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Summer time is when things can go a little haywire with your meal planning. That’s why I am dishing up these delicious grilling and summer inspired recipes that will help you feed a crowd! It’s time to say goodbye to the cozy meals and hello to the light, fresh and grilled fare we enjoy during a picnic or cookout!
This month, I am committed to sharing with you how my family deals with all of these “unforeseen” events and plans for them as much as possible.
Pearl! I got you! Make sure you read this article on how to meal plan for beginners. In there you will find all the tips you need to make sure that you plan to the best of your ability and stay on budget!
Related Articles:
- Free Printable Meal Planner
- Summer Bucket List for Families
- 3 Ways to Refashion Your Summer Wardrobe
- Weekly Grocery Shopping Tips to Save You Time & Money
- My Favorite and ONLY Grocery Rebate App
- July 2017 Meal Plan
I’m also always sharing our daily frugal living tips for summer survival over on my Instagram stories! It’s super fun over there so don’t forget to follow along!
4 Tips for Meal Planning on a Budget Over the Summer!
- Plan ahead of the month for any family gathering that may come up. Leave a little space in your budget each week to prepare for unexpected gatherings. Have a little flexibility on which night you’re cooking.
- Keep breakfasts and lunches simple and affordable, especially when dinners tend to be the event people gather around. Or, opt for potluck style BBQs with your family this season over pricey dinner parties.
- Plan meals that can feed a crowd. At least once a week I like to have one meal option that can easily feed a crowd. This time of year, you’re likely to be spending more time relaxing outside with loved ones so potlucks are such a great money saving idea.
- End your meals with popsicles that you make. It will be so much more affordable than prepackaged and a lot tastier too.
Our Family’s Monthly Grocery Budget
If you are new here, hi! You are probably interested to know what we set for our monthly grocery budget. This is how we work it.
$380 for consumable goods for our giant monthly grocery haul. $160 for non consumable goods. In addition to that, using our cash envelope budget we use $35 each week for fresh produce and milk.
In order to be able to take advantage of sales throughout the month, we budget $40 each month to use when I see a super great deal. We will then freeze or store that food and use it in planning the following month’s meal plan.
The key to sticking to monthly meal plan on a budget is to make sure that when you are making your grocery list, you put for every single item an estimated cost and then total what you expect to pay at the register.
It’s a super simple step that you can do to make sure you stick to your grocery budget. I make it even easier for you with this free meal planning printable.
My Favorite App for Grocery Shopping on a Budget
No mom has the time to spend continuously scanning apps over the holidays looking for the best rebate offers and sales. Which is why I have minimized my rebate strategy to help maximize my savings in the smallest amount of time.
My very favorite app to us is Ibotta! I have done an entire tutorial on how to use the app to maximize your savings. But in a nutshell this is how I do it, I do my normal grocery shopping first.
Then once I get all my groceries home, I will quickly open the app and search the two stores that I just went shopping at to see if there are any rebates that apply to my groceries. There are usually 3-4 that I can claim. This saves me around $5 each time I use the app.
If that doesn’t sound like much, trust me! The three minutes that it takes me to save $5 is 100% worth it! These small savings add up quick and once you hit $20 you can cash out in PayPal or Venmo, or choose from a bunch of really awesome gift cards! I usually choose Target and treat myself to a well deserved “mom’s only” snack!
If you are new to Ibotta, sign up using this link.
June 2019 Family Meal Plan on a Budget & Grocery Haul
Sign up below to get my FREE monthly meal plans. Every meal plan will be automatically emailed to you as soon as it is ready to go!
June 2019 Grocery Haul
Take a peek at what it looks like to buy all non-perishable or freezable groceries for this exact meal plan.
I’d love to hear any questions you have! Leave them down in the comments below!
