Ultimate Guide to Meal Planning on a Budget

Has your food budget been out of control lately?  Are you trying to start meal planning on a budget so you can save money on food costs?

The food budget is one area that gets out of hand so quickly and easily.  It only takes one or two nights of ordering takeout to blow up your food budget.

But luckily, the food budget is also one of the easiest parts of a budget to reduce.  With a little thought and planning, you can very easily get your food expenses back under control.

Meal planning is not difficult, but it does take some time to do, especially in the beginning if you are just learning how to make a meal plan.  

There is meal planning…and then there is meal planning on a budget.  Meal planning on a budget takes slightly more forethought than just throwing together any old meal plan.

Today I am going to tell you some super simple tips and strategies to help you start meal planning a budget.  

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links.  If you click and make a purchase, I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.  As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.  You can read my full disclosure here.  

Meal Planning on a Budget: Benefits

Eat Healthier

If you have read any of my other posts on meal planning, you probably know that I am a huge advocate of meal planning for more than one reason.  

Meal planning on a budget not only helps you to spend less money (see below), but it also helps you to eat healthier.  Many of you know that I am a healthcare professional, so I always like to mention the health benefits of meal planning and eating at home.

When meal planning on a budget, you want to incorporate and purchase foods in their most natural state.  The reason is that once the food is processed, cooked, cut, or chopped it tends to be much more expensive to buy.  

Food is also generally much healthier to eat when it is consumed without being processed in some way.  Also, by preparing food yourself, you have control over what you are putting into your body.

Meal planning could potentially help you to meet any nutritional goals or weight loss goals you have for yourself.  For example, if you are diabetic, meal planning could help you get your diabetes under control since you would be able to control what you are putting into your body (as opposed to getting takeout).   

Less Dinner Time Stress

Another benefit of meal planning is less craziness at mealtimes.  Meal planning is a total sanity saver for me! Knowing what you will be eating for dinner well in advance helps to put your mind at ease and be much more relaxed as you leave work for the day.

Because I don’t know about you, but my brain is fried after a long day on the job.  Full-time jobs can be so demanding physically, mentally, and emotionally.  Why put yourself through more stress when you leave your job? 

Also, the constant nagging and complaining by hungry kids can be enough to drive you nuts!  By meal planning, you can avoid all that!

Spend Less on Food and Eat at Home More

As I said earlier, meal planning on a budget can help you spend less by choosing to use ingredients and meals that aren’t already processed or prepped in any way.  By buying food in its most natural state, you can save a bunch of money.

For example, buying lettuce by the head instead of buying pre-chopped and bagged lettuce will save you money because it typically costs less per ounce, and it also tends to last much longer than bagged lettuce.  

The more you can eat at home, the more money you can save on your monthly food budget.  Meal planning will help you avoid circling the drive-thru when you are getting hangry, or your kids are whining because they are hungry and you don’t have anything planned for your dinner meal.

Live More Frugally

Meal planning on a budget will allow you to live more frugally.  After all, frugal living is about spending intentionally according to your personal values.  Meal planning is a big part of frugal living.  

Planning your meals allows you to spend more of your money where you want to spend it, especially if spending money on food is not something you place a high value on.  

If you would like to read more about the benefits of frugal living or how to live a more frugal lifestyle, check out some of my other posts:

• Awesome Benefits of Frugal Living
• Frugal Living: The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide
• 70+ Frugal Living Tips to Help You Spend Less Money

I also have a frugal living workbook you can download for free. It includes worksheets for you to develop your own action plan to live more frugally, tons of frugal living tips to help you brainstorm more ways to live frugally, and a yearly tracker to watch your frugal wins stack up!

Here is a preview:

You can download my Frugal Living Workbook here.  

Meal Planning on a Budget: Tips for Success

Stay Organized

One of the secrets of successful meal planning on a budget is to keep yourself organized.  You should have all of your meal-planning paraphernalia in one place.

In order to do that, it is good to develop some kind of system that will help to keep you organized.  You could either buy an inexpensive monthly or weekly planner, or you could create a meal planning binder.  

If you decide a binder is the way to go, you can keep your weekly or monthly meal plan in there, along with blank grocery lists, a list of your family’s favorite meals, and blank inventory sheets.  You can also put some clear sleeves in the binder to hold your frequently used recipes for safekeeping.

Here is my meal planning guide that has everything you need to get a meal planning system in place:

You can download my Meal Planning Guide here for free.

I have included all of the things I mentioned above, plus a sample monthly meal plan, theme night and side dish ideas, and some tips for successful meal planning.  

Keep a List of Favorite Meals

Keeping a list of your family’s favorite meals can help you get your meal planning done in no time!  If you come across a super simple, budget-friendly meal your family loves, write it on the list so you don’t forget about it!

You can schedule those meals once a month, once every 2 weeks, or once a week depending on how much your family enjoys it.

Cook Ahead for Busy Nights

Weeknights can be so incredibly hectic for busy families!  Between sports practices, doctor or dentist appointments, music lessons, homework, other school activities, and church-related activities, there is not a lot of time for cooking!

If you know that you have one of those nights coming up, cooking your meal ahead of time and just reheating it can really help with sticking to your meal plan.  

I will typically look ahead on a Sunday to see what we have going on that week and prep anything I need to in order to help the busy night go more smoothly.  

Use Freezer Meals

Using freezer meals can also help you stay on budget with your meal planning!  If you can get into the habit of making a few meals and throwing them in the freezer for those crazy nights I talked about above, you will be ahead of the game!

A freezer meal is simply just a meal you make ahead and put in the freezer until you want to eat it.  Calling it a freezer meal makes it sound way more complicated than it is!  Just pull it out the night before you want to enjoy it to thaw in the fridge and reheat after work.  

Just about anything could be turned into a freezer meal!  Some of our favorites are chicken taco meat, black bean soup, gravy for Swedish meatballs, and beef barbecue.  

Plan One Meatless Meal a Week

Another way to stay within your budget when meal planning for a family is to plan one meatless meal per week.  Unless you find a great sale, meat can really blow up your food budget. 

If you can find four different meatless meals your family enjoys, you already have one day per week for a month planned out!

Some of our favorites are black bean soup and cheese quesadillas, pasta with marinara sauce and salad, breakfast for dinner (eggs, toast, pancakes, waffles), & cheese ravioli with garlic bread. We also have a couple of different quinoa recipes we enjoy.

Incorporate Leftovers

If your family doesn’t mind eating leftovers, you can incorporate leftovers into your meal plan to keep your food costs down.  There are lots of ways you can use up your leftovers in your meal plan.

A few different ways to reuse your leftovers are:

• Making double to feed your family the same meal twice the same week
• Making double and freezing half to have a different week
• Using the leftovers in a different recipe
• Having the leftovers as a side dish to another meal

If you would like to read some other ways you can repurpose your leftovers, check out my post on how to reuse your leftovers here.  

Meal Planning on a Budget: Steps to Make Your Meal Plan

#1 Obtain an Inexpensive Meal Planner or Make a Binder

When trying to plan meals on a budget, you, of course, want to avoid spending a lot of money on a planner.  There are a few inexpensive options on Amazon.  Here is one of my favorites:

Although it is on the smaller side, the planner above is under $10 and isn’t dated, so you can start using it any month of the year. It has both monthly and weekly pages, which is nice if you start out meal planning weekly but want to switch to monthly meal planning.

It also has the “Notes” section down the sides of the monthly pages, which is perfect for writing down your freezer and pantry inventory.

You can check out this planner in more detail here.

If you live near a Dollar Tree, they also have some nice monthly planners!  That is actually where I get mine every year.  I like using them because I plan my meals for a month at a time.  I like being able to see the full four weeks when doing my planning.  

The one I usually buy from Dollar Tree has the “Notes” section down the side of each month, like the Amazon planner I mentioned above.  This is where I list my freezer inventory every four weeks, so I know exactly what we have when I start my new meal plan.

However, I have only seen them toward the end of the year or the very beginning of the year.  If you are trying to get in the habit of meal planning in the middle of the year, they may not have them anymore.  

If you think you need more than a store-bought planner to get yourself organized, the binder system may be a better option for you.

Or if you don’t want to spend any money whatsoever on a meal planner, you can download my free meal planning guide.

As I said earlier, it includes everything you need to create a meal-planning system to get started planning and eating at home more.

Download my free meal planning guide here.  

#2 Decide How Often You Will Meal Plan

Next, you will want to decide if you will plan your meals for one week, two weeks, or a month.  Think about your family’s schedule when deciding on this.

How busy are you right now with your kids’ extracurricular activities?  Will you have time to sit down and meal plan once a week?  Or do you think finding the time to sit down to plan your meals is more realistic every two weeks or even once a month?  

It may take some trial and error to get yourself in a routine.  As you may know, I only do my meal planning once every four weeks, which I love.  It takes me between half an hour to an hour from start to finish to create a four-week plan.

The more you do it, the easier it gets.  Once you get your normal meals figured out, it’s just a matter of filling in your days (more on that below).  

Trust me, the hardest part is getting started and making it a habit! 

#3 Take Inventory

After you have decided how often you will start meal planning, you want to look in your fridge, freezer, and pantry to see what you already have.  Make sure to look all the way in the back to be sure you don’t miss anything! 

This will help you to spend less on your upcoming grocery bill and avoid food waste if you already have some leftovers in your fridge or other ingredients in your pantry that need to be used up.

Write down on your inventory list all of the things you want to try to use up.  These are the things you will start filling in first on your meal plan.  

#4 Write Down Upcoming Appointments

Fill in any upcoming appointments you or your family members have on your meal planning calendar, especially the ones that could interfere with your meal preparation.  This will help you to plan a super simple meal or plan to have leftovers that night.  

#5 Start Filling in Your Meals

Now is the fun part!  Start filling in your meals on your calendar.  I would suggest you use a pencil that has an eraser on it. Trust me. You will need to erase things.  

So start with the meals you already have on hand and fill those in when you think you might want them.  Then fill in the remaining days with other meals your family enjoys.

If you know exactly when you will be doing your grocery shopping, you could plan those meals around the current sale items at the store you shop at.  

If you are unsure when you will be able to get to the grocery store, just plan what you know your family will eat.  Remember, your meal plan is not set in stone!  Change it up as needed.  

You could check the ads the night before you will be shopping and make some last-minute changes to save money.

If you are having a hard time figuring out what to fill in on your meal plan menu, you can try using theme nights to help you come up with some ideas.  You can check out some theme night ideas here.  

After you fill in the main courses, you can go back and fill in the side dishes. First, plan to use anything you already have in your inventory for those.  Then go back and fill in the side dishes you will need to buy.

If you would like a sample monthly meal plan, I have included one in my free Meal Planning Guide. My guide also has a list of theme night ideas and side dish ideas that could help you fill in your meal-planning calendar more quickly.  

Download your free Meal Planning Guide here.  

#6 Make Your Grocery List

After you figure out your entire meal plan, you can create your grocery list.  I like to keep a typed-up list of all the things we regularly buy on the fridge.  Then we will just circle the items on the list when we notice we are running low on something.  

If you do that, you can use that same list to circle all of the things you will need for your upcoming meal plan.  Take your time and think through what you will need for each meal.  

It is so easy to forget things when making your grocery list.  It happens to us quite a bit!  But when it happens (and trust me it will), it’s okay! 

You could always switch up what you are supposed to have that night with another night so you can stop at the store after work the next day to pick up the forgotten ingredient.  

Another idea is to have backup meals on hand.  If you do forget an ingredient or two for a meal, you could resort to something you already have in your pantry or freezer.  Some ideas for super simple backup meals are:  

• Pasta with marinara sauce
• Macaroni and cheese
• Chicken salad (using canned chicken)
• Tuna melts
• Sandwiches
• Hot dogs
• Canned soup
• Frozen pizzas
• Grilled cheese

#7 Do Your Grocery Shopping

The last step to meal planning on a budget (besides cooking your meals, of course!) is doing your grocery shopping.  How often you do your grocery shopping will be based on how often you will be meal planning.

If you are meal planning once a week, you will have to go once a week.  If you are meal planning for two weeks at a time, you could go once a week or once every two weeks.

If you are meal planning for four weeks at a time, you could go to the grocery store once a week, every two weeks, or once every four weeks.

Even though I create a meal plan every four weeks, I find that grocery shopping every two weeks works best for our schedule.  You just have to figure out what will work best for your family.  

We also find that using Walmart Grocery Pickup makes it so easy to shop!  I wrote a review on Walmart Grocery Pickup because I love it so much.  

If you don’t have a Walmart near you (you can check if there is a Walmart that participates near you here), you could try another store’s online shopping to see if it works for you.

The best thing (in my opinion) about doing online grocery shopping is the ability to see your total before you checkout.  When trying to stay within a certain food budget, this is so valuable! 

You can very easily add or remove things from your cart to stay within your food budget.  Let’s get into how to do your grocery shopping when you are on a tight budget.  

Meal Planning on a Budget: Save Money on Groceries

Shop Less Frequently

Going to the grocery store less often is a good way to keep your food budget under control.  Temptation is real! Especially if you usually do your shopping after work when you are tired and hungry.  

Shop Online for Groceries

As I mentioned earlier, shopping online and picking up your groceries is a great way to stick to your food budget.  Not only is it easier to control how much you are spending by having the running total right in front of you, but you don’t have to go inside the store, which can help you avoid impulse buys.

Stock Up During Sales

Keep a log of sale prices on your frequently purchased food items so you can recognize a good deal when you see one.  This will help you take advantage of sales and save money on items that are usually quite expensive, like lean ground beef.

I started doing this because I would always forget what I paid per pound for my meats when they were on sale.  This helped me to identify rock bottom prices so I could stock up when I could buy them at the lowest price.  

Use Ibotta

Ibotta is my absolute favorite cash-back app!  It is super quick and easy to use, and you don’t have to clip coupons.  It can also be used with Walmart Grocery Pickup, which is awesome!  

Ibotta can save you money when you use it for the things you were planning to purchase anyway.  Plus, I love how they have some cash-back offers that can be used on any brand for an item (even Walmart’s store brand!).  

If you don’t have the Ibotta app yet, you can download it here.  New users can get up to $20 in welcome bonuses just for signing up.  

Buy in Bulk

Buying some things in bulk can help you to spend less money and stay within your food budget.  However, be sure to check the unit price just to make sure it is actually cheaper.  

We shop at a wholesale club once every 12 weeks or so for some of our main meal items.  We buy things like tilapia, bags of meatballs, chicken breast, salmon, and ravioli.  

We also buy a large pork loin to cut up into several meals of chops, country-style ribs, and roasts.   

Meal Planning on a Budget: How to Stick to Your Plan

Determine Why You Need to Meal Plan

Deciding why you want to get in the habit of meal planning is important because it will help you stick with it.  Many people decide to start meal planning to eat healthier and spend less money.  

But what is your ultimate goal?  Do you want to eat healthier to lose weight or get a medical condition under control?  Do you want to spend less money so you can have extra money to pay off debt or fund a family vacation?

The key is to figure out what motivates you personally.  Once you know what motivates you, it will be easier to stick with your meal planning, even if you really aren’t feeling it.  

Stock Your Pantry and Freezer

Keeping your pantry and freezer stocked with backup meals and meals that are simple to prepare can also help you stick to your food budget.  

A meal plan is just that, a plan.  Just because you created a plan doesn’t mean you have to stick to it every single day.  One of the goals of meal planning is to limit your spending on already prepared food from restaurants since it can get so expensive for a family to eat out.  

There will be days when you are completely exhausted from a long day of work and just don’t feel like cooking what you planned.  And that’s okay!  Open your freezer, pull out a frozen pizza, throw it in the oven, and lounge on the couch until the timer goes off! 

Keep it Simple

I love simple meals, especially during the week.  Try to plan the more complicated meals for weekends when you have more time to prepare them.  

My rule of thumb that I like to follow is no recipes during the week.  If I have to look at a recipe, I am not making it when I get home from work.  

My only exception is if I’ve made the recipe several times and I just have to glance at it quickly to remember the exact measurements.  If I have to read step-by-step instructions, forget it!

Mix it Up

As much as I love having set meals that my family enjoys, I do enjoy trying new recipes and new meal ideas.  This helps to combat meal boredom and prevents complaints from the family about being tired of eating the same things all the time.  

However, I generally would save those new recipes for the weekends unless you have a simple one.  Also, have a backup meal in your freezer or pantry in case your new recipe doesn’t turn out as you expected!  

A failed meal is a perfect excuse to order takeout or get fast food.  By having a backup meal, you can avoid using that excuse!

Budget for Eating Out and Treat Yourself

It is nice to take a break and let someone else cook for you once in a while.  Plus, it is important to enjoy yourself while you are working toward your money goals.  

So it’s okay to get takeout or go out to eat. Just try to plan for it when figuring out your food budget.  It’s typically those last-minute decisions to order takeout or go out to eat that cause you to blow your budget.

Avoid going over your budget when eating out by planning ahead, looking for restaurant coupons, using gift cards, going out to eat earlier, and using money-saving apps like Local Flavor or Groupon.  

Final Thoughts on Meal Planning on a Budget

Creating a meal plan when you are on a tight budget is totally doable.  It will take some time and effort to get yourself into the habit of consistently meal planning so you can eat at home more often.

Once you develop the habit and find a set of meals that your family loves to eat, it will become so much easier to stick with.  

But remember, your meal plan is just a plan!  You can feel free to change it on the fly if it isn’t working out for you in some way.  Trial and error are important to figuring out what will work the best for you and your family.

Try not to think of meal planning as just another chore that needs to be done.  Think of it as one way you can help your family be healthier, happier, and live a more comfortable life.  

What are some things you do to meal plan on a budget?  Do you have any tips or tricks that help you stay within your food budget?  Please let me know in the comments!