Meal Planning ~

I do not always have time to do a good meal plan for the week. And for awhile we were eating the same things week after week. The kids were getting board with breakfast and lunches. Lately i have been trying ALOT of new recipes {thanks to a certain website ;) } and i needed some way for myself to make sure to write down a good meal plan for the family. I pulled this cute little book with empty lined pages from the craft room......

And decided it was going to be my new "Meal Planning Book". I pick these up from Ross or TJ Maxx when i see them on the clearance isle. I have them for gifts or i use them for personal use cause i'm a note taker. I started my Meal Plan by writing the days of the week with Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner. Then i start filling in the blanks. Sounds easy enough....so why is this hard for me? Maybe i'm lazy...ha!

Now don't look to hard...i have some misspelled words. HA! Kids were running around me and asking me like 5 pazzzillion questions. So i may have misspelled Raisins. And i may have done it 2 or 3 times. That is ok....i know i did it. I can laugh and move on.

Ok....back to my meal plan. So on the front page i wrote down all the meals for the week. On the back of the page i wrote down my real grocery list. Groceries only. If i need anything else from the store i use a sticky note to do so. That way i know what i need per recipe. I do this week after week making sure i write down at least 2 new recipes per week. Then when i'm having an off week and don't have alot of time to meal plan i can just go back and "reuse" a week. And i instantly have my grocery list. I think this is going to be great. And a great way to work new recipes into the rotation. Because what i have realized real fast about trying new recipes is that it can get pretty pricey. This keeps me on budget and helps me keep up healthy eating habits. Win win in my book. ;)

How do you Meal Plan? Do you plan weekly or monthly?