Plan that Meal!!!

Simple Meal Planning for the busy mom

I am NOT an expert about meal planning, and to be honest I struggle with it still to this day!

It's one of my least favorite things to do, not only do i have to plan out meals, but i also have to write a grocery list, go to the grocery store, get tempted by all the yummy dessert they have there, tell myself NOT to buy them, go home sad, dessert-less, and forced to make a meal when i just want to go to a fast food restaurant and order food there! 

I've tried ever since I was living on my own to meal plan for a whole month, but I cannot for the life of me, get myself organized enough to do that. SOooo.... I meal plan for a week and it works out easier for me. I can actually grasp my mind around what all I need to buy and make that week!

One thing I learned while on my journey of meal planning, is

ONE: each home has a different way of meal planning, some can do a month, some a week, some more. The fact that you do it however, is what's important! 

TWO: Meal planning is more fun when you make it cute!!!

Which brings me to my MOST requested blog post yet... how I meal plan! 

First i find the cutest little notebook at the store that has dividers in it (you could also make your own, but ain't nobody got time for that)! I found this cute thing at Walmart for $3-

I mean seriously these whales are too cute!!

Ok anyways, the inside looks like this; it has three nice plastic dividers which gives me sections for,

1. Week meal planning

2. grocery lists

3. Pinterest recipes to try 

I LOVE to make my lists cute so that I'm more inclined to use them, because i like cute things.

Here are my pages:

Under my week meal plan i write down the main meals we will eat. Since lunches are usually the same during the week (sandwiches and chips) i just write lunch meat, bread, and chips on the grocery list automatically! Saturday and Sunday are the only days i actually meal plan for lunch AND supper.  Under the days meal, i write down what ingredients i need to buy for them. and then add those ingredients to my grocery list after I'm all done, I get distracted if i go back and forth otherwise.

So for this weeks meals I'm going to make some AMAZING chicken recipes, tacos, and pizza! 

I try new recipes and then if we don't like them i will never use them again, but i make sure to write that we didn't like them on the recipe itself (we don't want to repeat any nasty's).

If we know we will be going out to eat i make sure to save some grocery money for that purpose, because any extra costs will make other budgets tighter. 

The next thing i do is go through my cupboards and fridge and see what daily items we need, such as milk, cheese, butter, bread, creamer, etc.... Those are the items i usually either buy in bulk, a bigger size, or once a week if it goes bad quickly. I can usually refer back to this grocery list and see the basics that i buy and write them down again. That's why its nice to have a physical notebook so you don't have to worry about it getting "deleted" somehow. 

The last thing i do is go through my food board on pinterest and write down what recipes i want to try, because i am a regular "pin it and forget it" person. I do it this way so i can see how delicious these guys sound, and it makes me remember them and actually use them! 

When i go to the grocery store, i keep my marker in the binding of my notebook and mark off the items i get. I stick to my list because I WILL buy things i don't need otherwise.  I WILL also forget what things i DO need and then we WILL end up going out to eat and we WILL spend more money that way. 

So all i all, its super simple, not very time consuming, and it's mom conscious! 

If you want me to share some of my favorite recipes, let me know in the comments and i will totally make a blog post about them!! 

Thank you for reading, and i can't wait to chat next time!

-Hannah