To be as frugal as I can when meal planning for the whole family, I make sure that I use up ingredients in my pantry and in my freezer before purchasing all new ingredients at the store.  This can be tricky if you do not have a system in place to make sure you aren't buying duplicates of items you already have or whipping up a recipe that you already have in the freezer.  Use this free Freezer ...

Don't wonder where all the grocery money went each month!  Make writing down your grocery expenses a weekly habit with this free Grocery Expense Tracker printable!  Seeing what you are spending each week will also help you know how much you have left for the rest of the month in order to stay on track! If you include eating out money as part of your grocery budget, then be sure to add those to ...

In addition to meal planning, another great way to save money on your grocery budget is having a detailed and thorough shopping list.  You know the rule, never shop when hungry?  That's a rule for a reason!  Impulse purchases increase dramatically when you are hungry, but I would also add that it's true when your list isn't accurate, too!  Take some time to create an accurate grocery shopping list ...

When I meal plan, I try to sketch out a month's worth of dinners at a time to get an idea of the whole month at once.  I can factor in any trips, school events, or sports that my family has scheduled for that month.  Then each week, I detail the meal plan for that week (if it needs it) and create my weekly grocery shopping list.  Although, if I'm warehouse shopping, then this monthly meal plan ...

Some weeks when I am meal planning, I just focus specifically on planning what we will have for dinner each night and leave the rest of the meals unscheduled for a particular day.  Why?  Because sometimes our  daytime activities are hectic and ever changing, so writing those "in stone" makes me feel unsuccessful when it doesn't happen. So, I've created this free meal planning printable to help ...

We have several free printables to help you meal plan each week and here's another one that might work for you.  Keeping it simple, we've created a free printable weekly meal plan to include your plan for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for each day of the week. Print the Weekly Meal Plan free printable here. Don't forget to take advantage of our giant Recipe Index to find some new favorite ...