I have finally succumbed to meal planning. I hate cooking but hate going to the store even more. Unfortunately, when you don't plan for your dinner, you end up at the grocery store almost daily (and let's not mention the spending without a plan!!).
So, here is my attempt to meal plan.
1. First, I wrote out the days of the week that I wanted to plan for. My list ended up being 9 days. On my list I made note of the days that Hubby was out of town or something was going on like an Open House or Soccer practice etc. I also organized any recipes that I would need. Also, do a quick check of what items you already have on hand (shop your pantry).
2. Second, I made a grocery list on another sheet of paper (or you can use the backside of your days of the week list. I made out my list so it would coincide with the layout of the store. Because faster shopping = a happier me.
3. I spent $141 for 9 days which included a magazine, assorted sodas, cookie mix, muffin mix, Starbucks drinks, drink boxes, lunch meat, 30 count frozen sausage patties (because this is all they had), Pilsbury crescents, 2 McCormick Season Mates & 3 boxes of flavored rice (I got suckered into a buy 2 get one free). What can I say, I am a sucker for impulse buying. I will work on this.
I kept my meal plan simple:
Thursday: Frozen Ravioli w/ veggies**
Friday: Hamburgers, Pool Side Salad & Chips
Saturday: Rice & Sausage
Sunday: Leftovers or something easy like soup & sandwiches**
Monday: Leftovers or something like a salad, cereal, whatever is easy**
Tuesday: Breakfast for dinner + assorted fruit
Wednesday: Frozen Pizza w/ Salad**
Thursday: Crock-Pot Fajitas w/ Chips & Salsa
Friday: Steak, Smashed Potatoes, Salad
**denotes no need to cook because of LIFE (hubby out of town etc.)!
Our goal is to have a plan, eat out less & hopefully waste LESS money.
I'll keep you posted.
XOXO
Additional Resourses for Meal Planning:
$5 dinners
Big Red Kitchen
Kamley Lane
The Clay Family
I Heart Organizing
2 comments:
The hubs and I are going to start the 17 day diet which is nice cuz it gives us a meal plan, but I'm going to have to prep everything before hand and shop a lot more... i feel ur pain!
I use the exact same system except I add a step of going through the sale papers and circling what I need. Then, I build my meals around the meats on sale!
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