Southern Illinois Money Savers

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I have to admit I am not the most organized person in the world!  Truth be told I am really far from it and this is something I really want to work on this year.  Sometimes I menu plan and sometimes I don’t.  When I don’t menu plan I have a real tendency to make excuses to get take out for dinner.  While take out on occassion is fine, on a regular basis it is terrible for my budget.

There are different ways to menu plan and really it is most important to do what works for you and your family or you just won’t want to stick to it.

Some people plan a month at a time, others plan each and every meal of the day, while others (like me) make a more detailed plan for dinner and then a vague plan for breakfast and lunch.

I find that I just can’t seem to plan for more than a week at a time,  this is what works for me.  So after I have done a quick inventory of my home I will make a very basic plan.

For instance, if I happen to have a lot of chicken in the freezer I will plan 2 maybe 3 meals that week that involve chicken.

For my plan I want a total of 6 dinners, since we typically eat out or get take out on Friday nights.  When writing out my plan I will start taking the main food items I have on hand and fit them into a day.

(Example: Our Menu For the Week)

Breakfast:  this week we will be having oatmeal or eggs and turkey bacon.  Juice or milk to drink.

Lunch:  Choice of soup, PB&J Sandwiches, Grilled Cheese, crackers, yogurt, pudding

Dinner:

Monday:  Baked Balsamic Chicken, mashed potatoes and broccoli

Tuesday: Taco Soup

Wednesday:  Salsa Chicken Soft Tacos and Corn

Thursday: Grilled Turkey Bacon and Cheese Sandwiches and Homemade Fries

Friday:  Pizza or Take out

Saturday: Brown Rice and Lentil Casserole, Broccoli and Cheese

Sunday:  Soup and Sandwiches

Your menu can be as simple as you want or as elaborate.  The point is if you have a plan about dinner, whether you ever clip coupons or not you will save money.

Fill as many items as you can for your menu, whatever you have on hand that can be used that week. It is okay if you don’t have enough on hand to finish the whole week.  Maybe you only have enough for 2 or 3 meals, that is at least a start.  Maybe you have a few items that could be part of a meal if you picked up a few ingredients.  Make sure to write those type of things down too.

I also like to write down anything that I have on hand that would work for breakfasts or lunches.  This way when I head to the store I am only buying what I need and then using the rest of my budget to stock up on sale items.

Do you Menu plan?  What type of menu planner are you?  Leave a comment I would love to hear your input!