable products up front and around the edges. Canned goods and pantry staples are either on the same aisle or in adjoining aisles. This tip just saved you so much time. Now there is less store you even need to cover!

Have you noticed that produce is always the first section in a store? This isn’t by accident. Nothing in a grocery store is by accident. The produce is upfront and center because out of all the products in the store it is the most appealing. The section that makes you come in for more because all the vibrant colors draw you in and make you want to shop.

So there are probably some items you will need in the aisles, but with the plan you made before you got to the store (see the first step) you should be able to get in and out of those aisles with only the items you came for right?

Review your receipts

Tracking your purchases and the money spent is a huge step to changing what you buy. Keep an eye on your receipts and notice where the majority of your money is going. Some of the big stores even break it down for you. If the majority of your shopping didn’t come from produce, this includes frozen vegetables, add more to your plan for next week. What we track we change. If you don’t pay attention to your habits changing them will be that much harder.

Making your resolution a success

You have already made the decision to be healthier and that in itself it a huge step. Following through with good food choices is the key to making this plan a success. What you choose to eat is the most important decision you make on a daily basis. If that is the most important decision then what you put in your grocery cart, to in turn put in your cupboards, is high up there in importance as well. Before your next trip to the store make a plan, don’t fall for the marketing, stick to the edges of the store and track your purchases and you will be on the way to grocery shopping that matches your goal of being healthy.

If you want more tips about grocery shopping and how to avoid the marketing tricks sign up for my newsletter.

learning to budget and meal plan

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With the certainty that, at some point, we will be a house of 3 I have started cutting costs and budgeting whatever I can. The phone plan got slashed, we got a cheaper car and I am working on the grocery budget. Being a big fan of food that grocery budget part has been the hardest.
Cooking isn’t only a necessity it is also my hobby. So while I could slash the grocery budget even lower than the $500 a month I plan it starts to take a little of the fun out of cooking for me. I need the wiggle room to try new recipes and ingredients.
I have been working on menu planning and food budgets from the last few months. I still haven’t completely found a groove, but it has been improved and we are more on track with what we spend. My biggest problem so far is setting aside the time for planning. Which means some weeks I am doing it in a rush and throwing it together just as I am making my grocery list. I feel like is leading to a lot of repeat meals and spending more than I even need to. What follows is two weeks of my attempt to track everything in our food budget.
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