Hey all! On Tuesday (Feb 27) I took a picture of my meal plans and posted it on Instagram. Apparently meal planning is more of a thing than I thought, because there were so many comments and likes, and more than that, Questions!
This morning I was approached by my beautiful friend, Katie, about doing a live video on meal planning. I was so excited to help her out with that, and it took us a few tries, but we managed to figure that out. You can probably find it on my Facebook wall if you are interested in hearing what I had to say. The basic break down of the video is (in no specific order)...
You need to be diligent and motivated to actually do a meal plan and stick to it.
Try to keep track of what you have done every month, so that you don't have to start from scratch every month.
Start with your calendar so you know what days are your busy days.
Support your local grocery store, when you can, and find the sales.
If you buy bulk you will need to prep the portions, but it is worth the work
Cookbooks and your MOM will be a great help.
Have the staples (bread, eggs, flour, sugar, pork, chicken, beef) in your house.
Root veggies are an unsung hero!
So, I thought I would post a little bit about my ideas on meal planning and how to go about that. My lovely husband only gets paid once a month* and so I have to plan my meals around that paycheck. I usually try to do ONE big shopping trip a month, and one Costco trip a month. Then I use our local grocery store for the weekly things like produce, bread, eggs, and milk.
First things first! Take an inventory of what you have in your house. Go through the freezer and figure out how much meat you have... frozen veggies.... perogies....??? Then go through your cupboard and figure out what you have for cans. How many cans do you have of each thing? Now... what can you make with those ingredients? Write it down.
I try to take a couple of hours to sit down with my cook books and Pinterest to find the recipes that I would like to try, and the recipes that are tried and true and make a list of EVERYTHING you would need for those recipes. Do you have most of the ingredients?? No??? Start a grocery list of what you need! The first few months are going to be more expensive because you are just learning what you like and what you don't like. You will probably also have to stock up on what the recipes call for (spices and such) but a lot of those ingredients will last you more than one month.
Then, I write down the meals I would like to make... you don't have to have them in a specific order, just write them down... then make a detailed grocery list of everything that you will need for those meals. Now, you will have everything that you need, so if one day you don't feel like making what is on the list, you have a few different options and you know you have everything you will need in the house.
A few tips that I didn't discuss with Katie were making LOTS of what you enjoy. When you make spaghetti sauce double the recipe and put half in a freezer bag and put it in the freezer for another day.
Chicken broth is easy, and great to have around... Get a large stock pot, and put in chicken bones (you can sometimes get chicken pieces from your local butcher that make a glorious stock, for super cheap...) an onion, some garlic, and some carrots...then top it off with water and some salt/pepper. Then let it simmer for at least 12 hours. Let it sit on your stove to cool for a while too... then you can strain it. If you want to skim off some of the extra fat on top, once you drain the bones/veggies out of the stock, put it somewhere cool (fridge, or outside if you live somewhere cold enough), and let it settle, again for a few hours. Then the fat will be on top and more easily scraped off. I know that I have recipes that call for 8 cups of chicken broth, and some that call for 4 cups or 3 cups. I just get freezer bags, and write what is in the bag and how much or for what recipe. Then I measure out the amount I need for each recipe. If you lay the bags down flat (make sure they are properly sealed) they take up less room in the freezer than a big container. You know how much you have and what it is for. Done!
I have so many more small tips and tricks for meal planning, but this is just a good starting point. If you have any questions, or if you have any of your own tips and tricks, please, comment on here, or on the Facebook post. I would love to hear from you! Until next week... maybe I'll try to include you in some of my recipes....
_________________________________
* Our whole relationship has been this way. It is what we are used to.
This morning I was approached by my beautiful friend, Katie, about doing a live video on meal planning. I was so excited to help her out with that, and it took us a few tries, but we managed to figure that out. You can probably find it on my Facebook wall if you are interested in hearing what I had to say. The basic break down of the video is (in no specific order)...
You need to be diligent and motivated to actually do a meal plan and stick to it.
Try to keep track of what you have done every month, so that you don't have to start from scratch every month.
Start with your calendar so you know what days are your busy days.
Support your local grocery store, when you can, and find the sales.
If you buy bulk you will need to prep the portions, but it is worth the work
Cookbooks and your MOM will be a great help.
Have the staples (bread, eggs, flour, sugar, pork, chicken, beef) in your house.
Root veggies are an unsung hero!
So, I thought I would post a little bit about my ideas on meal planning and how to go about that. My lovely husband only gets paid once a month* and so I have to plan my meals around that paycheck. I usually try to do ONE big shopping trip a month, and one Costco trip a month. Then I use our local grocery store for the weekly things like produce, bread, eggs, and milk.
First things first! Take an inventory of what you have in your house. Go through the freezer and figure out how much meat you have... frozen veggies.... perogies....??? Then go through your cupboard and figure out what you have for cans. How many cans do you have of each thing? Now... what can you make with those ingredients? Write it down.
I try to take a couple of hours to sit down with my cook books and Pinterest to find the recipes that I would like to try, and the recipes that are tried and true and make a list of EVERYTHING you would need for those recipes. Do you have most of the ingredients?? No??? Start a grocery list of what you need! The first few months are going to be more expensive because you are just learning what you like and what you don't like. You will probably also have to stock up on what the recipes call for (spices and such) but a lot of those ingredients will last you more than one month.
Then, I write down the meals I would like to make... you don't have to have them in a specific order, just write them down... then make a detailed grocery list of everything that you will need for those meals. Now, you will have everything that you need, so if one day you don't feel like making what is on the list, you have a few different options and you know you have everything you will need in the house.
A few tips that I didn't discuss with Katie were making LOTS of what you enjoy. When you make spaghetti sauce double the recipe and put half in a freezer bag and put it in the freezer for another day.
Chicken broth is easy, and great to have around... Get a large stock pot, and put in chicken bones (you can sometimes get chicken pieces from your local butcher that make a glorious stock, for super cheap...) an onion, some garlic, and some carrots...then top it off with water and some salt/pepper. Then let it simmer for at least 12 hours. Let it sit on your stove to cool for a while too... then you can strain it. If you want to skim off some of the extra fat on top, once you drain the bones/veggies out of the stock, put it somewhere cool (fridge, or outside if you live somewhere cold enough), and let it settle, again for a few hours. Then the fat will be on top and more easily scraped off. I know that I have recipes that call for 8 cups of chicken broth, and some that call for 4 cups or 3 cups. I just get freezer bags, and write what is in the bag and how much or for what recipe. Then I measure out the amount I need for each recipe. If you lay the bags down flat (make sure they are properly sealed) they take up less room in the freezer than a big container. You know how much you have and what it is for. Done!
I have so many more small tips and tricks for meal planning, but this is just a good starting point. If you have any questions, or if you have any of your own tips and tricks, please, comment on here, or on the Facebook post. I would love to hear from you! Until next week... maybe I'll try to include you in some of my recipes....
_________________________________
* Our whole relationship has been this way. It is what we are used to.
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