The Nine Steps to Super Grocery Store Savings

Step # 3: Developing Your Menu Plan

More In-depth article: Developing Your Menu Plan

A menu is a list of dishes we plan to serve. To our family, it is a list of dishes from which they’ll eat during the week. To the cook, it is a list of dishes we plan to prepare. It is also a management tool for our household. It is fair to say that it is the simple most important household document. Purchasing, cooking and food costs are all based on the menu.

We must plan the menus for the people eating the food. This sounds like a simple rule, but we frequently forgotten it. We must never forget that the family is the main reason we are cooking.

A course is a food or group of foods served at one time or we intend to eat at the same time. Most of the time, we put the courses on the table at once – appetizer, salad, main dish and side dishes, and desserts, for example – but will eat them in a particular order.

When planning our menu, we must have a basic understanding of nutrition. Because our bodies need varieties of foods in order to function and to be healthy. We want to proved a nutritious food and well-balanced menus.

Step # 4: High Yield Weekly Planner

More In-depth article: High Yield Weekly Planner

The first step is to think about the week ahead. It does not matter which day you consider the beginning of the week, I happen to use Monday. Use the day you do your main weekly grocery shopping as a starting point. I happen to like to shop early Sunday morning when there are few people at the grocery store.

Fill in your family's planned weekly activities. Have fun and be creative. Use your own shorthand, color-coding or symbols. Makes it easy for you to picture how the week will be filled.