KIS - Menu Planning

One of the best things I ever started doing to save money on groceries it to plan menus.  I started out making weekly menu plans for the sole purpose of figuring out meals I could make with the items I already had in my cupboards, refrigerator and freezer.  As time went on and I could afford to shop in greater quantities my menu plans evolved into monthly ones.

Enchiladas with a garden salad

The key to making my menu plans successful is to be flexible.  Just because the plan says we have spaghetti on Tuesday doesn’t mean it has to be spaghetti.  If we would rather have Thursday's tacos then I just switch things around.

The key to making my grocery budget successful is that I plan my meals based on the items I already have on hand and those I purchase routinely.  The items I routinely purchase would be fresh produce, eggs, milk and cheese.  On average I grocery shop two to three times a month.  Sometimes more often if there is an item on sale for a really good price.

Fresh green salads are a mainstay at our house.

One evening I sat with my children and we brainstormed a list of all of our favorite meals.  It was actually quite fun.  Since then we've added to that list quite a bit.  I keep it handy to look over when I need inspiration while meal planning.  I also read other blogs and recipe websites for ideas as well.  I love to see what other people are cooking up these days.

I find it gives me great piece of mind to have a plan in place and to know that as I drive home from work our dinner is already decided on and the items I need are in the house waiting for me.  Plus, now that my girls are older, they can help out more buy getting things started or, in the case of last week, text me at work and let me know they are going to fix dinner and it will be ready when I get home.  I loved that!

Want to know more about how I do my meal planning?  Check out this post here.