Missed the beginning? Here is Part One and Part Two.

Part Three – “Know Thy Family” Meal Plan.

When I first started couponing, I was a weekly meal planner. I would base my meals off what was on sale that week. This worked great as long as I only bought what was on sale. My problem – I picked recipes that called for three things on sale and five things that weren’t.

In an effort to get our grocery budget even lower, I looked into monthly meal planning. But honestly, the more I read, the more intimidated I felt. These crafty-meal-planning women were more organized, creative and disciplined than I could ever be. They used charts like the picture above and I liked scrap paper. I also knew “me” and “me” has a tendency to say “I don’t feel like that tonight” or “I’m going to channel my inner-Julia Child tonight” regardless of what a laminated board with the title “Meal Plan” says.

So, I made my own system – the “Know thy Family” meal plan.

“Know Thy Family” Meal Plan – a monthly meal plan that incorporates Lesson #1 and Lesson #2 from items in the stockpile while allowing flexibility and staying within budget and isn’t written on anything laminated.

Step 1: Divide your meal plan into four weeks (I know some months have five – but I like even numbers.) If you want some pretty meal planning worksheets – check these out from Money Saving Mom.

Step 2: Make slots under each week. Slots are determined by number of meals at home vs. away and amount of leftovers. Assign each slot a “know-thy-family” name. In my house we have seven slots and they are named : Meatless Monday, Children’s Favorite, Soup, Dad’s Favorite, Mom’s Favorite, Homemade Pizza and Leftovers.

Step 3: Evaluate your pantry, stockpile and freezer. Write major ingredients down. Pick recipes from items you have on hand and place them in your “family” slots. Got a hodgepodge of stuff – go to allrecipes.com and type in ingredients and see what recipe comes up.

Note: It’s okay to need one or two things to complete a recipe – but not five or six. The goal is to shop from your stockpile – the place where you bought everything at rock-bottom prices.

Step 4: Make a shopping list of ingredients you need to purchase. Watch circular/sales/etc. for these items and buy on sale (and with coupon) if possible.

Step 5: Place meal plan in a highly visible place. (So “thy family” can see it.)

Step 6: Feel free to interchange different recipes for different days. Kids favorite is pancakes and eggs on Week 3 – but you’ve had a busy week and want to move it to Week 2 – do it. Want to cook like a banshee for five days and take the last two off – do it.

Step 7: Discipline yourself to only buy “rock-bottom” priced items for the rest of the month because you don’t “need” to buy anything. Remember, you have a meal plan in place – enjoy the peace of mind and less hectic 5:00 scramble because of your plan.

This is only one of MANY monthly meal plan styles. Ali talks about her method here. Bottom line: Creating a meal plan is as personal as creating a coupon organizing system – you need to do what works for you. But in order to really save, you need to do it.

PS: I broke into Ali’s house and took a picture of her laminated Meal Plan board – isn’t it pretty? And organized? Just kidding…about the breaking into her house part. But, I’m pretty sure her plan looks like that.

Next Week: Tricks of the Trade

What about you? What kind of meal plan works for you? 7-days, 2-weeks, a month? Do you have a cool online tool that you use? Share with us – we’d love to know.

My friend Mandy and I were watching our boys particpate in the Pinewood Derby (and I mean our sons, not our husbands..LOL) and talking about couponing and saving money. She had just ordered The Coupon Mom’s Guide To Cutting Your Grocery Bills in Half and $5 Dinners and was lamenting “that she needed to figure out how to feed her hungry brood (DH and (2) DS) for less money because they were beginning to eat her out of house and home.”

After I got back home, I realized my journey for reducing our grocery budget started with couponing – but it has been other “in-the-trench-tactics” that allowed us to really drive down our budget to $300 or less per month.

So over the next four Saturdays – I’ll share some “in-the-trench-tactics” that have worked in our home. (And if you have some you would like to share – I’d LOVE to hear them too.) Hopefully, we’ll all learn a few things from each other and reduce our grocery costs and increase our financial margin a little more.

Trench Tactic #1: Know Thy Family

Some of those most frequent cooking complaints we hear from MOMs…”My family won’t eat leftovers.” or “My husband requires MEAT every night.” or “My child is picky and will only eat Macaroni & Cheese.” Really? Wow! Holy Cow – I have a long lost relative, because my family is the exact same way!

Yep. I’ll admit it – we don’t “do” leftovers. My husband loves things from a cow. And my son’s favorite meal is a peanut butter and honey sandwich. And one more – we don’t like very many casseroles. The good news – “knowing” that. The bad news - learning to “own” that.

Come with me as I flashback to a pretty recent meal…

Kelly would make a BIG 9×13 pan of Chicken Casserole.

First Night: the clan would eat with smiles and compliments.

Second Night: kiddos would refuse to eat it and DH would push it around claiming he had a big lunch and then resort to eating a bag of Doritos after dinner.

Third Night: FULL Revolt. With DS and DH eating peanut butter and honey, DD eating chicken nuggets, and me eating another serving of casserole – with contempt in my heart and fire coming from eyes. Then I’d throw away about a third of the casserole and wonder how much money did I really save by making this.

And when I mention “Chicken Casserole” again a month later everyone in the house starts making gagging noises and DH says “maybe we shouldn’t have that one again for a few months.”

Can anyone relate?

So instead of hitting my head against the wall AGAIN and having dinner time looking like a battle from World War III – I’ve learned to “own” our family’s style and make some changes.

When I make the few casseroles our family will eat – I make two 8×8 pans. One is for dinner and the other is frozen for later. This way there isn’t as much waste and I’ve got another item in the freezer to pull out if I’m having a rushed week. Added benefit – no one is making gagging sounds when I pull the casserole from the oven. I also do this for soups, meats, sauces, etc.

Another example – my kiddos love spaghetti and tacos. They’ll clean their plates (without a thousand reminders) and my DH and I have a nice dining experience. Since I know those meals will be a hit – I schedule them a couple times a month or even weekly (depending what I have in the stockpile.) I’ll cook up several pounds of hamburger at once – freeze them by serving size – and pull them out when I need them.

Finally, because my husband loves all things cow (or chicken or pig) I make sure we have a standard rotation of meat/potato/veggies/dinner roll in the meal plan. It might not be every night – but I try to do it at least once a week in the winter and two/three times in the summer. He’s happy (cause we all know one of the ways to a man’s heart is through his stomach) and he’s willing to put up with Lentil Soup once in awhile.

Once you learn to “own” your family’s eating preferences, you can start to make a plan that means less waste, happier campers, more variety and believe it or not – greater savings.

So, what is your family’s style? Is your style a no-soup-unless-it-is-cream-based, pizza-lovin’, casserole-hatin’, needs-to-have-dessert-twice-a-week? Or is your style a roast-mashed-potatoes-with-gravy-eatin’, can’t-stand-Apple-Jacks-or-Fruit-Loops, leftovers-only-once-a-week, grilled-cheese-with-tomato-soup-addicts?

Next week: Embracing the “fillers”

PS: Don’t you love the “family eating together” beauty shot. I bet Ken and Barbie didn’t have to say “Please sit in your chair or don’t wipe your hands on your shirt” once.