Meal Planning has never been an easy task for me - for someone who hates planning so much and loves food so much it always seemed so drab being stuck to a schedule, but I have to say, it's not all terrible.
First things first you will need some tools to get started - almost all of them can be made at home or purchased for cheaper than what I have but who doesn't love an excuse to shop? Am I right?
I use this magnet board, which I scored in the dollar spot at target for $3 (that place is so dangerous for my wallet and my marriage)... They have a few other color and design options or you could make your own very easily if you're crafty like that. I've already stocked up on them to give as gifts. This is where I track what we are eating for the week - it also helps answer the question of "what's for dinner?" while keeping me accountable/reminding me to take the food out of the freezer in the garage. If you are planning on doing freeze ahead meals regularly I recommend having a lot of freezer space... we have a deep freezer in the garage and it is perfect for meal storage - leaving our inside freezer open for more important things, like ice cream.
At the beginning of the month I sat down to make a list of some of our favorite meals that are fairly cheap and easy to make. We eat a lot of Chicken because it is cheap and fairly good for you. I subscribe to an email list from New Leaf Wellness and I find that her freeze ahead crock pot recipes are some of the best I have seen/used/tasted/tested. They are simple, easy to follow and she provides you with a grocery list of everything you need - taking at least one of the steps out of the whole planning process. She also has some pretty nifty downloadable labels that are PERFECT for organizing your meals. Half of our meals this month came from here.
Once I have my list down I grab my calendar page (also from NLW) and I start filling it out. I usually have my planner right next to me as well so I can plan meals according to what we have going on that month. If we are going to be out of town, etc. I usually have Wed and Thur as leftover nights so that we can eat what is cooked before being away for the weekend. I hate to have things go bad just because we left town.
After filling in all the dinners I sometimes add in lunch - for instance if I know what I'm going to make on Monday will give leftovers for the week's lunches I write that in. That also helps me know if I should stick the sandwich bread in the fridge or wait to buy lunch meat. I keep breakfast pretty open because I like to have choices.
At the beginning of every week - on Sunday evenings, I fill out our fridge calendar and my weekly menu snap-in for my planner.
Hopefully this helps those of you who have no idea where to begin or gives some fresh ideas to those veteran meal planners. I personally am still learning what works for us but I am enjoying the system we have in place for now. I was pretty skeptical of planning meals out - thinking I wouldn't like always knowing what is to eat and the inevitable predictability of it all, but I am eating crow one week in, because I AM LOVING IT. I think the key to that is picking food you know you will like, but also trying a few new things as well. I'll also be sharing the recipes this month* as I cook them, but until then see below for links to my planning supplies...
Planner - Erin Condren
I have the notebook with a monthly calendar at the front, I uncoiled the planner and added a few pages behind each month from the notebook section
Meal Planner Snap In - Erin Condren
To get a $10 off your purchase from Erin Condren use this link:
*some of the recipes were purchased from New Leaf Wellness so I will share the ones I am able, and the ones that I cannot I will link to her cookbooks.
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