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What if I told you you could make a menu for the whole month and shop only once a week and save money?
Would you tell me all the reasons you can’t do this. Does this intrigue you and willing to read the whole blog? Are you thinking no way I can’t plan that far ahead? Stick with me on this one and rather than nay nay the idea open up to it. I can make your life so easy.
Meal Planning made easy starts here.
First, I want you to know that the number one thing I hear is “I would eat so much healthier if I would just plan ahead”, “I could probably save money if I ate at home more often”, “I might lose more weight if I planned and ate at home”. These are just a few of the things I hear everyday. So if we know all of these things why don’t we plan more?
Here’s what I hear on that front:
*I don’t know what I will be in the mood for
*It takes too much time to plan
* That is not how my family works we are on the go all the time
*I can’t come up with 30 days of meals.
These are just a few of the many excuses. But all I can say is you can’t have it both ways and if I make it easier for you maybe you can try my way and see if it works for you.
Here are a few of the key things you need to know. It will take you between 1 and 2 hours to do all of this (for the whole month) with a 15 minute shopping trip week 2 through 4 when you get good at it. As opposed to 30 to 45 minutes every night trying to figure out what you are having only to go out after all of the indecision anyway.
When planning your month DO not I repeat DO not put anything on there you all don’t love! Make sure your menu is all things you love to eat. This will make it easier to get in the mood for what’s on the menu.
Meal Planning does not have to be that hard. Here’s what you start with:
*Think of the foods your family loves to eat, make a list
*Figure out what you need it to be: easy, fast, nutritious, hearty????
*Get ideas for cookbooks, menus at your favorite restaurants (I love to find something super high calorie and make it good for us and still amazing!), Pinterest, websites like skinnytaste.com.
1st things 1st get a calendar page (some people are crazy intimidated by this) If you can’t do a calendar a notepad will work BUT the calendar is the simplest. You are not required to eat what’s on the specific day but I can promise you I find that we get in the mood for whatever is on that day.
So grab the calendar, here’s were the fin begins we have theme days like Monday’s are Mexican food night, Tuesday’s are soup or salad day, Friday is always breakfast for dinner. This makes it even easier. Examples of Mexican night are tostadas, burritos, enchiladas, you get it.
List making
Now that you have your themes and menu for the whole month. You are so ready for this. Now it is LIST making time:
You will be making 4 lists (OMG NOOOOO). Yes it will be fine. Week one list you will be getting all your meat, cheese, dry goods, and frozen needed for the whole month and the produce and dairy for week 1. Buy your meat in bulk and split up into the meals you need. The other 3 lists are for your dairy and produce for week 2, 3 and 4. I shop on Fridays, early in the morning. My lists are ready to go and I just “TRY” to stay on the list.
So what have we learned? Did you stick with me? I promise it is as easy as it sounds and you will get to where you tweet this to make it work for you and your family. It will save you hours and hours and dollars and dollars!
Soon I will tackle the pre-prepping in detail to make this even easier. But on a small scale. Wash and chop up your veggies. Brown and freeze meats the way you will need them. If you are having a crockpot night you can usually put all those ingredients together and freeze in bags and then take out the night before to dump in the crockpot in the morning.
Trust me and give it a try,
Live a Life you Love ❤
Paris
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