How many times do you go to the grocery without a list and end up spending way too much? Have you tried writing lists but still end up buying more than planned? If so, this article is for you. You will learn how to plan a monthly menu and tailor your grocery list to that menu. Not only should this do away with the annoying “what’s for dinner?” question you probably get several times a day, but, done right, it will cut down on the number of trips to the grocery store, cut down and impulse buying, and save you money.
“What’s For Dinner?”
More than anything else, I believe fully that it was that one annoying question that caused me to come up with this system. How would you like to get rid of that question forever? Not only can you get rid of that question, but if you follow the system I use and am going to show throughout this article you will have more variety as far as dinner goes, you will cut down on the number of trips to the store, and you will save money. You must be committed to this 100% or it will not work. Let me tell you about this system.
Design a Monthly Dinner Menu
The first and most important step is to design a monthly dinner menu for your family. Knowing in advance what you are making for dinner tonight is one less thing you have to worry about every day; and avoids the question we all dread hearing each day. So, grab a couple of your favorite cookbooks (make sure though that you haven’t already tried all the recipes, you want new recipes to add some variety), a calendar you can write on (print one from your computer), and a notebook or legal pad to write down ingredients and make your shopping list:
First you need to decide on a time when you will make next month’s menu and stick to it. I write mine in the third week of the current month so I have everything ready when it comes time to go shopping.
On the calendar, I go ahead and write in two or three family favorites a week.
Monday is designated as someone’s choice. For example, we are a family of four so the first Monday may be our daughter’s choice, the second our son’s, etc. They know they have to decide while I am making the menu and before I do the shopping or they lose their night.
One night every week is also designated as "potluck night," also known as fend for yourself. This is a good time to get rid of leftovers, or they can have sandwiches, soup, etc.
For the remaining two or three nights go to your cookbooks and find a couple of recipes that look good and that you think everyone will like and write all of the ingredients down on your pad of paper (also write down the book and page so you can find it again easily.
Now that you’ve written in a dinner for each night on the calendar, write down the ingredients for all the meals, not just the new ones. This will become your shopping list.
Take your ingredients list and keeping in mind that you still have one week left on the current month’s menu, go through your kitchen and mark off those items you already have. What’s left is your grocery list for the next month. If you work it out right you should only have to make one more trip the grocery each month for perishables such as milk, some fruits, and certain produce.
The first two or three months will take some experimenting and some work to find the way this system works best for you. But once you get your routine down you’ll start enjoying the benefits of planning a dinner menu a month ahead of time. Some of these benefits include:
No longer having to listen to that annoying question, “what’s for dinner tonight?”
Because you know ahead of time what you’ll be making each night and the necessary ingredients, putting together your shopping list should be a breeze.
Because you will be introducing a new recipe eight or more nights a month, you will bring variety to your dinner table instead of the same old things.
Once again, knowing ahead of time what you need means you only need to make two grocery trips a month. Cutting down on the number of trips to the store automatically cuts down on impulse buying.
Last, but certainly not least, my favorite benefit, you will save money. You have to commit yourself to staying with the menu you designed and cut out all impulse buying, but with a little will power and constantly reminding yourself of the money you are saving are good incentives to help you stay on track.
One Last Tip:
Just kind of a side note here to go along with your menu design; this idea will save you time and possibly even more money.
After you’ve done your grocery shopping, look at your menu and see which meals can be made ahead of time and frozen. Then when it comes time for that meal all you have to do is thaw it out and heat it up. This works great if you have kids that play sports or other activities and you need something quick for dinner. Now you have something quick without having to resort to fast food.
Meals that work well for this include:
Hamburgers
Spaghetti
Lasagna
Pepper Steak
Baked, broiled, or grilled chicken breasts
Chili
Gumbo
Ground beef cooked ahead of time for tacos
Meatloaf
Baked ham
Deep-fried turkey
Oven-roasted turkey or chicken
This is just a very small list of main courses that can be cooked ahead of time. I usually pick either Saturday or Sunday and spend two to three hours cooking and I have plenty of ready-made main courses that can be thawed quickly in the microwave and dinner is served!
I hope you have found the information in this article helpful. Remember, it's a little bit of work at first and getting used to the willpower to refuse impulse buying takes a little while, but keep at it and you'll have plenty of rewards to look forward to enjoying. Bon Apetit!