If you’re looking for creative ways to save your household time and money, menu planning might be just the ticket. When you don’t plan your family’s meals, you leave too much up to chance and increase your likelihood of dining out, spending extra on last-minute impulse buys, and wasting time standing in after-work check-out lines. In as little as one or two hours a week, you can save money on food costs and help create structure for your family. In the long run, menu planning will save time, too, and you might even notice that your family is eating healthier and spending more quality time together at the dinner table.

Take inventory

Before you sit down to start meal planning, take inventory of what you already have. Many families have plenty of packaged goods taking up residence in their pantries, cupboards, freezers, and refrigerators. Before you stock up on more groceries, take stock of what you already have, and try to incorporate items nearing expiration into this week’s menu. This step eliminates waste and will save time at the store.

Create a calendar

Whether you choose to plan your meals one week out, two weeks ahead, or even for an entire month at a time, meal planning is sure to save time and money. Set aside a few hours and try to get the whole family involved Meal planning only works if you stick to the plan, so it’s best if everyone is on board. Create a calendar of healthy, inexpensive meals for every day of the week, designating what you’ll need to purchase for each. In this way, your calendar can double as your grocery-shopping list, which will save time at the store.

You might create theme nights (ex: Wednesdays are Italian Night and Fridays are devoted to fish), let each of your children plan the meal for one night a week, or designate one night a week for dining out. If you have kids, note that many restaurants offer "kids eat free" specials on Tuesdays. Menu planning should make enough room in the budget for a few meals out, but you can save more money by limiting dining out to a minimum. When your calendar is complete, hang it up in a central location in your kitchen, so that the whole family knows what’s for dinner.

Focus on fast meals

If you want to save time, you might focus on relatively quick and easy meals or those that your kids or spouse can help prepare. This doesn’t necessarily mean prepackaged junk; plenty of healthy meals can be mixed up in advance or thrown in a crock-pot to cook while you’re busy with other tasks.

Shop savvy

When you sit down to do your menu planning, have your grocer’s current ad and your coupon stash handy. You can save money if you put these resources to work for you when you create your menu plan.

Challenge your family to create as many fun and healthy meals out of this week’s sale items as they can, aiming to use some of the same ingredients in inventive ways to make sure that nothing goes to waste.

When you’re ready to do your shopping, save time by heading to the store during slow hours, which is generally later at night if you can swing it. Steer clear of the after-work rush, when less organized folks are bound to be racing down the aisles and holding up checkout lines as they grab last-minute meals.

You can save time and money on your shopping with a little creative menu planning. These tips should help you create a menu-planning system that works for your household, no matter its size, budget, or cooking arrangement. Just remember, getting the whole family on board is the key to making menu planning work, so get everyone involved from day one for best results.