Super Frugal Grocery Mini Challenge #3: Plan Ahead

Sauerkraut, pickled sunchokes, red sauerkraut, and kimchi— make once, eat all month!

(Read all Super Frugal Grocery Challenge posts here!)

Today's challenge, should you choose to accept it: Take some time to plan ahead.

When I look over my food budget for the past several months, what jumps out to me is that most of the times I spent more than usual, it was because I was unprepared.

The weather was nice and we decided to take a day trip, and I didn't have any snacks for us to bring. We were spontaneously invited over for dinner and didn't have a side dish to share. I forgot to pack snacks for Zach to take to work. We were out errand-running and got hungry in between meals. I didn't know what to make for dinner and getting pizza seemed easier. The excuses go on and on, but they boil down to one thing: a lack of planning ahead.

One of the best ways to consistently keep a budget of any kind low, but especially on the food front, is to think about what you can do now to make your meal prep easier later.

The best way to start is to think back to all the times that you were caught unprepared. What was the reason? How could you have avoided it? How can you block out time to prepare so you won't get caught off-guard again?

This will be completely different for each person, but this might look like…

• Making a meal plan at the beginning of each week so you know exactly what you're making for dinner each night

• Keeping a stash of snacks in the pantry, your purse, and/or the car

• Having meals, side dishes, or snacks in the freezer

• Growing a garden (you're never caught unawares when someone asks you to bring a salad to the barbecue!)

• Prepping a lot of grab-and-go meals on a week when you know you're going to be rushing around

• Starting a meal in the crockpot in the morning so it'll be ready in the evening

• Baking a loaf of bread

• Making sauerkraut or other preserved veggies 

• Taking snacks as well as a sandwich to work

• Roasting a big batch of veggies, cooking a bunch of beans, throwing some meat in the crockpot, and boiling a couple different grains at the beginning of the week for easy mix-n-match meals

• Removing items from the freezer to thaw the night before you need them

• Making your own fast food

• Doing the dishes so it'll be easier to cook later

• Making an extra meatloaf, lasagna, or pot of chili so you can freeze some

• Creating a grocery list rather than just going to the store and grabbing whatever looks good

• Soaking beans or grains to cook later

• Keeping a stash of granola bars in your purse

What are your favorite ways to plan ahead?

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