De-Stressing End of the Month Food Spending: 12 Practical Tips + Frugal Meal Plan!

[@abigailbutler5448]

Just found your channel and loving it. I’ve been a meal planner for a long time…. Cannot imagine going to the supermarket and not having a plan. Also try to eat organic as much as possible and buy 90% ingredients. Love the tip on being honest about your energy levels for certain days when prepping… I’m still learning this!

[@thewholehome]

Welcome! Yep, without a meal plan I just end up buying a ton more, spending a lot more and then having to constantly think about what we’re making next - the plan is essential!

[@nicolewhitehouse7279]

In challenging myself to not buy premade snacks this year. I’ll slowly use up what we have and I am starting a freezer stash of homemade snacks. I’m interested to see how much I can save. Also turned leftover curry into curry pies for dinner tonight.

[@thewholehome]

That’s amazing! I think the switch away from pre-made snacks is one a lot of people start with (or add on!) to make the most of the budget. We don’t do pre made and for the most part just don’t snack which both really change the budget - I hope you save a ton and find it helpful!!

[@Bloome_]

Thank you for such a great detailed video! Definitely going to revisit my meal planning technique after watching this! ❤

[@thewholehome]

Glad it was helpful! I have a few other videos with detailed in process meal planning tips too!

[@mariedamon5655]

Hi crumpets are easy to make and quite cheap also pancakes and lemon and sugar are cheap or home made yoghurt .lovely video thankyou x

[@thewholehome]

I need to get on the homemade yogurt train! I tend to just go bread instead of pancakes but I should try them cos we love them it’s marmite 😋! Pancakes we do a lot, such a great fun one!

[@baywillow9272]

I’ve had a meal plan for the last three weeks and my 6 year old loves it because they have a menu at school as well, she is happy to eat everything because it’s written down! Husband is amused by it for the very same reason 😂 But it does work so well, I’m spending a lot less and there’s much less food waste too. Would recommend giving it a go if you’re undecided. (PS. What’s with the adverts for erectile dysfunction, KZbin algorithm going a bit crazy there haha)

[@thewholehome]

Oh ads are sometime so misplaced! 🤪 Yes meal planning is SUCH a game changer. I love that seeing it written down makes a difference to her! Love spending less and less waste - such wins.

[@JS-bu4vq]

Hi again! Going to up my meal plan game by raiding cupboards first - love that. Would like to get in routine if bread making more. Already sourdough but just 1 loaf a week. You replied recently to my sourdough questions. Thx you. Would love a video on this and the other items you make with your mix or discard. Also how much you make in one go or di you bake every day. Thx for all your videos.

[@thewholehome]

I promised a few people the video and I haven’t made it! I need to - I usually bake 2x a week and then do another round for pizza dough.

[@rachaellange]

@@thewholehome I would also love more bread content.

[@thewholehome]

@ I realised I’m avoiding it cos my kitchen isn’t well lit and perfect 😆 but I should just ignore that and make a very real life one!

[@thisismyname3328]

We're making the change into an ingredient household, cause I lost my job - less money, but far more time. The meal planning has begun!

[@thewholehome]

Oh I’m sorry you’ve lost your job, I hope you’re ok. ❤ Yes that extra time for can sure be used to save some money! Meal planing is a such a good place to start - then I’d say looking at what items you eat lots of that could be kade from scratch for much cheaper. Making your own bread is top of my list, it saves us hundred of £ a year between bread, bagels and pizza! Plus we can get local flour and support local farmers which is so so important to me.

[@greysky09]

Questions: is pulses = smoothies or is it dips? Lol Win to share: Double checked and we now have 3 chains on Too Good To Go in our area. It was nothing a year ago! So that’s exciting! Also, I have been loving roasting 2 organic whole chickens a month. It is much more meat than you’d think stuck on there after you deconstruct the main bits!

[@thewholehome]

Pulses are beans, lentils and legumes like that! Ooh I love the spread of TGTG! 👏 and I totally agree - the whole chicken with getting the broth too is SUCH. A good budget hack.

[@juliemoore6957]

All great tips.Lots of vegetarian options 👍.

[@thewholehome]

Those frugal veggie options are always going to win for me!

[@rachaellange]

Curious, when you're doing a meal twice, like the chicken soup or red sauce, are you putting the 2nd patch in the fridge or freezing?

[@thewholehome]

I don’t do this well 😆 our freezer is the size of an ice cream box. So I can barely freeze anything. We’d love to change this soon cos it’s costing us SO much time in not batch cooking better. So I tend to do every meal twice within each meal plan so I can still semi batch cook, but not have to freeze a lot. So, just the fridge for now!

[@kristyh982]

How do you get your kids to eat this way? I have an almost 4 y/o and I wouldn’t say she’s extremely picky…she just has expensive taste (steak pork chops etc)

[@thewholehome]

In a way I feel like I'm a bad person to answer this question cos it's how we've raised them! But, mine would so happily just eat steak and burgers and all the expensive meals too so I get that! It's different at different ages, one thing is that we say that the food we have is what it is. No one has to eat it but that's the meal - if they say "but I want a burger/steak/other meal" we just say "ooh burgers are so fun aren't they! This is what we have for this meal and we're really lucky to have this, we're going to enjoy it today - and shall we plan burgers on the meal plan sometime coming up?" Then we don't snack in between meals, which makes a huge difference. We all know the meal is what we get and everyone (a) comes hungry but (b) knows it won't be supplemented with snacks shortly after the meal and so people eat the more frugal meals from the meal plan. We also bring them in on the planning, making, shopping, growing and all the aspects of the meals which really helps with buy in on eating them and getting excited about them. Making changes always takes time, but I hope that helps a tiny bit!

[@Craftytutu]

We’re living on a tight budget but my husband is a NIGHTMARE! He’s more fussy than a toddler 🙄 Won’t eat veggies, won’t eat the same meal 2 days in a row, doesn’t like potatoes very often, only takes beans in chilli…….🤷‍♀️ It’s a constant battle 😮‍💨 I can’t afford to make different meals for us and I don’t have the energy to cook different meals so my healthy diet has gone right out the window because I just eat the same meals as him.

[@thewholehome]

Ah I’m so sorry. Too often the role of managing all this and sticking to a budget falls on women and it’s not how it should be. 😭 It’s something we’ve had to work on and have some hard conversations on so that would be my biggest suggestion if it’s possible. To have some honest conversations if that’s possible, and begin to shift that responsibility. But I know that’s easier said than done in a lot of cases. I’m so sorry.