![]() ![]() It only takes me half an hour at most to get it done, and I usually plan ahead of two weeks instead of one to make the most of my grocery shopping trip. You can then use this inventory list for brainstorming your weekly meal plan…īrainstorm Meals For The Week Using A Meal Planner To Plan Your Meals Take inventory of what you currently have in your fridge and pantry with my free weekly meal planner downloads(which include both a pantry inventory list and a fridge inventory list). Create Or Download a FREE Weekly Meal Planner Meal planning can help with that by giving you a plan of action, and by giving the food you’ve spent your hard-earned money on a purpose other than taking up space until it has been forgotten and is no longer edible. Maybe you’re consistently buying groceries that will never get used, too – that’s money that is being wasted! So, I’m basically stockpiling cans of green beans every week for no reason! You can learn a lot about yourself and your buying habits by looking at your food inventory.įor example, I learned that I buy 2-3 cans of green beans every time I go grocery shopping, but I rarely prepare those green beans in our weekly dinner meals. This way, you can eliminate the clutter and get a really good sense of what you have that can be used for your weekly meal plan. Sort through your pantry and fridge and throw out old and expired foods. Meal planning often requires you to take inventory of what you already have and to organize that inventory.Īnd where are most of your inventory kept? Related: See my Amazon Kitchen Favorites here. The first step to successfully planning your family’s meals is to take inventory of what you already have… Eliminate Waste And Organize Your Current Inventory We do a weekly meal plan for my husband Chris’ work lunches, and Jax eats what I eat during the day!ĭon’t be afraid to over-plan your meals, especially when you’re on a tight budget or one income. ![]() My oldest son, Max, eats a free breakfast at his school, so that saves us a ton of money as well. With our family, we rely on waffle mix, fresh fruitlike strawberries and apples, and cereal to get us through the week! If you stay at home, you can also structure your weekly meal plan to work for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Why You Should Have A Family Meal PlanĮstablishing a family meal plan can help you master your dinner schedule and your budget.īTW – Meal planning shouldn’t cost a fortune – it’s just an organized way to plan out family dinners that everyone in your home can eat. *This post contains affiliate links, however, all opinions are my own. In this post, I’ll be sharing how to start family meal planning on a budget, free printables you can use, how to go through your pantry and fridge and take inventory, a sample weekly meal plan, and over 100 delicious meals you can use to start your family’s meal plan off right… Have I said meal planning enough yet?! MEAL PLANNING. My groceries all have their place and purpose, my home isn’t as chaotic (I still have two roughhousing little boys to parent, after all), and I lost the stress of figuring out what I could make out of what I had leftover. Now, I feel like the master of grocery shopping, meal planning, and organizing my pantry! I just knew I had to find another way – an organized way! ![]() I didn’t know that what I was doing even had an official name. I decided to only get what I needed and to have some structure with our family dinners. I actually got so fed up with it that I decided to completely clean out my pantry, renovate the space, and start fresh.Īnd that’s where meal planning came in. My pantry was full of ridiculous things that made no sense! I would get home from work and struggle to think about what ingredients I had, and which recipe they would work for.Īt times, I would forget about the produce I had waiting to be used in the fridge that would go bad before I remembered to use it! I grocery shopped depending on what I thought we might need – with maybe 2 or 3 dinners actually planned for two weeks I shopped for. I had boxes and cans of food from a previous year that were never used and had to be tossed. It’s hard to picture a time before meal planning, but I can remember being very disorganized. It also helped us manage bills and expenses on just one income. It has saved us tons of money and has helped me to be able to organize and utilize all of the groceries I buy with minimal waste. I started meal planning once my second little guy turned two – and it has been a HUGE lifesaver! Here are some meal planning ideas, over 100 family-friendly recipes to inspire you, and a FREE weekly meal planner template… ![]()
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