How I Meal Plan

First thing is first...Ask yourself..what would I like to eat this week...anything in particular sound good? 

The length of time I meal plan for is every two weeks...Each pay check we budget 175-200 for two weeks...needless to say this does take a lot of planning and discipline at the grocery store! I find it much easier if I leave the debit card and checks at home...and just take my envelope called "groceries" to the store with $200 in it that way you have no choice but to stay on budget. Our family typically eats a few cheap meals here and there and a few "expensive" meals here and there...We don't always eat a 5 course dinner...but we also don't always eat frozen pizza:)

Now on to the meal planning.:

Get a piece of paper(or use excel like me) and down the left side write the date range you are planning for:

                              21st

                              22nd

                              23rd....ect..

 Then look at your calendar..on nights that you are busy you are going to want to plan easier meals. For example..Tonight I am going grocery shopping and running errands, so we are having sgettie and crescent rolls..super easy! But Saturday night we have nothing going on...So I'll be trying one of our new pinterest meals:) which will be a little more time consuming. I also like to use anything we have left over from the previous meal plan for the next week...for example if I buy a lot of chicken..I'll try to in cooperate chicken into my meals the next week.or if I have anything that will be going bad within the next week..Ill be sure to add that into my meals as well.

The next thing will be to grab another sheet of paper..and go through one meal at a time..and write down on your new sheet of paper what ingredients you need for each entire meal. Once you have done that for every meal go through your kitchen and mark off everything you already have. 

Then hang your meal plan on the fridge..and take your list to the store(dont forget)! And try to leave the kids at home...its easier to focus that way lol! To avoid buying things that are not on my list...when writing my list I write it in order by where it is in the store. That way if I dont need snacks for example..I wont go down the snack isle. Ill show an example of last weeks list down below..along with the meal plan that goes along with the list

Now you could just plan dinner..or you could be like me and plan every meal.--You'll see in my meal plan what I mean.

Oh and"Brads Choice" means I wont be home to cook..so he can grab whatever he wants while at the store for those nights. This one is only for 8 days though..because our pay schedules switched up a bit this month. And we go shopping once every pay check...this month we had three instead of two. . And usually with every breakfast and lunch we add whatever veggie and fruit we have at the time. I like buying those once a week vs every two weeks other wise they go bad.

One last tip if your trying a new meal...be sure to add the meal to your favorites..or if you use excel copy and paste the link to your document next to that meal...so you can reference it when it is time to make it!

So that is all I have got for meal planning! Please feel free to share tips and tricks and things that work for you and your families meal plan as well!

Talk to you soon!

-Michelle

MY MEAL PLAN:

	Breakfast		Lunch		Dinner
Wed. 6th	Pancakes		Pizza&		Croc pot tacos
Thur.7th	Pb toast		Mac N Cheese&		Rootbeer Pork Sandwiches  with Rallys Fries
	& peaches		Brocalli		Cupcakes with cream  cheese icing candles
Fri 8th	Eggs&		Lunchables&
	Strawberries		Brown sugar carrots		Chicken Alfredo and Brocalli
Sat 9th	Cereal		Ham in tortillas		Left Overs from the party
			with cheese&apples
Sun 10th	Cinamion Rolls		Chicken Nugguets,		(work) Brads Choice
			corn, apples Buff chicken Pizza.
Mon 11th	Pancakes &		cream cheese bagles		Fajitas
	Strawberries		w/ strawberries
Tue 12th	Pb. Toast& Apples		Chicken Breast Sand.		Skillet Lasagna

My List

:

Produce Lettuce(tacos) Strawberries Apples Bananas 2 Garlic cloves Baby Carrots in a bag Onion Green Pepper Deli Lunch Meat Big bag of salad  Bread Hamburger buns 1 Loaf of white 1 Loaf of whole wheat 1 Pack of tortillas Smooth Peanut butter Meat Ham for kids Cheap pack of roast beef 1 2lb pork tenderloin 1 big bag of chicken Canned/Jarred/Boxed/Seasoning Jar of peaches with the twisty lid 1 cup of mushroom 2(14.5oz) Italian diced Tomatoes corn 1.4 cup of tomato sauce 1 bottle of bbq saunce Fajita seasoning Mac  N Cheese Basil Parsley Lasagna Noodles Fettuccini noodles Cupcake Mix Cream Cheese Icing Candles Dairy Eggs Ricotta Cheese Mozz Cheese Heavy cream Milk Cinnamon rolls( I know its not dairy lol) but its close to milk Go gurt 1 pack of cream cheese And 1 “bowl” of cream cheese The cold little mini bagels Sour Cream Frozen Foods Chicken Nuggets (2)Broccoli Florets(the steam bag) Pancakes French Toast Bites Garlic toast 2 tostinos pizzas 2 Jacks pizzas Drinks Smallest pack possible of root beer BRAD Stuff for buffalo chicken Pizza Grab a few snacks(chips ect..anything you want)