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Inexpensive meal planning
CN: We spend a ton of money on food ($650 per month... ouch). I was wondering if someone with a low monthly food cost would post their meal plan for a week or two to help me out.
When people post their budgets on the board, I see a lot recommendations to lower grocery costs. I definitely need help in that department. DH and I spend about $650 per month at the grocery store for the two of us. Granted, we eat 90% of our meals at home so we only spend about $30 on eating out per month. We also don't go out for drinks but enjoy the occasional glass of wine, so that amount includes money for beer/wine in addition to cleaning supplies, personal care products, etc. Basically, it's not all going to food, but most of it is. It seems incredibly excessive to be spending that much, and we're both in graduate/professional school so we're on a tight budget.
Here is some info about our eating patterns:
1) DH enjoys an "easy-make" food about once or twice per week (frozen pizza or chicken) when I am not eating with him.
2) I don't eat pork. DH tries to avoid ground beef or turkey, but I try to sneak them in occasionally. DH likes "nice" cuts of meat; I tried to cook chicken thighs once and he said they tasted too "cheap."
3) I like to make a big meal for lunch over the weekend and eat it throughout the week. This is generally soup or quinoa with veggies-relatively cheap. DH will eat leftovers from dinner or make a sandwich.
4) We do buy some processed foods- chips, crackers, soda. These aren't a large part of our grocery shopping though.
5) We (mainly me, really, but I am the main cook!) really like to eat healthy whole food. I work in healthcare, and honestly I would rather invest a lot of money now in our health via what we are putting in our mouths to improve our health outcomes later. However, I would still love to cut costs!
Would anyone be willing to post a week or two of their cheap meal plans to help me out? Thanks for your help! Sorry this was so long 
Re: Inexpensive meal planning
We spend $250 a month on groceries (including toiletries) and $100 eating out. A lot of it depends on COL but even in HCOL, I still think you can get it down from $650. I like a website called budgetbytes.com. I also work in healthcare and we see a registered dietician monthly. Eating healthy and exercising is very important to us as well. Our meals are dietician approved/health friendly.
We cook three meals a week. We then rotate them/eat leftovers 2 to 3 days. This week we are having:
1. Portabella Mushroom Pizza's with a side of greens (olive oil and vinegar) and whole wheat garlic toast. (enough for 3 meals for 2 people) Total cost = about $10
2. Beef and Broccoli with brown rice (enough for 3 meals for 2 people) total cost = $10
3. Leek pesto w/ wheat noodles (enough for 3 meals for 2 people) total cost = $8
For lunch we take two servings of vegetables, a fruit, 2-3 proteins and one carb. My lunch this week is a BLT, with a side a cucumbers w/ humus and a half of grapefruit. I will eat sunflower seeds for a snack in the afternoon.
We rarely have any "easy make" things. I just don't buy them because they normally aren't very good for you. We rarely have processed foods for the same reason.
I always keep greens on hand and we normally just throw that together with some oil and vinegar. We buy really good oil and vinegar (we have it shipped from Napa). So we love it and it never gets old to us.
For snacks, we either grab a piece of fruit or I also always have baby carrots and humus on hand. I try to find new recipes that are healthy on pinterest or budgetbytes.
I basically try and spend $50 a week w/ $50 leftover to buy extras. About $20 a month goes to toiletries and things such as dishwasher detergent out of the $250. I buy pop when I can get it for super cheap. A 12 pack has to be $2 or less for me to buy it. I just got that price at CVS last week. I use coupons and have a reasonable stockpile. It is not like what you see on tv at all but if I can get deodorant for $2 or less, I will buy 3 for me and 3 for DH. We do live in a pretty good size house and I can store things easily.
I will also shop at several different stores because within .25 miles of each other we have a Giant Eagle, Acme (local grocery store), Earth Fare (similar to Whole Foods), Aldis, Sam's Club, Mustard Seed (Whole Foods like), Walmart, Target, Marc's (Ohio store), and GFS. You can literally park your car and walk to all of these stores so it is easy to run in and grab 6 things here and 3 things there. I grocery shop on Mondays and it takes me 1 1/2 hours max even going to more than one store. That includes getting gas for my car and running other errands (ex. Pet Supplies Plus, post office, etc.).
Hope this helps!
Holy crap that's a lot of money per month for groceries for 2. We spend $400 for 3 of us and only eat out 1 time a week. I suggest buying off brand on everything you can. It's the same dang thing. Coupon helps as well. Below is our last weeks meals:
Monday - left over lasagna hamburger helper and salad
Tuesday - taco salad
Wed - chicken stir fry and egg rolls
Thurs - pasta with shrimp and veggies
Fri - Salmon with salad
Sat - dinner at pizza shoppe
Sun - Chilli
I don't meal plan. I literally think of dinner sometime about late afternoon and fix it that evening. I also make enough food once a week to have a left over day once a week. Hope that helps
One thing that we've found that helps us is that we've invested in a good food saver. We then go to the wholesale club & buy meat & then vacuum seal the meat into portions that fit us better. It allows us to get meat at a good price, and stock up the freezer well in one shopping trip.
Another idea you can try is invest in some plates from gladware or tupperware that you can put a whole meal on & then put a lid on it to put into the freezer. Then when you have a night where you have a fair amount of leftovers, make your own homemade frozen tv dinners that your hubby or you can pull out on the nights you don't want to cook.
Your food budget sounds high. $850 is about what DH & I spend but it includes dinner out at least once per week & cocktails. We live in a HCOL area so you must be wasting a lot or you need to shop around for a better priced grocery store.
Invest in a slow cooker. You can take cheaper cuts of meat & turn them into savory dishes with the magic of time.
Learn to use your leftovers rather than throwing them out. There's some show on the Food Channel with a blonde who makes something & then tells you how to make a "Round 2 receipe."
As I got better at that we wasted less. For example, if I roast a chicken, the next night I make a homemade chicken pot pie with cream soup, a bag of frozen mixed vegetables & Bisquick. Then I make stock from the bones. I made chilli last weekend, froze some, & then made chilli mac the next night. If I make a roast, afterwards we'll have beef stroganoff or just chipped beef on toast.
If you don't already own one, buy a freezer. Then you can buy the expensive cuts of meat when they go on sale & shop your freezer. I always buy lots of steaks in May when my local butcher has the pre-summer BBQ stock up sale.
If you truly want to do the healthy thing, cut down the expensive protein. The meat on your plate should be about the size of a pack of playing cards. Usually, most Americans have about 3-5x more meat than that. Fill the rest of the plate with vegetables & whole grains which you get at a produce store not the supermarket for extra savings.
We try to meal plan a month ahead (just finished March's planning). We make a grocery list each week based on what we have planned, plus milk (including my DD's very expensive lactose-free milk) and other items like fresh produce and stick to that list. We spend approx. $125/week for a family of 4 and this includes diapers and other non-food items.
We tried the pay with cash only method before and I find it easier to just keep close tabs via online banking and not have to pull out money weekly or monthly.
Before I meal plan I check my pantry/freezer to see what items I already have so I can have an idea on what meals I should make.
We buy alot of our meat in bulk. We get beef once a year from a friend who raises beef cows. We spend about $300 and get 1/4 of a cow. We get meat ranging from filets and T-bones to ground beef patties. This is enough to fill a small deep freezer.
We get chicken and ground turkey from Costco, it comes pre-packaged in 1lb increments- They tend to have a good selection of organic/nautural foods.
During warmer months (usually May-October) we get alot of our fresh produce from a local farmers market that takes place on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Everything is usually cheaper and locally grown. I'd rather opt for locally grown vs. organic in some instances.
Alot of times, I plan on making a large amount of meat early in the week and base meals on that. For example, I made a beef roast last night. Tonight we are having beef and noodles and mashed potatoes. Tomorrow we are having beef and vegetable soup, with leftovers of each to last us until the weekend. We pack these leftovers for our lunch at work.
We don't dine in if we aren't eating a home cooked meal. Mostly because we have 2 young children that can be a handfull. It saves us money because we don't have to buy beverages (alcohol included), tip our waiter, or be tempted to get dessert or something like that.
Mine are in the crockpot because I'm in nursing school, but they're cheap and healthy.
Chicken Tacos
1-2 lbs chicken (fresh or frozen)
1 jar salsa
1 pack taco seasoning (I make my own, it's easier)
Throw all in the crockpot and let cook for 6-8 hours on low.
Crockpot Fajitas
1-2 lbs eye of round steak or chicken
3 bell peppers, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 can diced tomatoes
1 pack fajita seasoning
Throw all in crockpot for 6-8 hours. When done, shred meat and mix with veggies.
Crockpot Cube Steak
6 cube steaks
1 pack onion soup mix
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
1/2 cup water
Mix all in crockpot and cook for 6-8 hours.
All of these are cheap, under $10 a piece here and feed us for 3 nights.