Can meal planning help save your budget?
Have you ever asked yourself how can meal planning save your budget?
Does this sound at all familiar? It’s 7:00 pm and you just got home from picking your daughter up from dance and you just dropped your son off at basketball. The phone is ringing, the baby is crying and your husband wants to know what’s for dinner. You have nothing planned, the meat is frozen and you already had pancakes the night before. There is a fast food restaurant just around every corner so you decide that on the way back from basketball you will swing through the drive-thru and pick up some burgers, fries and drinks. For $32 you feed your family a meal full of nothing nutritious and you have spent ¼ of your grocery budget for the week.
With some simple planning this situation can easily be avoided. Meal planning is easily accomplished and can save you lots of money and feed your family healthy food.
There are several ways to plan your meals.
Most weeks in my house I have a chart of the wall with each day listed and what I am planning for dinner each day. I make my plan based upon 2 things: what is on sale at the grocery store this week and what I have on hand.
Another idea is to make a rotating schedule based upon what your family likes. Include your family in this plan. You can take a few minutes to devote to meal planning. Be sure to plan enough meals for a 2 week or 4 week rotation just by making a simple chart. Wouldn’t having a monthly plan help you at the grocery store? You would know exactly what you were eating and you would know exactly what to buy. This way when you see things on sale or you come across a coupon you can quickly decide if it’s worth it to you.
Have you ever thought of having “Taco Tuesdays?” If you’ve watched the LEGO Movie I am sure you know about Taco Tuesday! Every Tuesday you can have tacos. I am sure you can come up with a few “theme nights” of your own. My kids have come up with these ideas: “Meatball Monday” and “Waffle Wednesday.” Of course they don’t have to be fancy themes. Your meal planning could just be based on things like Chicken, Beef, Pasta, Crock pot, BBQ, etc… You know what your family’s needs are. Plan for leftovers too!
For me knowing what we are having and having it documented and posted somewhere that everyone can see is super helpful. I have found that when it’s planned and written down, we stick to it. My son who struggles with anxiety really liked it when he knows what is going on and this applies to meal planning too. AND if you are lucky enough your spouse and children might be able to help you!
One more note about meal planning. If I have a plan for meals it really helps me to be able to do a little prep work throughout the day. Then there is really no going back, because I refuse to waste the food!
How to correctly store your food
Have you ever come home from the grocery store with bags and bags full of groceries and wondered how to correctly store your food? This happens to me sometimes. I recently set out to see if I could find some decent guidelines and this is what I have been able to come up with:
What can I keep on the counter?
There are lots of things that you can store on your counter or in a cool dry place:
Things like garlic and onion are correctly stored on the counter for up to two weeks. I was surprised to read that tomatoes should be stored in a cool and dry place. I knew that potatoes and winter squash varieties should also be kept in a cool and dry place, instead of the fridge. The right place to keep bananas, oranges, lemons and melons are correctly stored on the counter, as well, as long as they are not cut. Bread, cakes and pies are correctly stored on the counter for a few days but if you are keeping them too long they should be moved to the fridge.
What should you keep in the pantry?
Dry goods like cereals, crackers, etc. can usually be stored in the pantry for up to six months, just watch the expiration dates, once a package is open, it’s best to move it to a container that can be closed up. Did you know that you can correctly store spices for about 2 years, in containers with a tight lid?
What about the fridge?
While it seems easy enough there are several things to consider if you want to correctly store foods in the fridge. Dairy products should be stored on the top shelves, because the temperature is more constant. The best way to store cheeses is to wrap them in waxed paper or cheesecloth and label them on the outside.
Do not keep eggs in the door and it’s not a good idea to remove them from their original cartons. All vegetables except the ones we talked about earlier should be stored the fridge. Mushrooms absolutely need to be kept in the fridge. It’s best to keep your veggies away from apples, mangoes & bananas, they produce a natural ethylene gas and that can rote your veggies quickly.
In order to correctly store fruits they should be kept in the fridge in a separate drawer if possible from the vegetables. Water quickens decomposition of fruits, so it’s best to not wash them until you are going to eat them. I have been washing my strawberries though, in a 50/50 mixture of white vinegar and water.
Meat & Fish of course need to be stored in the fridge. If you aren’t using them within a couple of days of purchase it’s best to freeze them and then thaw in the fridge not on the counter.
Meat and fish can be frozen in its original packaging.
I found this information from the USDA:
Maximum recommended freezer storage time:
- Beef and lamb is 6 months
- Veal, pork, and poultry – 4 months
- Fish can last in the freezer for up to 6 months, but fattier fish should not be frozen for over three months.
Also note that pies and pies crusts, cakes and stock can also be kept in the freezer for a couple of months.
I would like to say cookies can be frozen for a couple of months too, but seriously who has the willpower to freeze them and not eat them hot out of the oven?
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Get Organized – Let’s talk about using coupons and pinching your pennies!
Last night we talked about deciding to use coupons and some ideas for gathering them. Now we need to talk about what to do with the coupons once you have them. I know so many people who have a great desire to use coupons. They want to save money. They want to use coupons. They know that it is supposed to be super easy but they just can’t seem to make it work. Most of the time, this happens because they are unorganized. If your coupons are a mess, you won’t use them. If it is too much work to find the coupons you need to use, you won’t use them. Being unorganized dooms many would be coupon users before they even start. It is hard to be successful with coupons when you are unorganized.
The second step to successful coupon use is organization. There is a variety of ways you can organize and maintain your coupons. Successful coupon users all have one thing in common. They have a place to keep and organize their coupons. This can be a box, binder, file cabinet or flexible file. Plastic flex-type coupon organizers can be purchased at many stores. Coupon users sometimes have large ones for storing whole inserts or multiples of many coupons and well as small ones for taking just a few needed coupons on a shopping trip. Many coupon users make their own binders. Many use a zippered binder filled with photo pages or sports card pages. This is a very popular method of organizing coupons. A box with dividers or files can be made or purchased. Some coupon users have a shoe box or a baby wipes box with index cards used as dividers. Whatever is used, the coupons are divided and placed in categories which provide for easy location while shopping. Some shoppers prefer their coupons to be organized by category and others prefer to sort by date.
There are many methods to saving and cutting the coupons and inserts. Some coupon users will cut all coupons and file them in their coupon organizer or binder. The cut coupons are usually filed by category or product type. It makes it very easy to find the coupons this way and this way all of the coupons are available when shopping. If a surprise deal or sale is found, the coupon is already cut out and ready to use.
Others coupon users cut only the coupons they are sure they are going to use and leave the rest in the coupon inserts. When a sale or deal on a specific item comes up, they can go back to the insert and cut out the needed coupons. If you are going to doing this, find a way to file and organize the inserts. It is helpful to write the insert date on the front of the insert with a Sharpie marker. Be sure you print or write out a list of which coupons are in each insert. This will help you see which coupons are available and know where to find them.
Now that you’ve collected and gathered your coupons and organized them, we can start talking about using those coupons and saving money! Watch for our next blog about this tomorrow!
Coupons 101 – Let’s talk about using coupons and pinching your pennies!
At Pinching Your Pennies we have decided to bring you a multi-part blog series about using coupons. There has been a lot of talk about coupon use, both good and bad lately. Recent popular shows have made coupon use look like crazy behavior and scared many away from using coupons. People on these shows buy 52 bottles of mustard or 79 toothbrushes and try to call it normal coupon use. No way! In reality, most coupon users are normal shoppers who shop very unnoticed through the store. Let’s get down to the basics!
Coupons 101
Is clipping and using the grocery coupons in the Sunday newspaper a waste of time? No! Using coupons, smart shoppers have learned how to live on a grocery budget of less than they ever imagined! Savings may be small in the beginning but with knowledge, time and practice coupon shoppers are saving more than ever imagined. Even if you don’t NEED to pinch your pennies, you can still have more than you ever thought you could! Who couldn’t use a little extra money? Extra savings in the bank, extra vacations, a new car, there are lots of things all of us could do with a little extra money. It is so much easier to save money versus earning more money. Using coupons and saving at the grocery store is so easy to do and the savings can really add up!
Accumulate Coupons
The first step to achieving these terrific savings and successful coupon use is accumulating coupons. Each week there are usually two different coupon inserts in metropolitan newspapers with a third insert available once a month. Having multiples of each coupon enables a shopper to take advantage of the great deals in bulk. This will help you build a useable food storage. Obtaining multiples of coupons is not difficult. Family, friends, neighbors and co-workers are great sources for obtaining multiple coupon inserts. Find friends who are coupon users and trade the coupons from Sunday paper that you can’t use, for coupons that you can.
Another source of coupons is the internet. Printable coupons and coupon offers can be found at many manufacturer and coupon related websites. Many manufacturers also offer coupons which are sent post mail. If you watch our blog, forums and emails you’ll see that we bring you links every day to many of the great printable coupons around the internet.
Additional coupons and in-store savings can be found at most grocery stores. Coupons commonly called blinkies are available in red machines set up in aisles in the stores. There are also lots of other displays and coupon holders out in the stores. Pay attention as you go down the aisles and you’ll learn to spot these easily. Also, apply for grocery store courtesy cards. Most grocery chains have these complimentary cards which provide extra discounts and savings at their stores. These discounts can be combined with coupons for maximum savings.
It sounds crazy but this is actually the hardest step. Deciding to start using coupons and making a plan to gather them really is the hardest part! Stay tuned… tomorrow we will talk about getting organized!
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How to have Successful Yard Sales
It’s the time of year when I am trying to clean out the old & make a little money for fun summer activities with my family. Here are 6 great tips for having successful yard sales.
#1 – Schedule yard sales on Saturday, Friday, second best day or Sunday (if acceptable in your area), avoid holiday weekends if possible. I have seen a few places that have done a “Commuter Sale.” Commuter Sales take place on a busy street on a weeknight.
#2 – Treat the sale like a business. Organize the merchandise by putting like items together so people can find what they’re looking for. Put clothing on a rack or string a clothesline to hang it on. Have prices clearly marked. However, prepared to haggle. If you’re firm on price you want for a particular item, put that on the tag. But remember, people that shop yard sales are looking for bargains. What you may think something is worth, may not be the same as what the shoppers feel it is worth. If stuff isn’t moving, start dropping prices during the day.
Don’t take personal checks. Consider though taking PayPal for large items like furniture, sometimes people are more willing to spend a lot of money if they can use their credit or debit card to pay.
#3 – Consider having a joint sale with your friends or neighbors if you don’t think you have enough to fill a yard. More is better. Keep track of what belongs to who by using different colored price tags on each family’s items. We have found that having some brightly colored items seems to draw people in. Go grab a couple of helium balloons, they add color and can be used to draw people in. When I myself am driving around looking for yard sales I know that I usually stop if something colorful catches my eye.
#4 – Spend time on your signs. Much garage sale traffic just follows signs, so make sure you write in large, legible block print on large poster boards. Place on busy corners near your home if sign codes allow. Make sure your directions simple yet specific. Also, run ads in local papers, on the Internet and put up fliers (again you may need to check with your city to see what is allowed). Be specific about what type of merchandise you have. Make sure you list you big or hot ticket items. You’ll get the people who really want the stuff.
#5 – Get the kids involved. At lots of sales that I have been to there are kids selling cold sodas, bottles of water, donuts, etc… Seriously 98% off the time we buy treats and drinks at yard sales! Also, talk your kids into selling some of their junk to make a little bit of pocket money for themselves, save for a vacation, or a fun family activity that you wouldn’t necessarily do.
#6 – Do you wonder what to do with all the leftover stuff at the end of the sale? Towards the end of the sale you can offer BOGO deals, have a free table, or I have even seen people that will say “fill your car trunk for $10.” One more option is to donate it and get the tax deduction. There are organizations that will even come pick your stuff up from you.
There you go. Go out and have a great yard sale.
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