The Best Money-Saving Hack You Aren’t Using Is — No Joke — Meal Planning. Yes, Meal Planning
Meal planning may seem like the kind of thing you can only do in the fairy-tale version of your life — you know, the version where you do your laundry before you run out of socks.
But the truth is, it’s easier than you think.
An easy way to save time and money? Ladies and gentlemen, that’s the life hack holy trinity.
Here’s what meal planning can help you do:
1. Save money by buying only what you need and making use of your leftovers. According to Bankrate.com, meal planning can save you as much as $4,000 a year.
2. Save time by having a plan at the grocery store and at not browsing through your pantry looking for inspiration.
3. Stay healthy by eating more consciously. As dietitian and nutritionist Elle Penner says, “When it comes to eating well, meal planning is one of the easiest things you can do to set yourself up for success.”
How to get started
First, sit down, take a deep breath and read the rest of this article. Then create a weekly calendar using a chalkboard, your digital calendar, or even a sheet of scrap paper. There are lots of inspiring versions on Pinterest if you find crafting empowering.
Next, you’ll want to collect all your favorite recipes. Using a Pinterest board, online recipe box or just a binder, create an easy-to access collection of your favorite recipes. This is the most time-consuming part of the whole meal-planning process. It’s daunting, but once you get yourself a nice collection of recipes to draw from it’ll be smooth sailing, and adding or subtracting a recipe here and there won’t take you long at all.
Once you’ve gathered the tools you’ll need, consider your schedule. Take 15 minutes every Sunday (or whatever day works best for you) and look at your schedule for the coming week. Which nights are wide open, and which are full of pickups?
Then fill in your calendar with which recipes you want to cook on each night, keeping in mind how you’ll integrate leftovers into other meals, and which evenings you may want to eat out. As meal planning pro and Cook Smarts founder Jess Dang, says, “Good meal planning is like putting together a puzzle. Try to avoid selecting different recipes that don’t fit together or else you’ll be buying a lot of different ingredients. Select one, look at the ingredient list and let that help you select recipe #2, and so on.”
Make a list of all the ingredients you’ll need for your selected recipes. Double-check to see what you already have and what overlaps.
Do your one shopping trip and follow your plan for the rest of the week.
Need help?
Intimidated by making your own meal plan? There are plenty already designed for you and available online. Check out the pre-made meal plans on The Kitchn and Whole Foods.
Need more help? There are plenty of paid and free apps, plans, and services to help make meal planning a part of your life.
Voted the best meal-planning app by Lifehacker, Plan to Eat allows you to create a digital recipe book and drag and drop recipes into your digital planner— and then it creates a shopping list for you.
Don’t have time to look through recipes? For $6 to $8 per month, CookSmarts will send you weekly meal plans and shopping lists tailored to your preferences.
If you want to avoid the grocery store all together, and are ready to pay for the convenience, family meal plan from Blue Apron will cost you $139.84 per week. Each week’s box comes with original recipes and all the ingredients you need already measured.
All right — no more excuses. Meal planning may not be as romantic as an enchanted castle where the dishes do themselves, but if the fairy-tale version of your life is just a less stressful version of your life, meal planning is the Prince Charming you’ve been waiting for.
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