HOW TO: Meal Plan

People always ask me how I plan meals for a whole week?!?  The two biggest questions I get are what if I decide I do not want Lasagna on Monday or Fish on Wednesday and so on and so forth.... and How do you plan on what to get for everything in just one trip?  My experience comes from being a poor college student having to pay ALL my bills entirely on my own, making a meal plan was the only way I could survive.  It was not fun at first but I got into the habit of planning to save money!  Now its about actually enjoying all the little details of cooking, the food itself and saving money!  I have answers below for both questions!!!

The Menu

Question 1

I plan 6 meals a week but decide the day of what to make for dinner.  I do 6 meals because this means we can go out to dinner one night if we choose AND we can have a smorgasbord of left overs one night if we decide against going out for dinner and or leftovers for lunch.  I promise you--we do not waste ANY food around here!!  We pick the meals the day of for what we want for dinner and freeze anything if it will not be consumed right away.  Also--you do not have to stick to your menu exactly, for example... This week I am making the turkey burgers that I never go to last week (they are safe in the freezer).

Question 2

I have this down to a science!  Below is the planning and preparation step by step to describe how meals are planned.  It may sound like a lot, but all in all--this saves me so much time. 

• Prior to actually writing out the meals, I go through the fridge and pantry and get rid of anything that is old and take note of what I need to use before it gets old.  I try to incorporate some things that need to be used up in the coming menu.  
• I write out the list of what I want to make (keeping in mind the things that need to be used before they spoil).  If I need inspiration, I look at old menu's, cookbooks, pinterest, instagram (I follow a lot of good foodies), etc.. anything for inspiration.  I actually write about 8-10 meal ideas down and then I ask Greg to pick the top 6.  
• I separate the list by category for easy navigation while grocery shopping, otherwise I run around the store for many hours going from side to side forgetting things from each section.  My categories are produce, pantry, dairy, and meat.  
• I then go meal by meal writing down each ingredient I need to make the meal.  After that I add in the things I always buy like, milk, bread, fruit.. any of the basics.  
• NEXT, I shop at our house first, crossing off anything that I already have on the list.  This ensures you keep everything fresh and you do not over buy things that do not have to long of a shelf life.
• Then I head to usually target for basics and wholefoods for produce and meat.  I walk around the store with my mini clip board and list and usually get a few laughs from the workers but they are always so excited to hear what I am making... I tell them if I didn't have this list I would be here 8x a week and if I didn't categorize it my 1 hour trip to the store would be a 6 hour trip! 

The List

That's pretty much it in a nutshell!  Hope this helps ...ENJOY