I've found that in order for me to eat well I need to organize well. What that means to me is having my meals planned. Having it organized in a book of sorts to have what I need for grocery shopping and so on and so forth. One thing that has been very helpful to me is my Menu Planning & Grocery Schedule Binder. I got this idea from a YouTuber I love to watch called How Jen Does It. You can check out her binder here. Jen's Binder Click Here. My planner is pretty much set up like hers so if you want details that I don't have here -- please check out here video.
I've always made a meal plan for at least two weeks that work around our pay periods. I go to the grocery store twice a week for my necessities (and my meals for two weeks) and also during the week for produce (you know how quickly that comes and goes). What's nice is that you can see what you have as well in your freezer and refrigerator and make meals based on what you have. Literally it has been a life saver and it saves money as well. You are not constantly in the store standing like a dear in headlights wondering what to feed your family. You don't have to eat the same things over and over (unless you want to) and when it's time for dinner you just pull out your ingredients and make dinner. You feel so accomplished because it's one less thing you have to think of or worry about.
I've always made a meal plan for at least two weeks that work around our pay periods. I go to the grocery store twice a week for my necessities (and my meals for two weeks) and also during the week for produce (you know how quickly that comes and goes). What's nice is that you can see what you have as well in your freezer and refrigerator and make meals based on what you have. Literally it has been a life saver and it saves money as well. You are not constantly in the store standing like a dear in headlights wondering what to feed your family. You don't have to eat the same things over and over (unless you want to) and when it's time for dinner you just pull out your ingredients and make dinner. You feel so accomplished because it's one less thing you have to think of or worry about.
My binder is set up like this. My first couple of pages displays the stores I go to and what I typically purchase there. It's my checklist to see what I'm out of and need to replace. My next sheet list a column of meat dishes, bean dishes, pasta dishes and the last column is my "Whatever" for Saturday meal. I use a lot of YouTubers for my recipes. Of course you can add your own favorite recipes to your binder but for this binder I don't do that. I pretty much use favorites that I've made from other YouTubers. So my first page consist of my Table of Contents. I made this using Microsoft Word and I used tabs labeled 1-31. I have so far 10 YouTubers who I have recipes from. I have tried their recipes and if I enjoy them (family approved) I add it to my binder. So my Table of Content looks like this:
Table of Contents
| 1 |
Stores/Meat, Bean and Pasta Meals Table
|
11
|
|
2
|
LAURA VITALE
|
12
|
|
3
|
ROSIE
|
13
|
|
4
|
HOW JEN DOES IT
|
14
|
|
5
|
DO IT ON A DIME
|
15
|
|
6
|
DANI SPIES
|
16
|
|
7
|
MY SO CALLED HOME
|
17
|
|
8
|
ROCKIN ROBIN
|
18
|
|
9
|
CUT THE FAT
|
19
|
|
10
|
AT HOME WITH NIKKI
|
20
|
Our schedule consist of eating whatever we like on Saturdays -- most of the time I make something from home that is not how we normally eat. Burgers and fries, fried rice and orange chicken, pizza, tacos, etc. Or there are times when we go out to eat and that's added to my list (if I know in advance). So I will put meals on the menu for this two week period. We eat meat two day out of the week, a bean meal two days out the week and a pasta meal two days out of the week.
What’s for Dinner
8 meals for two weeks
Saturday
|
Fri/Sun
|
Mon/Tues.
|
Wed./Thurs.
|
Eat Out Day
To last one day
|
Meat Meal
To last two days
|
Pasta Meal
To last two days
|
Bean Meal
To last two days
|
Saturday
|
Fri/Sun
|
Mon/Tues.
|
Wed./Thurs.
|
Eat Out Day
To last one day
|
Meat Meal
To last two days
|
Pasta Meal
To last two days
|
Bean Meal
To last two days
|
I plan for eight meals in a two week period. I go through my binder and pick out eight meals and make enough to last for that period. Our Saturday meals is meant for just one day. There are times when a two day meal does not spread out for two days (someone ate too much -- then I will always add something to it in order for it to work. There are times when there are leftovers after the two days. I either freeze this or have it for lunch. It pretty much works itself out.
I keep a copy of the recipes with it's ingredients and it's stored in my binder. I then make a grocery list of those eight meals and head off to the store. This has saved me so much time and money that I had to share.
Don't get caught at 3, 4 or 5pm standing in front of the refrigerator asking..."What am I going to make for dinner?" Be prepared and you will find yourself saving time, money and your sanity.Until next time...
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