meal planning

I'm a bit guilty of being considered dangerous in a grocery store. I shop with my eyes and if not kept in check I can end up buying anything that looks appealing. My stomach tends to guide me from aisle to aisle if I am left to my own devices without a focus. Realizing the risk in this, unless we want a second mortgage just to cover our food bill, I decided to not only have a detailed shopping list, but a weekly plan of our meals. Otherwise I'd come home with a dinner plan of an appetizer of chocolate covered vintage cheese, reese's peanut butter cup soup for the main course and Pamela's chocolate brownies for desert. Not that I like chocolate or anything.

Seriously though I do need to eat before going shopping or else I buy so many things that just look scrummy. This weekend I sat down and grabbed a few recipe books to plan my menus. My goal was to use three cookbooks only. If I am faced with too many choices my 20 minutes of planning menus for the week can become three hours. Especially if I am hungry and every recipe sounds too tempting.


My small Betty Crocker collection on the far left.

Except for two of these book that were purchased new, the rest are from thrift stores or yard sales.

My fav classic three cookbooks (ignoring the chevy's book).

The reason I rely so heavily on meal planning is that it save us money. If I go to the store without a list, I buy food that I shouldn't be buying. If I get to 5pm and I haven't had a thought toward dinner then we tend to eat something not so wholesome or worse we order a meal to go. And I have such a weakness for chicken korma at the local curry house. 

When I began to plan our meals I wanted to keep them as simple as possible. I adore simplicity. I didn't want to open up a cookbook and have endless possibilities. The more choices that I have, the harder it is for me to choose. I came up with a sort of weekly cheat sheet. I picked one type of dish for each day of the week.

Monday - Rice

Tuesday - Pasta (gluten-free pasta)

Wednesday - Beef

Thursday - Soup

Friday - Seafood

Saturday - International

Sunday - Roast

When I open up my cookbook and I need a meal for Monday, I have a smaller number of recipes to choose from. I'm only just starting up meal planning after a summer break so I'm not quite sticking to this idea yet. As I get used to meal planning again, I will gradually pick a similar theme for our menus.

At the moment much of our free time is spent painting the inside of the house. This means dinners are usually staple, well loved meals that are easy to prepare and quick to clean up.  With some recipes I'll write down the page number and the name of the cookbook. Thursday's meal is a new recipe so I added the page number and it came from the recipe book The Vegetarian 5-Ingredient Gourmet. Monday and Tuesday meals are staples and I can find them easily so I added only the name of the cookbook.

 

Breakfast and lunch meals are just for me. Cerys eats oatmeal every morning with maple syrup and Keiran eats cereal or boiled eggs. Dave eats something at some awful hour in the morning so I tend not to see him or worry about him. When I am really organized I also plan the children's evening snacks. Here's an example from last spring:

Monday - nuts & raisins
Tuesday - carrots & dip
Wednesday - apple slices w/ peanut butter
Thursday - crackers & cheese
Friday -popcorn
Sat - frozen berries

I had found that the more meals I had planned for the children the less they argued with me. If they made a complaint, I would just say sorry it's on the menu planner. I somehow got away with that explanation and they would eat their snack/meal in peace and I would smile knowingly when they weren't looking.

As we look at our money with a careful eye there are small steps anyone can take to save money in the kitchen. These are my five favorites:

-Start buying in bulk (especially when food is on sale)

-Create a Pantry - this can be anywhere from under a bed, in the garage, in a closet or even a couple shelves above a door

-Start planning your meals week by week. Try to buy what you need for the week unless items are on sale and you can stock up.

-If at all possibly, grocery shop one day a week. If you need to stock up half way through on dairy & fruit, try to run in and get those items only and if you are like me avoid both the chocolate & sorbet aisles.

-Start a price book so that you can keep track of the cheapest prices for your items you normally buy. With food prices changing often it is important to keep the price book current. Take it with you grocery shopping and make changes as you shop.

I love to buy food, I love to cook and I love saving money. These three can be combined and still provide a very pleasant, apron wearing, kitchen experience without too much stress on your wallet.

***todays the last day to join the Aqua & Red swap

Comments

[Cassandra]

Yes yes yes! It's a much nicer way to shop. My mom shops nearly daily (my dad manages the grocery store, so he's there and handy to pick items up.) I just don't like the time and effort it takes, not to mention the money, to shop like that. We actually plan our meals our about 10 days. This normally carries us 2 weeks with easy things thrown in here and there. Like you, I highly recommend this method of meal planning and shopping. It definitely saves money and anxiety!

[Julie]

Don't you just love cookbooks? I could sit and read them like novels! Your collection looks like so much fun. Thanks for sharing more money-saving advice. We need it now!

[melissa s.]

meal planning has saved my sanity! i love your little planning pages, so cute!

[Apryl]

my parents collect cookbooks they have hundreds of them, every time we visit them I like to pull a cookbook off the shelf and leaf through it reading recipes and I'm quite addicted to the smell of vintage books.

I don't really meal plan but I was taught to cook big, so if its a week we are going to have "Sauce" (tomato sauce) then the first day it will be tomato basil soup with bread, then it will be pasta sauce later in the week, then the last will be used to make hommade pizzas with. mm pizza..

speaking of food its time to go start dinner for H.

p.s. love your planning pages.. they are very cute.. I'm not nearly so organized.

[Betts]

I used to shop everday and hated it. After I became a SAHM, I got organized and started shopping weekly. Most of my recipes come from epicurious.com and Fine Cooking. I try to make at least one dish each week, then we evaluate to determine if it's a keeper, a tweeker or a tosser. I love cooking and eating, but the shopping, I am not so wild about.

[Tammie]

i've been loving your posts even more than usual lately. they've been helpful and honest.

[amy duff]

Selena-Not sure if you have had a chance but sent you several emails in regard to the Fall Swap and have not heard from you. I sent your package priority mail with DC on Monday so should receive by end of week at latest. Hope all is well! Amy

[Monica]

Great post.
Yesterday, I did all of my grocery shopping in one day whereas I usually spread it into 2 or 3 days a week. I can honestly say that I like knowing I won't need to run to the store again this week (I say that now and will end up needing something LOL) and my days are open to do other things.
We've been falling into that trap of not having an idea of what is for dinner, thus going out or having something that isn't very healthy. Or I do a marathon baking session on the weekends and end up with miscellaneous dishes that don't really go with anything else. When I am more organized with cooking, I tend to see what I have on hand and use Google or Allrecipes.com to find a recipe for that day. I've found I'm in a rut with some of the cookbooks I've owned for almost 15 years and have started perusing some new ones, hoping that will inspire some meal planning.

[sandy]

I think I love to buy food too! LOL.

I def. try to eat before I go, and my big thing now is to not buy anything pre-made and to buy bulk. When I cook I cook DOUBLE so I have leftover for the next night, or at least meat to make something with.

Really saves time and money. We waste NO food in this house. Seriously, I think we eat every leftover! ha ha

Great post Selena! As alwasy ... HUGS!

[Amanda]

We are big meal planners in our family as well. My typical week is a chicken dish, 3 vegetarian dishes, 1 soup dinner (soup, salad, bread and a hunk of cheese), and one night to eat out. I took a tip from my mother and make one big dish on the weekend that can be used as a leftover in the middle of the week. This weeks plan is Sunday: lasagna w/ salad; Monday: Veggie lentil stew w/ salad, bread, and cheese; Tuesday: leftover lasagna; Wednesday: baked chicken, sweet potatoes and broccoli; Thursday: White beans w/ chard (and for soup next week); Friday: Make your own pizzas; Saturday: Out to dinner.

[Dawn]

..."a dinner plan of an appetizer of chocolate covered vintage cheese, reese's peanut butter cup soup for the main course and Pamela's chocolate brownies for desert."
What's wrong with that meal!? ;) I love this advice you have here and I think I will try what you suggested with the basic staples for each day of the week...it takes me forever to do my menu planning (although I've fallen out of the habit lately of doing it at all).

[Angel Funk]

That Fannie Farmer cookbook is the best! I have plenty of minimalist, written-by-a-former-Buddhist-monk cookbooks but that one I go back to over and over again for the basics. My copy is missing its cover and is stained, but I still love it!

[amanda]

i love the notebook!!!

[Its_Lily]

I'm really liking having a basic idea of the dish for each day of the week. Brilliant! I also like the idea of blaming the kids snack choices on the menu planner. I need to share that idea with my daughter-in-law. Thank you.

[Pamela]

Love your blog, very helpful post...I am going to try this meal planning thing...where did you happen to get your meal planner?

[Pamela]

Love your blog, very helpful post...I am going to try this meal planning thing...where did you happen to get your meal planner?

[zelia]

uau! thats such good help Selena!
Really great!
must try!
i am so disorganized!
a shame to my mom! the worst housewife ever!

[Dannielle]

You've totally got me wondering what "bubble and squeak veggies" are. Do tell...

[Andrea]

I think I've found a friendly place to visit...I'll be back! I'm trying to be more frugal too, learning how to budget for real, etc., but I love, love, love yummy food as well. Oh it is all so tempting! :)

[heather]

I got my planner, Selena, and I love it!! I have already filled in my menu pages, my shopping list and a whole page of friend info. Thanks! It's as good as I was hoping it would be.

[Missy Severson]

I have the same problem with chocolate and impulse buying! I have been using meal plans for a couple of years now with great success!
missy

[Missa]

These are all things I need to get better about as well. Especially now that I have a child who is starting to eat food. It's hard though when your chocolate meal plan sounds perfectly delightful to me ;)

[Christine]

Interesting to see what you eat, and you eat hot meals twice a day! We only eat hot at night. Our lunch is always bread (grilled cheese very often, but it's bread still) and once in a while I make waffles. Hot food is always for evening diner. Funny cultural differences.
I quit making meal planners since early this year, because I felt bored knowing on Monday what diner was going to be on Friday. It does work better though and definitely saves money.

Christine

[Judy]

If I don't meal plan I sink. I like your planner. I use my day planner book for my menu.

[Chris]

I would love to know how you all stay on track with your meal plans. Every single time I plan out a menu and buy a bunch of food "for the week" something throws us off. Either someone gets sick, my husband eats late lunch with his work and isn't hungry or the kids have an activity schedule change. So often my husband won't eat or grab a bowl of cereal, I'll skip a meal and I'll tell the kids to throw on some noodles - so much for good meals! I am always envious of those of you who can stick to a stable (and frugal!) plan. Your postings have been really thoughtful and excellent lately - love it.