Since we are a large family on one income, we need to be frugal. It is essential that I plan out my meals because if I don’t we end up eating out a lot and I make frivolous purchases at the grocery store.
Currently, we are on a weekly pay schedule so I plan my meals out for only one week at a time. When we were on a biweekly pay schedule I would plan for two weeks at a time. Planning out our meals by the length of the pay period is what works best for us and to ensure we stay in budget. My meal planning regime goes like this: Plan out meals Thursday or Friday and do my grocery shopping Friday night or Saturdays.
Luckily for us, we live near a Walmart that offers free grocery pick up. I totally recommend looking into these type of services if its available to you because it is so much more convenient when you have a ton of kids and it helps us stay in with our budget. I totally admit that when I am in the store, I don’t always look at the price. I know, not the wisest money thing to do.
I like menu planning in my bullet journal and then write a copy of it on my fridge. I know this may be a little redundant for some but I usually keep my bullet journals near so having it in two places is convenient for me. The menu plan I keep on my fridge is a printable I made because I wanted something pretty that went with the theme of my kitchen.
I plan out all my meals for the family: breakfasts, lunch, dinner, and snacks. If I didn’t we would end up skipping meals due to nothing to eat. Even though I plan out a week’s worth of meals, I do not like scheduling them (ex: spaghetti on Thursday, taco Tuesday) because I am so indecisive that I usually never want what was scheduled. Because I cant afford to eat whatever I want when I want is why I plan out a week’s worth of food to choose from. I usually do not make my final decision of whats for dinner that day until the night before or the morning of. In order to allow this type of freedom when I plan my food, I made my menu plan printable in a checklist format rather than a weekly schedule way.
You can download a copy of my menu printable for FREE! Just click the link below.
Leave a Reply