Eating well, Saving money

I don't know about you and your family, whether it be two or eight of you, but I know that Kyle and I (okay, I) have a tendency to spend WAY too much money at the grocery store. Now, in general, we try to eat fairly healthfully, and of course healthy food costs more. But I can't fool myself that well...there's more to the grocery store wallet-siphoning than I'd like to admit.


The culprits include: 
Going to the store hungry (everything looks good)
Assuming that if I get enough stuff, I can surely make up several meals out of it (why do I always buy so many freakin' zucchini?)
Romanticizing in my abilities to actually accomplish all of the culinary feats I dream up (I'm going to break down pounds of produce and freeze a ton of meals)
...worst of all...
Not having a PLAN!


Enter Groupon.
Yes, Groupon.


Most of the time I scan my Groupon page and mentally comment on how I would never actually use most of them...until I saw something intriguing today. It was for a company called "eMeals". I knew I had heard of the company before, but couldn't place it. I read on.


"eMeals" is a service that takes into consideration you diet (regular, vegetarian, gluten-free, etc.) and grocery store preferences (for store advertisements and specials), and creates weekly meal plans for you. It outlines each meal, how to make it, and a shopping list for the week at the bottom.


I signed up for the weekly dinner meal plan for "clean eating". I can think up enough lasagna type dinners...it's spicing up our healthy eating options that is sometimes difficult for me. And, because I don't cook seven dinners a week, I can just pick the meals that I like and go from there.


Here's a copy of the my meal plan for this past week.

With THIS Groupon, I'm paying about $2.40 a month for the service, that I anticipate will save me much more than that.


Last but not least, it's recommended by Dave Ramsey. A major part of Dave's Financial Peace University is really identifying where your money is going, and how to control it. Now, I'm not someone makes every financial decision based on what Dave says (I have a credit card or two), but when it comes to cleaning the clutter out of your budget...he's the man! So, the fact that he endorses this specific product for something like grocery spending speaks volumes to me.


Whether you use this service, or just start sitting down to make a grocery list by meals you actually intend to prepare, I would almost guarantee you will see noticeable differences in your grocery bills. 


So, Happy NOT spending!