Meal Planning - Part 2

Meal Planning - Part 2



Did you gather your receipts, sale ads, and set your meal planning time frame? If not, that needs to be done before diving any further into this. In the beginning, these steps will be a hassle. It was for me. It was a bigger hassle though, to watch my grocery budget continue to climb, and not feel I was able to stop it.

Let's assume, that you have gathered all your receipts and sale ads. That you have set your meals for the time frame you want to work with. A quick disclosure, even though I plan out my meals on a monthly basis, I do not always keep the meals on the days/dates I plan. I tend to switch them around if something comes up or I need a faster meal, etc. I stick to the meals planned, they just may get moved around a bit.

Planning for your meals, will take a little time to decide what your schedule looks like, what your budget looks like, and what meals you determine will work with both. Let's use a 7 day plan for our example in this blog. You are planning 7 days worth of meals, breaking down the cost per meal(we will use a 4 person household), and planning a grocery list for those 7 days.

7-day meal plan example:
Day 1 - Spaghetti, corn, and homemade bread.
Day 2 - Tator Tot Casserole
Day 3 - Homemade Hamburger Helper Meal
Day 4 - Loose hamburger, mashed potatoes, and corn
Day 5 - Homemade Pizza
Day 6 - Chili, homemade bread
Day 7 = Chili Pasta Bake

As I said, more than likely, these meals would get moved around in my house. We would probably have chili the 1st or 2nd day, and save the left overs for a few days later.

Let's break down each meal, for ingredients and prices. Keep in mind the prices I will list are local prices, so you would need to have your own receipts and ads to get the true break downs.

Meal 1 - Spaghetti, Corn, and Garlic Bread.
Spaghetti - hamburger $4 lbs, Noodles $.99 lbs., Sauce $1.69 jar, Spices $.20. ($6.88)
Corn - Frozen or canned - $.99 lbs. ($.99)
Bread - Flour $.35, Olive Oil $.50, Honey $.50, Yeast $.10, Salt $.05.($1.50)

This meal would cost $9.37.
This would also make enough for dinner one night, and lunch the next day, bringing the true total to $4.69 per meal. Spaghetti will also freeze if put into an air tight freezer container.

Meal 2 - Tator Tot Casserole.
Our version of this includes hamburger($4 lbs), mixed vegetables($1 lbs.), potatoes($1.75 lbs.), cream of mushroom soup($2), velveta($1), milk($.30) and tator tots($1).

This meal would cost $ 11.05.
This would also be a 2 meal dish and would bring the true total to about $5.52 per meal.

Meal 3 - Homemade Hamburger Helper Meals
This is something that is very versatile! You can use any kind of combinations. We have used: hamburger, tuna, chicken and sausage. You just decide what works for your family. Here are comparisons for 2 we use regularly:

Hamburger Helper Tuna Helper
Hamburger - $4 lbs. Tuna - $1 can (I use 2 )
Noodles - $1 lbs. Noodles $1 lbs.
Sauce - mushroom soup - $1 can(I use 2) Velveta - $7 box -
Add-ins - Vegetables - I love mixed veggies $1 lbs. I don't use any add-ins on this one, but will add a veggie side $1
This meal cost is: $8 This meal cost is: $11

Both meals will make enough for left overs, dividing the overall cost in half...$4 and $5.50. However, the tuna helper has a cost added in for a box of Velveta, and you will use about half of it, and have more for a later meal.

Meal 4 - A favorite of mine, is my version of shepperds pie.
Loose hamburger, corn, and mashed potatoes.
Hamburger $4 lbs.( I use 2 lbs.), Corn $1 lbs( I use 2 lbs.), Potatoes $1(I use about half a 5 lbs. bag).
This meal would cost $ 12. I double my recipe to allow for left overs. Breaking the cost of this meal down to $6 per meal.


Meal 5 - Homemade Pizza
This takes a little planning and time, since I make my crust from scratch, but well worth it!
Crust - flour($1), Oil($.25), Yeast($.25), Water, honey($.25) - $1.75
Pizza Toppings - Pizza Sauce($.90 can, I use 1 per pizza), Sausage($2 lbs. - I use 2lbs.), pepperoni($1 bag), Peppers($.50), Onions($.50), Mushrooms($3 lbs.). - $10.80 - This will make 2 large size pizzas, and will give at least 2 meals, making it $5.40.

Meal 6 - Chili and bread.
My pizza dough recipe is multipurpose. I use the same recipe for my homemade bread.
Chili - Kidney Beans($.75 can - I use 3), Chili Beans($.75 can - I use 3), Chili seasoning($.50 pkg - Use 1), Meat(hamburger is typical but we also make venison. ($4 lbs burger, or $1 lbs venison), peppers ($.25 pc, I use half of one.), onion($.50 each, I use half to cook with and half to put on top), Shred Cheese($2.50 bag - will use about half) - $9.50 using hamburger
The bread is just like the pizza crust above: $1.75
This meal would be $11.25 total. The Chili will easily break down into 2 meals, sometimes 3. Chili can also be froze in air tight container. Bring this meal to $5.75 per meal.

Meal 7 - Chili Bake
This is a repurposed meal, made of the left over chili, but refreshed as a completely different meal.
For this meal, Just add a $1 box of pasta, any style and the remaining shred cheese. Mix with left over chili, bake for 30-45 minutes, and voila! New meal made with left overs for $7.50.

For this particular meal plan, groceries would be about $65-70 for the week and give you actually 14 meals. That breaks down to about $4.75 per meal average, for a family of 4.

Let's break down the grocery list for this meal plan. I will break it down per item, number of items needed, cost per item, total cost for multiple items, and the total cost for the groceries. Here we go!

Grocery List:
Hamburger 5 lbs. $4 lbs. $20
Sausage 2 lbs. $2 lbs. $ 4
Noodles - variety 2 pkg $1 pkg $ 2
Spaghetti Sauce 2 jars $1.70 jar $3.40
Pizza Sauce 2 cans/jars $.90 pcs. $1.80
Mixed Vegetables 2 pkg $1 pkg $ 2
Corn 3 pkg $1 pkg $ 3
Cream of Mushroom Soup 4 cans $.90 can $3.60
Chili Beans 3 cans $.75 can $2.25
Kidney Beans 3 cans $.75 can $2.25
Tomato Juice 2 cans $1 can $2

Italian Seasoning, salt and pepper - Can be purchased for around $4 and the small amounts you use won't even break down into a real cost, but you need to figure in staples! We are going to just use the costs for purchasing the staples, as full amounts so you are stocked up for the next plan.

Flour - Unbleached 1 - 5lbs. $5 pkg $5
Olive Oil - EV cold press 1 - ?? $7 bottle $7
Honey 1 $7 bottle $7
Yeast 1 $4 bulk package $4
Velveta 1 box $7 $7
Potatoes 10 lbs. $3 $3
Onions 3 lbs. $2 $2
Green Peppers 4 $.50 each. $2
Mushrooms 1 lbs. $3 $3
Chili Season Packet 1 $.50 $.50
Stewed Tomatoes 1 can $.75 $.75
Shred Cheese 2 pkg $2.50 pkg $5
_______________________________________________________________________________
Total Grocery Cost $ 92.55

This will give you not only your 7 meals, plus left overs, but also your staples for the next week of meal planning. Most of the staples listed here, will last a month, so if you divide that out, your staples will be $9.75 per week. The meals alone for this plan, would be about $69.

Obviously, breaking the cost down over a month, is even more cost effective. However, it takes a lot more time, a lot more energy, and a lot more planning. When planning for groceries, food alone would be rather reasonable, but my grocery budget also includes the horrible necessities that take more money, like: toilet paper, paper towels, soaps, etc. I have been doing this break down for long enough, I know how many rolls of toilet paper we use a month, how many rolls of paper towels we use in a month, how much soap we go through, or if we can stretch our toothpaste over 2 months.

Yes, it's a little tedious, but the amount of your grocery bill will drop with some planning. The next blog, I will share some of my favorite recipes, even a couple breakfast recipes. Meal Planning - Part 3, will be done soon also. In the next meal planning blog, I am going to work on, I will share some of my secrets for the best grocery prices, among several other things.

Happy Planning!
Salli