Day 5: How to meal plan

Meal planning is probably one of the most cost effective ways to reduce a grocery bill. If you don't plan you either wander the grocery aisles deciding what's for dinner there, buy ingredients you already have, or you forget items and have to return to the store later. There are many ways to plan and organize your meals and I am going to share mine. Before I get to the planning I will share quickly what our meals were for the day... again... a boring meal day. Same old lunches, however, dinner was ground chicken spaghetti with salad. The only ingredients that were bought ingredients were the ground chicken and the spaghetti sauce I bought on my trip to the store the other day.

Now to my meal planning... My husband and I have been married for 5 years now and I have been meal planning since we got married. Here goes...

Step 1: Survey the Pantry
Check out what you already have to get ideas on meals and to start your list.

Step 2: Look at store ads
Proteins can be some of the most expensive parts of a meal so I always look at the ads to see what proteins are on sale. Look for other items like cheese that are common ingredients. After I figure up proteins I start to plan my meals.

Step 3: Decide on Meals
One of my favorite things to do is recycle/domino meals. I recycled a meal in the previous post when I used the leftover taco meat from the night before, added peppers and onions and turned it into "garbage nachos" the next night. You can find another way to do this below in the example meal plan.

When I decide on my meals I list EVERY ingredient I need for each underneath the meal title. You will see why I do this in a little while...

Step 4: Survey the Pantry again
This time take your list and a highlighter with you. If there is an item that you do not have in your pantry, highlight it on the list. When you are done you now have your shopping list!!! :)

I know it seems like there is a lot of steps to meal planning but really it doesn't take much time at all. I assure you, you will see a big difference in monthly expense as well as less stress throughout the week when you meal plan. With that being said, do your best not to stray from your plan. If you want to switch your meal order around that's fine but make sure to make the meals you have bought ingredients for. 

Example Meal Plan: (This is one from a while back but I reuse them from time to time)

Monday-
Breakfast: Cereal and milk
Lunch: Bread, lunch meat, carrot sticks, chips, and banana
Dinner: Crock Pot chicken- Whole chicken, spices,
potatoes,carrots, and onion. Sides- veggies from the crockpot, crescent
rolls,and green beans.

Tuesday-
Breakfast: Cereal and milk
Lunch: Left over Crockpot Chicken
Dinner: Spicy Chicken soup- left over chicken pulled from bones from crock
pot meal, onion, garlic, jar of salsa, 2 cans of diced tomatoes, 1 can whole
tomatoes, 1 can tomato soup, chili powder, 1 can of corn, 2 cans of chili
beans, 8oz sour cream.

Wednesday-
Breakfast: Cereal and Milk
Lunch: bread, lunch meat, carrot sticks, chips, and banana
Dinner: Left over soup for a quick meal before church

Thursday-
Breakfast: Oatmeal
Lunch: Bread, peanut butter, jelly, yogurt, orange
Dinner: Spaghetti- ground turkey or ground beef, sauce, noodles Sides: Salad (lettuce, carrots, cucumbers, Italian dressing) ,garlic toast 

Friday-
Breakfast: Cereal and milk
Lunch: Left over spaghetti
Dinner: Italian Chicken- 2 chicken breasts cut in half, pepper, salt, Italian
dressing, bag of frozen veggies, basil Sides- veggies already in the meal and rice

So there you have it... If I have left anything out or if you have any questions just comment below! :) Have a great night!