Meal Planning 101

I wasn't always a meal planner. I went through a lot of trial and error in college when I was cooking for myself and then again after I got married. I started out with what I knew: always having a fully/overly-stocked pantry, fridge, and freezer. But buying and hoarding food for "whenever you might need it" doesn't work; it only leads to wasted food. You lose track of what you have and inevitably, something spoils, rots, or goes past the expiration date. Losing food like this is a waste of your money and it is also stealing from the poor. So clearly, this just doesn't work. So what else did I do? I ate out a lot. I don't need to tell you how expensive that gets or how unhealthy it is--those foods are full of fat, salt, sugar, and a load of ingredients only found in a lab. So what next... my husband and I just started going to the store after work to pick up what we needed for dinner that night. That got very expensive and there was no way we could keep track of the money we were spending per month. Even though it sounds somewhat practical, we still wasted and threw away excess food. So after trying and failing several times, I thought it was time to finally make a meal plan. It was awkward and rough at first, and my grocery bills were still higher than I wanted. But you need to fall down a few times before you successfully learn to walk, and that's what I did.

When I plan my meals, I plan to shop mostly for dinners for the next seven days. I'll let you in on a huge secret: the biggest way we save money on food is by utilizing our leftovers! We do not eat out for lunch (this is healthier and saves money). Instead, we make somewhat large dinners so there will be plenty for dinner that night and lunch the next day. No drive-throughs at lunch! No trips to the deli for a $5 sandwich (which is an extra $25 a week or about $100 per month on one daily meal for one person!). No going hungry or mindlessly snacking throughout the day. Just good, healthier home cooking for seemingly no extra cost.

To get started, I pull out my cookbooks and recipe cards to brainstorm. I come up with a list of meals that I want for the next week and then write out all the ingredients that I need for those meals. Because we eat leftovers for lunch the next day, suddenly a list of ingredients for seven dinners becomes ingredients for 14 meals for two people! We usually just eat cereal for breakfast, so after a couple boxes of cereal and a gallon of milk, our weekly meal list is complete. It's that simple, but it takes some practice and getting used to.

Step-by-step, here's what I do:

1. Plan early. 1-2 days ahead of time, start thinking about what sounds good for dinner next week.
2. Make a list of meals. Make a list of those meals that you want. If you use leftovers for lunch the next day, you've cut down your list by at least 1/3. Eat the same thing for breakfast every day?--Another easy way to cut down on your grocery bill.
3. Make a list of ingredients. With the meal list, write out the ingredients you need for each meal. Can you share ingredients? Can you use an ingredient for two or three meals, and thus buy in bulk? Write what you need but try and minimize the number of things on your list.
4. Write your meals on a calendar. I learned this the hard way; I have a fridge full of ingredients for the meals I planned, but I forgot what those meals were. That left me with wasted foods and missing ingredients. Stay organized and hold yourself accountable.

Practice makes perfect, but as my favorite Dave Matthews Band says, "However small, the first step is hardest of all."