Who does weekly or bi-weekly meal plans?

SouthernBellelovesaYankee

It's something that I want to try, I think it could save money for FI and I if we did this..make a menu for the week, allow one or two nights to eat out..

Thoughts?

manda_mullins

I do and it is a life saver! I usually try to do one for the whole month though. It saves a lot.?

?

I also modify it when i go to kroger's bc they always have something on sale, so if i find chicken breasts i'll rearrange stuff or change a meal to include chicken again.

?

And i allow to one day a week for eating out, which we TRY to stick by.

?

It really is great though! You go to the store with a purpose and a list and save money by sticking to it!?

chels0120

This is what we do! We sit down Sunday and decide what we want for the week and plan our date night then I shop that day for what I need for the week. Saves a ton on spoiled food and we eat healthier cause we aren't just throwing crap together at the last second!!

Teddyswife

I have not done this but I really want to and have brought it up to DH a couple of times. We always argue when I get in from work what we are gonig to have for dinner, and it ends up in a lot of " I don't know"  I think it would be so much easier if we did a weekly meal plan, it would help avoid the argument, plus keep us more on budget since we will know what we need when we do food shopping!

CubsGirlNYC

DH and I  try to do this. We did a great job with it before I got pregnant, but once I was pregnant, it got a little harder. I had terrible m/s for 17 weeks and never wanted to eat what we planned. When I am not pg it's great, we cook Sunday -Thurs and eat out Fri and Sat. Saved us a ton of $$ and was healthy too.

blairsgirl

We do.  And it saves us so much money! When I go to the grocery store, I have a list of what I need for the meals and I am not buying things I don't need or already have.  Also, I always check my cabinet and pantry to make sure I don't already have something that I need.  I used to be so giulty of buying things we already had and then we would have such a surplus. 

ForForever

We do this. I will make up a menu for the week with 3 or 4 options on it based on what we have at the house and what is on sale at our grocery store. I always write the meals at the bottom of my shopping list to keep me in focus.

It's helped save us a bunch of money. ?

Steffsjet

We do a weekly menu.  Not sure if we have saved money but I suspect we do since it keeps us from eating out so much.  The biggest benefits I have seen from doing this the last few years...

1.We waste less food

2. Before the BFP we were both losing weight without too much effort.

3.  I feel better these days since we are using the healthier ingredients...whole grains etc

toospooky

We do a weekly menu, and it's significantly reduced our grocery budget. We spend approx. $50.00 a week on food supplies, total of $200 a month for our grocery budget.

BibisBean

I do this! It is so helpful! It saves money, time and aggravation!

MidwestTexan

I don't do meal plans, per se, but I always shop with a grocery list so we don't buy stuff that isn't on it. I always keep essentials in the pantry, like rice, pasta, marinara sauce, cream soup, canned/frozen veggies, etc. so I can whip different casseroles together at short notice. It works for us!

mollymurphy

We do and it has made shopping and cooking SO much easier: now, we rarely have food that goes bad before we can use it which saves money and whichever of us gets home first can get one of the meals from the weeks list started. We used to eat sooo late b/c we'd wait to decide what to have until we were both home and starving. Now, we get dinner on the table earlier and it's easier to try new recipes b/c we can rotate a new one into the mix and have everything on hand. (But yes, we still plan to eat dinner out or do carryout a night a week...usually weekends.)

ETA: The other thing that's key for us is to clean out the fridge and 'shop' in our pantry for next weeks' ingredients while making the shopping list so that you're not inadvertently buying duplicates or overlooking leftovers hiding in the fridge that need to be used up...?

chounTX

We do!

We plan a menu for the week on Saturday then I go through the paper Sunday morning with my grocery list for the week.  I clip coupons for products and even go to product website to see if they have coupons online.

I shop at Kroger that has triple and double coupons.

I make DH lunch every day and we only go out to eat on Friday or Saturday night (or both)...but we typically always share a meal...I think portion sizes are too large.

Since I'm staying home with baby after she's born - we are putting away my entire salary and living on DH to get used to the change.  It's a lot of work but very do-able.  

Good luck!

webMistress0609

We do a bi-weekly plan. I get paid Fri, so Sat we go & shop at Costco & the grocery store for the next 2 weeks. We were making so many small trips to the store that were adding up, so this was an easy way to get the food budget under control. We usually leave a few nights as eat out/play it by ear depending on what was on sale.

mrsg052904

I was in the habit of doing a bi-weekly menu for about 2 years.  When I got PG, I was very nauseous and tired for the first few months and I got out of the habit.  I have forced myself to get back into the habit and just started this again the other night!  It saves us TONS of money, we each a variety of foods, and it is actually fun for me!

HeyyRed

We do not 'grocery shop' per se.

Fortunately, we live very close to markets and food stores. We do a monthly meat order from our organic butcher (which is a VERY hefty bill but totally worth it) that we pretty much stick to though depending on specials we will make some substitutions.

We buy fresh produce as we need it. ?Last night, we decided to have burritos and so DH went to the store to grab a fresh avocado instead of buying it in advance and having it spoil or needing to eat it in a mad rush before it does spoil. ?Because we have his kids (15/17) half of the time, some weeks we may only see them one day and the next week we may have them for more (depending on their ever so important social calenders). The great thing about buying on demand is that we don't have to plan meals for 4 only to have the kids not show up and food get wasted.

We tend to make a little more at dinner so that we can have lunches taken care of for a few days if possible. I find that we are less likely to make impulse purchases that stay in the cupboard for weeks on end not getting eaten or purchase junk food because we are hungry. ?

orion09

it saves a hella-ton of money!!! You should just try it... we do ours weekly.

SouthernBellelovesaYankee

Thanks everyone

mltaylor23

We do it, it does save money. A bonus: if it is just the two of you and you make a large serving, freeze half of it. It will save for a month. It will save you cooking time later. I am definately doing this in the weeks before the baby arrives.

hula_lula

I do it weekly when I make up our grocery list.

*blondie*

I do this! And LOVE it! We save soo much money by doing so. I plan our dinners 2 weeks at a time and on the fridge magnet pad I have also has space for breakfast, lunch & snack options. I highly suggest trying it!