Meal Planning
2 Jun
We all probably read at least a few blogs who have shared thier meal planning tips. The two of us here at MBW have slightly different takes on the whole thing. I'll share my process and reasons for meal planning today.
My little family has only recently embraced meal planning on a regular basis. For us its mostly about time, organization and trying to eat out less. It also saves us money in the end which is good because my husband is unemployed at the moment. It is great to know what is for dinner in advanced - the crazy food craver in me hates it but the planner in me loves it.
Grocery shopping helpers in action
Meal Planning Process
I (seriously...not even joking) daydream of having a household notebook ala Simple Mom and FlyLady complete with a meal planning section but we aren't close to there yet. Our process for meal planning typically takes the form of scribbling a week's worth of dinner ideas on scrap paper Tuesday morning, checking to see what we have on hand and dashing to Fred Meyer and our local produce store. We eat a LOT of ground beef and ground turkey and our menus don't vary much from week to week. We are all about quick and easy meals. We do a pretty decent job sticking to the menu and, since watching Food Inc, not going out for fast food.
Karissa's Meal Planning Tips
- Post your menu - it will help you stick to it
- Plan around leftovers so food isn't wasted
- Take a freezer and pantry inventory every once and awhile and make a list of potential dinners
- Plan your side dishes, not just the main dish
- Look at your schedule/calendar as you plan meals so you know which meals need to be quick
Crockpot tex mex chicken
A peek at our menu
Here is what we are having thus week:
Tue - ate out on a whim (Mexican)
Wed - Sloppy joes with zuccini and squash
Thur - crockpot Tex Mex chicken
Fri - spaghetti with garlic bread
Sat - leftovers
Sun - crockpot roast with potatoes and carrots
Meal Planning Goals
Here are the areas of meal planning I would like to get better at:
- Be more conscious of sales, coupons and seasonal food to cut costs
- Eat healthier, complete meals
- Track weekly menus
- Track expenses
- More recipes
- Find source for better meat
Now, Megan's family is a little bit better at this than we are so I am excited to read her version of this post next week. Got tips to share? Let's hear them below in the comments!
One thing I have noticed is that if we try to plan for more than one week, we start to get away from our plan in week 2. So it's been nice to just plan for 1 week and then do it again at the end of the week.