Meal Planning

We do a lot of things in order to save a few bucks here and there. Husband is constantly on the phone with our cable/internet provider to find the best rate possible. We do a lot of small repairs on our home and vehicles ourselves. I buy the kiddos clothes used from other moms in the area.

But one thing that also helps when it comes to one of the bigger expenses each month-- groceries-- is meal planning. We basically eat the same foods for breakfast and lunch each day, so dinner is where the plan comes in handy. So what exactly do I do when meal planning?

1. Pop out the planner. 

I take a look at two weeks at a time. I have a list of dinners we usually have, plus some that I might have pinned on Pinterest or saved from Facebook. By looking at my planner, I know which days I might have time to make a more extensive meal, or which days we have to have a quicker dinner. Sometimes I even go as far as looking at the weather forecast to see if its going to rain-- if not, maybe we could grill!
Once figured out, I pop the meal on the bottom of each day so I know what's coming up.

2. Write a list. 

I write two lists, actually. The first is everything off the top of my mind that we need from the store, basically the staples. Then I write down the dinners we are having, and what ingredients go into each dinner. Next, I cross off the ingredients we already have, and add the ones we don't to the list. Last, I make a whole separate list that is divided into categories-- produce, meats, breads, dairy, frozen, etc. (I don't always do the second list, but if I have time I try to. It makes glancing at the list in the store a whole lot easier!)

3. Coupon. 

We mostly grocery shop at Target, so I go onto the Cartwheel app first and add any coupons there. Then, I use the Grocery IQ app to print coupons at home. I'll usually star or highlight items on the list that I have coupons for, so I am doubly sure I am buying the correct brand or correct amount to use the coupon. I also paperclip the coupons to the list so they actually make it into the car with us!

4. Chalkboard

This is my favorite part! A year or two ago, I decided to jazz up the awkward wall in the kitchen with a chalkboard frame. It didn't fill up the space quite enough, though. And I was looking for a way to let Husband know what was for dinner each night, so I didn't get the "I didn't know we were having *that* tonight. I'm not in the mood for *that*" (Followed by evil glares from me-- don't worry, he ate it anyway). So off to the store we went to create a Menu board! We got the long chalkboard and small squares from Michaels. I spray painted the squares with chalkboard paint on one side, and hot glued some ribbon around the edges for a more finished look. Then we screwed some eye hooks into the frame and top of the squares so they can come on and off for easy writing. And voila! Our menu board was created.  Each week I try to get the menu up so everyone knows what's for dinner that week. Sometimes I'll put two weeks on there and divide each square into 2, but not always.

It seems like a rather lengthy process, right? I try to stay on top of it by writing down items we need from the store as we run out. I also try to keep a list of regular dinners we like, so I can glance at that and grab ideas rather quick.

Sometimes I don't do any of the above until the day we go shopping, and that always ends in disaster. We end up spending way more money than usual, and don't have enough dinner ideas to last the two weeks, which means extra trips to the store during the week.

Meal planning is just one thing that we do to save a few extra dollars here and there. What are some things that you do? Do you meal plan for the week?