Meal Planning around Specials can be quite daunting at first, especially if you feel that you wouldn’t know where to start or what meals to plan for!

The easiest way to start, though, is to make a list of breakfast, snack, lunch and dinner options that your family likes, and that you know are healthy, affordable and can be rotated as needed. As you begin preparing your lists, ask your family members to contribute.

Next, do you have a stock of tried and tested recipes? Use it! I know I do, and this always helps when it comes to meal planning ideas. In fact, I write down all our favourite recipes in my Recipe Book which is still hand-written! I also stash recipes that I come across in cookbooks and magazines for future use in my Recipes Binder, as well as any recipes which I get from my mom or my friends. This way, I am always covered.

And if you don’t have a recipe book or file of your own? No problem. It’s never too late to start. I prefer to keep a hand-written Recipe Book and Recipes Binder as it’s so easy to flip through the pages and refer to the recipe as I go along. I actually find it quite difficult and messy when I have to scroll down on my phone with sticky fingers as I cook or bake if I am using a recipe I found online!

Keep your Recipe Book or Recipes Binder, and your meals ideas lists, handy and refer to these as you meal plan around specials each month. If you find a vegetable, or protein – meat – for example, that you don’t often cook with and you’re not sure what meals to prepare, do a search online and see what comes up! Or checkout my Thrifty Recipes section for some budget meals recipes and ideas.

For now, to help you get started with meal planning around specials, here are a few helpful ideas for breakfast, lunch, snacks and dinner that we usually rely on.

Breakfast

Our breakfast list includes low-GI oats (I avoid cereals because of the high sugar content in many although I do occasionally buy plain Cornflakes or Weetbix), homemade bread or the store bought low-GI loaves, eggs, marmalade, muesli and fruit, milk or yoghurt.

Mid-Morning/Afternoon Snacks

I also like to keep a list of snacks options which are relatively healthy and affordable. For us, snacks always include fruit (preferably fruit that doesn’t have such a high sugar content like apples and oranges and I avoid dried fruit because of the concentrated sugar content) and plain yoghurt.

I also consider options such as good old-fashioned popcorn (not the microwave type), crackers and cream cheese, boiled eggs, Provita/Ryevita slices, tuna, biltong and other cold meats, rusks and peanuts (which are much cheaper than any other type of nuts), avocados, tomatoes, etc.

We try and stay away from chips (crisps), Nik-Nax, Corn curls, Tortilla chips and the like. This is not to say we never buy those – we do, but only as a treat!

Dinner

Dinner is pretty much our main meal of the day and when I meal plan for our dinners, I use our list of favourite meals and often rotate those to make sure we don’t get tired of any one meal! I make sure that we have a combination of protein – the meats – as well as staples (rice, pasta, noodles, pap or potatoes) and vegetables.

I rely on my tried and tested recipes (you can find some of our favourite recipes in my Thrifty Recipes archives) but I also like to try new recipes all the time! My mom and my friends are usually my first port of call when I get stuck for ideas. Then I will look through my Recipes Binder and finally, I will search online for recipes with ingredients that are on special this month. Or if all else fails, I will get creative in the kitchen!

Lunch

I usually don’t have a separate list of lunch options as we normally have leftovers from the night before for lunch the next day. If there aren’t any leftovers (which hardly ever happens for us though) I will then resort to packing a light lunch which gets chosen from our list of savoury snacks or I will use some of those options such as eggs, biltong, cheese, tuna, vegetables etc. to make sandwiches.

Consider subscribing to my weekly newsletter now to receive your FREE copy of affordable and easy 20 Sandwich Ideas on a Budget. For us, this is an absolute life-saver on the days when there are no leftovers to pack.

Happy Frugal Meal Planning!

The post Meal Planning Ideas appeared first on Frugal in SA.

Today I’m going to share with you how I meal plan monthly around specials in the shops. I have been doing this for so long now that I don’t think it would even occur to me to simply walk into a shop and buy whatever I want and whenever I want! Your grocery spending can be a huge drain on your finances each month (it certainly used to be in ours!) and planning meals around specials in the shops can be a great way to cut down on your total grocery bill for the month as well as help you keep this amount in check.

The “process” for monthly meal planning around specials is really very simple. I don’t have a lot of time on my hands but I make it a point to go through all the monthly specials each month (usually the ones just before the 25^th of the month are the best), and I generally use the inserts in our copy of the Alberton Record. I always look at all the supermarket, butchery and greengrocer specials in our area as you never know what kind of awesome specials you might find! You can try using a local newspaper delivered in your area for this purpose or check out the app called Tindeo (for Android) – they have up to date specials on pretty much all the supermarkets chains in SA and more, or alternatively, have a look at individual supermarket catalogues of specials for the month (a quick Google search should give you what you’re looking for).

Also, remember to check out the Unilever Deals for available coupons that you can use that month as well as the Snap n Save app on your phone. Do you have any Smart Shopper points that you can use? Don’t forget to print your Smart Shopper points voucher before your start shopping at your local Pick ‘n’ Pay as well as to check if you have been given any personalised vouchers that you can print from the kiosk and use immediately. I also usually check if there are any 3 for 2 deals at Woolworths and what additional discounts are available for WRewards members, as well as what’s available from Checkers Eezi coupons and Spar Rewards.

So here’s what to do to start meal planning around specials each month.

Step 1

Always check what you have in your pantry and freezer first as well as fresh produce on the veggie rack. Do you have all the ingredients needed for a meal or several meals? From there on you can plan for the meals you would like to make during the month based on what you have in the pantry and freezer. This is a great way to use up some of the items at hand which means you will need to buy less that month.

Step 2

Are there any items in your pantry and freezer that you might need to top up for a meal or even better, several meals? Look at the specials for the month and check if any of the missing ingredients are on special then plan to buy those. Again, because you will be using some of the items you already have this means that you will need to buy less.

Step 3

Browse through the specials for the month. Are there any staples, proteins (meat) and vegetables that are on special that you could use for a meal? Or a bunch of meals? Then make a note and get those! Is there anything that you would like to buy at rock-bottom price to add to your stockpile (within budget)? Then take a note of those items too! All of this will definitely save you money on your grocery bill each month. I can’t imagine not shopping for food on specials – it really is a huge saving for us.

Click here to download your FREE printable:

Meal Planning Around Specials Shopping List.

Now what about the meals, you might ask? Any suggestions? Check out my post Meal Planning Ideas for a few helpful hints.

The post Meal Planning Around Specials appeared first on Frugal in SA.