Save Time And Money This Holiday Season

The holidays are a busy time of year. One way to save time and money is to PLAN meals. Coming home from a long day and staring at a near-empty refrigerator or at ingredients which could only be used in a weak attempt in a “What-izzit succotash” is usually not appealing and a call to the nearest pizza or Chinese food delivery becomes the go-to quick-and-easy solution. A lot of us realize intuitively that grocery shopping can be as expensive as eating out – that is, if we buy things we don’t need or over-purchase amounts and food goes to waste.

Here are some tips for time- and money-saving meal planning:
1. List things you like to eat. Open a Word document or get out a piece of paper and jot down brainstorm ideas for things you and your family like or would like to eat.
2. Remember the basics. Include as many vegetables (especially the green ones), fruits, and whole grains as possible. There is no need to have meat in every meal, and don’t forget about fish as an option.
3. Use what you have. Again, we don’t have to have to center every meal around meat. When planning, look in your pantry to see what you have and build around it.
4. Make use of the freezer and crock-pot. Invest in some good freezer-to-oven or freezer-to-microwave storage containers for leftovers to have at a later date. Have a busy evening planned? Plan a crock-pot meal to cook on low all day that will be warm and ready when you get home and on the way back out soon.
5. Make plans for leftover ingredients. If you won’t use all of an ingredient in a meal, plan a meal for later in the week with that/those ingredient(s).
6. Don’t underestimate the power of coupons. You can cut your shopping costs dramatically by remembering to check the Sunday paper and mail flyers for coupons and grocery sales.
7. Put it all together. Make a place (a computer document, recipe box, folder or binder with pockets) for all your new recipes and meal ideas. Like spontaneity? Put the week’s menu choices that you’ve shopped for on a whiteboard and pick one each day.