September Meal Plan

Just last month I started meal planning again.  It was time. For too long I've went to the store with an idea of what sounded good in mind, and just started grabbing things.  Inevitably I would forget things, I'd buy too much of one thing and not enough of another.  It felt like I was having my husband run to the store at least two to three times a week.  Things felt chaotic, and there were many nights where we'd end up at a restaurant just because I didn't have the things I needed to make a particular meal.

I've tried meal planning several times in the past but never been very successful at it.  This time, I saw an awesome editable/printable Menu created by Erica over at Confessions of a Homeschooler and thought I'd give it a try again.  And guess what?  It's working perfectly for our family!

I plan three meals a day and two snacks, and typically make one or two "desserts" a week or keep things like ice cream on hand.  As you can see, I cook a lot and rarely do we eat anything out of a box.  I try to vary things as much as possible because I get bored with the same things every day.  This keeps me wanting to cook!  My husband works 5-6 days a week so I keep lunches pared down to things that can either be kept cold in a lunchbox or hot in a thermos so that he doesn't have to worry about trying to get the microwave at work.  Since we've started meal planning again, he hasn't had to (or wanted to for that matter) eat out at all!

Last month we stuck pretty closely to our plan.  The nice thing about it being a word document is I can edit it if something comes up, so I can push meals further out in the month or reorganize if I have more leftovers than I had planned.  You will notice on the current September version I have attached that there are a few snacks on the 2nd that have a (NS i.e. not served) beside them.  I did this because we were out and about and did not eat them.  This allows me to look back and see what I had planned but haven't yet used.  This also helps with seeing what I had planned when I look back to plan menus for the coming months.

I go shopping every two weeks and use the ultimate grocery list found here.  I love this grocery list because I can edit what is on it and how many I need, and it also provides a great overall list of things, so I can go through it after I've entered everything from my meal plan and add other things that I might have forgotten.  One thing I've learned about creating my list is that it helps to be very detailed.  If I need carrots, I go through and find out exactly how many carrots I need.  If I need milk, I do the same thing.  This way, I don't get to the end of the two weeks and try to fix a meal only to find that I don't have on hand what I need.  It also prevents things from spoiling, and also helps our family not to over eat.

So, are you interested in checking out what are plan for the month looks like?  You can click on the picture above or click here.  If you would like to create an editable version for yourself, or check out some other ideas for meal planning, make sure to visit Erica's blog at confessionsofahomeschooler.com and search for Meal Plans.

If you have any questions or good advice about your meal planning, feel free to leave me a comment below.  I'd love to hear how you do it too!