MENU PLANNING

The frugal are forever thinking ahead. They are led by foresight. Foresight is based upon thinking in terms of principles. Foresight is first and foremost a spiritual enterprise. Foresight by itself is of no value unless it can be put into practice. This is where self discipline takes over. Foresight is the subjective and self discipline makes the plan come to fruition. It requires both to be successful.

The frugal make plans concerning all of their lives. They are goal oriented. They know that if you do not plan, then by default you are planning to fail. Frugality is about being successful in managing of one’s resources. Management requires forethought. To be able to manage anything requires that you understand the principles of management. One of the definitions that Noah Webster uses for manager is "a person who conducts business with economy and frugality." Learning to manage our resources is wisdom in practice.

One of the major events of our daily living is eating. Most people in America eat three meals a day. Food is required to sustain our physical life. Food is essential to being productive. Our energy comes from the food that we eat. Knowing that each of us have budget constraints, it is wise to put into practice a system of menu planning. By knowing what meals you are preparing in advance, you will cut down on the time necessary for preparation and this also requires having on hand those items that are necessary for the making of the meal.

When you do not have a system in place when it comes to meal preparation, you will be wasting time and finances. Some people go to the grocery store and buy something and throw it together not caring how much money and time they are wasting. Frugality is all about doing things in an orderly fashion. By planning ahead, you generally will go to the grocery store on an infrequent basis. You buy in advance what you will need that particular week and because you know what you need, you will have it on a list.

Those individuals who do not shop with lists are not wise. Lists are designed to prevent impulse buying. Impulse buying is what drives up the expense of shopping. People without lists will be generally ones that do not have a budget. They do no prior planning and it shows. Menu planning and making a shopping list go hand in hand. This is a demonstration of understanding the situation when it comes to eating meals. It is always wise to save as much money and time as you possibly can. We are biblically enjoined to redeem the time. Menu planning is one way to redeem the time.