One of my goals for 101 in 1001 was to start meal planning again. I started meal planning when we moved up here and I sort of just stopped after I got my current job. I'm not sure why I stopped, I just did.
I've been back at it for several weeks now. This is probably one of the first things I completed on my list and I'm SO glad I did. So, why do I love meal planning so much?
* It saves us money because:
- I'm forced to use a grocery list...this reduces impulse buys tremendously
- I better utilize food we already have in the house (including leftovers)
- We throw away much less food
- It keeps us from making several trips a week to the grocery store to pick up 1 or 2 items for dinner
* It saves us time because I only make 1 trip to the grocery store a week and I don't have to figure out what's for dinner every day.
How do I go about meal planning?
First, I look through my fridge & pantry to see what I can make with what I already have.
Second, I look at the sales papers for our local grocery stores. I compare their sales with my coupons. We have a Weis near us and they double coupons like Harris Teeter. We do have a Harris Teeter, but it's not close to us so we wouldn't save any money by going there. Anything that I have a coupon for that is also on sale, goes on the grocery list. I take out my cookbooks and find recipes that I can make with these ingredients.
Last, Josh and I will fill in any blanks with whatever would like to eat for the week.
Once I have 7 meals, I figure out which day we'll eat each meal. I plan this based on the amount of time I'll have to prepare dinner, the amount of leftovers I'll have for lunches the following days and if I can utilize leftovers to make another meal later in the week.
Of course, I don't always stick to the list 100%. We may have Wednesday's dinner on Monday or we may decide to go out for an unplanned date.
Now that we're meal planning again, I've been looking for a more attractive way of keeping up with our meals. Right now, I just write it on a dry erase board that we use for random to-do lists and other things of that sort. Several weeks ago, I found this menu. You can buy this exact one, but I want to make my own because there are a few things I would like to change about it. Here is my inspiration. I hope to start gathering supplies for my own soon.
I've been wanting to do meal planning, too, for many of the same reasons. :) Glad you showed that picture because that would be more fun to utilize than a white board - and I'm more likely to do it if it's fun and attractive. I think that can be a September project for me, since I've spent more than enough money in August. GREAT idea, and thanks for the inspiration!
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