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Tip Store: Groceries: Menu Planning
Great Meals and No Food Waste
Our household consists of my husband, myself, our adult daughter and my sister. I bought a small magnetic whiteboard and drew up a table on the bottom half of the whiteboard with eight spaces. This represents seven nights of dinners and Saturday brunch. Everyone has their name allocated to two spaces; this is worked out based on everyone’s schedules. I cook our Saturday brunch every week and one dinner. The rest of the family cooks two nights a week. We work out the menu prior to grocery shopping. The top half of the white board is used to write down what leftovers are in the fridge and the date it must be eaten by. We have great meals and variety every day, and everyone only has to think about what to cook twice a week, meaning a little more leisure time. Our food waste has gone down to almost 0, resulting in saving money and less landfill.
Contributed by Eleanor Prouting
Contributed by Eleanor Prouting
Menu Planning App
Hi I have just come across an APP for IOS, Android and also Web Based. The App is called "Anylists" . The beauty of this app is you can enter recipes recording all ingredients , how to prepare and cook. Also generates menu plans which is simple all you have to do is select the date range and select the recipes, bingo a. Shopping lists-, is generated. Also with the Anylist web browser extension you could be browsing a recipe on the web and with a click on the web browser extension that recipe you were looking at , is on your Anylist app. There is an annual of $US 9.99 or $14.99. Well worth the money
Contributed by Gregory Johnson
Contributed by Gregory Johnson
Food wasted = Less Fun
Approximate $ Savings: $50.00 + a month
In our family of 3 adults I have been monitoring the amount of food that has been wasted over the past 2 months. I estimate according to the price and weight how much the waste has cost us, tally it up and let DH and Dad how much we have wasted. This amount is then taken out of our allocated holiday money. It is amazing how by doing this it has made us all aware of portion sizes, eating leftovers and correctly storing food e.g.: chips or biscuits so they don't go stale. This has made us all work together because less money for holiday = less money for fun.
Contributed by Donna W., 10th May 2013
In our family of 3 adults I have been monitoring the amount of food that has been wasted over the past 2 months. I estimate according to the price and weight how much the waste has cost us, tally it up and let DH and Dad how much we have wasted. This amount is then taken out of our allocated holiday money. It is amazing how by doing this it has made us all aware of portion sizes, eating leftovers and correctly storing food e.g.: chips or biscuits so they don't go stale. This has made us all work together because less money for holiday = less money for fun.
Contributed by Donna W., 10th May 2013
Let the Picky Eaters Create the Menu Plan
I have two teenage daughters and one is a difficult eater. She can't eat fish and hates the texture of some things like red meat, rice and soup. I have had enough of making two meals every night. Over the weekend I gave my daughters a job. They emptied the pantry and wrote a list of what we had. Then they emptied the freezer and listed the contents while I did the defrosting and cleaning. The next day I gave them a challenge - how many recipes and meal ideas could they find online using those ingredients plus fresh stuff and maybe one or two small extras. They took it all very seriously and spent ages finding new recipes. Now I have sixteen new recipes which we will all eat. Best of all it gave my daughters, especially the nuisance eater, a very good idea of just how hard and frustrating it is trying to feed a family on a budget, especially when catering for her. So this has given me a clean pantry and freezer and new recipes, and given them a bit of insight into the realities of life. Contributed by Georgina, Keilor, 11th May 2010
Give Yourself a Head Start
Years ago a friend told me this tip "Prepare tomorrow night's dinner tonight. This saves you rushing home from work and wondering what your family will have for dinner tonight. It means that you can calmly prepare tomorrow night's dinner tonight and probably watch the TV news at the same time." Contributed by Judith Toohey
Monthly Menu Plan and Shop Save Money
I have been saving on my grocery bill for the past two years by simply organising a monthly meal plan and doing a monthly grocery shop. By doing this I can buy in bulk which is significantly cheaper. I buy my fruit and veg and meat weekly from the grocer and butcher (they're much cheaper than supermarkets for fresh food). Shopping monthly takes a little bit of organisation, but is well worth the effort in both time-saving and money-saving.
Contributed by Michelle
Contributed by Michelle
The Only Way to Save on Groceries
I've realised the only way to cut down my spending at the supermarket is to have a 4 weekly rotating menu, so that I know exactly what I need to buy for dinner for the upcoming week. This way you don't buy things you don't need and end up throwing away unused vegies etc. Also I find Aldi is brilliant and saves heaps over Woolies and Coles.
Contributed by Cassy Tapper
Contributed by Cassy Tapper
Sunday Night Ritual Saves Money at Dinnertime
Approximate $ Savings: $40 per week
Menu planning saves me about $40 per week on groceries and even more on takeaway. I write out a plan of weekly meals on a Sunday night, checking what I have in the freezer and pantry whilst I go. This enables me to make use of what I have and saves on groceries as I usually only need to grab bread or milk through the week. By having a menu plan and making a habit of taking the meat out the night before I am rarely lazy enough to buy take away anymore. I can also mix the meals around if I did forget to take something out of the freezer.
Contributed by Dayna, Blacktown
Menu planning saves me about $40 per week on groceries and even more on takeaway. I write out a plan of weekly meals on a Sunday night, checking what I have in the freezer and pantry whilst I go. This enables me to make use of what I have and saves on groceries as I usually only need to grab bread or milk through the week. By having a menu plan and making a habit of taking the meat out the night before I am rarely lazy enough to buy take away anymore. I can also mix the meals around if I did forget to take something out of the freezer.
Contributed by Dayna, Blacktown
Know What You Have on Hand
Itemize the contents of your cupboards and freezer, so you don't buy something 'just in case I've run out!' By itemizing, you know what you've got and what you need.
Contributed by Carolyn
Contributed by Carolyn
Fill Up With Vegetables
Approximate $ Savings: $1 per meal
The cost of meat is really going up a lot. Vegetables cost much less per kilo. If you can fill everyone up with more vegetables at each meal then you do not have to serve as much meat. This makes each meal a little cheaper. If you calculate how many meals you serve each month, you will notice the difference. The major supermarkets suggest five serves of vegetables each day and this really helps spread the money carefully. There is a bit more preparation involved than serving more meat, but you will be healthier and wealthier over the long term. Make at least one night each week totally meatless without telling anyone. Storing all those vegies can be a nightmare until I realised that my local big supermarket is already storing vegies and throwing out the spoilt ones. I just shop for vegies more frequently and only buy what we will use over the next three days. Sometimes frozen vegies are cheaper than fresh. This really does work.
Contributed by Louise
The cost of meat is really going up a lot. Vegetables cost much less per kilo. If you can fill everyone up with more vegetables at each meal then you do not have to serve as much meat. This makes each meal a little cheaper. If you calculate how many meals you serve each month, you will notice the difference. The major supermarkets suggest five serves of vegetables each day and this really helps spread the money carefully. There is a bit more preparation involved than serving more meat, but you will be healthier and wealthier over the long term. Make at least one night each week totally meatless without telling anyone. Storing all those vegies can be a nightmare until I realised that my local big supermarket is already storing vegies and throwing out the spoilt ones. I just shop for vegies more frequently and only buy what we will use over the next three days. Sometimes frozen vegies are cheaper than fresh. This really does work.
Contributed by Louise
Your Freezer
Approximate $ Savings: $50
My husband and I have a 6-week rotating menu calendar, which we use when we shop. This has produced some savings for us but what has saved us the most money is at the start of the month (approximately) we do a 3 minute stocktake of our freezer. My husband goes through it and I list what we have. As we progress through the next few weeks I try and use up the items we know are in the freezer. I am sure we save at least $50 per month...but maybe more! I often tried to purchase meat on special from our butcher which was a great saving but then wasting the saving by throwing out the meat after many months of being left in the freezer and developing freezer burn. I now know we are making real savings and feel better about not wasting food!
Contributed by Krissy
My husband and I have a 6-week rotating menu calendar, which we use when we shop. This has produced some savings for us but what has saved us the most money is at the start of the month (approximately) we do a 3 minute stocktake of our freezer. My husband goes through it and I list what we have. As we progress through the next few weeks I try and use up the items we know are in the freezer. I am sure we save at least $50 per month...but maybe more! I often tried to purchase meat on special from our butcher which was a great saving but then wasting the saving by throwing out the meat after many months of being left in the freezer and developing freezer burn. I now know we are making real savings and feel better about not wasting food!
Contributed by Krissy
Excellent Website for Menu Planning
I have found an excellent website to help with planning menus. It is a free service, allows you to change number of servings per recipe and you can print a shopping list based on the recipes you have selected. It makes planning menus easy and planing menus obviously leads to saved grocery bills. It is www.allrecipes.com
Contributed by Tracey
Website: www.allrecipes.com
Contributed by Tracey
Website: www.allrecipes.com
Have a Menu
Prepare your menu for the week around what you already have, and what's on sale. Use your junk mail to plan what you'll eat each week. For example, if chicken fillets are on sale plan to have apricot chicken, chicken cacciatore and fajitas that week. You could even make chicken soup if the weather is cool enough. Then fill out the other meals with whatever you have in the freezer or what's on sale.