Food is quickly becoming one of the biggest expenses in the average family’s budget. Attack your food budget with a weekly money-saving plan. Each day pick a task that will help you save money on your food bill. Developing a weekly frugal food plan can reduce the cost of feeding your family.
Below, you can see an example of my own weekly frugal food plan. You can use it as a guideline and customize it to make it your own, so it makes sense for you and your family.
Sunday
Go grocery shopping with a list and coupons. Distribute bulk snacks into individual containers for the week, wash and prep snack fruit or veggies for lunch items.
Monday
Create a flexible menu plan for the week based on Sunday’s grocery shopping plus items from the pantry. Make sure to include items for breakfast and lunch.
Tuesday
Pick up fruit and vegetable share from the CSA. This saves us about 30 percent on the cost of organic produce, sometimes more. Since having an abundance of organic produce available is important to us, I wanted to include this step. Similar activities might include gardening or visiting a farmer’s market.
Wednesday
Cook a bulk meal. Eat one portion for dinner and freeze the rest to prepare on frantic evenings. This saves us from having to spend money on meals out or convenience foods.
Thursday
Review the grocery store sales flyer for the following week (sales start on Sunday) and match the sales with coupons.
Friday
Dinner out. Use kids eat free promotions, coupons (from newspapers, social media, websites or the entertainment book) or gift cards to reduce the cost of the meal. Some weeks this meal is free! Some weeks we skip this step and make homemade pizza or another fun food.
Saturday
Quickly review items in the pantry, fridge and freezer. Use up or plan to use any items that are nearing their best buy or expiration dates.
Make a large batch of breakfast items that can be frozen and used during the week, such as pancakes, waffles, scones, muffins, or egg and cheese sandwiches. One batch can be used for Saturday morning breakfast.