Blog.EmealsForYou

Why Meal Planning – The First Step

May 1, 2008 at 9:23 am 3 comments

So you know you should plan a little better; for a couple of reasons. First there is the, ” I really should give my family better meals” thing. Then, and this should not be minimalized, there is the, “times are tough and I should try to save money where I can” thought. Using www.emealsforyou.com will help you plan better, feed your family better and feel better about yourself. From picking recipes and meals your family will love; to printing the shopping list designed to help you get through the grocery faster and with fewer unneeded items in the cart, we give you that “warm fuzzy” that you are doing something to help. Think how easy it would be to save just $3 per month, that’s the cost of a membership to emeals and as they say, “the rest is gravy”.

Okay, enough of the sales pitch; let’s move on to the First Step in Meal Planning. this one will take a little work but it will pay off in the long run.

Step 1 – Get to know the bottom of the freezer and the back shelf of the pantry. Sounds easy enough. Take a piece of paper and write down what is, or what you think it is, in that frosty baggie way back there. Make a note of what spices you have, what can goods have been sitting there waiting anxiously to please your family. Side note: now would be an excellent time to clean out all those jars of salad dressing with 1 inch of dressing in the bottom on the fridge door, you know, the ones with an expiration date of 3/2004.

Step 2 – On another sheet of paper write down all the pre-prepared foods you consume in the next two weeks. Include all the snacks the kids eat as well. These are NOT GOOD for you, don’t believe me, take a peek at the ingredients; plus they are consuming your budget. Don’t go “cold turkey” on the kids stuff, but see where you can cut back; where you can change some eating habits for the better.

Pat yourself on the back, you have started the process. Now that you know what you have you can start to figure out what you need. One final thing: start an “on sale” fund. We will use this to stock up on food, when it is on sale, that you will build your meal plans around. We help you with this as well. Our Recipe Finder let’s you plug in ingredients and see what you can make with them. Once you get the hang of all of this your will find how easy it really is.

Entry filed under: Meal Planning. Tags: Easy meal planning, emeals, emealsforyou.com, Family meals, food budgeting, Meal Planning, meals, save money on groceries, thrity meal planning, why meal planning.