Planning meals ahead saves you money at the grocery store

Everyone knows that when you plan ahead, you are more effective and successful. When it comes to planning meals ahead of time, taking a few minutes before you go shopping can save you a lot of time in the kitchen and a lot of money at the checkout.

Here are some easy steps you can take to plan some meals and save some money:

1. Before you go to the store, grab your favorite cookbook or ask yourself or your family what their favorite foods are.

2. Take out a sheet of paper. At the bottom of the sheet of paper, list at least 10 to 20 foods that your family likes and that you can prepare in the next few weeks. At the top of the sheet of paper, as you write down a meal, make a list of items you need for that meal that you don’t have on hand. When you’re done, you’ll have a list of meals at the bottom of the paper and a list of items to buy at the top of the paper. Take this sheet of paper to the store and purchase the items on the list.

3. When you get home from shopping and have put everything away, put the bottom half of your list on the refrigerator. This will be your meal planner. Every morning or every day when you get home from work, just look at the list and decide what you want to fix. If you look at the list in the morning and decide what you’re going to do, you can take any item out of the freezer to thaw when you’re ready to cook.

This system only takes a few minutes to write, and yet it can greatly reduce stress. You know when you look at the list that you have everything you need to make any of those meals. You save money at the supermarket because you buy just what you need to make many meals. Planning meals ahead of time saves you money at the grocery store, and this system makes it even easier, taking very little time and producing long-lasting benefits.