Expect big savings on food with my “Stick To Your Budget Checklist.” I developed this checklist after years of sharing budget meals and plans on Youtube. The checklist is a clear process that will help you stick to your grocery budget with no surprises at the grocery store. It also encourages less food waste and a solid plan to stock your pantry.
Why This Checklist Creates Big Savings on Food
For 10 years I worked in financial analysis and always wrote my grocery list and budget in Excel. This was common place for the financial analysts I worked with. We would take our break time to make our lists and share meal plans and sale items we thought were good. The penny pinching, frugal mentality, was engrained in us during the corporate budgeting process and we embraced it.
In 2020, I left my job in the field to stay home with my (at the time) two young boys (I now have 3). This slashed our income in half and made my budgeting skills more valuable than ever. Since then I’ve been sharing our budget friendly meals on Youtube, sharing my excel grocery budget calculator, and now my “Stick To Your Budget Checklist.”
The $125 Meal Plan for Big Savings on Food
Following the checklist, I generally shop for $125 a week for my family of 5. I also try out different budgets such as this $80 a week budget. I always start by following the steps on the checklist for big savings on food.
The Steps:
#1 Shop Your Pantry
The first thing you want to do before making a list or even shopping sales, is shop your own cabinets, drawers, fridge, and freezer. You can use the pantry, fridge, and freezer inventory pages in my “Stick To Your Budget Checklist.” These pages are broken out by breakfast, lunch/snacks, dinner, and re-stock items. The Re-Stock section is specifically for what you recognize you are out of or running low on when you take inventory.
In this particular week, it was clear I had plenty of breakfast, lunch and snack items. as well as lots of meat to get started for lunches and dinners.
#2 Shop Your Local Flyers
Next, take a look at your local sales flyers. I usually choose to shop one or two stores depending on the deals and how much time I have. Pay attention to the first page of each of the flyers because this is where the big deals are. These are called loss leaders and are designed to sell the item for cost or close to it, just to bring you into that store.
You can use the Sale Items page included in the checklist to record good deals on items that you either need or your family enjoys. It’s even worth writing down items that you already have, if the price is right.
#3 Meal Plan
It’s time to meal plan! I aim to pick 3 meals that come from my pantry stash and 4 that are based around what is on sale. It’s not always perfect but it’s a good goal.
Pantry Meals:
When it comes to pantry meals, I go a step further and choose one meal that is made with beans or is only vegetarian. This helps me clear out the less expensive items in my pantry and it’s a healthy choice. I have a list of 25 rice and beans recipes that are absolutely fantastic for that here.
Pantry meals do not need to be made of 100% pantry items. The idea is that you are rotating your stock and utilizing what you already have but it’s ok if you don’t have everything you need on hand.
Sale Meals:
For the 4 meals based around sale items, I pick at least one really easy meal to make things simpler during the week. If the meals are too complicated, I might end up throwing the whole thing out the window. Because I like to cook, I also choose one meal that I’ve been wanting to cook. These are often a bit more complicated than my normal meals. I like to try new things and picking one meal that aligns with this cures that bug.
It’s important to be conscious of your schedule when making a meal plan. If the week is busy, it’s important to pick easy meals. I have a robust list of 15 meals that can be made fast and for only $5 each here. These are a great start to keep you on track on a busy week.
#4 Make a List in My Grocery Budget Calculator
Using the grocery budget calculator I created is a great way to make sure you get everything you need within your budget. I start by plugging in what I need for my pantry meals. It is great if some of the items are on sale. If they aren’t it’s ok to estimate how much you think they will cost. I always try to overestimate so that I am rarely surprised when I get to the checkout counter. If you are not used to budgeting this way and really don’t know the prices, that’s ok. Over time you will get significantly better at it. It is as they say, “practice makes perfect!”
Next, I list what I need for my 4 other meals. And I list what I’m out of and need to replace. Last but not least I list the items I saw in the sale flyer that I might not need this week but know are a good stock up price.
#5 Adjust to Your Budget
The last step in the grocery budget calculator and in creating my list is to plug in my actual budget. Once I plug the budget number in, the grocery budget calculator will show red or green. Green means you are below budget. Red means you are over.
I almost always show red at first and then I add and remove items as necessary. For example, I removed some of the cabot cheddar I planned to stock up on because I didn’t exactly need it. It was a “nice to have item.” In a different circumstance I made a swap and switched out ricotta cheese for cottage cheese saving me $2. Little changes like this can get you down to your planned budget amount.
I also believe it’s important to allocate a portion of your budget to stocking up for the future. I try to allocate 80% of my budget to the current week and 20% to stock up items. In this week, that means $100 for the current week and $25 for stocking up. And, because I’m a person who loves clearance, I often shop clearance to stock up first and might not end up buying the items I planned to stock up on. This is what happened this particular week.
The Meal Plan
In this particular week, I was focusing on my family but I also had a specific blog post in mind. I was working on “15 CHEAP AND EASY DINNERS TO HELP YOU STICK TO A BUDGET ON BUSY NIGHTS.” So I needed to buy some things specific to that meal plan. Luckily I was able to stick to my original plan for the most part and still plan one vegetarian pantry dish, two pantry meals. The other 4 meals were not exactly based around sales but we made it work.
Breakfast:
We ended up using what we had on hand for breakfast. This included frozen sausage I had in my freezer, frozen waffles, leftover quiche from mothers day, bananas, oatmeal, bagels with cream cheese, cottage cheese bowls, crustless quiche, and pancakes. Remembering to use what you have on hand can always contribute to some serious savings on food!
Cottage Cheese Bowls
Cottage Cheese Bowls have been a go-to breakfast for me for a while. They are a really clean breakfast that is hight in protein and full of vegetables. You can get the full recipe here.
Crustless Keto Quiche
This Crustless Quiche was the perfect breakfast to make with leftover steamed broccoli and heavy cream from the quiches I made for Mother’s Day. The recipe is a great way to sneak in some vegetables and happens to be keto friendly as well. Get the full recipe here!
Lunches:
I made some of the meals from “15 CHEAP AND EASY DINNERS TO HELP YOU STICK TO A BUDGET ON BUSY NIGHTS,” into lunches such as hot dogs and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. My older son eats lunch at school a few times a week and that is $3 each time. It’s a choice we make and it works for our family.
For my husband and I, I made Big Mac Bowls with ground beef I had in the freezer. These bowls are a family favorite and they give you all the Big Mac Flavor without the cost and calories. You can get the full recipe here!
At the end of the week I cooked up some defrosted ground chicken and mixed vegetables. I find that cooking ground chicken with a little bit of Worcestershire (thanks for this tip Youtube fam!) gives it a really beefy flavor. We also like to add some soy sauce to this and this is another clean and easy lunch idea. If you need a carb adding white rice is super easy and budget friendly.
Making your own lunches, even if it’s not all the time, can contribute to some serious savings on food!
Dinners
Monday:
Tuesday:
Wednesday:
Rotisserie Chicken Caesar Salad
Thursday:
Green Chili Chicken Enchilada Casserole. Get the full recipe here!
Friday: Grilled boneless skinless chicken thighs and canned vegetables
Saturday:
We attended a birthday party and I brought this delicious Street Corn Inspired Mexican Macaroni Salad
Sunday:
Crockpot Curry Chicken with curry simmer sauce. I used a store bought simmer sauce but I have a really amazing recipe for making your own sauce at home here!
What I Ended up Buying
To see my exact grocery haul you’ll need to check out my youtube video where I go through item by item. I came in at about $122 and was able to stock up quite a bit on clearance items. That was some serious savings on food! If you’d like to see my entire grocery haul and how I made all the meals check out my Youtube video.
Looking For More Budget Inspiration?
If you’re looking for more savings on food, I used a similar process in this video and blog where I shopped for my family for only $80. I was also able to sneak in 3 $10 dinners on that one that are absolutely delicious. And if you need more pantry inspiration, don’t forget to check out these 25 Rice and Beans Recipes to get you started on using what you already have on hand.
Don’t forget to download the grocery budget checklist that also includes pantry, fridge, and freezer inventory lists, a sale list, meal planners, and re-stock item list.