Meal Planning

I enjoy cooking and planning. Those two things might go hand-in-hand when it comes to planning dinner meals for the week... I have recently had a few people ask me if I meal plan and how I do it. So I decided to share!

Usually, the night before I plan on grocery shopping I make my list. It is really important that you check to see if you already have some of the ingredients for whatever you plan to make in your pantry. Sometimes it doesn't happen and you wonder why you have 3 jars of spaghetti sauce... I also am an avid Pinterest user and that's where I get most of my recipes for meals. Of course I do use past recipes, too. My planning for dinner for the week is usually 4-5 meals, since one night we might go out to dinner or have leftovers. I also love making meals that don't take too much time, since I don't have a lot of time to commit to meal making in the evenings. So, usually I include a slow cooker meal in my week because that makes dinner even easier that night!

My grocery list consists of the fresh items I need for the meals I plan to make. We do not eat a lot of processed food, so I do grocery shop once a week for fresh fruits/veggies and meats. Also, because we don't buy a lot of processed foods, I don't really see a need to coupon very much since there usually isn't a coupon for the fresh foods my family eats. My list also contains items my family is low on or needs - toiletries and snacks.

Below is a picture of my list this week and a calendar of what I plan to make for the week. Of course the order of the meals are easy to switch up if necessary! I usually commit about 20 minutes to write my list and decide what to cook for the week. Happy Meal Planning!

Grocery List and Calendar of Meals

Enjoy!

Brittney