I've tried meal planning before and it was really great to have all the ingredients to make a couple complete meals. In the past our plans would change all the time and we ended up not eating at home as often as I planned, so some of the fresh indregdients would go bad by the time I got around to making it. Now that we live in Virginia with no family dinners, I get to come up with a dinner for everyday of the week! So I am going to give meal planning a second chance. I've been hearing from quite a few friends on Facebook how they love meal planning, it saves time, money and stress! So today I've scoured friends blogs, Facebook notes and Pintrest for some yummy recipes. I came up with 6 meals for this week that I am excited to make! Here are the meals I picked with a link to the recipe :)
Dinner
1. Easy Broccoli chicken Wild Rice Soup
my friend Monica shared this recipe on her Facebook page
Made this one before and it was awesome! I baked at 375 for 40-45!
I guesstimated the cost for our groceries this week and it looks like it will be about $85. (Food is more expensive out here in VA) That $85 is a good price for us, our normal grocery bill has been between $85-$120/week since we've moved to Virignia. I am about to go to the grocery store now, it'll be interesting to see what the actual cost is, hoping I can get it even below that $85! I'd love to hear about your experiences of meal planning and how you go about doing it!
I've started meal-planning, but also making enough to have leftovers for later. When you're a mom of two under two, cooking a new meal every day just doesn't work sometimes. haha So, I cook a meal on Monday, then Tuesday we use leftovers from the night before. Wednesday I cook, Thursday we use leftovers. Fridays are spent eating out, and weekends are usually eating at grandparents' house or with friends. An example of how we use leftovers: Cook a whole chicken, salad, green veggies, rice one night. Next night, use left over chicken for either soup, burritos, etc. It saves time and saves money! Our weekly grocery bill is always under $50 for two adults and a toddler. Soon Lucia will be eating solids and we for sure have enough food left for her that won't change the cost of our weekly budget. But, we're pretty simple people. haha Good luck!
ReplyDeleteThanks! That's a good idea to use the left overs in a different way. I didn't even think of that! Thanks for the example, I am totally trying that next week. I'm hoping to be able to get our grocery bill down a bit by doing this. It is so weird having to pay for every single meal, I'm so used to family dinners and getting some of my moms extra food:)
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