This 20 insanely easy meal ideas post contains affiliate links at no additional cost to you. Thank you so much for supporting Pennies Into Pearls by using my links!
Ever feel like life is moving faster than you can keep up? I feel ya Pearl! Which is exactly why in this month’s meal planning on a budget I have included only meals that are super easy and crazy quick to pull together!
Related Articles:
- Free Printable Meal Planner
- Weekly Grocery Shopping Tips to Save You Time & Money
- My Favorite and ONLY Grocery Rebate App
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!
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 or the code: qybjrj and you will automatically get $10 after you claim your first rebate! So easy!
May 2019 Family Meal Plan on a Budget & Grocery Haul
May is going to be loco!
Remember in last month’s meal plan when I asked if life ever slows down… It’s looking like the answer to that is, nope! Oh well. I am on a mission to thrive and stay centered in a busy world.
Anyways, this month the doors to my paid online course 30 Day Family Finance Rescue opens for enrollment. (If you missed out last time enrollment was open, don’t loose your chance again!)
What that means for me is extra hours at the computer helping our Pearls decide if investing in the course is a right fit. Chatting about her unique family finances and what needs to be done to help her create a goal based budget.
So the goal for this month’s meal plan was to accumulate as many easy dinner ideas as possible. That is exactly what I have for you this month! Most of these recipes are 20 minute meals that are super easy to make!
Take a look to see how that looks…
We are doing things a bit new for the monthly meal plan around here. In an effort to make things one step easier for you, the monthly meal plans will now be sent directly to your inbox.
The first of each month the brand new meal plan will magically appear in your email. Leaving you with no searching or hunting it down on the internet.
To be sure you don’t miss out, you can sign up below of my free email newsletter where you are sure to find even more Pearl Life tips!
May 2019 Grocery Haul
Take a peek at what it looks like to buy all non-perishable or freezable groceries for this exact meal plan. Were we able to stick to the budget this month? Watch the grocery haul video to find out!
I’d love to hear any questions you have! Leave them down in the comments below!
smore traiolit
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