Meal planning the frugal way

As I was making dinner last night I was talking to my husband about how much my meal planning has changed over the years and especially in the past few months. We love to try new things so I have several food magazine subscriptions and close to 2 dozen cookbooks. If I had to guess I would say on average I used to make 3 or 4 new meals a week. If I saw something that sounded good it went on the list whether it had 5 ingredients or 20 and most of the time I didn't take into consideration what we already had in the kitchen or what ingredients could be rolled over and used in subsequent meals. Because of that, our grocery budget was quite high even when it was just the two of us.

As we have continued to grow our family and go from two incomes to one I had to really rethink the way I planned meals. I used to plan all the meals, write out the grocery list and then quickly glance through the inserts to see if there was a coupon for anything that I was already buying. Boy has that changed! Now I sit down every week and cut out a majority of the coupons I come across (with exceptions for things I absolutely have no need for and don't see myself buying to donate). I also search out coupons online for brands I love and buy often. Then I browse through my grocery store ads to see what is on sale for this particular week. I narrow this down even further by seeing what coupons I have that pair up with what is already on sale. Then I start making my list. As I do this I start brainstorming meal ideas based on what I can buy cheap and what I already have stockpiled from weeks before. My menu is the final part of this whole process. I usually write out a week's worth of meals on my Wipe Off Weekly Menu Board and then the subsequent week we eat off what is in our freezer and cupboards (hence the beauty of building a stockpile - I don't need 10 boxes of spaghetti now but they will come in handy in the weeks to come:).

Let me break down last night's meal which is a perfect example of what I am talking about. This weekend I had bought a 44 pack of Gordon's fish sticks for $4.99, a 10-pack of Mission tortillas for $.99, and iceberg lettuce for $.49/head. This inspired fish soft tacos. Two nights ago I had used 3/4 of a head of lettuce for a salad so I shredded the rest (this is part of rolling over one food item into multiple meals throughout the week) to put on the tortillas. I then cooked half the bag of fish sticks which left half a bag for another meal, and placed 3 of the cooked fish sticks in each taco with the lettuce. Finally I made a simple lime sauce to top it all off using 1/2 cup of mayo (this is always on hand), 1/4 cup of sour cream (I bought 1lb for $1.69 and will use the rest for enchiladas that I am making out of another pack of the Mission Tortillas), 1 Tbsp of lime juice (I always have the bottle kind in my fridge) and garlic salt, pepper and dried dill to taste. And there you have it, simple and cheap fish soft tacos that were actually quite delicious. I paired this with homemade oven fries (4 potatoes sliced and tossed in a little olive oil and then seasoned with black pepper and salt, cooked on a baking sheet covered in parchment paper for 35 minutes at 425 degrees) and some green beans that I got on sale for $.69 a can. A meal doesn't get much cheaper then that!

It takes some time to get used to cooking based on what you can get at a good price versus whatever tickles your fancy on that particular day but it in no way means you have to sacrifice what you like or even what is healthy for you. We work in the things we have cravings for and we use the money we save shopping this way to bulk up on fresh fruits and veggies from the Farmer's Market or through Bountiful Baskets. I am proud to say that on average I save 50% on my grocery list (sometimes as much as 80%!) and that makes me feel good because I know that I am helping make my husband's job easier. He works hard for the money he brings in and the further I can stretch it the less he has to stress about making ends meet.

I would love for you to share the things you do to keep costs low while still feeding your family nutritious and delicious meals. What are your top tips for frugal meal planning?

My Safeway Run 5/25/11

Before I break down today's Safeway run I wanted to start by sharing a little about my grocery budget. I mentioned at the end of my last post (here) that I had already spent $126.94 and saved $155.11 since 5/20/11. You may be wondering how I have any grocery money left to spend. We actually sit down and do our budget every two weeks when my husband gets paid so we break our spending into two week periods. Right now our grocery budget is $300 for two weeks. That may seem high considering the fact that I coupon. But that covers all of our groceries, toiletries, cat supplies (we have 2) and kid stuff (1 in diapers and weaning off formula, two in night time Pull-Ups). And it also gives us wiggle room to go to Starbucks and eat out once or twice. This is actually the first month I have gave up on one big shopping trip every two weeks with small stops for necessities along the way. I finally made the jump to more frequent, smaller trips to maximize my ability to match-up sales and coupons. I am hoping to take advantage of that strategy for a few weeks/months to build up my stockpile and then live off of that for another few weeks/months while siphoning a majority of the grocery budget into paying off debt.

Hope I didn't lose you in all of that...just thought I would share for those of you who are interested. I know that all this coupon/match-up stuff can be overwhelming and confusing when you are first starting out so I want to share what I know and what I continue to learn along the way to make it easier for you. So here we go - my Safeway run for today:

- There are a few non-deal items that I had to get. Bananas to tide the little one over until we get more with our Bountiful Basket on Saturday. 2 tubs of icing (I did have a $.75/2 coupon), a pkg of large and mini cupcake wrappers, hamburger patties (2 10 count pkgs at $5.99 each) and hamburger buns (3 Safeway brand at $1.19 each) for Isaiah's birthday BBQ this weekend.These are INCLUDED in my total so I wanted to account for them.
- My BIG score was the Viva 6 count paper towels. Remember how I had to get a raincheck for these after going to Safeway twice to find the shelves empty? They finally had them in stock so I got them for the previously advertised price of $4.99 each. I also had 2 $1/1 coupons making them $3.99 each. For buying 2 I got a Catalina good for $4 towards my next trip making the total for 2=$3.99. They are normally $8.99 each so that was a great deal!
- The John Frieda hair dye was FREE with a coupon I had scored (I think a promotion they were having on Facebook). That is normally $13.99:)
- Pepsi 2 Liters are on sale for today only for $.69 a piece, limit of 2 so I got 2=$1.38
- Johnsonville Brats and Italian Sausage are on sale for $3.99 and I had a $1/1 coupon making 1=$2.99.
- Oscar Mayer hot dogs with in ad coupon are $.99 each (limit 5). I only had 1 $1/2 coupon left since I bought some at Walgreens over the weekend so I got 5 pkgs=$3.95
- Safeway hot dog buns with in ad coupon are $.78 so I got 3=$2.34
- Vlasic pickles are B1G1 at $2.99 each. I had 2 $1/2 coupons so I got 4 jars=$3.98
- Bush's baked beans are 3/$5 (wish I had a coupon!). I bought 3=$5
- Heinz ketchup with in ad coupon is $1.69 plus a $.25 coupon got me 1=$1.44
- Wishbone dressing with in ad coupon $1.19 (limit 3) plus a coupon for $1.25/3 got me 3=$2.32


Total=$51.60 and I saved $72.56 which is 60%. Plus I got a $4 coupon towards my next trip!