How to Plan Meals: Frugal, Healthy Menu Planning

Menu planning is a great way to eat healthy and save money. How? First, you waste less food by only buying what you've planned to use. Second, you buy only what you need, so you don't have chocolate and potato chips laying around the house tempting you. Plus, if you have a plan and groceries on hand, you are less likely to drive through a fast food place for a quick, unhealthy meal.

If you're not sure how to get started, try these useful tricks and recipes I learned after three months of successes and failures at menu planning. Good luck and let me know in the comments how it works out for you!

The first step toward frugal menu planning is to use what you already have. There are many great reasons to start here. Using up what you already have will help you commit to menu planning without spending money in the beginning. It will also give you a clean slate to restock your pantry with low-cost, healthy items that you will use time and time again.

How do you clean out your cabinets? First, start with the refrigerator and freezer. Throw out anything expired. Throw out anything you absolutely won't eat. Then take inventory of what's left, writing down products and quantity (i.e. - three bags of frozen mixed vegetables, two packages of deli turkey).

Now turn to your cabinets. Repeat the process: throw out what's expired. Throw out anything you are sure you won't use. Then take inventory of what's left. Write it down.Now you know what you have and how much you have.

Next, set your goals for using these items:

1. Decide how long you'll give yourself to use up what you have. This can be anywhere from a week to a month.
2. Decide how much money you are allowed to spend on grocery items while you're cleaning out your stockpile. $50 a week for a family or $20 for an individual would be my suggestions. After all, you'll only need to buy fresh vegetables and fruit and perhaps a few items to join together odd ingredients.

Next comes the most difficult part of menu planning: creativity. How can you combine what you already have to make meals? You have your list. Some of the items will be easy. Rice and frozen vegetables lend themselves easily to menu planning. You may need to purchase some ingredients to combine things (a bag of frozen chicken or dry beans to get protein in a few meals, for example).

When you come to the end of your goal period, reevaluate what you have left. Have you realized that you won't use some of the items? Are there items you'll use, you just have a larger stockpile of than you realized? Keep items you are sure you will use; get rid of the rest. Keep in mind items you have a lot of so that you can incorporate them into your menu planning going forward.

If you can survive this initial clean-out period without breaking the rules you set, the rest of menu planning will be a snap!

Didn't quite reach your goals for the clean out phase? That's okay - you don't have to be perfect; you just have to keep trying. Even not reaching your goals will give you a good idea of what you use and what you don't. Clean out your pantry and refrigerator a final time before moving forward. Keep your thoughts positive and your habits will follow.

Get out a calendar you can use for menu planning. This can be your master calendar, if there is ample room left for writing on it, or a separate calendar you may keep in the kitchen. Use a calendar that will actually work for your lifestyle and planning habits.

Now you have your calendar, it's time to lay the foundation for planning. For each day, draw two lines to separate breakfast, lunch and dinner's menus. Leave enough room to write at least a main course and a side, if not more. If you don't like lines, simply write in B, L and D to denote each meal.

Look at the upcoming month (or the next four weeks, if you are in the middle of a month). Are there days that you know you won't be eating dinner at home? Are there days you won't need to take a lunch to work? Are there days you won't need to pack a lunch for the kids? Are there planned date nights or family days out when you won't be eating at home? For any of these events you know about, either mark through the entire meal if no one will be eating or note who will not be eating if only one or two family members have other plans.

Now you can visually see how many breakfasts, lunches and dinners you need to plan for the upcoming month. As the month progresses, you may need to update availability on this calendar. That's okay! Life happens. Just consistently write it down so you know what you're working with when it's time to plan for the week.

Have each member of your family list two or three meals that they enjoy eating for each meal regularly, along with side item suggestions. If you are single, come up with at least five "go-to" meals you can prepare, along with side items.

Picky kids will be more likely to cooperate in your meal planning if they are able to pick some of the foods on the menu.

Look at your calendar and write in a "leftover day" for dinner each week. This will be the day that you clean out your refrigerator and do a mini-repeat of Step 1 (Cleaning Out the Cabinets).

Depending on the size of your family, you may want to plan on taking leftovers for lunch a few days a week. This is an excellent tool to make meal preparation less burdensome. If you are single, you may take leftovers for lunch nearly every day of the week. If you have a family of four, you may not have enough leftovers to take for lunch everyday, but you may plan for one or two days a week. Think about the size of your family and your cooking habits and pick an appropriate amount of days you won't need to make new food for lunches. Mark out those days.

You now have your calendar in front of you with the days marked that you don't need to prepare dinners or separate lunches. Now look at your list of meals your family enjoys. In pencil, so you perfectionists can erase if things change, start to write in the meals your family has listed. Don't forget to include lunches and breakfasts.

For flexibility while shopping, you may wish to write in "vegetables" or "fruit" instead of listing specifics, so that you can buy what's on sale or in season.

Even five meal ideas will provide your family with variety. You can always change or expand the meals next time you meal plan as you get better at planning.

Now that you have your calendar, make your weekly grocery list using the meals listed for the upcoming week. Keep in mind what you already have in your cabinets.

Money saving meal planning grocery tips:

• Consider substituting side items if there are sales on seasonal vegetables (you did use a pencil to write on your calendar, after all!).
• If you frequently use an item, such as pasta, rice or frozen vegetables, consider stocking up if you see these items on sale
• Don't buy items that aren't on your grocery list or aren't frequently used by your family. This will curb impulse buys and going off-menu.

Repeat the planning step each month, update your calendar each week when you make your grocery list and grocery shop only once each week.

You're now on your way to frugal, healthy menu planning!