{"id":13208,"date":"2019-11-13T16:30:54","date_gmt":"2019-11-13T21:30:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thehappyhousewife.com\/?p=13208"},"modified":"2020-03-22T11:14:07","modified_gmt":"2020-03-22T15:14:07","slug":"5-simple-ways-to-menu-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thehappyhousewife.com\/cooking\/5-simple-ways-to-menu-plan\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Simple Ways to Menu Plan"},"content":{"rendered":"

Are you spending too much on groceries every month? Years ago I was spending over $800 dollars a month to feed a family of six because I never had a menu plan.<\/p>\n

I would go to the store each week with a small list of essentials- milk, diapers, bread and come home with hundreds of dollars worth of food we didn’t need. My biggest problem, lack of planning.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

This food would then sit in my fridge and pantry for weeks because I didn’t have a plan to use it.<\/p>\n

One day, when we decided to get serious about our finances, I realized that even though I didn’t have an income, I could<\/em> help reduce our spending.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The first area I examined (after cutting cable) was the grocery budget. I didn’t have any idea how much I was spending each month, but I was sure I could spend less if I just had a plan.<\/p>\n

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It was then that I learned about menu planning.<\/strong> I started creating weekly meal plans for my family and shopping lists based on the meal plan.<\/p>\n

I am sure it is no surprise that my monthly grocery budget was drastically reduced, immediately.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Menu planning had another unintended consequence to our family’s budget. We ate out significantly less, thereby saving our family more money and improving our nutrition.<\/p>\n

Have you ever had that “oh no, it’s 5 o’clock and I don’t know what to make for dinner”<\/strong> moment that resulted in take-out pizza or the drive-thru? A menu plan solves that problem.<\/p>\n

A menu plan meant saving money, eating better, and less stress at meal times.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I sometimes wonder how I went so long without planning.<\/p>\n

If you are struggling in this area, don’t give up. You can drastically slash your grocery budget with meal planning.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

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