Meal Planning

I was asked to explain how I meal plan and budget, so I'm starting with meal planning. It's not too complicated and I'm sure can be done many other ways. This is just my own process.

First, I look at what I have left in my house to use for meals. Say I have a roast and various frozen veggies. And some hot dogs because I pretty much always have those on hand. I write everything down on my list.

Then I look at the grocery store ad. I write down everything on sale that sounds good and could be used to make a meal. Chicken, potatoes, lasagna, spaghetti sauce, etc.

After that, I look at the number of days I'm hoping to meal plan for. Sometimes it's one week, sometimes two. I start filling in dinners for each of the days from my list of what I already have and what's on sale. If I have small group or a family dinner planned already or know I'm going out, I skip that day. I also add in a leftovers night or a "fend for yourself" night occasionally too. I pay attention to whether it must be a quick dinner due to other events, or if I will have time to peel potatoes and make a big dinner.

If I need another item to complete a meal (an item that is not on sale), I add it to the list. Maybe rice, salad stuff, some seasonings, etc.

Then I go back through the ad and write down anything we might need for lunches/breakfasts, or just staples to stock up on while they are on sale. I also write down things I will buy whether they are on sale or not. Milk, cereal, bread, soup, cheese, carrots, bananas, oatmeal...

After all of that is done, I make sure we aren't eating only pasta or only chicken all week long, and move things around if needed. Then I pull up the coupon websites and look for coupons for the things on my list (or I log into Mperks for Meijer and check there).

And that's it!