Planning Your Food Budget
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Collapse ▲If you have a hard time planning your food budget, know you are not alone. Life sometimes gets chaotic and stressful, and finding time to think every day about your next shopping trip can feel like a low-priority chore.
However, stretching your food dollars can also alleviate a lot of that stress that comes with your routine. Just a few minutes of planning on a weekend can save you time and help you prioritize healthy foods for your family.
Check these tips on how to maximize your food budget and turn grocery shopping into something you look forward to and not something you dread.
Five Day Menu Planning
First things first, you must find a day in the week to prepare a meal plan table, taking into consideration your family’s needs and wants. Write down five days of the week in five different columns, then create another 5 columns horizontally to indicate breakfast, morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack, and dinner. You can either use a piece of paper or a spreadsheet on your computer to create this table.
Think about everyone’s schedules and what types of meals (a quick meal, potlucks, company meals, a slow cooker meal) make more sense for that particular week.
Next, check what you already have on hand in the refrigerator, freezer, and pantry. Write down everything that you have and how you can mix and match them throughout the week to create different recipes.
Then, write down what you might be missing to either complete these recipes or that you may need for other recipes. You should always check your local grocery store’s specials either online on their website or through ads on a newspaper or magazine. Take note of what specials they may have that could be added to this week’s recipes and create a shopping list based on it.
After you are done taking note of everything you already have and everything you will need to buy, check to see if you have included foods that are a part of the following groups: grain, vegetable, fruit, dairy, protein. Do your best to have at least one food item for each group every day.
Shopping Tools
As mentioned above, it is important to create a shopping list you can bring with you to the grocery store or your local farmers’ market. This will help you stick to the meal planning you created and avoid impulse shopping.
When creating your shopping list, you can also write down prices for each item that you can find online. This will give you a better idea of how much you will be spending once you get to the store.
It is also recommended that you organize your list based on the store layout, as that saves you time and reduces temptation to stray away from the list. You should also keep your shopping list somewhere in a visible location where you can jot down items as supply gets low throughout the week.
Another great tip is choosing produce that is in season. When some vegetables and fruits are “in season,” it means they are just ripe from the fields, available in abundance, and are most likely to be cheaper than other produce. In the fall, apples and pumpkins are cheaper than sweet corn, for example.
Keep in mind that you don’t always have to buy fresh produce. All forms of fruits and vegetables are nutritious, including frozen, canned, and dried. Buying canned or frozen produce requires little to no preparation, which makes these the perfect choice for individuals who may not have a lot of time available for cooking on their hands.
For healthier canned choices, however, you should buy canned fruits that are packed in water or juice instead of packed in syrup. When buying canned vegetables, look for options that show low or no sodium added.
Are You Eligible for SNAP/FNS?
Another great option to help you stretch your food dollars is applying for benefits such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly known as food stamps. In North Carolina, SNAP is also known as Food and Nutrition Services (FNS).
To be considered eligible for SNAP/FNS, you must meet some income requirements. If you would like to be screened for eligibility and receive assistance when applying for SNAP/FNS, contact the More In My Basket program.
More In My Basket is an NC State Extension program that offers education and SNAP assistance for all individuals who live in North Carolina. You can contact them by visiting their website at morefood.org or by calling them at 1-855-240-1451 (for English and Portuguese) or 1-888-382-7105 (for Spanish).