NWR- Meal planning

cakegirl.73

Just wondering if any of you ladies do meal planning. We've got to cut back on our grocery spending to save money and I need a good meal planning site that has ideas.  Google search came up with tons, but just wondering if there were any tried and true ones out there. Thanks.

aerinpegadrak

My mom used to do this, in the days before the Internet.  She would print up a special calendar each year; when it hung open, the top page was the regular calendar to write in birthdays, concerts, vacations, etc, and the bottom page was a blank calendar where she'd plan out the meals.

We tried this, but our schedules are so unpredictable that it never ended up working out.  Hopefully once we move and get into more regular jobs, we'll be able to actually stick to the plan.

ElleestJenn

I don't use any meal planning websites, I pretty much do it the old fashion way.

Well my FI and I sit down every sunday and discuss our schedules for the week. His is a set schedule but mine is the one that changes constantly. We figure out which nights are going to be late night dinners and those tend to be the quick meals. We have a couple different cookbooks and use the internet for different meals.

We go to a grocery store that has a butcher and great local vegetables and fruits. We only buy 2-3 meats and try to keep them under a pound each since its only two of us and the stuff that's on sale. We get a couple vegetables and fruit, whatever dairy and bread we need. We only shop the outside! (Well unless we need more BBQ sauce, ketchup, etc) 

For us we go once a week, that's it, and we our leftovers or whatever else we have in the house. Depending on what we need we spend about $30-$40 a week and that includes my lunches and my FI's snacks. 

I hope it helps but sorry I couldn't be much help with websites. 

nicleep

We know the 'cheaper' meal options that we like and can be made easily (ie Taco salad, enchiladas, chicken and rice etc).  We make a list of what sounds good for the week go to the store and buy only the ingredients needed (who am I kidding, we still buy junk food too, blah, but we keep it minimal).  Be careful about buying more produce than you need- that was a big one for us, we were constantly throwing out bad produce. 

We're still working on perfecting our meal planning but it saves us because we don't stare blankly at each other and end up eating out when the thought of dinner comes up.

cakegirl.73

yeah- my problem is not planning until that day and having to go to the store every day because I don't have something for that night. Gotta find a way to plan better. Thanksfor the help.

alecat9

I use sparkpeople, not only to plan our meals but to plan meals that will help me maintaina healthy diet. They have a way that you can pick your meals for the week and then print a grocery list with everything you will need for all the meals.

Beads921

I was trying to plan meals. Just by writing out a plan for the week before getting groceries, and then posting it on the fridge. It didn't work out for us because BF has had a really unpredictable schedule lately, but once that's back to normal I'll give it another shot.