Meal planning

Good morning Lovelies!

One way I save money is to meal plan! As of the first of the year I am attempting a whole month of meal planning, instead of just weekly. Meal planning can be extremely simple! All I do it sit down with a few supplies and usually while little man is taking a nap. 

Meal Planning Supplies:

- planner

- sticky tabs

- pens

- iPad/ Pinterest

Since I using my planner to meal plan, I know what we have had for dinner in the past few weeks, so we won't be repeating meals. I also have a general plan for each day. 

Monday - Meat (main portion of dinner is meat. I.e., baked chicken, with broccoli and pasta)

Tuesday - crockpot/quick fix (something simple, not a lot of hands on time come dinner time)

Wednesday - new recipe! (I don't do this every week! But I try to at least once a month)

Thursday - crockpot/quick fix (can you tell I love easy recipes!?)

Friday - Italian food

Saturday - Mexican food

Sunday - soup/grill (soup in colder months/ grill in warmer months)

Having a general idea of what kind of meals I want to make each night makes meal planning so simple! 

Usually when I'm making a plan I fill in each day first (such as all Mondays first, then Tuesdays and so on and so forth), but you can do it however you please, there is no wrong way! Then I use sticky tabs (found at Walmart for $1) and use then to fill in each day. That way nothing is permanent, and I can move meals around if needed. But I still have a plan and I'm not trying to figure out dinner come 5 o'clock!

I also plan around what I have in the pantry. If I still have a few pork chops in the freezer and more rice than pasta in the pantry, we will make sure to use those up in the following month.  I try to keep a good food supply in my pantry and freezer, just in case something were to happen and we were unable to buy groceries.

When it comes down to it, meal planning saves me time and money!

There you have it folks! Have a fabulous day!

-Katey