Meal Planning and Money Saving Tips

Do you enjoy spending time in the kitchen with new recipes? Do you meal prep so you can save a ton of time with your busy weekly schedule? Do you cook just so you can eat?

A big part of money saving in the kitchen is meal planning, but I also know it feels a little “plain jane” sometimes, but it doesn’t have to be – it’s time to learn some tips and get creative. I’m someone who enjoys being in the kitchen cooking but is actively searching for ways to save money with the recent spike in food inflation. No matter where on the scale you land, these meal planning and money saving tips will help.

Choose a Main Protein

If you are like many other families, you may already have a freezer full of stocking up since the pandemic or have bought in bulk from a local farm. If haven’t been able to do that financially, the best money saving tip would be to choose a protein that is on sale at your local grocery store.

Personally, I love using a large chunk of meat, like a roast or a whole chicken. I can cook it once and use it a few different ways. Another alternative is cooking a large batch but using the protein in different ways. Not only is this a big time saver, money saving, but also make meal planning a bit easier — you will only need to think of “chicken meals” or meals with “ground beef.”

Protein Ideas:

• Ground Beef
• Chicken Breasts
• Beans
• Roast
• Pork Chops
• Eggs

Prepping Protein

If you protein is already prepped or cooked, you will save SO MUCH time within your week. I’m in currently in a newborn season, and when I have my protein prepped, I can still cook up a health dinner — even if a small slice of time. This also goes for those that work long hours, if you have busy schedule running kids to activities, or just want more time to enjoy your evenings.

Like I mentioned above, I like to cook a roast or a whole chicken– mainly because it’s less work to cook once and I (now) know the different ways to repurpose it. If I chose something different like ground beef — there are a variety of ways to use it, so I may prep the beef a couple different ways
(meatballs, meatloaf, taco meat, etc).

2 out of 5 Americans despise leftovers.

Repurpose

To save money it’s so important to know how you can repurpose your leftovers. I don’t usually serve leftover as they were originally cooked – I repurpose them into something new! Using the roast example, you could use the leftovers to make beef and noodles or shredded BBQ sandwiches. If there is only a meager bit of leftover roast then you could stretch it to make nachos, homemade pizza, paninis, or a stir fry. Freezing leftovers is also a great time saver!

TIP: In the summer we also like to grill extra too!

Know Your Go To Meals

Take a few minutes to think about the meals you cooked lately when you were short on time, or low on groceries because you hadn’t made time to run to the store. These meals are the ones you are using your pantry staples.

And by pantry stables I don’t necessarily mean rice, flour, etc — by that I mean those items YOUR family loves to have on hand; the items you make sure not to run out of on a regular basis. Not necessarily “rice and beans” — unless you’re in survival mode, stocking up on your family’s pantry staples when they are on sale is easy way to save money.

And if you want to save more money — learning to make things like pizza, will save you even more. In today’s world a few clicks of buttons and watching a few videos, you can learn to cook any of your convenience meals. Even buying popcorn kernels vs microwave if you eat popcorn regularly will save you some money.
TIP on home-popped popcorn : purchase fine salt, like this one. It makes a huge difference 🙂

Taking a few simple tips with meal planning can help save you both time in the kitchen and help fight inflation food costs. Feel free to leave a comment with a tip of your own.

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Related Article: Freezer Cooking Tips