The cheapest way to meal plan this summer!
So… I don’t know about where you live, but here in Vegas the deal with groceries is that they are still SO EXPENSIVE, and I don’t see them going down in price anytime soon. So we’re having to be a little creative over here.
Maybe you are, too.
Every few months we take a look at how full our pantry and chest freezer are, and we decide to do an “eat what we’ve got” month! It saves money, we work through the food I’ve bought in bulk at cheaper prices, and it’s kinda fun to figure out what we can make with what we’ve got on hand.
(I do still buy fresh produce and dairy, but that’s about it.)
We tend to spend a lot more money during the summer than we do during the school year, because Jon is home and we do more activities outside of the house. So the summer is a perfect time for us to “eat what we’ve got”, and save a little money on food! We’re doing this in June ourselves, so I thought I’d share a few tips with you:
- Make a list of what you’ve got! When we started this, Jon wanted to just pull two things out of the freezer each day and eat that. I like to plan a little more than that, so I made a list of everything in the freezer and the pantry. That’s the ONLY way that I could come up with yummy, balanced meals that mostly everyone would like.
- Plan out the whole month. After I’ve got my lists going, I look at those and plan an entire month of meals. When I have doubles of something, I can spread them out over the month, and then we’re not eating spaghetti for six nights in a row.
- Eat leftovers. Leftovers work great for lunches, or ⬆️ like I mentioned above, you can freeze them and use them for dinner another night. Take those leftover taco fixings and make a taco salad! Use the leftover pasta for lunches you can reheat the next day. The key here is to keep a good list on the fridge so you know what leftovers you have available!
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Happy meal planning, friends! This is my absolute FAVORITE way to plan – using what we’ve already got to simplify the meal planning process!
Kayse Pratt serves Christian women as a writer + designer, creating home + life management resources that help those women plan their days around what matters most. She’s created the most unique planner on the market, helped over 400 women create custom home management plans, and works with hundreds of women each month inside her membership, teaching them how to plan their days around what matters most. When she’s not designing printables or writing essays, you’ll find Kayse homeschooling her kids, reading a cheesy novel with a giant cup of tea in hand, or watching an old show from the 90’s with her husband, who is her very best friend.