Meal Planning: Week 1

Summer break is FINALLY here! One of the goals I have for this summer is to plan our meals each week before purchasing groceries. There are several reasons behind this decision:

1) Even though couponing does save a lot of money, buying something just because I can get a great deal on it (if it is not something we need or would use otherwise) does not lead to savings in the end.

2) I get so frustrated figuring out what to make for dinner each night. Normally by the time we decide what we want, it takes forever to get meat thawed and we end up eating dinner really late. I really want to try some new recipes and have some nice meals with my husband before our daughter arrives this fall, and I know I need to plan ahead in order for this to happen. I love cooking, but I'm not very creative in the kitchen, so spur of the moment cooking leads to lackluster meals on my part.

3)We always have a house full of food but "nothing to eat" (first world problem). This also leads to lots of waste as things go unused. I hate wasting food because I know others would be grateful to have it. I can donate canned and boxed goods, but I can't donate spoiled fruits and vegetables.

4) Now that I am home the majority of the time, I'm cooking breakfast instead of relying on poptarts and protein bars (yay!) I also am eating lunch at home everyday and packing Nick's lunch daily, so I wanted to make sure dinner would ensure some decent leftovers for our lunches on busy days.

The game plan...

Each week, grocery store sales run Wednesday - Tuesday. This means I am now buying groceries each Wednesday, and our meal plans run Wednesday-Tuesday. During the school year, I always purchased groceries on Friday after school or Sunday night. I hate Sunday grocery shopping because it cuts into family during the weekend.

1) I took inventory of what we had in the house. Nothin' fancy, just made a big list...

2) I tried to see how many meals I could come up with just based on what we had in the house.

3) I looked over the sales papers Tuesday evening and chose enough well priced items to come up with seven breakfasts, lunches, and dinners total, as well as a few snacks. Yes..I type out my grocery list. I only had two coupons to use, but almost every item was on sale or a non-negotiable necessity for the week.

4) I shopped VERY quickly, trying not to stop for random snacks and impulse items.

Here is what I ended up buying and how much I spent...

Pictured: 

BILO

Two 1 lb bags of carrots

Apple juice

Total Value: $6.75

Total Spent: $3.05

KMart

40 garbage bags

2 boxes of wheat thins

Total Value: $11.21

Total Spent: $1.21 !!!!

I had a $10 off coupon on a receipt from buying $30 in toilet paper and paper towels last week.

Aldi

Tortilla chips

Eight bratwursts

8 infuse drinks (like gatorade but off brand, for Nick's lunches)

Total Value / Total Spent: $10.56

Harris Teeter

One huge bag of seedless red grapes

Six bananas

two dozen eggs

two English muffin 6-packs

one gallon of 2% milk

Jimmy Dean breakfast sausage patties

Total Value: $25.14

Total Spent: $14.10

I had a $1 off coupon for the sausage that I FORGOT TO USE (grrrr)!!!!

Food Lion

this is a separate picture because I shopped there Tuesday night

orange juice

bacon

smoked ham lunchmeat (forgot to include in picture)

kraft singles (yuck, but Nick likes this on sausage biscuits)

bread

Total Value: $13.02

Total Spent: $12.40

Here are my totals:

Total value of all purchases: $66.18

Total spent on all purchases: $41.32

Spent 62.4%, saved 37.6% ($24.86)

Although I think this might be my lowest savings percentage to date, I spent about $25-$30 less than usual and I know that all of these items will get used, so I think I did pretty well over all.

What will we be eating this week for $41.32?

Since everything has already been purchased, I didn't assign a specific meal for each night of the week. I figure we can decide which meal we want that night and I'll mark it off the list. So, in no particular order, these are the meals we will be having:

Nick's breakfast options:

*sausage, egg, and cheese on English muffins

*two scrambled eggs with bacon and toast

*fried bologna with two scrambled eggs and toast

oj and coffee to drink

Mary's breakfast options:

*apple cinnamon oatmeal

*English muffin, two scrambled eggs, banana

*toast, two scrambled eggs, bacon

oj or apple juice to drink

Lunches:

Nick - *ham sandwich with mustard, swiss, salad mix, onion, and sub dressing

*salad

*leftovers

apples, wheat thins, nutrigrain bars for snack, infuse and water to drink

Mary - *salad (carrots, shredded cheese, boiled egg, grilled chicken, cucumber, tomato, croutons, cranberries, and ranch/french/italian/caesar dressing)

*veggie burger with sweet potato on the side

*bean and cheese burrito, apple or carrots on the side

*leftovers

Dinners:

*lemon herb chicken with whole grain pasta

*homemade pizza (bacon, sausage, pepperoni, mozzarella, onions)

*breaded pork chops, corn, and green beans

*fish sticks with lima beans and salad

*spaghetti (sausage and pepperoni in tomato sauce with whole grain pasta), salad, and garlic bread

*barbecue chicken, green beans, twice baked potatoes

*brats with onions and peppers, roasted potatoes on the side

Snacks:

*apples with peanut butter

*grapes

*carrots with hummus

*wheat thins with hummus

* smoothies (banana, frozen peaches, raspberries, and oj)

*sliced cucumbers and tomatoes

*cereal

Sounds like our tummies will be full without our wallets being empty, yay!

 My goal is to keep this up and try to average around $40 per week  ($150 - $200 per month). I hope that eventually this weekly total will be able to include toiletries and cleaning supplies/paper goods as well. Next week is super doubles week at Harris Teeter (they will double coupons that are worth $1.98 or less, as opposed to 99 cents). I know I will probably spend more next week but will be acquiring many frozen/packaged items that will keep my total down in the following weeks.

I will report back to let you know how well I stick to this weekly meal planning. Hold me accountable, readers!