Food is a major part of anyone’s expenses. Each year, we spend thousands of dollars just to keep our stomachs full. If you’re like millions of other people, you’re looking to save money while still eating well. Is it still possible to eat well and save money in this day and age? You’ll be happy to know that it’s simple to make a frugal meal plan for you and your family!
Whether you’re single, have a partner or have a family with multiple kids in the house, learning how to make a frugal meal plan will save you both time and money in the long run.
Read on to learn about how to make a frugal meal plan.
How to Start Frugal Meal Planning
Making a commitment: the first step when frugal meal plan. Before you actually undertake the process of planning, shopping for and preparing frugal meals, you need to decide that you’re going to make this a habit. There’s nothing wrong with dipping your toes in first – for example, just doing the occasional frugal meal. However, if you truly want to practice frugal living, you’ll need to commit to making frugal meal prep a regular habit.
How can you motivate yourself to start and maintain good frugal meal planning habits? There are two main ways you can go about doing this:
- Setting aside time to prepare and make frugal meals
- Keeping a journal or meal planner
1. Setting Aside Time to Make Frugal Meals
One of the most crucial steps of making a frugal meal plan and cooking is setting aside a proper block of time to get everything done. Humans are creatures of habit. What does this mean for you? Ideally, you’ll want to set aside the same date and time each week to get your meal prep tasks done. Decide on a date and time when you’re usually free. This means zero distractions from your kids, partner, or any occasional extracurricular activities you participate in. Choose a time when you never have anything planned. That way, you’ll have no excuse around not having enough time to make a frugal meal plan for the week!
Personally, I like to set aside my Sunday afternoons for meal planning and shopping. After dinner, I do my weekly meal prep for lunches and dinners. There’s no wrong day to pick – just be consistent!
2. Keeping a Journal or Meal Planner
How can you stay motivated, remember what you’ve made in the past and want to cook this week? Keep on track with making a frugal meal plan by having a journal or meal planner handy!
A journal is a great way to log what meals you’ve eaten already. If you particularly loved or disliked a dish, you can make a note to make (or never make) the recipe again. Check Amazon for a journal like this to help you keep on track with frugal meal planning. I like this journal a lot because it has 60 weeks’ worth of meal planning sheets and a tear-off shopping list section. It’s an easy way to plan and shop for meals!
If a journal is a bit much for you, stick with something simpler. This magnetic meal planner lets you write in your meals for the week and has a tear-away shopping list! Stick it on your fridge as a visual reminder of what you’re going to cook and eat for the week.
How to Plan Frugal Meals
Now that I’ve covered getting set up for success with creating a plan and making a commitment, it’s time to get into the full process of planning, shopping and making those delicious meals! Let’s get started.
1. Use What You Already Have at Home
Before even putting on your shoes and heading out to the store, check what you already have at home! Sure – it’s easy to just start fresh with a new meal plan for the week – however, this isn’t a good frugal practice. In the long run, you’ll waste money.
Let’s just say that on average, you throw away 5 oranges, 2 jars of pasta sauce and your leftovers from your week. These ingredients cost you around $10.
Assuming you toss food for each week this year, you’re losing up to to $520 per year ($10 x 52 weeks) on perfectly good food – that’s a decent amount of cash! It’s not life-changing, but the principle is what matters – wasting money isn’t frugal. You might think that isn’t a lot of money per year, but if you take that amount and add it up, over five years, you’ve wasted over $2500. Small habits add up over time!
Therefore, try to avoid throwing out leftovers as much as possible. To prevent food waste, try buying only what you need. If you’re trying to work on minimizing or reducing food waste, log how much you buy of each item per week and how much you threw out or had to return to the store for. Once you have logged a few weeks’ worth of information, you’ll have a better sense of how much you need to buy at the store without 1. throwing away food, or 2. needing to return to the store multiple times because you didn’t buy enough.
2. Make a Grocery List
The Importance of Having a Plan
Before you go to the store, it’s important to know what you’re going to buy. I know – it’s a lot easier to just peruse the aisles and buy what you think you need. Without having a plan, our carts tend to fill up fast – and our grocery bills tend to be higher.
Stay with me on this one for a minute – it’s easy to just throw in a bag of Skittles and popcorn in your cart for an impromptu snacking night (or three) this week. While there’s nothing wrong indulging every once in a while, if you make it a regular occurrence, you’ll struggle with keeping on budget and maintaining frugal habits.
For example, if you typically spend an extra $30 on stuff you don’t need every week, in just 6 months, you will have spent almost $800… $780 to be exact. That’s a lot of popcorn! Therefore, always have a list ready to go – and if you’re treating yourself, write down exactly what treats you’ll buy so you don’t deviate from the list.
How to Make Your List
How do you make time to create your list? Firstly, set aside a chunk of time each week to check what you already have.
I personally like to set aside 2 hours or so to check my inventory, meal plan, create a list and go shopping. As mentioned earlier, pick a date and time that works for you. There’s no wrong time – so long as you’re consistent!
3. Compare Prices at Different Stores
Why Price Compare at Supermarkets?
Once you’ve made your grocery list, it’s now time to hit up the store, right? Hold on a second – before you go, you’ll need to do some price comparing! What is that? Basically, price comparing is when you look at the price of one of more particular products using flyers or apps. In my opinion, the best app to price compare supermarkets is Flipp. Check out what apps you have in your area.
You might think that one particular discount supermarket carries the cheapest items. However, this isn’t always true. Sometimes, items are on sale somewhere else – and these other grocery stores are just a quick drive away. While it isn’t always worth it to drive around the whole city to save, say 50 cents or a dollar, if the other stores are close to you, it might be worth the drive.
Wasting Food Can Add Up Over Time
For example, let’s say that you see that bread is $1 cheaper at a grocery store just half a mile from you. Typically, you buy 4 loaves of bread per week. $4 saved per week x 52 = $208. That might not seem like a lot, but what if you did the same for 3 other essential items? You could save over a thousand dollars a year!
Of course, price comparing doesn’t always make sense. If you don’t own a car and have to take transit, you’ll spend tons of time just to save a few dollars. It’s not really worth spending over an hour of your day just to save a few dollars – especially if you can carry limited items on transit and have to pay for your transit fee.
Another handy tip: before you head out to the store, ensure you set a budget. Not sure exactly how much you spend in one week? Set a rough limit, say, within $20 or $30. For example, if you typically spend $100 a week, set your minimum to $100 and you maximum to $130. This will allow you to account for any extra items you forgot or any items that aren’t on sale this week. If you’re under budget, there’s nothing wrong with enjoying a chocolate bar or that bag of salted kettle chips – go on – enjoy it! Just don’t make it a regular thing – enjoy it within your means.
4. Choose and Use the Same Ingredients
One of the simplest ways to save money on groceries is to choose several of the same meats, grains, veggies and fruits for most of your meals for the upcoming week. A minimalist meal plan will help you save money and time on meal planning.
For example, let’s say you choose the following:
- Grain of the week – quinoa
- Meat of the week – fish
- Fruit of the week – apples
- Vegetables of the week – broccoli, cucumber and tomatoes
- Beans of week – chickpeas (beans and lentils are some of the best frugal foods you can buy!)
The goal is for you to make all your dishes using these ingredients. For example, using this list, you can have:
- Oatmeal with apples – breakfast
- Chickpea salad with tomatoes and cucumbers – lunch
- Fish and broccoli – dinner
- Apple tart – treat
As you can see from the list of meals above, the ingredients are used in one or more dishes.
Sticking to a core list for one week doesn’t mean that you can’t buy or use any other ingredients. The objective is to minimize food waste by using these as much as possible. By buying more of one item, you’ll save money because you’ll be more likely to consume it before it goes bad.
5. Partake in Meal Prep
If you really want to practice thrifty meal habits, frugal meal prep is the way to go. What is this? Meal prep means that you’ll create one large batch of a dish for several meals. After the meal is cooked and cooled, you’ll put equal portions into reusable containers and stick them in the fridge. Meal prep is the best way to be frugal with cooking because you’ll buy more of each ingredient. When you buy larger packages, you’ll usually save money – since the cost per unit is generally cheaper. This is especially true for grains and starches like rice and pasta as well as canned foods.
In addition to saving cash on groceries, when you meal prep, you’ll drastically cut down on cooking time. If you cook once or twice per week instead of every evening, you’ll spend less hours prepping. Another great benefit is avoiding decision fatigue – tiredness from making too many decisions about what you’ll cook and eat every day. If your meals are sitting in the fridge ready to go, you’ll be good to go for the week!
Choose a Designated Day to Meal Prep
Just as you’ve done with your planning do with planning and grocery shopping, choose a day when you’ll meal prep. As I mentioned before, I personally shop after I’ve planned and shopped – on the same day. I like having a designated day to do everything related to making a frugal meal plan and cooking. Again, pick a date and time that works best for you. Why not try planning and shopping on Saturday, and doing your prep on Sunday? Try out different days and times. Once you find a routine that works for you, stick with it.
6. Buy in Bulk
I touched on buying more of one ingredient to save money, but what about buying for longer than one week?
By buying more of the same ingredient, you’ll save money. How? Generally, larger packages of some items, such as beans and grains, are cheaper than buying smaller packages. This is because the cost per unit is cheaper.
One important note to keep in mind: not everyone has the privilege of buying in bulk. If you’re able to, you are very fortunate! With that in mind, please be sure to avoid buying too much in bulk. If we always clear the shelves, we won’t leave anything for the single mom who can only afford to buy 1 package of rice at a time.
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A Sample Meal Plan for Each Time of Day
Not sure where to get started with making and following through on a frugal meal plan? With this plan, you’ll buy and use the same ingredients in different dishes to minimize prep time and maximize savings. Here are a few ideas to get you started with next week’s meal plan:
Great Frugal Breakfast Ideas
Easy Frugal Lunch Ideas
Super Frugal Dinner Ideas
Frugal Meal Plans for Every Lifestyle
The above list is a great collection of meals to get you stated with a frugal meal plan. What if you’re looking for something specific for your lifestyle and family size? Below are a few great meal ideas for large families, couples and singles.
Frugal Meal Plans for Large Families
If you have a big family, it’s always a lot of work to figure out what’s on for dinner. When you look for meal plans for large families, you’ll want to find options that are easy to make, don’t require a lot of prep time and will appeal to both the kids and adults in the house. Here are some of the best meals for large families based on these factors:
Breakfast Ideas for Large Families
- Scrambled eggs with toast and fruit
- Overnight breakfast enchiladas
- Sausage, egg and cheese bagels
Lunch Ideas for Large Families
- Grilled chicken wraps
- Frittata – serve with toast and fruit for a brunch-style meal!
- Turkey and spinach pinwheels
Dinner Ideas for Large Families
- Tater tot casserole
- Chicken pot pie
- English muffin pizzas (a personal childhood favorite of mine!)
Frugal Meal Plans for Couples
While most of this article touches on family meal plans, what if it’s just the two of you? Since you need to prepare less food, it’s a lot easier to just grab a pizza from the store or order from your favorite Chinese food joint. Nothing wrong with a treat from time to time, but on a daily basis, you need to have a plan to avoid blowing your budget.
Firstly, stock some healthy snacks in your fridge you can grab after you finish your work day and while preparing your meal. Snacks like hard-boiled eggs, nuts, cheese and apples with peanut butter are great options.
Secondly, to resist the temptation to hit ‘order’ on your takeout app – have a few handy recipes ready that are easy to make!
Lastly, why not make meal prep a date night? Even if you don’t make it your weekly cooking and shopping time, even setting aside one day a week can be a fun way to reconnect.
Here are a few great easy and quick meal plan ideas for couples:
Quick Frugal Breakfasts for Couples
- Strawberry banana protein smoothie
- Egg and potato skillet
- Banana pancakes – perfect for a lazy Saturday morning in!
Easy Frugal Lunches for Couples
- Salad topped with grilled chicken
- Buddha bowl
- Grilled PB and J sandwiches – cheap, easy and filling
Delicious Frugal Dinners for Couples
- Curried cauliflower and lentil soup – pair with homemade bread for a perfect cozy dinner!
- Homemade pizzas – customize based on what you want!
- Chicken fajitas
Meal Plans If You’re Single
Being single means flexibility and ease about what and when you’ll cook. However, since you don’t have an accountability partner (unless you live with roommates or family), it’s a lot more tempting to go for takeout or unhealthy food. If you’re a college student or a busy working professional, it’s easy to slip into the habit of hitting the ‘order’ button. Be sure to have a meal plan every week full of easy, healthy meals that you can make on your own time.
If you’re on a tight budget, stick to a list of cheap foods that are healthy, filling and nutritious. Foods like lentils, beans, bananas, oats, rice, pasta, frozen blueberries and frozen mixed vegetables are great foods to include on your list.
To help you get started, here’s a list of meal ideas for singles:
Breakfast Ideas for Singles
Lunch Ideas for Singles
Dinner Ideas for Singles
Conclusion – How to Make a Frugal Meal Plan
If you take the time to plan and execute, making a frugal meal plan and cooking on the cheap is fun and easy. Frugal meal plans are some of the best ways to save money, all while still enjoying delicious dishes. Try out different dishes each week and write down your favorite meals in your journal or planner. Most of all, have fun!
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Janita is a frugal living expert and owner of Frugal Fun Finance. With over five years of personal experience finding and trying out the best ways to make and save more money, she's eager to share her knowledge. Janita's strategies have helped her save thousands of dollars for funding investments and traveling to over 20 countries.
Janita completed training in personal finance at The University of Western Ontario and McGill University, two prestigious Canadian universities. Her expertise has been shared on GoBankingRates, Yahoo Finance, and NASDAQ.com.
