Welcome to my May Budget Meal Plan Update! May was a hard month for meal planning. I had two vacations, and I wasn't home a lot.
I completed the Pantry & Freezer Savings Challenge and completed one large grocery haul in May.
Every month, I allocate $400 to my food budget, and I use the cash in my food envelope for eating out and grocery trips. I have a small family, just my son, my boyfriend, and myself.
Just like you, I am consistently trying to find ways to cut down on food costs and cut out extra expenses in my budget. Starting in January 2018, I began tracking every dollar that I spend throughout the month. Not only am I keeping up-to-date on my expense tracker, but I am also keeping a close watch on my cash envelope spending trackers.
If you are not familiar with my budgeting method, you can read all about the cash envelope method here. Essentially, I pay all of my regular expenses online and use cash envelopes for the rest of my variable spending. If you are interested in using my budgeting method, I have a free email course that teaches you step-by-step on how to set one up. You can see more about my Budget Blueprint Email Course here.
I started noticing that almost every line item on my spending tracker was eating out. I was spending nearly $800 every month on eating out and spontaneous Starbucks purchases. I have tried meal planning in the past, but I never lasted more than two weeks.
Seeing my spending tracker for my food budget was enough to kick my butt into gear.
It made me furious that I was spending all of this money on food, rather than on my savings or paying off debt.
I also knew that I could cut my food budget in half if I had a plan. So I developed the TBM Meal Planning Workbook. (The TBM Meal Planning Workbook pairs well with $5 Meal Plans.)
Here are some things that have helped me save money on my new meal plan.
I took time out in the beginning of the month to take inventory of my pantry, fridge, and freezer. Since completing the November Freezer challenge, I have learned to eat what I already have at home.
I have been meal planning for about a year, and one of the things that I noticed that saved me a ton of money was building my meal plan and recipes around ingredients I already have at home. I meal plan every week, but I take time during the beginning of every month to inventory what I have in my pantry, fridge, and freezer.
My inventory lists act as my quick reference guide when I am finding recipes online for my meal plan. By taking inventory of the food you already have, you accomplish three important things:
Since I only allocate $400/month for food, which includes eating out and meal planning grocery trips, the more we eat out, means the less money I have for grocery hauls.
Not splitting my Food cash envelope into two categories (eating out and groceries) has been the best decision. If I were to assign a limit for eating out every month, I know that my family would use the full amount. Having one Food envelope for both purposes allows me to say to myself, “If I keep my grocery trips low, I can eat out more.” or “We have eaten out too much this week, so we need to keep our grocery trip small.”
I am still utilizing my Instant Pot for every recipe. I can't function without my Instant Pot. It saves me so much time in the kitchen, and with my busy schedule, I can't live without it. Now that I have two liners (thanks to breaking my Instant Pot in September), I can now utilize my Instant Pot more than ever!
Due to vacations, I only completed a meal plan for one week in May. The rest of the days were “making it work,” finding things to eat at home and a lot of eating out. Due to eating out a lot more, I ended up $38 over my food budget.
I made one large grocery trip for the full week that I was home. Total grocery trip cost = $61. This includes all food-related purchases.
I also bought non-food related items during the same trip to Walmart.
I also used my household cash envelope, which cost $12 and my beauty envelope, which cost $4 during the same grocery trip.
Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner
I decided to keep breakfast simple. I use Quaker Oats, Almond Milk, and a variety of fruit for most of my breakfasts. It's a filling & quick recipe, which is perfect for my morning routine.
For lunches, I have been gravitating towards more Bistro Box style lunches. I can prep the fruit and veggies beforehand, and make the sandwich or protein the same day. These are perfect now that I am working from home full-time. I can grab and go or enjoy them at home.
I had two favorite recipes that I made in May. The Rice Bowls were terrific and very easy to make. They are healthy and are a fantastic source of protein. Surprisingly, this was my son's favorite recipe too!
I also tried a new recipe this month. The Buffalo Chicken Zucchini Boat recipe had to be altered to fit what I already had at home, but they still turned out great. Instead of using chicken, I used ground turkey. I also substituted the Buffalo Sauce with a Fajita spice packet.
Since May was all about eating food that you already have at home, I decided to make Banana Bread using some overly ripe bananas that I didn't get the chance to eat. You can find the recipe here.
I spent a total of $438 on food costs in May. $133 was spent on grocery trips, and the remaining $305 was spent on eating out. I could have drastically reduced my food budget if I planned better around my vacation time, which caused me to be $38 over-budget in May.
Keep in mind that I do make other purchases when I am at the store for my grocery hauls, but I always do a separate transaction for each of my envelopes. For example, if I buy shampoo during one of my meal planning grocery trips, I do a separate transaction, and I pull the cash from my Beauty Cash Envelope.
If you are struggling with your food budget, I highly recommend starting a meal plan. It doesn't take a lot of time but could save you a lot of money in the end.
I plan on posting my meal plan updates every month. So be on the lookout for those updates!
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I’ve been in such a meal rut lately but I keep seeing posts about meal planning this/that so I’m going to really give it a try this time (I always quit after a week). The boats and thighs look awesome so those are going on my menu for the upcoming week!
I love how thorough you are! I really need to get back to meal planning consistently because it makes life so much easier and we don’t spend a bunch of money eating out.