Shelf cooking is a concept I learned early in our debt journey. The idea is simple--take inventory of what you have in your pantry, fridge and freezer. Write it all down if you'd like and try and create meals from what you already have on hand. If you come up short on several items needed, write those items down and that creates your grocery list.
I like to do this when we've been overly spendy or know that we have a week coming up where we need extra items or will need to spend more. We just roll over the cash not put toward groceries for the week and have it available in an envelope later on.
I'm shelf cooking/ meal planning today and thought I would share what that looks like and exactly what I do to help cut food cost.
I am a visual person so I like to clean up the kitchen and lay all available items out. This really helps to pin down what is an option and what I might need to put together a meal.
One thing to keep in mind is that each meal doesn't have to make sense! You can pair a vegetable with burgers or pizza if needed and that's totally fine. This took me awhile to accept, but it really uses up what you have instead of waiting around and the food possibly going bad or being pushed to the back of the pantry. 
Our lunch today was wraps and Mac & cheese. I stuffed the wraps with veggies that were otherwise going to go bad and used the tortillas that had a use by date that was fast approaching.
We also have a few boxes of Mac and cheese and hamburger helper that need used so I added one to make a more filling lunch.
Shelf cooking was something I did during a year in our marriage when our budget was incredibly low. I would mix leftover pork chops with some soy sauce, rice and veggies and scrambled eggs for a pork fried rice meal. I learned to bake from scratch when we wanted a treat but didn't have a budget to eat out. Keeping flour, sugar, vanilla and baking soda/powder really comes in handy when you need to take a treat to a gathering or want something for yourself and otherwise can't afford it in your budget.
Here is my master list of meals I can make easily with what we already have and also a list to purchase what is needed to complete the meals.
When trying to save money in any category I think it's important to utilize what you have and also to really see it all laid out. I'm this way with clothing, toys for my daughter as well as groceries and food. It's so easy to make myself believe we don't have enough of something if I'm not utilizing or seeing what we already have.
The last 6 months of this year we're really buckling down on our debt goals and I've been telling myself lately 'If I don't have it already, I don't need it.' This includes excessive grocery shopping or just grabbing items that 'look good'. Because we could use that extra cash, whether it be $2 or $20 on a future purchase when we actually do run out of needed items.
I hope this post helps if you're trying to cut down on food cost!
With heart from our home,
Jordan
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