Save Money Planning Monthly Meals

Well goodness. I had meant to post about my monthly meal planning, but I forgot. As Jenae mentioned, I did post about it on my family blog, but I meant to do it here too. Here's the rundown. I take one day and plan for the entire month. I assign each day of the week a theme. (See Jenae's monthly plan) That makes it easier to plan. Instead of thinking "hmmm 30 dinners to think of..." I think "What are 4 Mexican meals we like? What are 4 casseroles we like? What are 4 soups I'll make?" It makes it much more do-able, and it only takes me about 20 minutes to plan for the month. The first couple months, I saved about $20-40 dollars. I was happy. Last month, I cut $100 off our grocery bill! Hello monthly meal planning, you are now my best friend. Nice to meet 'cha. When you have your meals in front of you for the month, it's much easier to buy the items you need in bulk, or on sale, and you don't waste as much. I also started to strategically plan my menus. For instance, I knew I was making an enchilada casserole where I'd need refried beans. So, I thought of other meals that needed refried beans so I could buy those in bulk and make it stretch. I do one large shopping trip in the beginning of the month and go to the grocery store mid-month to restock our milk and produce. (I have to admit though, that part of that $100 saving is because we've done more vegetarian meals. If you can use beans instead of meat, it saves a ton.)

I recently taught an enrichment on preparing your 3 month food storage supply, and in it I introduced monthly meal planning. I've had several people tell me how it's helped them save money and they really enjoy it. It's taken the stress out of planning/cooking meals and made it fun again. Isn't that how it should be anyway? The idea sounds overwhelming, but it's so easy. I love it. And if it saves me $100 a month -- shoot -- I'm doing it!

So, for a week, you need 7 different themes for your meals. Here are just a few that I've used:

Sandwiches
Salads
Soup
Casserole
Chicken
Crockpot (usually on Sunday because we have 1pm church)
Leftovers (usually my Saturday night)
Fish
Stir-fry
Mexican
Italian
Fish
Chinese
Vegetarian

Trying the Monthly Meal Planning Out

Thanks for posting Ann!
I too am back with a post of meals, this time a whole month's worth.

Jenny had a post on her blog about doing a different style of monthly meal planning so I am trying that out in April and so far I love it! I just copied this from the Excel file I kept it in which made it easy to paste here. If anyone else is trying this, let us know how you like it too.


Mondays: Breakfast for Dinner Night
Breakfast Bagel Sandwiches
Waffles w/ Fruit
Eggs & Hashbrowns
Breakfast Burritos


Tuesdays: Mexican Night
Beef Tamale Skillet
Soft Tacos
Enchiladas
Veggie Bean Burritos


Wednesdays: Soup/Salad/Sandwich Night
Enchilada Soup (FS Deals recipe)
Au Jus Sandwiches
Taco Salad
Grilled Cheese/Tomato Soup
Out to Eat


Thursdays: Chicken/Pork Night
Baked Chicken, Rice Pilaf, Veggie
Chicken Fajitas w/ Lime Cilantro Rice
Yummy Pork Chops, Rice
Stupid Chicken w/ Pasta
Chicken Rice Goulash


Fridays: Italian Night
Spaghetti, Salad, Garlic Bread
Calzone
Sonoma Pasta
Pizza (frozen or homemade)


Saturdays: Beef Night
Shepherd's Pie (w/ Grands or Bisquick on top)
Hamburgers & Oven Fries
Lil Cheddar Meatloaves
Beef Stroganoff

Sundays: Crockpot Night
Shredded Teriyaki Pork (FS Deals recipe)
Cassoulet w/ Bread
Tin Foil Dinner in Crockpot
Elegant Chicken, Green Salad

This blog is not dead. Here's the meal plan to prove it.

Friday: Leftover Easter ham and green salad
Saturday: Yukon gold and green onion Frittata
Sunday: Falafel burgers with yogurt dressing and fresh bread
Monday: Tacos
Tuesday: Roasted Red Pepper Pasta and asparagus
Wednesday: No cook day.
Thursday: green enchiladas

I also recently posted on my usually-non-food-related blog about why I love plain yogurt. Check it out.

There. What are the rest of you eating?

Jenae please add this link to the side bar

My friend Kimberley Eggleston from my old ward is a contributing author for about.com - she keeps a page and blog on low-calorie cooking. The link is http://lowcaloriecooking.about.com/b/ She is a nutritionist by profession and a really neat person. So I'd like to shout out to her by letting you all know about her site.

Meals While Waiting For Our Baby

While we wait for this baby to come, we might as well eat!

I must repent for being such a slacker and not posting menus the last few weeks! Here goes:

Friday: EQ activity--don't have to cook
Saturday: Pepperjack Pasta, Salad and Crazy Bread
Sunday:Slow-simmering BBQ Sandwiches & Potato Salad
Monday: Chicken & Cheese Enchilada Soup (myfoodstoragedeals.com)
Tuesday: Egg sandwiches & Fruit Salad
Wednesday: Beef & Mushrooms over rice w/ Steamed veggie
Thursday: Vegetarian Crockpot Lasagna & Salad

Turner meals for week of Feb. 2nd

Monday: leftover chicken noodle soup and bread
Tuesday: I'm out - Brent can cook mac and cheese for him and Jacob
Wednesday: Chicken fettuccine Alfredo and Caesar salad
Thursday: unstuffed cabbage over rice
Friday: out
Saturday: waffles
Sunday: Asian Peanut Butter Pork crockPot recipe with rice

Healthy Kids

If you have kids, I think it's worth checking out Super Healthy Kids. I've been trying to not only get myself healthier, but my kids too. I want to establish healthy habits now for them. Anyway, worth checking it out. There are some good ideas and recipes.