Money Saving Tips

*Every Monday throughout 2014 I will be sharing Money Savings Tips to help stick to and expand your budget!

My little brother is moving out of my parent’s house next week and we were giving him a lot of advice during dinner on food and saving money. It was mentioned to him to meal plan and then buy ingredients for your meals instead of just going to the grocery store without a meal plan or grocery list.

“So you know exactly what you are eating for the entire week.” Yes. “That would take so much time.”

In less than 5 minutes I made my brother a dinner meal planĀ and a grocery list for those items. He looked at the grocery list and was surprised how little he would spend, especially for having an empty kitchen at the moment.

Everything on his meal plan list was easy things he could make. I also picked some items that he would have some variety but could use on other meals. For example, I had meatball subs on the list so I picked another sub (steak and cheese) so the 6-pk of sub rolls wouldn’t go moldy before he used them again.

Meal planning and list making is a great way to save at the grocery store, especially when you don’t have a lot of items in your pantry. You can slowly build up your pantry with items and not spend hundreds of dollars at the grocery store. You also don’t have to worry about expired items as much.

Do you have a plan for grocery shopping? Do you have any really easy and inexpensive items that are frequently on your meal plan?

To find more Money Saving Tips from Boston On Budget, please head here.