365 Day Meal Plan: Year-End Recap with 2013 Templates

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I can hardly believe it’s been a year since we started our challenge to eat at home more with a 365 Day Meal Plan. The creation of a 365 day meal plan was a brainstorm I had while I was planning our first menu for the new year in late 2011. I thought if I put together a rotating meal plan that we used consistently over and over again we would not only save money, and time, but we’d be able to eat healthier as well.

I shared each week’s meal plan and recap of last week (except for a few weeks where meal planning wasn’t possible), and leading up to the holiday this year I was on auto-pilot with meal planning most nights, though I didn’t sit down and type out a specific menu since I knew many meals may consist of cookies and candy .

By sharing my honest struggles whether it was laziness, being ill, or a change in schedule I kept myself accountable but also examined where my ‘weak’ spots were in the meal plan and adjusted accordingly.

For instance we started cleaning our house top to bottom on Sundays in preparation for the week and I just didn’t feel up to making a big meal like I had expected I would, so these meals were often simpler, and I kept more complex meals to days during the week where we had little going on.

Looking ahead to 2013 I will be meal planning again, with an even more sharp focus on what works and what doesn’t. I’ll continue to share my successes and failures, as well as new recipes we try out.

How much did we save by meal planning?

Looking back over the past year, and 2011 I’m astounded to see we saved an average of….(drumroll please)

….over $400 a month! That’s nearly $4,000 for the year!

We spent an average of $800-$1,000/month on groceries, depending on the length of the month, sale items I found, and celebrations (like birthdays and holidays). In most cases I ended up being out of pocket under $200 for the week.

I should also note that this includes items that some people list separately like personal care products (most of which are expensive thanks to the sensitive skin the kids and I have) and paper products like TP.

Is one of your resolutions or goals to do better at meal planning? You can easily get started with the following:

Free Printable Grocery List template
Free 2013 Printable Menu Plan
For inspiration you can find a full year of meal plans by clicking here.

Do you meal plan? Will you be meal planning in 2013?

Kelly

About Kelly

Kelly Whalen is the founder of The Centsible Life, a blog where motherhood and money meet. Her goal is to help readers live well on less. Kelly is a mom to 4, and loves that she can stay at home with her kids, and still pursue her passions for writing, personal finance, and social media. You can often find her on twitter and Facebook talking money and motherhood.

Tagged as: 365 Days of Homecooking, Announcements, Food, meal plan, menu plan, Money

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http://twitter.com/craftygrdenmama Becky Elmuccio

You’ve got me inspired to do better with this aspect of my cooking and shopping. I am looking forward to checking out your template and seeing how it can work best for our family. Thanks for sharing!
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=537096279 Kelly Kinkaid

That is just huge! I have vowed this year to eat much more at home, and I’m seriously going to have to consider a rotating meal plan after reading about this savings. That’s such a big savings.
Emily

Wow! We didn’t do this as a plan but we did purposely eat more at home. It’s crazy how much money we throw away on eating out… and how many pounds are probably gained as a result. Eek. Thanks for posting, this definitely encourages me to keep pushing the at home meals for the coming year!
- http://www.thecentsiblelife.com/ Kelly Whalen
  
  Exactly! I feel like we have much more control over what we’re eating, and it’s become a real bonding experience to teach the kids how to cook instead of just ordering takeout.
Sarah Hughes

WOW when you put it like that saving $400 a month is A LOT!! We are so bad with take-out and going out to eat after work. My goal is to get better this year, you did awesome!!
- http://www.thecentsiblelife.com/ Kelly Whalen
  
  It IS a lot! Since you work you could look at once a month cooking, or invest in a crock pot so you can throw dinner into the crock pot before you head to work.
Lauryn

I do a decent job of meal planning, but there is always room to do better. I find it is so hard around those holiday or off weeks and even harder for me to get back on track. It is something I would like to work on in the coming year! Thanks for the inspiration and GREAT JOB!
- http://www.thecentsiblelife.com/ Kelly Whalen
  
  It can be for sure. That’s why we try to stick to a somewhat regular routine even when we’re ‘off’.
AbigailP

Way to go!

We’re working on this ourselves. I haven’t created a rotating meal plan because, well, my repertoire isn’t varied enough to bother. But I’ve made renewed my friendship with the slow cooker, and we’ve definitely been eating out less. Except for the past week or so, when I’ve felt too sick to really cook. Then my strategy is to try and find convenience food at home. Failing that, we go get some fast food. It’s a process. And we’re still spending significantly less. Not $400 less, but we’re just two people which is probably why.
- http://www.thecentsiblelife.com/ Kelly Whalen
  
  Ours is so NOT varied. That was my main issue, actually! It seemed so boring but by putting in our staples in the menu plan and then filling in with some new and different recipes helps a lot.