A Busy-Week Meal Plan Shortcut, a Grocery Gift Card Cushion — Plus 3 More Ways To Save This Week

Some weeks are simply busier than others. A little planning ahead can help you avoid convenience spending, while a few simple habits can protect both your grocery budget and your home from unexpected expenses.

Here are five practical ways to save money this week.

1. Cook One Meat for Several Busy-Week Meals

When you know a hectic week is coming, plan several dinners around one large batch of meat.

One reader does this with a turkey breast cooked in a slow cooker. Her five-night plan looks something like this:

• Night 1: Turkey and baked potatoes
• Night 2: Turkey and noodles using some of the broth
• Night 3: Warm turkey subs
• Night 4: Salads topped with turkey and vegetables
• Night 5: Omelets made with turkey, cheese and vegetables

You can use the same strategy with chicken, pork or another meat that works in several different dishes. The trick is changing the supporting ingredients so dinner doesn’t feel like the same meal night after night.

Just keep food safety in mind. Cooked poultry and other cooked meats generally shouldn’t sit in the refrigerator all week. Refrigerate what you’ll eat within the next few days and freeze later-week portions promptly, then thaw them safely when needed.

A little weekend cooking can give you the convenience of prepared food without paying convenience-food prices.

2. Read the Ingredients Before Buying a Specialty Product

Sometimes you’re paying a premium for a product that’s made primarily from something inexpensive.

Get into the habit of reading ingredient labels on products you buy regularly. You may discover that a specialty household product is largely vinegar, rubbing alcohol or another inexpensive ingredient you already keep at home.

That doesn’t mean every product can—or should—be replaced with its primary ingredient. Other ingredients may affect how well or safely a product works, and you should be particularly cautious with anything intended for medical, health or personal-care purposes. Don’t substitute for a medication or health-related product without appropriate professional guidance.

But for some everyday household products, a little label reading can uncover a much cheaper alternative.

3. Turn Extra Grocery Money Into Future Grocery Money

Come in under your grocery budget this month? Instead of letting that extra money disappear into another spending category, consider setting it aside specifically for future food expenses.

One way to do this is to buy a gift card for the grocery store you regularly use. Then save it for a month when the grocery budget is unusually tight, a particularly good stock-up sale comes along, or you need extra food for a holiday meal.

The gift card essentially turns today’s grocery surplus into tomorrow’s grocery cushion.

If you’d rather keep the money more flexible, you could accomplish the same thing by transferring the extra to a dedicated grocery sinking fund. Either way, the goal is to keep money you’ve already budgeted for food available for future food costs.

4. Put a Cheap Early-Warning System Under the Sink

A small plumbing leak can become a very expensive problem if you don’t discover it quickly.

Leak detectors are useful, but if they’re not in the budget right now, an ordinary bucket or shallow plastic container under vulnerable plumbing can provide some protection.

Place one beneath the drain trap and supply connections under a kitchen or bathroom sink. It may catch or make you notice a small drip before it damages the cabinet, flooring or surrounding materials.

It isn’t a substitute for repairing a leak, and it won’t protect you from every plumbing failure. But when the budget is very tight, it’s a nearly free way to add an extra layer of protection until you can afford leak sensors.

5. Keep a “Don’t Buy” List

Most of us keep lists of things we need or want. Try keeping the opposite kind of list, too.

A “Don’t Buy” list contains things you’ve deliberately decided you can do without or have overstocked.

Maybe you’ve realized you don’t need:

• More seasonal decorations
• Another kitchen gadget
• Extra storage containers
• Certain convenience products
• Additional sale-priced shampoo (until you use up most of the 10 bottles stashed under the bathroom sink)

Writing these decisions down ahead of time makes them easier to remember when you’re standing in a store or browsing online.

The list can also change. Something that’s unnecessary today might become necessary later. The point isn’t to forbid yourself from buying things. It’s to make a conscious decision about what doesn’t deserve your money right now.

As a bonus, buying fewer unnecessary things means less clutter to manage later.