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D.C. Area Babies
Meal planning tools?
There was a Plum District deal for Meals by the Week that sounds like a good idea - they will pull from grocery store sales and develop a set of meals each week. You can select how much you want to make and then print a grocery shopping list. It seems like a good deal ($8 for 13 weeks) but they don't have many grocery stores in our area that they use to generate the sale info. I'm also thinking there is probably something similar that is free but haven't spent much time looking.
I like the idea of a planning tool that gives recipes because I feel like we get stuck in a rut of what to make, and we're trying to eat healthier now that LO is starting to eat our food.
So, do you use anything to plan meals?
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Re: Meal planning tools?
I've seen free meal planning suggestions, but never ones that pull from weekly sales for free. That really is a nice perk for your budget. Some of the mommy blogs post weekly menus that may be based on sales, but in my experience all of them stockpile so what they post as their weekly menu won't necessarily correspond. If you are just looking for recipes, almost all the recipe websites put together weekly suggested menus. So does yahoo.com on their jump page. I actually really like theirs because they pull from a wide variety of sites.
On weeknights, we really go through the same basic food over the course of the month. I try hard to change it up, but I get into ruts. When you have 30 minutes to get dinner on the table, it takes some advanced planning and creativity to create variety. I'm not always successful, hence fish nuggets from Trader Jo's last night.
It's only 8 dollars, you should try it and report back. I'm really curious.
I just pick out a good number of recipes based on our weekly schedule and what meat we have in the freezer or what meat is on sale or just what we feel like having. My recipes are in about 3 different places - on cards in a recipe box, in a blog I keep just for keeping my recipes available online (in case I want to meal plan at work) and pinterest has my links for meals I want to try.
Then I come up with a grocery list based on that. I have a neat little notepad that has the days of the week and you can write in what meals you have planned and then done the other side it has a place for a grocery list. I bet you could find some template for free on online to do it that way too.
If I am that organized then I can usually get in a peapod order and have the groceries delivered. If not, then I have to schlep it out to the store (more common for me). I also wait until we are making the last meal on my list before I make the next one since sometimes leftovers last longer or we go out to eat when we weren't planning on it.
I have tried using some sites that you put your recipes in and they spit out a list but I just haven't found them to be any easier or faster than doing the above. What I do love lately is pinterest and how it keeps my links to the recipes (blogs, food brand sites etc) that I want to try so it is easy to scroll through and add a few new things to try out.
I found some weekly meal plan printouts on pinterest this morning too. This is an example of what I was talking about:
I signed up - with the 5 plum dollars I had it ended up costing me only $3 so I figured it's worth a shot. I picked Trader Joe's as my store, but I can't tell what the menu chose that was on sale. I haven't been a big TJ's shopper and I can't seem to figure out how to tell what's on sale at TJs to compare the menu to sales flyer. The TJ's flyer seems to be more about new products than sales?
I asked if they could add a mid-atlantic Whole Foods option (since they have midwest and other regions). If I have time I might compare hour our regions' sales compare to other regions and then just subscribe to one of those regions.
They also have "generic grocery" as an option so I might see if they can show me that menu to help me decide which to go with.
TJs doesn't have sales - their flyer just highlights products.
This thread makes me feel both disorganized and like a bad mommy! We never plan menus ahead of time, and DD ends up eating a lot of yogurt, chicken nuggets, fish sticks, english muffin pizzas, and Dr. Praegers stuff (veggie burgers, broccoli pancakes).
I need to get my act together! I like those planning sheets posted, maybe I can try to use some of those to get started.
That sounds like a neat idea, if you confine it to the certain stores you use and not have to run all over town trying to find the best deals. The two main stores we shop at (MOM's and Costco) don't have much in the way of weekly sales, so it probably wouldn't work for me.
For those of you needing dinner inspiration, I've really enjoyed my subscription to Everyday Food magazine. Every issue has a one week menu planner, plus a whole section on sides (which I love! I always end up making the same veggies) and a ton of other quick recipes. It's been my go-to source for weeknight dinners, lately.
yea, the way it is set up you can only pick one store for your menus. If you want more than one store you essentially need a second subscription which will generate a whole new list of menus based on the second store. I'll keep you posted.
If anyone else wants the Plum District deal for this, please use my link so I can get the referral
https://www.plumdistrict.com/three_for_free/30db6596c8/click
I just subscribed to this, in the hopes it will give me a kick in the arse. Are the recipes complicated? I'm not what you would call an "experienced cook" or even really a "cook."
I can generally follow a recipe, though.
I have certain "staples" that I always try to keep on hand for making meals. Like I always have a variety of meats, frozen veggies, starches, etc.
I actually recently made up a master grocery list that is organized by aisle at my local grocery store that lists all of the main things that I like we keep on hand. I put the list on the fridge and as we run out of things, we just grab a highlighter and highlight the item. Before I go to the grocery store, I check my stock of certain things and then highlight whatever I need to get. If I'm making some new recipes or so, I add the items I need onto the list.
It's not exactly what you were asking for but that's what helps me keep organized with my grocery shopping and meal planning. I'll email it to you if you are interested just to see what it's like. I did it this summer while on maternity leave and it has been a huge time saver.