If you are new to meal planning, you might want to begin with your pantry. Often times when we grocery shop, we tend to buy items to stash away into our pantry. Then they lurk there for months until someone uses them to make a special meal. Hopefully, your pantry isn’t the bank!?! But if it is, there’s money to be saved by starting your meal planning right there—in the pantry. Not only will you use up what you have on hand to create meals for your family but you’ll also save money using what you have on hand.
Last week, I ventured on a quest to not go to the grocery store until our pantry was more bare than full. WE ate most of the items stashed inside it. My daughter even commented, “Mommy, why did you put so much junk food in my lunch box!” I laughed and asked her if she’d rather have something healthy? She nodded yes and smiled but noted, “Only one or two junk items!?!”
She sounded like me. I had to laugh and remind her not to ask for junk (cookies, chips, etc.) while we are out grocery shopping together. So if your child(ren) has your pantry loaded down with items they prefer, start snack planning from that stash until it is gone too.
When I eventually returned to our grocery store, I lucked in on some great produce deals: Carrots for $0.39 and Organic Celery for $1.29—it needed to be eaten or juiced right away but I had potatoes in my pantry that I had purchased for $1.98 and they needed to be cooked. One family dish of fresh mashed potatoes and three pans full of homemade french fries didn’t make a dent in my potatoes so it was time for a hearty pot of homemade potato soup—-I washed, diced, and sliced and used my fresh produce bargains and items from my pantry (substituting dried parsley instead of fresh, etc.). I juiced the rest of the fresh produce—and there was soup and juice to enjoy the rest of the week (and enough to share with friends).
I (Litsa) challenge you to start your meal planning with what’s in your pantry. My $100 a week grocery budget was $30 last week. Now that I’ve spent the week replenishing items that we were completely out of I, too, must return to meal planning from the pantry.
How much will you shave off of your grocery bill this week from meal planning from your pantry?
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