Dining On A Dime - Part 1

Welcome to the 6th session of All Things Financial. What we’re going to cover tonight is a fun topic (or at least I think it is) and it’s one that we all need help with. I even learned some new stuff as I was preparing this class, so this is some really cool stuff. It’s great because this is the one thing that YOU and only YOU can actually control in your budget. We’re going to be talking about...

Taming Our Grocery Budget
*and for those in the class, I had a cool little picture with sound effect of a whip cracking. :o)*

Your grocery budget is the monthly expense that YOU can control. Sadly, most people do not control it. The average family of 4 in America spends $600 a month on groceries. Apparently food is the one thing we have a hard time lowering the budget on. If you see food as a necessary expense that you're just not willing to compromise on, then this is certainly a leson for you.

I am hoping to show you some ways to still eat well, without shelling out more money than you have to in order to do it. The first trick in taming our grocery budget is to create a menu or meal plan.

Menu and Meal Planning

For some reason when I say “meal planning or menu” people roll their eyes at me. My mom was telling me the other day that my dad wants them to do a menu and she was saying how much she hated that. Why? Because, just like a budget, people see a menu as a straight jacket – something to keep them from doing what they want to do. This is just not the case – or at least it doesn’t have to be. Menu might be a 4 letter word, but it’s not a bad one.

So, let’s look at Why we plan meals. We plan meals to save time and money at the grocery store AND at home. When you plan your meals ahead of time, you cut out a lot of time wandering around the grocery store going, “this looks good” and “this looks like something we’d eat” only to come home and realize that you don’t have anything to make breakfast with, or that you only have parts of meals. You also save a lot of money because those impulse buys just don’t fit into your plan.

There are 2 different ways you can prepare a menu.
1. Set a meal plan that is set in stone. This is what we do. It works best for us because we like things very cut and dry. I like to know exactly what is going on and when.
2. Create a list of options and choose from it. This is right up the free spirit’s alley. Yeah, there’s a choice and some “freedom”. If you have always viewed doing a meal plan or menu as a straight jacket, then this is probably the best option for you.

So, let’s look at the difference between the two different styles.

A Set Meal Plan

Pros:
1. You do not have to go through the "what do you want for dinner" routine. My hubby and I are BAD about this. We will sit there and spend 30 minutes trying to figure out what we want to eat, when it would have taken me less than that to just fix something for us to eat. It’s just so silly how much time is wasted trying to figure out what to have for dinner, or breakfast or lunch.

2. You know what you're having for dinner ahead of time, so that you can prepare. If you have a plan, you can pull something out to thaw that morning or the night before. You can start the crock pot, you can get things going when you have the time to get it started. It also gives you time to get excited about the meal. Sure, it’s spaghetti – AGAIN – but maybe you can think about what spices you can add to pep it up a bit.

3. Gives you a plan to utilize all the leftovers in upcoming meals. We are big on this. As a recovering vegetarian, I am not a big fan of cooking meat. I just hate to do it, so the fewer times I have to handle something raw and dead, the better. So, I cook meat maybe a couple nights a week – just a big bunch of it. Since I’m cooking it anyway, then I might as well do it big and use the rest in upcoming meals.

4. You can base your entire menu around sales. This is a great thing because you are controlling your grocery budget and getting the best deals possible. You aren’t paying full price for something you can get for less….and that’s always a good thing.

Cons:
Well, there are a few down-sides, depending on how you see things. I don’t mind them much, but some people might.

1. It doesn't allow for much variation or change in the meal plan since the meals build off of eachother. Some people like to have that surprise factor to dinner, and that’s okay. Some people don’t like to sit and think about a particular food all day because then they don’t want to eat it when the time comes. So, if you find yourself in that category, then this might not be the system for you.

2. It requires creative use of leftovers. Yes, leftovers – another bad word. I used to be one of those people who would not use leftovers because it was “gross” or I just didn’t want to eat the same thing again. So, when you use a set meal plan, you have to be more creative when it comes to using what you have.

3. You might hear grumblings from family members that they want something else for dinner. Again, everyone is different. My hubby will eat anything thrown in front of him, so that’s good. However, you may have a family that would grumble about this whole set meal plan thing.

A List of Meal Options

Now, if you choose to go the other route – more of a menu or list of meal options, then you can certainly do that. There are some good qualities of doing it this way.

Pros:
1. You can pick and choose what you want to eat. It let’s you feel more free to make your choices as to what you want that night. It lets you have the ability to change things up based on your mood.

2. You can base your menu around the sales. Like the other option, you can get some amazing deals by planning your list of options around things that are on sale.

3. You are still able to plan your meals without feeling restricted. I think the main reason this is appealing to some people is that they still have freedom. Even though they are the ones planning the meal plan to begin with, they still like being able to pick and choose – as they would at a restaurant (although everyone has to eat the same thing). This is especially good if you have a finicky spouse or kids who like to change things up a bit.

There are some down-sides to this type of plan too…

Cons:
1. It's more difficult to utilize leftovers. When you are flying by the seat of your pants, if you will, it’s less likely that you will use leftovers. Now if you hate them and won’t use them anyway, then that’s just fine by you. However, you can expect to pay more to feed your family than someone who uses leftovers. So, this can affect the bottom line in the grocery budget.

2. It leaves room for indecisiveness over dinner. This does not remove the 30 minute conversation about what to have for dinner. You still have the potential to waste time talking about what you should have, what everyone wants, and coming up with a compromise.


The most important thing to remember is that there is no right or wrong way to plan your meals! There are no cookie cutter families, and what works for one, might not work for another. You may have other ideas about how to make a menu or meal plan work for your family. You might have to tweak this a bit to get it right. The important thing is that you do it, and by doing it, you will save money on groceries.

The Dos and Don'ts of Making Menus

Do: Pick meals that your family will enjoy eating.
Don't: Pick meals that are cheap but you'll have to fight your family to eat.

Seriously, don’t think that your family will be okay with eating Ramen 2 nights a week, beans and rice 3 nights a week, and spaghetti as a special treat 2 nights a week. It’s not going to fly and you’ll have an uprising to deal with. Your family will rebel and will go on strike. So, make sure to plan meals that you all enjoy. Feel free to branch out and try new things – there’s no harm in it, just make sure that you plan to have a couple PB&J back-up sandwiches if the experiment goes very wrong.

Do: Be very specific and list ingredients needed and the amounts needed.
Don't: Just try to wing it and guess how much stuff you will need.

It becomes a science, and then it becomes a very easy task. By knowing that you get 4 salads out of a head of lettuce and you need 12 salads over the next 2 weeks, then you know you need to buy 3 heads of lettuce. It makes it simple when you are at the store, so be specific as to what you need and how much.

Do: Look at the sales ads and base your menu around things you can buy on sale or with coupons.
Don't: Let your menu dictate how much you will spend. You can't have caviar taste on a beans and rice budget without getting good deals.

I know I keep saying this, but it is really important. You can cut your grocery budget by just shopping with coupons and sales ads. You really can! It does take time and some effort, but the savings will be worth it. By doing this, you take the power back. The grocery store no longer has the power, YOU have the power because you are saying what you are willing to pay for _____ item for your menu. If it’s more expensive than you like, then you can change your menu to something else until it’s on sale.

Do: Use your leftovers.
Don't: Get caught in the trap of saying you don't like them or planning on using them but never actually doing it.

How many times have you put leftovers in the fridge with every intent to use them, but then you realize that it’s been there for 3 weeks and is looking like a science experiment gone wrong? I have been guilty of that. When you have a meal plan, you PLAN for leftovers so there are no more mystery containers sitting in the back of your fridge.

Do: Look in your pantry, cabinets, and freezer and incorporate what you have into your meal plan.
Don't: Keep buying new food without using what you have.

If you have 10 lbs of frozen ground beef, then there is really no reason to go buy some more because you just didn’t bother to go spelunking in your freezer. If you have some old cans of cheese soup from who knows when or why, and they’re still good…then come up with a meal that uses them (cheesy potato soup is a good idea) and then base your meals around that. This is also a great idea if you’re having a slim month and just don’t have a lot of money to go around. It’s amazing what kind of creative meals you can come up with once you center things around what you already have.


Do: Make a shopping list of the items you need to fulfill the menu.
Don't: Expect yourself to remember what you have to buy for each meal.

Seriously, you will NEVER remember everything that you need to buy if you don’t make a list. I like lists a lot. Why? Because it keeps me out of the aisles I don’t need to go down, keeps me from buying things I don’t need to buy, and helps me remember to buy the things I DO need to buy. Lists are wonderful things.

Do: Make sure to use everything that you buy.
Don't: Under plan how much you need.

Again, do the math and get this down to a science. The objective is to not waste any food (unless it’s a new recipe that just tastes like sweaty socks), thus saving you money…..money that can go towards other things (like paying off debt, building that savings account, retirement or college funding, or heck….even a new pair of shoes!)

Always be realistic. If you have a family of 4, you are not going to get by on 3 chicken breasts for 2 weeks when you plan 4 meals a week with chicken. You might be good, but you aren’t that good. :o)

Shopping Based on a Menu

So, let’s talk about the actual process of shopping based on a menu.

Make a list of the items you need to complete the menu. If it's not on the list, don't buy it. Man, that will save you a bunch of money right there. Because about 20% of our grocery spending consists of things we do not need but buy because it looks good or we think we could use it. How many times have you walked through the aisles (without a plan and shopping list) and picked up things that you didn’t need, that you didn’t even know existed before you walked by it, but all of a sudden, you had to have it. When you stick to your list, you don’t even pay much attention to that stuff anymore.

Buying only what we need cuts down on waste. You will be amazed at how much less trash you have when you are going through this process. We used to fill our trash can to the brim every single month (with the occasional bag or two on the side) and that was with 1 in diapers. Now we have 2 in diapers and we don’t even touch the top of the can anymore. We have cut out so much food waste. We aren’t throwing out entire containers of yogurt because we didn’t eat it before it expired. We aren’t tossing out rotten heads of lettuce, moldy ricotta cheese, black bananas. We are eating the stuff while it’s still good and fresh, and we’re not throwing our money away. Just think about some of the stuff you’ve had to toss because it spoiled before you could come up with a plan for it.

Another great benefit of menu based shopping is that you are able to cut out a large portion of the unhealthy foods. We still buy the occasional snack food or popcorn, but when we know that we’re going to have pretzels and peanut butter for a snack one day, and carrot sticks and ranch dressing as a snack the next day, the need for fruit snacks, chips, cookies, and other things like that goes away. We are able to plan our snacks in our menus, and we don’t have to rely on the less healthy choices.

Using a shopping list based on a menu will save you a lot of money each visit, especially if you use coupons and sales ads to your advantage. You will be amazed at how much money you save. It will make you think about your purchases more, you will be more focused, and you will be able to get more for less.