Meal Plan Form including basic food list
Meal Plans can be done efficiently. We all are busy with life and meal plans help save time and money.
The meal plan form was made in an excel spread sheet. The left side has boxes for the days of the week and the right side has. List of basic foods . A column for what you have and a column for what you may need to purchase. A quick glance at the fridge makes a grocery list easy and simple.
Add the things on sale from the grocery ads that you can use to complete meals. What rotation meat is on sale? What do you need to stock that is on sale?
Using the list, and a matrix of your choosing, you can write a meal plan in a few minutes.
Our matrix is protein based. This allows for a variety of meals. At a four dollar a day per person budget, its no surprise that we don't eat a lot of steak and lobster. LOL
Example:
Pork loin was on sale for 4 days only at QFC (Kroger ). We purchased 2. One was used for pork chops and stew meat, and one for 2 pork roasts. We made three meals out of the pork roast: Pork Roast ‘Sunday” dinner, pork sliders, and sweet and sour pork. With a matrix of 1 beef, 1 fish, 3 pork or chicken, and 2 vegetarian, that took care of the 3 pork or chicken. Add tacos or nachos, pizza, breakfast for dinner, and a pasta with fish and you have a variety of 7 meals.
Your standard grocery list would include perishables in the dairy and produce departments. Frozen vegetable are a good bet if they are on sale. Any fruit on sales rounds out a balanced diet.
Finding the RBP on almost everything you buy is paramount. Stick first to the basics that you use on a regular basis. Bulk purchases make sense if they are versatile and a part of your regular diet. Flour, oatmeal and rice are examples. Making best use of what is in season and on sale is a good plan as well.
The average family has a list of 7-10 entrees that they eat on a regular basis...tried and true family favorites. This makes meal planning easy.
List your favorites in columns based on the protein used. For 5 dollar dinners or less, the rule of theumb is to make kyour protein average 2.00. That hasn’t changed here since the 70’s. The meats, however, have changed. We no longer can afford a real piece of beef very often. I always check the markdown bin for bargains. Here, unlike some stores in the mid west, they are few and far between. .
Save grocery shopping can make it possible for your family to eat well balanced meals on a four dollar a day budget— even with heavy eaters. We do it and carry a stock. Carrying a 4-6 week stock is possible with that budgetary constraints.
Having a four to six weeks stash is a good thing to enable you to be prepared for emergencies and it makes it possible to buy food when its on sale. Almost all staple things work on a 4-6 week cycle.
Setting goals as to how many of each staple item keeps you from over-buying. If you use 2 cans of diced tomatoes a week, you need 12 cans ahead. Putting the same can in the same section off the cupboard, lets you look a a glance tho see if you need to replentish when you see a sale.
Keeping it simple helps save time and money. Diced tomatoes are very versitile and with the push of the food processer or blender button, you can have tomato sauce.
Simplify, buy at the RBP, and keep a stock. Basic concepts for a budget friendly pantry.
