Meal Plan Monday – Meal planning saves money.

Welcome back to Meal Plan Monday and this week I am sharing a bit about why meal planning saves money for us and that’s why we do it.

Each week I share what we are eating, planning to eat or cooking and how we meal plan for a family of four with food allergies and Coeliac disease on a budget. We shop at Aldi and Asda mainly for convenience and also for food allergy product accessibility.

We are also delighted to host a weekly link up, so read on to the bottom to find out more about that and how to join in.

Food allergies mean meal planning for us but meal planning saves us money too.

During Covid lockdown when we were shielding, we had one grocery shop a week and my habit of picking up convenience meals and food when I didn’t want to cook stopped abrubtly, and I upped my meal planning game. If I plan our weekly meals, I am able to budget more effectivtly, and we end up with less food waste. It helps me to be more efficient when shopping, because I know what we need and there is no extra spending happening (well not as much, we aren’t perfect, sometimes I will break from the meal plan) and it helps me to keep down costs. I also find meal planning helps me to work out using left overs for lunches and extra meals too. So for us, meal planning is cost effective. It is also less stress for me and the family if we know what we are eating each week and working our busy life around that. I can also tailor our meal planning around our other spending. If I know we have a tight month due to other bills, I can plan to spend less on certain things and buy foods that are still healthy and enjoyable or cook more bulk meals to help us manage.

This week, our meal plan looks a bit like this:

Monday – the teen is cooking with her Smart Raspberry online course. This is a bit more expensive but she loves the cooking class and some of the meals she has produced are amazing, so it’s worth it.

Tuesday – is my long work day, the husband is also out for the evening and I need easy, so it’s roasted gnocchi and meatballs for dinner.

Wednesday – it’s ballet day for the boy. I take pasta and snacks for him to eat on the way home. Sometimes we splurge and grab a takeway meal to eat but it’s not very cost effective so I prefer to take food I have made at home.

Thursday – toad in the hole, which we haven’t had for ages and the kids have asked for.

Friday – the teen and husband are out again, so kiddo and I will have home made pizza at home

Saturday – katsu curry (I am working on a gluten free version of this so the teen can eat safely)

Sunday – we are out for lunch with friends so I don’t have to cook and supper at home will be what I call “stretch or starve” or “find something that’s in the fridge and help yourself”

And that is our week of meals. Our food budget is usually £100 a week, but that includes cat food, and cleaning, toiletries and other things as well and covering the cost of food allergy products, lunches for the teen etc too.

What are you eating this week?

If you would like to add your post and join up and find some meal inspiration or just have a nosey at what other people eat, then please do. I will comment on all your posts and retweet them too.