Do you plan your meals?

Author: Ashley

12 May

I had finals last night. Wohoo! I’m done with this semester. I knew it was going to be rough going in, but man, that was a terrible semester. I am so so happy to be done with it. I’m pretty sure I got an A in Accounting but Calculus is a different story. If I got at least a 70% on the final then I got an A, but it was wicked hard and I can’t predict how I did. I’ll be pretty frustrated if I didn’t get at least a 70% though.

I also have a little confession. I went grocery shopping on Sunday for the first time in months. Shh. I’ve been so busy with everything that I haven’t been meal planning or shopping properly, which I know is costing me money. I haven’t been shopping sales, and I’ve been making several small trips to the store a week. It not only makes groceries more expensive… it takes longer! All because I wasn’t taking the half hour a week to actually plan a few dinners.

The excuse that I’m too busy to go grocery shopping isn’t an excuse at all. Because in the end I spent more time trying to throw something together at the last second or making a quick run to the store than if I had just taken the time to plan. It’s terrible and I’m glad to be back on board with proper meals. We had been eating a lot of hamburgers on the grill and pancakes for dinner. We usually have everything we need on hand for those, so they are easy last minute meals.

So on Sunday I sat down and made a list of every dish I cook regularly. Then I planned our dinners for the rest of May. The plans are flexible, but at least I have something written down that I can shop from. We went to Costco yesterday (the new coupon book started!) and spent a small fortune. But now we are stocked up and ready to go again. It feels good… and I’m excited to get back into the kitchen. Tonight we are having Turkey Burgers.

Do you meal plan? What’s your strategy? This is the first time I’ve planned more than one week in advance. Where do you write your plan?

pic by: riot jane

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5 Responses for "Do you plan your meals?"

Miranda May 12th, 2009 at 11:14 am 1
Congrats on getting through finals! We plan our meals once a week (shopping together is one of those family activities we do). We figure out what we want to eat that week, and what fresh ingredients we will need to get. Then we plan out where to go (this is important now that the farmer’s market is starting up again). We also look at our pantry to see what common items we might be running low on. Then we match up our needs with sales.
Craig May 12th, 2009 at 11:35 am 2
I plan my meals every week. I go grocery shopping on Sundays and figure out my plans for the week and how I can cook around them and what fits best. That way I don’t have to worry about it each individual day and it’s one less thing to stress about.
Jennifer May 12th, 2009 at 1:28 pm 3
Congratulations on living through finals! I definitely meal plan. I am addicted to my family organizer book! We have a copy of Amy Knapp’s Family Organizer sitting in our kitchen. It has a large space for each day of the week, a space for each day’s menu, a to-do list area, and a grocery list area. My husband and I have an agreement that everything we each schedule will go into this book, and we consult it before we schedule anything new. If it’s not on the calendar, then you’re not responsible to plan around it.

The same goes for the grocery list. When either of us sees that we’re getting low on something, we write it in the grocery list area of the organizer. If I go to the store and don’t get something that one of us wanted, it’s usually because it wasn’t on the list. The list is also detachable, so you can tear it out and take it with you.

I seriously don’t work for Amy Knapp’s company. I just love, love, love her organizer! You can see it at https://www.familyorganizer.com/product.aspx?id=89.
Angel May 13th, 2009 at 12:45 am 4
Congrats on getting through finals!
I menu plan too. Usually for one week, sometimes 2. We have a weekly mexican food night because we all agree we want to eat it that often, one or two nights we’ll have a meal that includes meat, the rest is a list of 60 or so meals that I cycle through. Breakfast for dinner is always popular. I shop once a week based around the sales/coupons so we always have the basics stocked up. I write the menu on a calendar I keep with my coupons and store circulars. Plannning takes up a good chunk of one day a week, about 3 hours but it’s worth it for me. I love our family dinners together. If I didn’t do any of this, we’d be eating cereal or take-out every night like I did when I was single!
NtJS May 13th, 2009 at 8:00 pm 5
We’ve been meal planning for several years now. It’s pretty rough when you fall off that wagon! Our strategy is pretty simple:
> We shop weekly, so we plan meals weekly
> Always try to plan meals using things we have.
> Write out the needed ingredients, add the weekly necessities, and you’ve pretty much got your shopping list.

It’s like budgeting your meals. It’s such a great feeling to come home from whatever, and have the meal already figured out. Healthier meals and it keeps you out of those food ruts.