Meal Planning 101

This post has been a long time coming! I have been meaning to post my meal plans twice a month when I make them. By the time I find the recipes, make the lists, go shopping and put everything away I completely space it. I then remember I was going to post it two weeks later when I make the next list and the whole cycle starts again...AAAAHHHH! Not this time! I made this meal plan about a week ago and as I was deciding what on the list I was going to cook last night I remembered I was going to post the meal plan. So I put this at the top of my to do list for the day! Yes, it is 3pm and the day is mostly gone..but it's still on the top of my list. You can see now why I don't accomplish much these days. That's why my to do lists and meal plans are so important to me. 

I thought while I was sharing this week's plans I would also include some tips if you are new at meal planning or feel you could use a little help in that area. By no means am I an expert in this field. These are just things I have learned over the last 2 years planning meals.

*Decide how often you want to do meal planning and coordinate that with how often you want to go grocery shopping. At first I was planning meals on a weekly basis and going to the store at least once a week. That worked great until little Statham was born and then taking a 14mo and a newborn shopping weekly turned into more work than fun. That's when I switched to doing 2 plans a month. Not only does it cut down on my number of trips to the store it also helps me save quite a bit of money too. I went from spending $50-$60/week on groceries to now spending $60-$70/major trip, which I do twice a month. Now of course I can't buy everything for the 2 weeks in that trip. Fruits and veggies get eaten or get bad or bread gets moldy. So when I am making my grocery list I actually make 2 different lists. One for my major trip and one for a secondary trip I make in between.

*Have the current ad for the stores you shop at the most handy while meal planning. I do our major trips at Smith's every time and I always have their ad next to me when I'm planning meals. Why you may ask? Because I can plan my meals around what is currently on sale. For example if chicken is $1.79/lb I will plan more meals that have chicken as the main ingredient vs. ground beef or steak that is $3.99/lb +. I can also see what other side items are on sale and stock up on items if they are a good price.

* Going along with the previous tip is knowing what is a good price. This is something that comes with time. You won't know you're first time going into a store whether the sale price is really a good price it takes going back time and time again to know whether a price is good or not. There are also websites that can help with this too and give you links with coupons and alerts when different products are on sale. A few of my favorites:

Totally Target
The Krazy Coupon Lady
Cuckoo for Coupon Deals
Raining Hot Coupons

*Keeping with planning tips... Plan out your week, or two weeks. If you know that you are going to a family dinner or have plans to eat out figure that in to the meal plan so you don't buy food you're not going to eat.

*Talk to your family and see what kind of foods they like. When I first started I was making recipes that sounded interesting to me and was always wondering why sometimes we had so much leftovers from a meal I LOVED... If your family isn't going to eat it, no use in wasting your time and money making it right?! Make notes of meals everyone, or even a particular family member, likes and keeps those in the rotation on a regular basis. Same thing goes for snack foods. If your kids don't like munching on carrots and prefer bananas... Don't buy carrots, buy bananas!

*Plan meals with similar ingredients to help cut down on costs. One of my first successful meals was Garlic and Brown Sugar Chicken with rice and brown sugar carrots. The chicken and carrots had almost the exact same ingredients so it made it less expensive to buy; but more importantly they tasted good together. If you are cooking a spicy main dish don't make your side dish sweet... it just doesn't flow well.

*Go meatless at least once a week. Not only does this save money but it also gives you a chance to try new things you may have not tried before. I started doing this about 6 months ago and I love it. We usually have 3-4 meals per plan that are meatless now. And it doesn't have to be anything too extravagant... it could be as simple as Spaghetti with tomato sauce and garlic bread.

*Try to plan at least one grain, and one vegetable per dinner meal. Sometimes I'll swap the grain out for potato if we are having fries or baked potatoes. But it's always good to have at least 2 sides so there is some variety and just in case you have picky eaters and they don't like one thing.

*Plan 3 meals a day and 2 snacks a day. This sounds like a lot of work! But it really isn't. For us we usually have the same thing for breakfast during the week (eggs and toast) and get a little fancier on the weekends (French toast, pancakes). Lunches are similar... there are 3 or 4 options and we rotate those (Turkey wraps, grilled cheese, PB&J, leftovers). You guessed it.... same thing with snacks. I plan 3-4 different snacks and that's what we have to munch on through out the day. The only meal that has diversity in our home is dinner. It does take extra time to plan 3 meals, 2 snacks/day but, for me at least, it makes for a much happier family and is one less thing I have to worry about. I know there is always going to be something to munch on anytime someone is hungry.

*Learn what your family likes/eats lots of and stock up when it's on sale or buy it at the warehouse clubs. We make 2 trips to Costco a month and buy the same things every time (We buy the certain things on the 1st trip and certain things on the 2nd trip). The only thing we buy more than once a month there are eggs. Our usual monthly Costco trips consist of:
Eggs (2x)
Shredded Cheese
Apple Juice
Fruit Snacks
Butter
Corndogs
Diapers
GoGurt

Sometimes there will be sugar or flour if we run out but I always like to keep the above list on hand (especially diapers ;) )

Wow that turned into more of a meal plan/budgeting tips section. Let me know if you would like me to do a post on how I stick to a $300/month grocery budget post and I can put together more tips. 

Now on to the last few weeks meal plan!

Breakfast:
Eggs and Toast (x10)
Strawberry French Toast Cannolis
Pancakes
French Toast (x2)

Lunch:
Turkey Wraps
PB&J
Quesadillas
Grilled Cheese 
Leftovers

Snacks:
Fruit Snacks
Corn Dogs
Homemade Pretzels
Churros
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Fruit (Strawberries, peaches and grapes because they were on sale)
GoGurt
Slushes

Dinners:

Mayo Chicken with Rice and Green Beans
BBQ Sloppy Joes with Mac n' Cheese and Green Beans
Ranch Burgers with Fries and Corn on the Cob
Teriyaki Chicken Sandwiches with Fries and Grilled Zucchini
Cheeseburger Casserole with Zucchini
Baked Sweet & Sour Chicken with Rice and Green Beans
Baked Three Cheese Pasta with Zucchini
BBQ Chicken Pizza
Porcupine Nachos
Grilled Cheeseburger Wraps with Fries and Green Beans
Spaghetti with Garlic Bread and Zucchini
Eggplant Parmesan with Angel Hair Pasta

We have 2 family dinners planned so I only made 12 dinners for this plan. As I build my recipes on here I will leave links to recipes as well.

This is just the first of many more meal plan posts... I hope you enjoy it :) And happy planning!

Tastefully Frugal: Meal Planning 101

Friday, June 27, 2014

Meal Planning 101

This post has been a long time coming! I have been meaning to post my meal plans twice a month when I make them. By the time I find the recipes, make the lists, go shopping and put everything away I completely space it. I then remember I was going to post it two weeks later when I make the next list and the whole cycle starts again...AAAAHHHH! Not this time! I made this meal plan about a week ago and as I was deciding what on the list I was going to cook last night I remembered I was going to post the meal plan. So I put this at the top of my to do list for the day! Yes, it is 3pm and the day is mostly gone..but it's still on the top of my list. You can see now why I don't accomplish much these days. That's why my to do lists and meal plans are so important to me. 

I thought while I was sharing this week's plans I would also include some tips if you are new at meal planning or feel you could use a little help in that area. By no means am I an expert in this field. These are just things I have learned over the last 2 years planning meals.

*Decide how often you want to do meal planning and coordinate that with how often you want to go grocery shopping. At first I was planning meals on a weekly basis and going to the store at least once a week. That worked great until little Statham was born and then taking a 14mo and a newborn shopping weekly turned into more work than fun. That's when I switched to doing 2 plans a month. Not only does it cut down on my number of trips to the store it also helps me save quite a bit of money too. I went from spending $50-$60/week on groceries to now spending $60-$70/major trip, which I do twice a month. Now of course I can't buy everything for the 2 weeks in that trip. Fruits and veggies get eaten or get bad or bread gets moldy. So when I am making my grocery list I actually make 2 different lists. One for my major trip and one for a secondary trip I make in between.

*Have the current ad for the stores you shop at the most handy while meal planning. I do our major trips at Smith's every time and I always have their ad next to me when I'm planning meals. Why you may ask? Because I can plan my meals around what is currently on sale. For example if chicken is $1.79/lb I will plan more meals that have chicken as the main ingredient vs. ground beef or steak that is $3.99/lb +. I can also see what other side items are on sale and stock up on items if they are a good price.

* Going along with the previous tip is knowing what is a good price. This is something that comes with time. You won't know you're first time going into a store whether the sale price is really a good price it takes going back time and time again to know whether a price is good or not. There are also websites that can help with this too and give you links with coupons and alerts when different products are on sale. A few of my favorites:

Totally Target
The Krazy Coupon Lady
Cuckoo for Coupon Deals
Raining Hot Coupons

*Keeping with planning tips... Plan out your week, or two weeks. If you know that you are going to a family dinner or have plans to eat out figure that in to the meal plan so you don't buy food you're not going to eat.

*Talk to your family and see what kind of foods they like. When I first started I was making recipes that sounded interesting to me and was always wondering why sometimes we had so much leftovers from a meal I LOVED... If your family isn't going to eat it, no use in wasting your time and money making it right?! Make notes of meals everyone, or even a particular family member, likes and keeps those in the rotation on a regular basis. Same thing goes for snack foods. If your kids don't like munching on carrots and prefer bananas... Don't buy carrots, buy bananas!

*Plan meals with similar ingredients to help cut down on costs. One of my first successful meals was Garlic and Brown Sugar Chicken with rice and brown sugar carrots. The chicken and carrots had almost the exact same ingredients so it made it less expensive to buy; but more importantly they tasted good together. If you are cooking a spicy main dish don't make your side dish sweet... it just doesn't flow well.

*Go meatless at least once a week. Not only does this save money but it also gives you a chance to try new things you may have not tried before. I started doing this about 6 months ago and I love it. We usually have 3-4 meals per plan that are meatless now. And it doesn't have to be anything too extravagant... it could be as simple as Spaghetti with tomato sauce and garlic bread.

*Try to plan at least one grain, and one vegetable per dinner meal. Sometimes I'll swap the grain out for potato if we are having fries or baked potatoes. But it's always good to have at least 2 sides so there is some variety and just in case you have picky eaters and they don't like one thing.

*Plan 3 meals a day and 2 snacks a day. This sounds like a lot of work! But it really isn't. For us we usually have the same thing for breakfast during the week (eggs and toast) and get a little fancier on the weekends (French toast, pancakes). Lunches are similar... there are 3 or 4 options and we rotate those (Turkey wraps, grilled cheese, PB&J, leftovers). You guessed it.... same thing with snacks. I plan 3-4 different snacks and that's what we have to munch on through out the day. The only meal that has diversity in our home is dinner. It does take extra time to plan 3 meals, 2 snacks/day but, for me at least, it makes for a much happier family and is one less thing I have to worry about. I know there is always going to be something to munch on anytime someone is hungry.

*Learn what your family likes/eats lots of and stock up when it's on sale or buy it at the warehouse clubs. We make 2 trips to Costco a month and buy the same things every time (We buy the certain things on the 1st trip and certain things on the 2nd trip). The only thing we buy more than once a month there are eggs. Our usual monthly Costco trips consist of:
Eggs (2x)
Shredded Cheese
Apple Juice
Fruit Snacks
Butter
Corndogs
Diapers
GoGurt

Sometimes there will be sugar or flour if we run out but I always like to keep the above list on hand (especially diapers ;) )

Wow that turned into more of a meal plan/budgeting tips section. Let me know if you would like me to do a post on how I stick to a $300/month grocery budget post and I can put together more tips. 

Now on to the last few weeks meal plan!

Breakfast:
Eggs and Toast (x10)
Strawberry French Toast Cannolis
Pancakes
French Toast (x2)

Lunch:
Turkey Wraps
PB&J
Quesadillas
Grilled Cheese 
Leftovers

Snacks:
Fruit Snacks
Corn Dogs
Homemade Pretzels
Churros
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Fruit (Strawberries, peaches and grapes because they were on sale)
GoGurt
Slushes

Dinners:

Mayo Chicken with Rice and Green Beans
BBQ Sloppy Joes with Mac n' Cheese and Green Beans
Ranch Burgers with Fries and Corn on the Cob
Teriyaki Chicken Sandwiches with Fries and Grilled Zucchini
Cheeseburger Casserole with Zucchini
Baked Sweet & Sour Chicken with Rice and Green Beans
Baked Three Cheese Pasta with Zucchini
BBQ Chicken Pizza
Porcupine Nachos
Grilled Cheeseburger Wraps with Fries and Green Beans
Spaghetti with Garlic Bread and Zucchini
Eggplant Parmesan with Angel Hair Pasta

We have 2 family dinners planned so I only made 12 dinners for this plan. As I build my recipes on here I will leave links to recipes as well.

This is just the first of many more meal plan posts... I hope you enjoy it :) And happy planning!

22 Comments:

At June 28, 2014 at 2:22 PM , Blogger Tiffany said...

Meal planning definitely makes things easier. I'm not a pro at it, though

 
At June 28, 2014 at 4:07 PM , Blogger Giveaway Lady said...

Excellent plans!! We do our meal planning for a week at a time and it makes things go much easier.

 
At June 28, 2014 at 4:57 PM , Blogger Melissa said...

I always stick to my meal planning every week. If not, I would go way over my grocery budget & that just sucks!

 
At June 28, 2014 at 9:14 PM , Blogger Unknown said...

I love meal planning. I do it weekly, and I try to buy a bit over so I can have some type of food storage going on.

 
At June 28, 2014 at 9:54 PM , Blogger Lee said...

I love meal planning. It just makes my life so much easier. I'm not great about buying snacks though. We always seem to fly through them.

 
At June 28, 2014 at 10:00 PM , Blogger Unknown said...

It sure does! I'm no pro either but I think it gets easier with time.

 
At June 28, 2014 at 10:01 PM , Blogger Unknown said...

Thank you Charity! It does make things a lot easier... One less thing I have to stress about.

 
At June 28, 2014 at 10:02 PM , Blogger Unknown said...

I hear you there Melissa! It feels good to be able to have a plan and stick to it. Being a stay at home mom I feel like this is a big way I can contribute financially.

 
At June 28, 2014 at 10:02 PM , Blogger Unknown said...

That's a good idea Elayna!

 
At June 28, 2014 at 10:04 PM , Blogger Unknown said...

I hear ya there on flying through snacks Lee. I've started portioning snacks into smaller baggies when I put groceries away and it had seemed to make the snacks last a bit longer.

 
At June 28, 2014 at 10:17 PM , Blogger Unknown said...

I really need to work at meal planning. I have tried a few times, and I am too disorganized and end up not using up my food before it goes bad.

 
At June 28, 2014 at 11:13 PM , Blogger Divorce Diabetes said...

Ah, you have it together! I have been struggling in this area. I'm not being the best homemaker these days. I feel like I'm juggling too much with college, three kids, blogging and being an attentive wife. The one thing I've always hated is deciding on what to cook for meals. I'd rather people tell me what they want. My new strategy is to keep slow-cooked meats in the freezer in meal sized portions. It makes preparing dinner less drudgery... and more like addition. =) Blessings to you~

 
At June 29, 2014 at 7:42 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

OMGosh! Thank you for the coupon links. I have always wanted to "coupon" but never knew where to start!

 
At June 29, 2014 at 3:10 PM , Blogger Elysa said...

I follow the Krazy Koupon lady, but I wasn't familiar with Totally Target!

 
At June 29, 2014 at 9:32 PM , Blogger Unknown said...

Alisha I used to be the same way! It's best to take it a few days at time. Try doing 5 nights a week with just a main dish and then add more as you feel like you can handle it :)

 
At June 29, 2014 at 9:41 PM , Blogger Unknown said...

Thank you Meredith! It is so hard to juggle everything isn't it?! I'm so blessed that my boys nap together for about 3 hours in the afternoon so I'm able to get most things done then and start dinner. I don't know what I would do if I threw in going to school too! You are one amazing woman if you ask me! Freezer meals are great! My SIL is coming to stay for 3 weeks next month and I'm making freezer meals for her while she's here. Do you have any favorites you recommend?

 
At June 29, 2014 at 9:43 PM , Blogger Unknown said...

You are so welcome Lindsay! I'm not big into couponing... I don't have 40 bottles of shampoo or anything lol but it is good to stock up on the things you use a lot of

 
At June 29, 2014 at 9:44 PM , Blogger Unknown said...

Elysa, Krazy Koupon Lady was the first coupon site I started following and I love it! You should definitely check out Totally Target if you shop at Target a lot... They post several not advertised specials. I've saved a ton through this site!

 
At June 30, 2014 at 2:21 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

I love your look and feel of your posts! Thanks for sharing your ideas and links. I am so bad about starting something and somehow falling off along the way!

 
At June 30, 2014 at 6:42 PM , Blogger Unknown said...

These are great tips. I tried to start meal planning and I kind of fell off, but I am going to do it more often because it does save money!

 
At June 30, 2014 at 10:48 PM , Blogger Unknown said...

Thank you Liz! It took me months to actually stick to my meal planning and over two years to get to where I am today. Meal planning is like one of the only things I do stick to lol

 
At June 30, 2014 at 10:49 PM , Blogger Unknown said...

Thank you Risa! It really does save a ton of money and a lot of headache too!

 

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