Menu Planning and Grocery Shopping

The main key to my success in keeping our food bills low is menu planning. I plan two weeks of meals at a time and do most of the shopping for those two weeks in one shopping trip. In doing so, I not only save money but also time. 

Some basic principles: 

1) Consider your schedule when planning. If you have an afternoon appointment, plan a quick and easy meal, a crockpot meal, or leftovers. 
2) Plan meals that use the same ingredients (e.g. tostadas one night and taco salad another). This results in buying less and wasting less. 
3) Plan meals that use fresh produce for the first few days after your shopping trip. For the rest of the two weeks, plan meals using frozen vegetables. 
4) Take inventory of your pantry, fridge, and freezer, then plan meals using ingredients you already have. 
5) Look at the weekly ads and plan meals with things that are on sale. 
6) Every few shopping trips, skip one week of shopping. This forces you to use the staples you have stocked up and saves a lot of money. Plus it makes you be creative with what you have. 
7) Go to the store with a list and stick to it. This doesn’t mean you can’t pick up something you see at a great price or something you realize you’re out of, but don’t deviate from the list too much. 
8) Organize your list according to your grocery store’s layout. 

Here is an example of one of my lists. I started by writing out the next two weeks’ worth of days and filling in activities (in parentheses). Then I decided on the meals, taking into account what I already had. 

6/29T – roast chicken, rice, sautéed zucchini

6/30W – BBQ chopped salad (with leftover chicken from Tuesday)

7/1T – fried rice (with leftover rice and chicken from Tuesday), Asian salad

7/2F – (doctor appointment) Date Night!!

7/3S – spaghetti, Caesar salad

7/4S – BBQ at Mom and Dad’s

7/5M – (doctor appointment) leftovers

7/6T – baked potatoes with broccoli and chili (made from leftover spaghetti sauce)

7/7W – pancakes, eggs, fruit

7/8T grilled cheese, tomato soup

7/9F – pizza, peas

7/10S – baked chicken, oven fries, sautéed carrots

7/11S – BBQ at Mom and Dad’s

7/12M – burritos, corn

Here is the shopping list I made for this menu (organized according to WinCo’s layout).  Keep in mind this list takes into account items I already have in my pantry, fridge, and freezer. 

Produce 
Zucchini

Romaine

Tomatoes

Green bell pepper

Russet potatoes

Bins 
Red beans

Flour

Chow mein noodles

Right side
BBQ sauce

Mandarin oranges

Tomato sauce (75 oz.)

Diced tomatoes (30 oz.)

Tomato paste (12 oz.)

Tomato soup

Left side 
Tortilla chips

Cereal

Paper towels

Meat/Dairy 
Whole chicken

Chicken leg quarters

Mozzarella

Pepperoni

Sour cream

Frozen 

Corn

Mixed veggies

Broccoli

Peas

I also make a Costco list.

Coscto

Milk

Bananas

Eggs

Tortillas

This system of planning and shopping has worked for me since Robbie and I got married almost seven years ago!  It does take time to plan meals and make a list, but in the long run, I save a lot more time than if I was running to the grocery store several times a week.