Your Credit Card Company Won’t Be Happy – But Your Grocery Budget Will Be Thrilled

Homeschooling Mom’s Blog
Michelle Shaeffer,
Entrepreneur, Business Owner and Work @ Home Mom

Meal planning is a great tool if you’re on a tight grocery budget.  It can help ensure that you’re eating balanced, healthy meals while saving money.  When you plan your meals there are no last minute trips to the grocery store or “emergency” fast food drive through trips.

Tip 1: Always start with what you’ve got on hand.

The first step when you’re planning your menu should be checking to see what you’ve already got in your pantry that you can include in the weekly plan of meals.

Tip 2: Go with inexpensive meals and cook at home.

Eating dinner out will quickly cause your dining budget to skyrocket uncontrollably.  Even a few trips through the drive through a month add up fast.  Cooking at home can be fun, especially when you see how much money you can save.

If you’re on a budget, steak for dinner every night isn’t a good plan.  Even if you’re not on a budget, that’s not the healthiest idea…  Instead, plan a variety of meals and look for cheaper alternatives to the traditional American meat and potatoes style meals.

Learn to cook foods from a variety of traditional diets – Mexican, Italian, Thai, Chinese – expand your taste horizons and you’ll find low cost, flavorful options.

Try breakfast for lunch or dinner once a week.   Breakfast foods are generally less expensive than dinner foods.

Have homemade soup for dinner once a week.  A big pot of soup can be made for a few dollars.  Try variations like rice, noodles, beans or dumplings in your soup.  There are many excellent vegetarian soup recipes.  Add some homemade bread or biscuits for a more filling meal.

Buy less expensive cuts of meat and cook them in the crock pot.  Or, go veggie one or two nights a week!

Tip 3: Stick to your list.

After you’ve planned your menu for the week or month, create your grocery shopping list based on those meals and stick to it!  Don’t let extra things “jump” into your shopping cart as you want by the candy aisle or the convenience food aisles.

With these three tips you’ll be able to get that grocery budget back under control.

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Michelle Shaeffer has been a work at home mom for more than 10 years and loves to share the tips and strategies she’s learned to help other small business owners and entrepreneurs.

Would you like a free email course about meal planning, crock pot cooking, or freezer cooking?  Visit  http://michelleshaeffer.com/help-for-work-at-home-moms/ now and let me send you helpful tips and ideas that will make it easier for you to balance homemaking, homeschooling, and working from home.