Meal planning

I made a post about meal planning a while back, and figured it was time for another. I only started meal planning a few months ago. Before that, I thought meal planning just took more time/effort when making a list and shopping, and thought it was just too much work for me to consider. I am VERY glad I decided to give it a shot, and I'm sure my husband is too.

Before I started meal planning, I just bought random stuff at the store that I think we might need or use, and I usually made a million trips to the store throughout the week because I was missing 1 or 2 ingredients for whatever meal I decided to make that day. Half the time I would forget to even take something out (pretty sure my husband is happy that has come to an end), or I would decide at the last minute what I wanted to make and we wouldn't have the stuff to make it.

Now I make a meal plan for the entire month, then make a list of the things I need for the meals for the first half of the month. 1 I am saving money because I am not buying random stuff that I don't need, I only buy what we need for meals, and the other things we need (like cereal, milk, eggs). 2 shopping gets done faster because I am not aimlessly walking around the store trying to decide what to buy. I have a detailed list of everything I need. (I do buy extra of stuff if I have a coupon for it, that way I have it in the pantry for the next time.) 3, I only make 2 grocery trips a month. I do go for small things throughout the month that go bad, like milk and eggs.

Now I can't imagine NOT meal planning. It saves me time at the grocery store (and I HATE the grocery store, it saves me money, and it saves me trips to the grocery. I am sure my husband is happy that there is a meal on the table almost every night (I do factor in left over nights a few times in each 2 weeks). Before I started meal planning, he was lucky if I even remembered to take something out for dinner and it was chicken nuggets or a can of soup for dinner (or if he was really unlucky, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich). Now I can't even remember the last time anyone had chicken nuggets for dinner in this house. 

I also have started making a "special" breakfast on weekends that my husband has off. So basically twice a month I make a big "special" breakfast. We call them special breakfasts because it's not cereal, oatmeal, or the things they eat for breakfast on a day to day basis. These range from cinnamon rolls to waffles to egg scrambles or french toast. The kids love these not only because it's a change from what we normally have, but because Daddy is home for breakfast too and it's like a family event. You will notice there are only 25 meals on there for a 30 day month. That is because my shopping days (the 1st and the 15th) are always left over days, and then we have 3 other leftover days throughout the month, to make sure the leftovers are getting eaten and not just left in the fridge to rot. I also have started doubling a few of the recipes (husband's choice on which ones), so that we have enough leftovers for him to have lunches to bring to work with him as well.  While it might cost us slightly more at the grocery store buying double ingredients, it saves us money in the long run because he isn't eating out. Those doubled meals will feed the 4 us for 1 night, and him for at least 3-4 days, plus leftovers for leftover nights. I chose to double 4 meals from the 1-15th, he chose which since they will be his lunches for those 2 weeks.