Food Management - Meal Planning

A large part of Food Management, for me anyway, is meal planning.  As I shared previously I use a Pantry List to manage our Food Inventory and as long as I have those items in the house I can pretty much make anything we want for meals.  It is a solid system that has worked very well for me for many, many years.

Meal planning helps me in a number of ways.  The biggest thing is that with a plan I am not stressed at all about what to fix for dinner each night.  And since I make enough for leftovers I pretty much have our lunches covered for the next day.

Egg Roll In A Bowl

I brainstormed a list of our favorite meals so I can draw from that when I do my meal planning.  I will also ask my girls if they have any special requests.  Throwing in a new recipe from time to time gives us more variety so we don't become bored.  Here is a list of some of our standard "go-to" meals:

Egg Roll In A Bowl

Grilled Steaks or Chicken

Pot Roast

Tacos or Taco Salad

"Crack"pot Chicken

Pork Verde

Meatloaf or Meatballs

Stir Fry Beef, Chicken or Pork

Pizza or Pizza Bake

Pork Chops

Lasagna or Spaghetti

Pizza Bake

I like to rotate side dishes to go with the main entree.  Salads, sauteed green beans, steamed broccoli, cauliflower bake, and asparagus are among our favorites.  Soups are also great meal options, especially when paired with a fresh green salad.

Taco Salad

The bonus to having our meals planned out is that we save a ton of money.  I'm better able to manage the food we have on hand as well as any leftovers so very little is wasted.  I also find with meal planning that I purchase a lot less food to begin with which saves me quite a bit.  Along with saving money I find I save a lot of time as well.  With our busy schedule I really appreciate that.

Pot Roast

Do you meal plan?  What are some of your favorite meals you prepare?