Meal Planning

In an attempt to reduce our monthly grocery budget, which is currently a ridiculous amount, I've decided to try meal planning.

We usually have an idea of what we will make for dinner each week and go to the store with those meals in mind. Our family tends to eat the same items each week, so we never really make a shopping list.  Each week we get our necessities, but we always end up running out and having to go back to the store later in the week for something.  You'd think we would have realized sooner that we should plan better, right?

Well, we didn't.

I've done this once before several months ago and really liked it, but just never followed through.  So here I go again.  My husband will be out of town for work this entire week, so I really wanted to be sure that we would have everything we need and not have to run out to buy food.

I started by looking online for one that I could use, but none of them really suited my needs.  Instead I made this chart.  I've divided the top into the days of the week and broken it down by meal.  On the bottom, I added a section to write down the groceries and other items needed to be purchased.  The categories and ordered in the manner that we get out groceries.  We always enter and go left, directly to the produce section.  Then we make our way around the store by heading to the back where the meats are located, and then then to the back right corner of the store where the dairy is located.  We finish up by getting any other non food items and then head to the front of the store to check out. 

While planning, I also tried to reuse as many items that are purchased so that we use up everything.  My husband and I are really good at wasting food, something of which I am not proud. I know that we end up not only wasting food, but our money as well.  Right now I am starting with dinner items since I have more control over what we eat than other meals of the day.

Fry's had ground turkey on sale for $5.99 for 1.25 pounds.  I am using half for the egg rolls I made yesterday and that will be our dinner for two nights. The other half will be made into Sloppy Joes and will serve as dinner for another two nights. This week Sprout's had chicken on sale for $1.99/lb.  The tray I purchased was $6.17 and contained 5 LARGE chicken breasts.  I will only need to use one for the Thai noodles and chicken quesadillas later in the week.

Here is our dinner menu:
Saturday - Egg Rolls
Sunday - leftovers
Monday - Sloppy Joes
Tuesday - leftovers
Wednesday - Pad Thai
Thursday - left overs
Friday (Dad comes home!) - Chicken Quesadillas

I'm looking forward to see how this works out!

You can download your blank copy here.