This week's Money Monday post is all about making a simple menu plan and shock horror having the same meals twice in one week.
I say shock horror because I used to be one of those people forever stressing about providing a different meal every night, constantly feeling under pressure to not let the weekly menu get boring, that was until I had a word with myself and realised that not only was I creating a problem that didn't exist I was also adding to the already huge expense that the weekly shop can be.
I used to always buy more than we needed each week, my cupboards were overflowing and my freezer jam packed but when I decided to start using the envelope system to budget I realised that something had to change or I would forever be overspending on groceries.
I sat down and wrote a list of 14 meals that the whole family enjoy, keeping in mind the cost of the meal and how many it would feed as a couple of times a week my big kids eat with us, I decided to rotate the meal each week and sometimes repeat the same meal twice.
Every week I write a shopping list making sure to check the cupboards to avoid buying duplicates, I buy only what we need, working out how much veg we need for each meal as well so there won't be any wastage.
Of course there is a little flexibility, a few weeks ago I cooked a whole chicken and planned to make two nights of roast chicken dinners but decided to throw a pie together on the second night using the leftover chicken and some other ingredients I already had, but the point is on the whole I'm sticking to the plan and it's saving us so much money.
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I'm finding it hard to ignore all those great bargains on the supermarket shelves but I keep reminding myself that something is only a bargain if you really need it and I'm enjoying having money leftover in those envelopes at the end of each week.
We have also started doing our main shopping trip almost entirely at Aldi which seems to be saving us a lot of money, I love the quality and prices of their fruit and vegetables.
Do you stick to a menu plan ? Does your family moan about having the same meals each week or are you all on the budget bandwagon together ? leave me a comment below if you like.
Angela x
I say shock horror because I used to be one of those people forever stressing about providing a different meal every night, constantly feeling under pressure to not let the weekly menu get boring, that was until I had a word with myself and realised that not only was I creating a problem that didn't exist I was also adding to the already huge expense that the weekly shop can be.
I used to always buy more than we needed each week, my cupboards were overflowing and my freezer jam packed but when I decided to start using the envelope system to budget I realised that something had to change or I would forever be overspending on groceries.
I sat down and wrote a list of 14 meals that the whole family enjoy, keeping in mind the cost of the meal and how many it would feed as a couple of times a week my big kids eat with us, I decided to rotate the meal each week and sometimes repeat the same meal twice.
Every week I write a shopping list making sure to check the cupboards to avoid buying duplicates, I buy only what we need, working out how much veg we need for each meal as well so there won't be any wastage.
Of course there is a little flexibility, a few weeks ago I cooked a whole chicken and planned to make two nights of roast chicken dinners but decided to throw a pie together on the second night using the leftover chicken and some other ingredients I already had, but the point is on the whole I'm sticking to the plan and it's saving us so much money.
I'm finding it hard to ignore all those great bargains on the supermarket shelves but I keep reminding myself that something is only a bargain if you really need it and I'm enjoying having money leftover in those envelopes at the end of each week.
We have also started doing our main shopping trip almost entirely at Aldi which seems to be saving us a lot of money, I love the quality and prices of their fruit and vegetables.
Do you stick to a menu plan ? Does your family moan about having the same meals each week or are you all on the budget bandwagon together ? leave me a comment below if you like.
Angela x