I'm curious if anyone out there has tried (or currently uses) a monthly meal planning system. I think I want to try something new starting in March for planning out our meals. My hope is that this will take the headache out of grocery shopping and trying to figure out what is for dinner. I've been pretty good (well, fairly good) at making a list of meals each week, but I think I want to branch out and plan for a month at a time. Is this too much of a hassle? Anyone have any suggestions? Anyone tried this? I really watch the grocery ads and try as much as I can to plan around what is on sale that week (mostly with meat). Do I do one major grocery trip at the beginning of the month and then buy necessities and perishables each week? How do you do it?
Last weekend when I went grocery shopping, I came home (under budget) with plenty of groceries, but then realized that I bought dinner preparation items and didn't really have "snacky" or "quick" type of foods - everything needed to be made in advance. (This is no good for a husband left to his own devices for dinner when I have to run out at night. Just ask Adam who ate Rocklin's mac-n-cheese last week because there wasn't anything quick and easy that he could make). What kind of quick and easy type of foods and/or snacky foods do you buy? Any favorites?
Any suggestions/ideas/comments would be appreciated. If I am able to make this work for me, I'll be sure to do a post of what I find works. Thanks in advance!!
4 comments:
I got a big packet about doing something like this. I don't have it with me though-it's in AZ, but it was about cooking for a day and then freezing the meals so that you could have them all month long. You just pulled out the meals and heated them up. I don't know if they have some recipes on the internet for something like this. If you are sucessful let me know your plan.
hey girl- I have actually done this. And when you are organized and consistent, it works great! I basically took my week plan, and instead made a 2 week plan, then doubled it. We typically eat the same foods anyway. I would have quick things on hand, mostly frozen stuff- chicken nuggets, or meals I made and froze (sometimes by serving) for those days when I didn't want to cook or eat what I had planned. I swear- I need a deep freeze! My regular sized freezer is usually completely full!
The key is organization- something you are good at. Once a month I'd sit down with a calendar and a list of meals I typically make. (I'm not too creative) Then I'd fill in the dates, obviously taking account of dates I knew we wouldn't be here, or nights I'd want to eat out or whatever. From that "menu" I'd start writing down what ingredients I needed for each meal. 2 cans of this, 1 can of that, etc. Once I had that, I'd compile it all together and then search my cupboards and cross off anything I already had. The rest of the stuff was my grocery list. It was a lot of work, but no more than a few hours (when Amy was asleep and a good movie was on, it was nothing!) It really paid off too b/c our grocery bill was much lower!
As for snacks- I've tried to get away from a lot of snacky, packagy foods. They are expensive and also my hubby is a health nut, Amy doesn't really eat it and I don't need it. I kinda changed her over to eating cereals as snacks. Some are still sugary, but at least they are fortified. And in those big walmart non-generic bags, they are cheaper. I still have the gigantic box of goldfish- but I usually forget about it. I also make a big batch of cookie dough (for example), and then freeze 12 or so balls per bag. Then I can just pull them out and bake whenever. You just have to get creative and remember that anything you can make and freeze is going to be cheaper and healthier than what you buy.
Of course, I still would go to the store every week or 2 for produce, that won't last a month- and there are always last minute things- but I'd be careful to stick to a list.
Growing up my mom would buy a gigantic package of ground beef on sale. Then she'd brown all of it with some onion and then freeze it in individual packages. I think she had a cup in each freezer bag. Then when she needed it, she'd pull it from the freezer, defrost and voila! I've done this a few times too. (We aren't big meat eaters though, chicken is pretty much all I know how to fix.) I also always buy frozen vegetables. The big bags of mixed from Walmart or Kroger is normal freezer stock around here. And I fix them pretty much every night, warming them in boiled water and adding spices. It works for me. But I'm not a fussy, fancy chef.
Anyhow-those are my tips- I should've just emailed all this to you. I'll be excited to see how you make it work. That reminded me that its time for me to get back on track, I haven't really been good at it since the holidays. Good Luck!
This website is really cool: http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/ It deals mostly with food storage. They have a spread sheet to plan your 3 month food storage by listing meals, ingrediants, etc. You could try just using it for one month instead of three. The formulas are already there for you in the spreadsheet and they even have a video tutorial of how to use it. I have downloaded it, but haven't used it yet :) Good luck!
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