Meal Planning

Okay so I actually did this last week. I'm just not very good at this whole blogging thing just yet...

Anywho. Meal planning.

It used to be that my sweet husband and I would think of dinner about 2 hours before it was time to eat. One of us would come up with an idea (usually something we've made 30,000 times before). We'd then truck off to the store and buy what ever was needed for the meal. Repeat.

This ended up causing us to eat the same 10 or so dishes until we were sick to death of them. Not to mention the havoc it wreaked on our food budget. So we meal plan (if you don't, you should).

I actually gave it to my husband as a gift last Christmas as part of the $10 gift (We agreed that we would only spend $10 on gifts for each other. My husband did not abide by this rule... more on that later). Sadly, even though I gave it to him as a gift last year, I just finished the project last week.

Here's the scoop:

In the box are slips in 2 colors of paper.

On one color is entrées on the other is side dishes. Each week we select 14 of each color. Then mix and match the entrées and side dishes to make 14 days of meals. (Yes I grocery shop for two weeks at a time. And yes I inevitably forget something or need more of something, so I usually go back in the store on the weekend in the middle of my planned weeks).

On the slips of paper are all our favorite meals. Also included are ones that say: "Something new!"  and "Eat out!"  So on the Something new nights we...try something new! And on the Eat out Nights we...well you get the idea.

So yes there are 2 weeks where we never eat out, and yes there are weeks when I make  new recipes several nights a week. The big thing is that the nights are flexible. For example, if we are supposed to have Vegetable Shepherd's pie on Wednesday and eat out on Friday, but it was a horrid Wednesday. We'll switch! But we aren't allowed to eat out unless we pulled it. Make sense??

Let's talk benefits:
1) I can't tell you how much money this saves us!!
2) We no longer make the same thing until we are sick of it

3) I get a chance to make all those yummy recipes I find online, in magazines, etc. There are blank ones in the box too! That way if we find a recipe we like it goes into the box!!
4) It is a beautiful thing to just have our menu planned. There is no thought needed during the week, it's all done a head of time.

LOVE IT!