Organization is a big part of my life. In my household, it’s what I need to get a meal on the dinner table. Without my meal planning, I would resort to peanut butter and jelly sandwiches just about every night.
The meal planning starts on the weekend. I search through my recipes in my inbox and my recipe books. We always go vegetarian on Mondays (Meatless Mondays, thank you Amy G.) and I try to repeat some family favorites.
I cross check our calendar to see what days/nights we will be eating out. Then I write out the meals on my meal planning board in our mudroom. I am a visual person. The board is in a central area of our house, so I see it several times a day. This way, I am reminded to get food prepped (most importantly, get meat defrosted for a meal). Here is the board I use (the white one in the middle), I swear by it. It also doubles to remind me what our plans are and helps my husband stay in the loop too! If you don’t want to dedicate space in your house for your meal planning, check out this one here. It’s sweet and simple (and super colorful.) You can store your weekly plans in a binder to refer back to.
As I am picking out meals, I write down the ingredients on my grocery list. Grocery shopping day is on Tuesday. I could write an entire post one day on my budget, but for now, I will tell you that meal planning has helped keep my grocery bill down a TON. You aren’t buying unnecessary items. Our fridge looks pretty bare by Monday night but it feels good that we are not wasting food.
Breakfast: Being home with my little ladies this year, I’ve made it my goal to cook a hot breakfast during the week at least twice. So I plan that out too so that we are not eating junk for all our hot meals!
I include my two year old in dinner preparation. She puts on her apron and sits on the counter as I cook. It’s not easy, I will be very honest about the chaos of dinner time! Sometimes I save her tv time for this time of day, especially if it’s a more difficult meal to prepare. This can also be the time I catch up with a daily phone call from a bff!
So here’s this week’s menu:
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Monday: Asparagus Pasta
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Tuesday: Stuffed Cabbage
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Wednesday: Cranberry Pork Chops
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Thursday: Thanksgiving! Gobble! Gobble!
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Friday: Left overs
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Saturday: Our Anniversary!!! Out to dinner!!!
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Sunday: Chicken Pot Pie
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Breakfast: Pumpkin Pancakes & Minute Omelettes
In honor of my Busia (grandma), I am sharing her delicious stuffed cabbage recipe with you! Enjoy!