Anytime I tell anyone that I plan my family's meals, and my grocery shopping, a month at a time I get looks of disbelief or comments such as "I don't have that kind of time", "That sounds hard", or sometimes even "There's no way, that's crazy". Add to that, the evidently, "unbelievable" part where I cook our week's meals while Sam is napping on Sundays and my day-to-day life can be spent playing with Jeff and Sam while dinner warms in the oven. I'm telling you, I would never do it any other way.
I use a monthly calendar that I picked up from my church to plan the month. This one was free to me, but I've seen similar ones for a couple bucks at area retailers. May's meals are outlined below as an example. You can see that each day has our lunch and our dinner listed. It's not a reinvention every month, we do have family favorites that appear again and again. You may also notice that Mother's Day is blank :). I did not cook on, or for, Mother's Day. This calendar lives on our refrigerator so everyone can see what's coming up
The most important thing to ensure that my time isn't spent in vain is to keep it all organized. I found this binder works the best for me. It comes in 9 amazing colors and patterns and since I'm an Amazon Prime member, cost me $12.99. I would highly recommend subscribing to Amazon Prime. The subscription fee is $99 per year but I can not tell you how much it has saved us in shipping cost!
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| DUO Binder |
I have several sources for my recipes; Pinterest, cookbooks, magazines, and other blogs. For the recipes that aren't already in a cookbook, or that aren't electronic, I put them in the 3 ring part of the binder, in order, for the week that I'm working on.
The rest of the paper recipes that are already on cards or are torn from magazines go into the folder part of the binder, in order, by week. The very back pocket is where I keep interesting recipes that I find over the month for use in coming months.
After I gather all of the recipes I'll need for the month and organize them, it's time to make the shopping lists. I built this shopping list in Publisher to meet our specific needs including LOTS of room for fruits and veggies, and a separate space for Sam's Club and a local whole foods style market. If it meets your needs and you would like a copy, I am always happy to share.
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| Weekly Shopping List |
I have one of these for each week of the month but only do one big shopping trip/day per month. That's right, only one BIG shopping trip per month. All non-perishables, frozen, canned or jarred, bulk things like shredded cheese or applesauce pouches, meats, and condiment/spice items are purchased on the very last Friday/Saturday of each month for the following month. Each subsequent shopping list for the month is pretty short, mostly the fruits and veggies for the week, dairy, and items that I've used up in the big Sunday afternoon meal prep. These shopping lists are so short in fact that I keep a cooler in the back of my car and do the shopping (except for the big one of course) on my lunch hour each Friday. Boom, more time with the boys!
The lists hang right next to the refrigerator so if Jeff runs out of a toiletry item, or we run out of cat food, dog food, diapers, or anything else, I can just add it right to the list. I never have to search for a pen or pencil either because of the little beauty you see attached to the right side of my clipboard. I LOVE these! Get them HERE! A three pack is only $8. These are an organizational MVP! I put these everywhere, the cars, the computer, the side of the gift wrapping tub, on the notebook I keep in the nightstand to get information out of my head for a restful night's sleep, you get the idea.
Here's what the counter in my kitchen looked like Sunday during Sam's naptime.
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| Mise En Place |
I got everything out that I needed to make lunch and dinner for the week (I'm a firm believer in mise-en-place) and by the time he woke up we had a roasted turkey breast for sandwiches, taco meat for taco salad, Asian chicken lettuce wraps, drunken noodles, Puttanesca tomatoes, and Greek steak salad. I also pre-prepped hamburger patties and brats, and made mac & cheese and German potato salad for Monday's BBQ. I only have to chop up some tomato and lettuce on taco night, make some lettuce cups for Asian chicken lettuce wrap night and cut up the salad together on Greek steak salad night. Otherwise, it's just heating ingredients when we get home from work!
I spent about an hour and a half deciding what to put on the meal calendar, less than 30 minutes gathering the recipes and making the shopping lists, and just a couple hours a week cooking. Yes, it take some discipline but now that it's a habit, how can I go back?!?! My life is SO much easier this way. Find a system that works for you, or hell, steal mine, and give yourself back a little peace of mind and a lot of time!
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