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Monday, June 11, 2012

Meal Planning Miracle

So, I'm not going to share the numbers here, but last month I spent way more on food for our family than I intended.  We do buy all organic food, but we compensate by not buying much packaged stuff, making things like bread or dressing from scratch, and buying in bulk as often as we can.  I still came in way over my goal food budget.  I emailed my co-authors here and asked for posts on their real food budgets and so hopefully we'll see them soon!  In the meantime I created a very simple chart for myself that has already saved me time, mealtime dilemmas, and definitely money.

My chart looks like this.  I actually just print the blank chart and fill it in, but I typed this week's notes up so you could see how I do it.  This is word for word what I have down this week:


Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Prep for Today:



Prep for Tomorrow:
- make chicken stock
- thaw beef
Prep for Today:



Prep for Tomorrow:
- soak cracker wheat
- skim stock
- soak beans
Prep for Today:
 - make crackers


Prep for Tomorrow:
 - thaw lasagna
Prep for Today:
- make Nonie's applesauce

Prep for Tomorrow:

Dinner Plan:
- whole chicken
      garlic
      lemon
- sweet potatoes
      honey
      ginger
- green salad
      lettuce/kale/chard
      tomatoes, cuc.
      dressing
- stuffed artichokes
      bread crumbs
- leftover homemade ice cream
Dinner Plan:
- hamburgers
      pickles, tomatoes
      lettuce
      raw cheese
      mustard, ketchup
      mushrooms
- corn on the cob
- leftover sweet potatoes
- green salad
      lettuce/kale/chard
      tomatoes, cuc.
      dressing
    
Dinner Plan:
- stew
      leftover chicken
      chicken stock
      carrots, celery
      kale/chard/spinach
      zucchini, onion
      broccoli, garlic
      mushrooms
       red potatoes
- homemade crackers
- raw cheese
- Melissa's homemade brownies
Dinner Plan:
- leftover lasagna
- peaches, pears
- asparagus

Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Prep for Today:



Prep for Tomorrow:
- grind and soak tortilla flour
- soak beans
Prep for Today:
 - make guacamole
- make tortillas
- start beans 6-8 hrs EARLY
Prep for Tomorrow:
Prep for Today:



Prep for Tomorrow:
Dinner Plan:

CAMERON
- pasta
       artichoke hearts
       peppers
        mushrooms
       spinach
        cream

Dinner Plan:
- stuffed tortillas
        rice, beans
       veggies
               zucchini
               peppers
               onion
               tomatoes
        guacamole
       sour cream or cheese
- fruit
-  homemade ice cream
Dinner Plan:
- out to eat with Cinde and Anai

Ideas for next week:  stuffed peppers, veggie lasagna, stir-fry with rice, homemade pizza, Ariel's avocado pasta
_________________________________________________________________

I know there are fancy websites out there like Plantoeat, which I think is a fantastic idea.  You input your recipes to your calendar and it exports the ingredients to a shopping list for you.  But it poses two problems for me --- one, the recipe importing takes too much time (though once you have a bunch stocked up I'm sure it's an overall time saver), and two, if I get on the computer to do meal planning I will get sucked into other online distractions like email, news, or blog-reading.  That's why I print my own chart off and do everything by hand.

This is a system I know I"ll stick to!  It took me less than a half hour to plan my whole week last night, and to make my shopping list.  Here is what I do:
  1. I pick up my organic produce basket from Bountiful Baskets Saturday morning.
  2. I note what is in the basket, and what is already in my fridge, and plan the next week's meals Saturday afternoon or evening (or Sunday morning).
  3. I fill in the above chart, and as I fill it in I make a shopping list for any remaining necessary ingredients.
  4. I go shopping Saturday afternoon or Monday after work.
  5. At the store, I don't let myself buy anything that's not on my list (today I passed up 4-5 things I would normally just have thrown into my basket, like...mmm...those strawberries :(  or cottage cheese)  I make an exception if I know it's something we need that I simply forgot to write down, like dishwashing soap.
  6. I proceed with my week, carefree and organized.  No hastily concocted meals, no missing ingredients, etc.  And definitely saving money.
  7. As the week goes on I remain flexible if necessary, and of course jot down ideas for next week as they come to mind.  
Cameron is a great help with clean-up, and with preparation when he is home on time.  I leave at least one day a week for him to plan, and I pick up the ingredients since he works longer days than I do.

I'm also holding on to all receipts for later accounting.  This month, I want to write up how much I spent on each individual food item and analyze where I can save next month.  Since that will be kind of time-consuming I only intend to do it until I get a good handle on things.

It's been two weeks now, and I'm loving the change!


3 comments:

  1. I also had a similar problem of going way over budget, and while my system is much like yours, Jeremy and I sat down together and pulled out my receipts for this month and did some basic calculations of what our recipes cost. It was eye opening for him and refreshing for me. There were a few meals that we had on our menu that we simply don't love enough to have them be some of our most expensive meals. So we crossed them off. It'd kind of liberating.

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  2. Brilliant ideas, Meredith! I've tried similar ideas to this, and I think I need to try again.

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  3. Great organization! Great ideas! There is nothing like the freedom that meal-planning brings. Everyone is happier when this is in place, including the pocketbook. Your weekly planning sheet look a lot like mine with the prep section, which you have to have if you're preparing a lot of your food traditionally. Great idea to do the planning after you get your surprise produce box. My shopping list is a separate column on the same paper.

    I'll do a post sometime on how we afford to eat real when it includes pricey items like raw dairy, grass-fed meat, coconut oil, etc. Love to hear everyone's thoughts on that.

    How fun to have Cinde and Anai out! That will be a treat.

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