Plan our September Menu with me!

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I want to be really intentional with our grocery budget in September. We have a lot going on financially, so I want to keep our grocery spending to a minimum this month. Planning out a menu is a great way to minimize spending because you can control the cost of the meals you choose, you can prioritize meals that use ingredients that you already have, and you don’t waste food. All of that is easier to do when you have a plan, rather than flying by the seat of your pants.

Flying by the seat of my pants is my natural inclination. In fact, I’ve had friends tell me that it’s my super power. At 5:00, I can have no idea what I’m making for dinner, then come up with a dinner using what I have on hand and have it ready in 30 minutes without being stressed at all. Even though I can do it (and it’s often my default, especially in busy seasons), when I actually menu plan…

• We eat better.
• I feel better about myself.
• We waste less food.
• We save more money.
• Our home is happier .

Want to come along with me as I plan our menu for September?

I will walk you through what goes on in my brain as I plan our menu for the month. If this is something that is helpful for you, let me know and maybe I’ll share again in the future. I would also love to hear some of your favorite meals or meal planning tips in the comments.

Breakfast and Lunch

I’m not going to plan out breakfast and lunch. My kids often eat breakfast and lunch at school since it’s free for everyone where we live and they like eating at school. Otherwise we typically eat the same things that don’t require much planning. I keep the groceries for these meals stocked instinctively, so we always have what we need.

Here are some of our typical options that are nearly always available:

Breakfasts

• Steel cut oats
• Oatmeal
• Cream of Wheat
• Cold cereal (when I find good deals on it)
• Eggs (fried, scrambled, or omelets)
• Yogurt and fruit
• Smoothies
• English muffins or toast
• Pancakes

Lunches

• Sandwiches (peanut butter and jelly/honey)
• Fruit (apples and bananas, or something in season)
• Leftovers (we always have some!)

Now let’s focus on dinner since that is that part that needs more planning in our family.

Step 1- See what we already have

Before I write anything down or make any plans, I take a look at what we have in the fridge, freezer, and pantry to use. I’m not looking for anything in particular at this point. I’m just trying to get ideas and see what needs to be used. Anything we already have, we don’t have to buy! Plus that helps us rotate through what’s in the fridge, freezer and pantry.

This might sound like a simple step… and it would be if I had been following this system all summer, but that’s not the case. My deep freezers are pretty deep in who-knows-what! We have lots of produce that I put in the freezer to use when it’s not so hot (I would much rather do my canning in the fall than the summer). I have to dig under all of the bags of plums and peaches to see what we actually have.

Maybe I will film the freezer adventure and make a video like I did in 2020 (deep freezer inventory and fridge and freezer inventory/cleanout). Showing you all my very unphotogenic freezer is kind of vulnerable, but I jut watched those two old videos and enjoyed them (even through the cringing).

Here’s what I found that’s of interest:

• Lots of crushed tomatoes and macaroni pasta… great for Mock Lasagna
• Some frozen chicken breasts
• Lots of fruit for smoothies
• Lots of diced onions
• Lots of frozen veggies to use as sides

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Step 2- Research and list meals

Keeping in mind what I found in step one, I will list out the meals I want to make during the month. Some of these will be my go-to family favorites, but some will be new meals to try. Evenings are often busy, so I’m looking for meals that can be prepped during the day (or even earlier) and put together quickly at dinner time. I want to use my slow cooker and instant pot as much as possible.

I’m going to aim for 24 dinners. We often have times that we have something else going on that includes dinner. Other times, because of conflicting schedules, everyone just “fends for themselves.” No one in our family is too high maintenance to just eat a sandwich for dinner. Our family is good with leftovers, too. I will be out of town for a few nights and chances are good people will just eat leftovers of one of the kids will make their specialty mac and cheese for dinner.

To keep things simple, I will repeat some meals that are easy and that don’t require buying much.

• Mock Lasagna (x2) — This is a comfort food in our family. I’ll use the macaroni elbows and crushed tomatoes that we already have. We have enough cottage cheese for one meal, but I will need to get more. We also need more cheese and ground beef or sausage. I will probably make French bread to go with this, but we have everything we need for that.
• Taco Soup with Cornbread (x4) — We have lots of dry beans and canned tomatoes. We also have lots of cornmeal and flour. We have the basics on hand for this meal, but I will need to pick up cheese and sour cream. I could add ground beef, but I probably won’t. Beans already have lots of protein, so this will be a meatless meal. My kids love homemade cornbread. In the summer we mostly ate tortilla chips with our taco soup since I avoided using the oven as much as possible, but now that the weather is cooling off, I don’t ming baking.
• Chicken Curry and Naan (x2) — Homemade naan takes some time, but everyone loves it! I made the chicken curry in the slow cooker, so it’s pretty easy. Then we eat it with brown rice. I think I will only need chicken and potatoes. I have everything else.
• Hawaiian Haystacks (x2) — Some of my kids are content to eat plain rice and cheese, but the rest of us like all of the toppings. We have raisins, pineapple, tomatoes (from the garden), and green onions (grown from the last green onions we bought). We need cheese, chicken, and crunchies (what we call chow mein noodles).
• Potato Soup (x2)— Now that it’s finally cooling off, soup will hit the spot. I will make some soup kits to make this a quick and easy meal. I will need carrots, celery, potatoes, cheese, and sour cream. We will make French bread with this too.

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• Creamy Tacos Casserole (x2) — Another comfort food! I will need corn tortillas, cheese, and ground beef or sausage. I will also make the sauce from scratch (rather than using “cream of…” soups) so I will need to grab some butter. I usually keep butter stocked in the freezer, but we are out right now.
• Chicken and Rice (Instant Pot) (x2) — We just tried this on September 1st and the kids like it. I will need more chicken and cheese to make it again. I will also add carrots next time.
• Taco Pasta (Instant Pot) (x2) — I made this at the end of August and everyone approved, which is a big deal and rarely happens with a couple of my young picky eaters. It wasn’t my favorite, but since everyone else liked it, I want to make it again. I will need cheese and ground beef. I have everything else.
• Lentil Tacos (x2) — Another great meatless meal! We learned to love lentil tacos during our covid food storage challenge when we went for 3 months without grocery shopping.
• Chicken Noodle Soup (x2) — It has been ages since I made homemade noodles, so I want to give that a try. Now that it has started to cool down, soup sounds wonderful. I will need soup veggies and probably some more chicken.
• Breakfast for Dinner (x2) — We all love French Toast and since I’m planning to make homemade bread all month, we will have plenty. I usually bake bread in bulk, so by the time we get to the last loaf, it’s starting to get dry, so it makes perfect French toast. We’ll have other yummy things from out breakfast list too.

Step 3- Make a grocery list and shop

Now that I know what I’ll be making, it’s time to make a list and head to the store. Having a good list is crucial for saving money. I don’t want to make lots of extra trips to the store during the month (every trip to the store is a chance to spend more money). Also if I don’t have a list, then I will buy things that I don’t need that will likely go bad because I won’t think to use them since they aren’t in my menu.

You can use whatever type of list you want. I’m going to use my customizable digital/printable grocery list that’s available in my shop. It’s editable so you can make it your own. I love having all of my regular foods on my personal list so that I don’t forget any of our family’s standard purchases. The list also helps me remember to check on some of our basics to know if we need to restock anything. It’s nice to not realize you’re out of something until you’re halfway through the recipe.

I will do my shopping at Winco and Sam’s Club. Since Sam’s Club has all the prices on the app I usually go to Winco first, then compare produce prices with the Sam’s Club app. Or if I’m in a hurry, I’ll just do a Sam’s Club pickup and grab everything else at Winco.

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Step 4- Follow the plan and report back

I’m not going to assign meals to specific days. I will make a list of all the meals that I am planning to make during the month and I will cross them out as I go. That way I can make what I’m in the mood for and what fits best with the day’s schedule. I will try to decide on the next night’s dinner the night before so that I can thaw anything or do any other prep.

And if I find a new recipe that I want to try that’s not on the list, but I have all of the ingredients, then I’ll try it. I’m not cornering myself into all of these specific meals, but I will at least have what I need for these meals so that I won’t need to scramble or run to the store at the last minute.

Now that it’s cooling down, I’m also committing to make homemade bread during September. I also normally grab 4 gallons of milk at a time, two or three times a week, but I got ten gallons on the first of the month and put 6 gallons in the freezer so we won’t need to go to the store as often.

I plan to follow up and let you know how things go. I’m not quite sure what that will look like. Maybe I’ll show you pictures/video of what we ate like I did during my 2020 Quarantine Food Storage Challenge. Or maybe I will just talk about the month’s grocery spending at the end of the month. What would you prefer?

How about you?

Anyone else going for lean grocery spending in September? Let’s do this together!

What are you eating in September? I would love to hear your suggestions, especially your family’s go-to favorites!