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I consider myself a fairly frugal person, except when it comes to the grocery bill. I pay pretty close attention to my family’s budget, and the one category that has always bothered me is our food bill. Not eating out, but the grocery bill. We’re a small family, but you’d think we feed a family of ten as much as we spend on groceries!

A few years ago a friend showed me how I could save money on our grocery bill by planning our meals ahead of time using the grocery store ads, the food we already have on hand, and my family’s favorite recipes. I was very excited when I realized the potential to save money with meal planning.

Meal planning has many benefits, but the greatest one to me is the money we can save on food each month. By doing meal planning, I know exactly what I need to buy at the grocery store, and I don’t waste time or money buying things we won’t eat. Before I started planning our menu a week ahead of time, we wasted a lot of food because we never got around to eating it. I also go to the store much less now, and when I do go, I don’t make silly impulse purchases. So for me, the money we save on groceries each month is worth far more than the time it takes to plan our meals each week.

The next advantage to weekly menu planning is the time it saves you. First, because you spend less time figuring out what to cook for dinner (or surfing the web for ideas). Second, since you already have everything you need to cook dinner (for the whole week!) you won’t have to run by the store after picking the kids up or on your way from work. Imagine how much time you’ll save just from eliminating daily trips to the store. If you’re like me and go to the store several times a week, you could save a couple of hours of time just by planning your meals ahead of time.

Another huge benefit you get from weekly menu planning is that it helps you eat healthier. People who do meal planning tend to eat better because they go out to eat less often. By eating out less often, you cut out a lot of the fatty foods that you would normally eat at fast food restaurants. Also, when you cook at home, you’re more likely to select fresh, healthy ingredients for your meals.

Now you see the benefits of meal planning. So how do you actually do meal planning? Here are some steps to help you make meal planning fun and easy:

1. Pay attention to your family’s favorite dishes and start writing them down. This will be a huge life saver when you can’t think of anything for dinner. By having a recipe book or computer file with your family’s favorites listed, you can come up with dinner ideas in a snap.

2. Look through the weekly grocery sale ads. You’re looking for dinner ideas, but you’re also looking for items on sale so you can save money too.

3. Look through your pantry and refrigerator for food that you already have on hand. If you have any perishable items that need to be eaten soon, or if you have any old food in the pantry that’s going to expire soon, then you’ll want to plan your meals using these items.

4. You’ve got a good idea of what you want to cook for the week, so the next step is to write it all down. Write down the meals, recipes and the day you want to serve them. You also need to make your grocery list. There are many free worksheets available on the Internet to help you with your meal planning and shopping list.

5. Almost done… the last thing you need to do is to post your menu for everyone to see, and then cook your meals. By posting the menu on the fridge or in the kitchen everyone will know what to expect for the week, and you might even get some unexpected help from your kids or spouse!