Admit it. Our lives as homeschool moms are busy. There is always something to do, whether it’s planning, teaching, cooking, cleaning, shopping, or budgeting. Time and money are precious commodities in any home, but especially a homeschool household. This is why menu planning can quickly become a homeschool mom’s best friend.
Here are 5 reasons why homeschool moms (or any family cooks) should plan their family meals in advance.
Menu Planning Saves Time
Instead of making multiple last-minute trips to the grocery store or fast-food chain, moms can make one trip to the store every week or two, thereby saving hours of shopping time. I personally like to use my favorite grocery store’s pick-up service to save even more hours of shopping time. They do all the shopping for you at no additional cost, and you don’t have to get the kids out of the car. Win-win!
If you use an online menu planner, you can also save time making your shopping list. When you drag and drop your personal recipes into the meal planner, many automatically generate your shopping list based on your menu plan. By saving on shopping and planning time, homeschool moms could save about 12 hours a month—that’s more than a one-day field trip.
Menu Planning Saves Money
Menu planning helps avoid unnecessary waste and allows the opportunity to incorporate weekly specials into the family’s meals. How much can menu planning save a family? A 2015 article by Huffington Post shared that families save nearly $50 per week just by menu planning. What could you, as a homeschool mom, do with an extra $200 a month?
Menu Planning Supports Healthy Eating
I don’t know about you, but for me, if I haven’t planned a meal in advance, the nutritional value of that meal quickly drops. Meal planning, on the other hand, encourages variety, the use of high-quality foods, and the incorporation of more vegetables, which all promote healthier eating in my book.
Menu Planning Encourages Family Involvement
One question you often hear at our dinner table the night before I menu plan is, “What would you like to eat this week?” Taking time to menu plan allows for more family participation and provides an opportunity to schedule their involvement in the cooking process. For homeschool moms, this can automatically add the course “home economics” to the transcript.
Menu Planning Decreases Stress
Finally, the biggest benefit of menu planning for the homeschool mom is decreased stress. Whether it is considering the cost or finding the time to cook, cooking dinner can often be very stressful. By knowing what you will cook in advance, you can avoid that often last-minute question, “What do I fix?” and also know that you have saved money for your family budget by planning ahead.
Whether you like an online planner or a pen and paper, when it comes to our diet, menu planning can save families money, time, health, and stress, thereby helping us teach our children how to achieve our goals and live a healthy lifestyle.
