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2nd Trimester
Do you meal plan?
If so, how do you do it? I need to learn. I am starting over with a freshly empty freezer!
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Re: Do you meal plan?
There are TONS of sites you can look at on the web. There's one, if you search for "monday menu plan", a bunch of women put theirs up each week, and you can go see what they all use, plus menus, etc.
I do a monthly meal plan, at the end of a month, for the following month. I generally try to pick a different category each night of the week, with one night left open to go out, or or my husband to pick something. I kind of keep in mind American, Mexican, Asian, Italian, etc...and try to pick something from each for each weeknight, and I try to look at where using one thing one night can turn into something else another night. (Ex: I made enchiladas, and cooked a pound of extra meat to use in chili two nights later.)
I also, after setting out my plan for the month, will go thorugh week by week and create my shopping list for groceries, and I look for areas where I can buy in bulk (Meat, pasta, etc) at Costco or Sams, to save a little more money. And, then the main thing is that when I go shopping, I ONLY buy what's on my list.
I just write down 7 days worth of food, and then go through it and make a list of groceries I need to buy in order to make each meal. It's not very difficult and it is a lot better on the grocery budget. I do this for my daycare kids too and it is nice knowing what I am making them for lunch each day. Also, sometimes when I make something, if I can use it for another meal, I will. For example next week I am making a pot roast, and whatever meat is leftover I am tearing up and adding BBQ sauce to, and we are having BBQ pulled pork sandwiches. A lot of times I will plan my meals around what coupons or whatever is on sale that week to.
I did this last night actually and I didn't start with an empty freezer (I am TRYING to empty it actually) and I think I will get away with only spending $50 at the store this week. Wow that is a lot cheaper than I ever have been able to do!
Yep! I do my grocery shopping every two weeks. I have a basic list that always stays the same (milk, juice, yogurt, bread, fruit, veggies, etc.). Then I decide what kind of meals to make. I normally look in the pantry or freezer and see what I have an abundance of. I try to plan a variety of meals, fast, crockpot, more time involved, etc. Then I look through my grocery flyer (online) to see what the specials are that week. That also helps me decide what meals to make.
So, for 14 days worth of grocery shopping, I might plan like 9 meals. The rest of the nights are for if we stop and pick something up, go out to eat, or just make soup and a sandwich. This also helps w/ not throwing food away. If you buy too much, and go out, that's what will happen. We normally bring leftovers or a sandwich for lunch as well as snacks.
I will usually have to stop at the store after one week to load up on more fruit/veggies - we eat a lot of this!
That's an awesome site PlannedChaos - Thank you!
And thank you for the tips!
DH and I plan weekly. We find it is the only way to ensure that we don't spend all night cooking after long days at work, fight over who has to make dinner, and to ensure that we don't unnecessarily spend a fortune on groceries. We typically spend at most 30 minutes at night prepping meals. It's great ...
Here is what we do: We shop for meats, chicken, and fish whenever they are on sale at the grocery store. We freeze these items in portion sizes for the two of us. We keep the house full of staples (rice, pasta, canned and frozen veggies, etc.). Every week I look through the grocery sale circulars (we have 4 different grocery stores within 1 mile of our house and a wholesale club) and pick out the fresh produce items that are on sale and that sound appealing. (DH and I make lists and we typically will stop off at the store on our way home from work, instead of making a separate trip for 2 - 3 items.)
Sometime during the weekend, after looking at the fresh produce we are planning to get for the week and what, if any, dinner plans we already have set up for the week, we sit down and decide what we want to make with it. We typically have a meat, a fish, a chicken, a vegetarian, and an up for grabs meal each week. (Day of the meal, we take any frozen items out of the freezer and put them in the fridge to thaw while we are work. By the time we get home, they are normally thawed.) It works out really well and is very easy.
For meals that take longer to prepare (like those in a crock pot) we make extra so that we can freeze it and have it for another night later on.
(Of course, our system works best if you have an extra freezer.)
Hope this was helpful. Good luck.