Menu planning keeps me out of trouble. It guides my shopping, makes sure I use up what's on hand, and thinks for me when I'm too stressed to think. And saves a bunch of money by keeping us out of restaurants and minimizes grocery store runs. Here's a basic step by step guide to menu planning.
1. Print off a blank calendar for the month you are working on. You can download June 2010 through May 2011 Calendars here and just print the one you need: Download June 10 May 11 Menu Sheets
2. Go peek in your fridge, freezer, and pantry shelves. What do you already have to prepare meals from. Plan the first few meals from only pantry ingredients so if you can't go to the store right away you can still follow your plan.
2. Gather your grocery sales flyers and see what's on sale. Use what you know about regular prices and sale prices to discern a good deal. Just because it's in the ad, doesn't make it a bargain! The best deals are usually on the front and back cover. On notebook paper, write down the name of the store and the item that you are interested in. You can menu plan with these items, or plan to purchase and store them for later use.
3. Write commitments in small letters at the bottom of the day square that will affect your ability to cook. Plan a slow cooker meal or other simple dish for that night.
4. Grab your favorite recipe books and cooking magazines for inspiration. Fill in main dishes on your menu plan as you think of them. Try to vary your recipes. For example don't plan lasagna and spaghetti right next to each other. Make like recipes at least a week apart. Try not to plan a pasta dish for every day of the week. Give yourself a variety.
5. Make sure each meal has a protein, starch, and 2-3 vegetables or fruit. The side dishes can be as simple as a tossed salad, warmed up bag of frozen peas, or a carton of cottage cheese.
6. As you meal plan, if you think of an ingredient necessary to a planned dish that isn't on hand, write it on the back of your menu.
7. When you're finished stick your menu to your fridge and check it every morning and evening so you can remember to take out items to thaw or to put a dish in the slow cooker in the morning.
I would be lost without a meal plan! I also plan out all of the baking I will do each week as well as an assortment of things I will have on hand for breakfasts and lunches.
Good tip. I usually buy meat on sale, then plan around that. Also, I rank my meals based on which ingredients will spoil the fastest, and make those first.
awesome tips! my husband and i do a smaller scaled version of this about once every week or two and write everything down on a white board. it’s fun to swipe it clean after dinner and the white board gives us some flexibility if we don’t feel like having such-n-such for dinner one night we can switch it for another night.
it’s really helped us not only cut down on grocery costs, but also on costs incurred from impromptu dinners out (“oh we forgot to defrost this, guess it’s out to eat tonight!”) and also on the cost of gas from repeated trips to the grocery store for just one or two things every day or two during the week (“oh darn, we forgot the taco shells for taco night; it’s okay, we’ll just go to the store AGAIN”)!
also, we have an ALDI near our house which also happens to be a block or so away from a Publix. it’s worked out great because ALDI’s prices can’t be beat, but they don’t carry everything. so we get what we can at ALDI and then mosey over to Publix without adding any time or distance to the excursion away from home. it’s almost as if we only made one trip!
I don’t really know where else to post this so here goes…two things. First, I love this cookbook already. I made the creamy chicken (not in a crockpot) and it is so yummy. Why didn’t I make the chicken in a crockpot? Well, my dryer stopped working and I got sidetracked with my dinner plans. By that leads me to my second thing. I fixed my dryer by myself by finding a fabulous website (be happy to share it with your readers if you like) that has step-by-step videos. I saved our family hours of time and $100 or more. So why am I telling you this? Because your website and blog have inspired me to give it a shot. What can it hurt? š I wouldn’t have done this before, I would have paid someone else and said I couldn’t do it, but now I want out of debt so much that I am willing to fix my own dryer. I guess I was always willing just didn’t know how to learn. So thanks for the inspiration, the savings, and the fun! And by the way ladies…it really isn’t that hard to fix just about anything on a dryer! If you can sew…you can fix your dryer! š
Shelley in Idaho