How Meal Planning Saves me at Least $30 a Week

Becoming efficient with your cooking will help you to save time and money. You’ll be able to shorten the amount of time you spend cooking and create shopping lists that focus on what you really need, instead of buying excess food that will end up in the trash.

Meal planning may feel overwhelming and like it’s just going to be an additional time commitment, but it will save you time in the long run. Many people complain about struggling to decide what to cook for dinner. Meal planning gets rid of that struggle because you already have a plan going into the week. You could even create a bank of recipes and pull a random selection each week, taking out the burden of choice.

When you have a plan, you can prep your ingredients at once and save time washing dishes. Instead of washing the cutting board every day, you wash it once after your prep all the ingredients. This may not seem like a big deal, but 2-3 minutes saved every day adds up to 14-21 minutes in a week. That’s enough time to vacuum or watch a sitcom. It adds up.

Your plan can also save you money. When you have a solid plan, you know exactly what you need and are less likely to buy excess food that ends up thrown away. Before I started meal planning, I ended up throwing away so much. I save about $30-50 on groceries per week compared to 2022, despite inflation. I am saving money because I create a plan and stick to it! Try it for 3-6 weeks and see how it works for you.

Check out my Meal Planning Template here.