How To Meal Plan And Save Money In The Process

We all know that the prices of pretty much everything is going up from the luxuries like Netflix through to everyday essentials like food. For us food is not just an essential but a luxury that we enjoy so we’re never going to be the type of people who spend £30 for a weekly shop. But one thing I do to reduce our everyday expenses is meal plan and prepare in advance. If you’re wondering how to meal plan here are my top tips.

Do online shopping

Pre-pandemic I had only ordered groceries online a few times, and that was mainly because I was lazy. Fast forward to 2020 and getting a slot at any supermarket was worth it’s weight in gold. And then I hit the holy grail and started working at Ocado Group where I now get my weekly grocery shop from.

I find that when I am online shopping there’s a lot less spontaneous purchases compared to in person shopping. When I do go to a supermarket I rarely ever stick to just my list, things just fall into my basket. But online I have a list and know what I need to add and it’s much easier to stick to it.

How to meal plan: work in advance

I can get an online delivery slot 4 weeks in advance so I always get my slots as early as possible, this way I can keep an eye on deals, discounts and bundles over the weeks and swap things around if needed. Generally I will go onto the app once or twice a week and check prices.

By getting an online slot early I can start planning the meals we’re going to have that week and then only buy what I need. When I buy a bag of carrots for a spaghetti bolognaise, I know I’ll have leftovers so I can plan something else that week to use up the rest.

Go through our go to recipes

I got to the point where I felt that we were cooking the same recipes all the time, or we didn’t know what to make. So we decided to go through all of our go-to recipes and recipe books to come up with a core list of 20-30 things. As I plan 3-4 weeks in advance I can go straight to the list and pick out a few dishes that I know aren’t on the previous weeks menu’s and add them them in.

Even if we cycled through them and went back to the beginning it’s unlikely we’d have things more than once a month. So there’s less chance of getting bored of them.

How to meal plan- make a note of our whereabouts

I just use the Notes function on my phone to create a meal plan as I find things change quite a lot so I don’t want to commit to a written version. If I know one or both of us won’t be at home for dinner one night I always make a note. This way I’m not planning for seven meals when I only need to do five. This saves both money and wasted food.

Keep tabs on the freezer

Every few weeks I do a freezer audit both for staples we use regularly and items for meals. By knowing the staples in the freezer I know only to buy more when we actually need it. And by knowing the items we can use for meals I can incorporate them into our meal plan.

I do like to buy items when they’re reduced or there’s a deal on. Or sometimes plans will change last minute and I’ll need to freeze meals I have bought. Previously I just seemed to hoard freezer items and never actually ate them, but it’s important to know what you have so you don’t overbuy or waste it.

How to meal plan- look for excess

In the same way that I go through the freezer I’ll also go through our fresher items to see if there’s any excess that I can incorporate into a meal in the coming weeks. Perhaps I didn’t use up some puff pastry I bought so I could make a pie the following week rather than throwing it away.

This is why I don’t write down my meal plan as I may have to move a meal I had planned for next week to a later week to put the fresher item in next week. But this is why I love being flexible.

And that is how to meal plan if you’re me. Do you meal plan at home?

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