Thrifty Thursday: Freezer and Pantry Challenge with a little meal planning

Many people feel that their grocery budget has gotten out of hand and don't know what to do about it.  Does that describe you?

I love couponing and saving lots of money on everything for our family but as a lot of my new couponing friends can attest, it is a lot of work.  If you want to try a fast start to saving a little money, take a challenge to eat out of your pantry and freezer.  Whether you want to kick start your coupon savings or skip couponing all together, you can make a plan to try for a week or a month but every day helps.  Don't think that you can do it?  Start with the first two steps and see how long your lists are!!

1.  Go through your freezer:  Write down everything you have in groupings of meat, veggies, and other so that you know everything in the freezer.  If there is anything you can't identify, throw it out (or defrost and throw out if you can't figure it out after it is defrosted, you better throw it out!!!  We all have things that we put in the freezer and didn't label but it is a lesson for next time because you will remember to take the few seconds needed to label so that you can use that item again).

2.  Go through the pantry and cupboard: Write down everything you have and if you have things that are expiring soon, put it on the counter to force you to use it first.  If there is anything that is expired, throw it out.  If there are things that you don't think that you are going to eat, donate them.

3.  Make a Meal Plan: It is really easy to sit down and make a meal plan with the items that you have around the house.  I sit down with my calendar and my lists at the beginning of each month and spread my meals through the month so that we aren't eating the same thing every week.

For example, pasta is my easy meal so I make it on Friday after a long week.  The first Friday of the week will get Olive Oil Spaghetti, the second Friday will get Sausage Tortelloni, and the next will get Chicken Cacciatore.  We are using the spaghetti for two different meals and it doesn't feel like we are eating the same thing even though it came from the same box.  We do breakfast for dinner a few times a week so I put one and skip two weeks and put another.  It helps to spread out the meals that you know you already have and then start thinking.

The next step is to look at the calendar and see that I need a meal on Monday.  I look and see that there is chicken in the freezer and rotel in the cupboard and some rice.  I get on the Internet or look through my cookbook.  I could marinate the chicken in half of the rotel and use the other half to make a Spanish/Mexican style rice.  If I didn't think or plan ahead then I would be eating plain chicken with white rice so a little planning and creativity makes for a much tastier meal that doesn't cost more.  Do you have a few tortillas in the house?  You just made spicy chicken tacos and rice.  The possibilities are endless.

When you get down to the end, think outside the box.  Even though you always eat stuffing with pork chops, if you have stuffing you should look into a meal with chicken.  We get into ruts as we cook dinner and don't try anything new but it helps to try new things and we have come up with a lot of family favorites through my experiments.  I have to be truthful and there have been some failures but much less then the successes and I wouldn't change this adventure for the world.

Do you know how much money this will save you?  We don't waste food anymore because there is a plan for the items in the house and I use the things that I have.  If I open a container of spaghetti sauce, I plan to use the other half of the jar later in the month before it goes bad.  If I buy a big container of green beans, I am going to plan two meals around it.  If I buy yogurt and it is getting close to the end, I will make scones if we aren't going to eat it.  There are so many different ways to use things and find a use for everything in the house.

Take the challenge and go for a week with only the food in the house and see what you can make.  There are tons of foods lurking in your cupboards just waiting to get used and you are probably going out every week getting new food without cleaning out the cupboards first.  I think that you will be surprised at how many new and different things you can try.  If you have a busy week at work, don't try this that week!!  Start when you can put a little more thought into making meals so that you don't give it up because of the stress at work and just buy pizza.

If you spend $200-$400 per week on groceries then doing this for one week a month will save you this much money.  If you plan your meals for the month, you will add more to the saving because you can't believe how much it saves to know that when you decide that you are making Chicken Marsala that you have all the ingredients already in the house and don't have to stop at the store on the way home.  If you plan ahead to get all of the things that you need for the week (or month) so that you don't have to make extra trips to the store, you will save a bundle!!  I know when I go to the store that I don't need another head of lettuce because I planned the meals in a clump that were going to use them before the produce went bad.  I hope that you try because in the long run it will save you time and money (and a little sanity around dinnertime).

A little planning goes a long way!!!