I am changing my meal planning!

Who? Me
Why, I’m just not saving enough; I feel that we are still wasting food which means wasting money.
What will change? I am going from weekly to monthly
How will I save money? I hope to save money in three different ways.

1) Use what I have on hand. I am currently working on my September meal plan; I will base 90% of the entire month’s meal plan around the food I already have in my pantry (this I learned from America’ Cheapest Family).

2) Save on meat. I learned that my local supermarket have been reducing the price of meats “manger specials” on Tuesdays so I have been getting a lot of meat on sale.  I freeze the clearance meat right away so it won’t spoil.  I still think meat is way too expensive compared to last year and the year before :(

3) Stretching the meat and produce. I will try some bulk cooking; this is something I tried to avoid because it just sounds like a pain in the butt.  So I will start this crazy process nice and slow.  I plan of making a ham dinner in September; I will use the leftover ham to make split pea soup and ham-leek pie.  Those three meals use the same ingredients so I should save money on produce and making the ham last a while. So I cooked the ham once and have 3 meals.

Where do I start? Now, I am only buying loss lenders at the supermarkets which I plan on using in September. I have been gathering all my recipes in Monki Kitchen (still working on), made a list of my family favorite.  I have two “freezer cook books” but my family really doesn’t like most of those recipes, so I will try to just freeze mine. I wonder if black beans freezes well? We will find out soon!!

When I finish September’s meal plan, I will explain more of my thought process.