By Lisa Holcomb
Do you feel like you spend a “fortune” on meal planning and yet you never have anything at home to fix dinner with? With a little planning you can know ahead of time what your family will be having each night for dinner that week and when and what to set out to thaw. Most importantly, you’ll find yourself spending less money on groceries each week.
There are so many advantages to meal planning. Here are a few of them:
- Saves You Time: When you take the time to meal plan, whether on your own or through a meal planning service, you’ll actually be saving time. You don’t have to do the 5 o’clock stare into the pantry trying to figure out what you are going to fix or make extra trips to the grocery store during the week to pick up ingredients. Sound familiar?
- Save Money: Outside of mortgage/rent payments, grocery bills are the number one expense families have. When you have a menu plan you eliminate the “impulse” buying, you don’t buy things you already have in your pantry, and you don’t waste money eating out as much.
- Keeps Your Family Healthier: Less junk food, less eating out, and planning healthy meals means your family will be healthier. Who doesn’t want that?
- Less Waste: How many times have you cleaned out your fridge and found that the things growing in there could qualify as your kid’s school science project? I know I sure have. When we go to the store without a shopping list we’re more likely to purchase things we already have in our pantry or fridge. Menu planning lets you check off the items on your list that you already have before you hit the store.
- Stress Buster: It’s amazing how much stress can be eliminated from our evenings just by menu planning. No more rushing home from work and wondering what you’re fixing for dinner. Or, no more long days at home with the kids and remembering at the end of the day that you don’t have a clue what you’re fixing. Evenings become calmer, dinner time is more pleasant, and Mom is a happier camper. What’s not to love about that?
Molly Green Members get free access to Build A Menu’s Dine on a Dime menu planning service! Join Now!
Lisa Holcomb and her husband, Will, have six children (their oldest two children are married and have babies of their own) and live near Austin, Texas, with their four boys. Lisa is co-founder of Build A Menu and is known as the “Queen of Meal-Time Makeovers.” She is an author, speaker, and an advocate for adoption, family nutrition, savvy grocery shopping and family dinners.