Meal Planning

As part of being on a tight budget, I find it very helpful to make a meal plan every week.  I always make time on Sunday night (about 30 mins.) to do this and it has saved us TONS of mula in the long run. Why does meal planning save you money?

• Firstly, you can plan meals around what you have at home.  Those strawberries about to go bad in your fridge? Smoothies for breakfast! 
• Secondly, you are more aware of what you have at home and what you actually need to buy.  No more standing at the grocery store wondering if you need more diced tomatoes to whip up some chili when you get home. This saves you another trip back into the grocery store if you get home and find out you indeed do not have enough diced tomatoes.
• Lastly, you can plan your meals around sales! I check my weekly ad at my grocers every week before going out to shop and try to focus my meals around things that are on sale. 

Besides saving money, meal planning just reduces stress in general.  No more wondering what you can whip up quickly on your way home from work.  You know that you have already planned to have meatloaf and the ground beef is currently thawing in the fridge (thanks to your planning, you had pulled it out of the freezer the night before!).  

So here is how I do it....

I have a meal rotation.  This just helps me with the planning.

Sunday: Something Easy/Left-Overs
Monday: Pasta
Tuesday: Soup/Salad/Sandwiches
Wednesday: Meat
Thursday: Seafood
Friday: Crockpot
Saturday: Something New

I made myself some nice little printables to help me with the planning process.  I have a nice layout of my meal rotations....

AND a meal planner sheet that I print out and fill in.  It also has a shopping list that helps me fill in all of the things I need to buy for the week.

First, I "shop" my cupboards.  For example, I know that I have ground beef in the freezer, some onions, and green peppers that should probably be used within the next couple of days.  After checking my pantry to see if I have tortillas, it's a no brainer that Wednesday will be taco night! 

Next, I scope out my weekly ad.  What am I looking for? Meat that is on sale... fresh produce that is in season and on sale... dairy items on sale.  I love summer and all of the wonderful produce that comes with it.  This week, I notice that watermelon, strawberries, and bananas are on sale.  These make great breakfast/snack items for our family (my hubby and I have been known to finish off a whole watermelon in two days!). Yummy!

Sooo I just work one day at a time.  Here's an example of one of my finished menu planners.

Some tips and tricks:

• After I fill in all of my shopping list, I actually plug everything into a grocery shopping list app in my phone.  I use AnyList because it allows me to make more than one list (one for Target, one for Bakers).
• I keep the menu planner up on the fridge and then add staples (bread, butter, milk) to my shopping list whenever I notice we're getting low on something.

These printables are free for you to use! You can download them by clicking on their pictures above or by following the links below:

Menu Rotation

Menu Planner

Do you already do meal planning? What system works for you?