Day One

So here is what I do every week to plan meals. Hopefully you can find this helpful and you can use it in your own home. If not, hopefully I can give you some great recipes to try.

Planning:

I sit down with Ian on Sunday night and I make him choose at least two meals he wants for the next week. Usually what we do is go to pintrest to the food/drink section and just scroll through the posts and if something looks good, I repin it. My board is pretty full of things that look good so it gives us plenty to choose from. Here are our menus for this week. What I usually do is write them down on a magnetic sheet of paper that hangs on our fridge so we can both see the menus for the week.

Monday- Skinny Chicken Broccoli Alfredo

Tuesday- Swedish meatballs

Wednesday- Stadium of Fire!! (We won't be home for dinner this night)

Thursday- Chicken Tacos

Friday- Date Night!! (We usually eat out once a week for date night. Sometimes the night changes so be flexible with your menus.)

Saturday: Pizza Roll Bites

Sunday: Spicy Avocado Chicken Enchiladas

Sometimes plans change and we don't have time to cook. So I always keep stuff on hand for nachos, spaghetti, sandwiches etc.

Next is the shopping list/shopping:

I do all of my grocery shopping at Target since we have gift cards there from our wedding. We are actually really impressed with their market pantry brand. And it's not expensive at all.

What I do is go through my recipes for the week and write down exactly what I need. I have certain things on hand like flour, sugar, salt, olive oil etc. that I know I need a lot. If you don't have any of that stuff, start building it up every time you shop. You might need more than what I have listed here.

We have a budget set that works with our income. I think it's smart to set a budget so you don't overspend. This week groceries came to a little under $50.00 which is right on for us. Here was my shopping list that goes with the menus above.

-Chicken

-Ground beef

-fresh broccoli

-fettuccine noodles

-chicken broth

-plain Greek yogurt (Large container)

-parmesan cheese

-salsa

-1 packet taco seasoning

-1 packet hidden valley ranch

-1 packet Italian dressing

-sour cream

-crème cheese

-pepperoni

-fresh mushrooms

-1 Serrano pepper

-flour tortillas

-cumin

-salsa Verde

-avocados (4)

-corn on the cob

-wheat bread

-milk

So what I will try to do is for a week, give you the recipes that I am making for that day and hopefully you can follow along and you can have great homemade dinners for a week and then you can take over by yourself. It really just takes some practice and some getting used to.