If you’re reading any of my other posts, you know that I have said how much money I save by meal planning. And I really do! I used to spend hundreds of dollars a week on food, and now it’s typically less than $100, for two people, for an entire week of meals.
New to meal planning? Check out my post that tells you exactly the steps I follow to plan my meals. Too lazy to find recipes and make the shopping list? That’s ok too – $5 Meal Plan is the way to go. It does the work for you.
Related Post: How I Meal Plan every Week
Here are the recipes we are making this week:
- Burgers (no recipe here – I add seasonings, an egg and breadcrumbs, but if you need a recipe just do a quick search)
- Thai meatball lettuce wraps
- Lasagna Roll Ups
- Chicken Tacos
- Macadamia Nut crusted Sea Bass (for Valentine’s Day, because who wants to go out to eat on a day like that?!)
My grocery store shopping list:
- Hashbrowns (breakfast foods are needing a refresher) $5.37
- Ricotta Cheese $4.99
- Milk $1.49
- Tortillas $2.59
- Lasagna Noordles $1.79
- Tomato Sauce $3.02
- Buns (went expensive today and bought brioche, so worth it!) $3.99
- Corn Meal $2.49
- Brown Sugar 1.50
- Sweet Chili Sauce $2.99
- Fish Sauce $3.69
- Shredded cheese $3.34
- Live Mint plant $2.99
- Panko Bread Crumbs (3) $3.75 . ** They were out of the brand that was on sale, so I asked for a price match – that saved me $2.25 on these three boxes of bread crumbs
- Apples $8.91
- Cilantro $0.50
- Cucumbers $2.76
- Pineapple $0.98
- Garlic $1
- Green onions $0.69
- Blueberries $3.34
- Avocados $2
- Parsley $0.69
- Limes $2
- Live Basil plant $2.99
- Red Pepper $0.98
- Grapes $4.19
- Yams $2.40
- Coleslaw $1.49
- Bananas $0.72
- Onions $1.83
- Italian Sausage $4.05
- Ground Pork $5.03
- Ground Beef $7.70
- Remembered my own bags = -$0.15
Total $103.65
As a note for today – I do plan to buy fresh sea bass for Valentine’s Day, and that will likely cost about $30. Expensive, but we only buy that a few times a year, and we would have spent a lot more going out to eat.
That’s just $51.82 per person for (almost) all our meals this week! I do purchase my meat in bulk and freeze it when it is on sale, so you’ll notice that I don’t have to buy meat every week even though that’s on my meal plan. I save a lot of money this way. Chicken can go as low as $1.69 a lb when on sale, and when it isn’t, it is $3.99 a lb!!
Meal planning and not eating out can save you so much money! If money is tight, consider planning out your meals to save a lot. You can also find cheaper meals than I choose, or try not to pick recipes that have expensive ingredients. This week the fresh mint and basil accounted for $6 extra in my weekly meal cost. It may not sound like a lot, but an extra $6 for a recipe I don’t have to make does add to my grocery expenses. Use $5 meal plan if you don’t have the time or patience to plan out meals like I do.
Remember that eating leftovers or making a sandwich for lunch at work will save you a lot of money! Even making your own coffee and bringing your breakfast will save you several dollars. Most lunches are at least $10 and breakfast can be $5 if not more for coffee and a bagel. A little plan can save you a ton of money!
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