Since Rowan was born I have tried to get a lot better at planning meals for the week. I am still not the best because we are pretty busy and the weeks never really go as planned. However, making a meal plan for the week has made sure we eat better, stay on budget, have healthy snacks & meals for Rowan and takes the stress out of wondering what to make for dinner each night. It also helps with not wasting food. I use to go to the grocery store, throw a whole bunch of food in the cart and then get home and realize I didn’t have anything to make a complete meal. I felt like I was constantly throwing away spoiled food that sat in the fridge waiting to be turned into a dinner.
Do you plan your meals out for the week before you go shopping?
These 2 super cute notepads have made this much easier in our household. Love these things!!!
You can find the “What to Eat” notepad at Ruche (they also have a “To Do” one!) and here is a link to the “All Out Of
” notepad.
This is something I really have to start doing as well. Like you said, throwing away spoiled food is just a waste! Those note pads are adorable & as a list maker I can totally appreciate them!
yup, this is exactly what i had to learn when i first moved out of my parents’ place. i would totally stock up on “everything” at the store, but it ended up being snacky foods or whatever.
these note pads are adorable!
I have the “To-Do” list at home, and love it! Helps me keep all my blog plans, weekend chores & after work reminders in one place. It’s great!
– Katherine
We do meal plannings each week also AND use these pads!! There are a TON of cute fun and organizational pads just like these online, I order them all from knockknock.biz.
Meal planning is so helpful, especially for my wallet. I never do a good job of making small portions, so usually I end up making a couple meals each week and eating leftovers the rest of the time.
I have gotten really into meal planning lately. I try to make sure that with every meal I make we will have enough lunches for 2 of us for the whole week, so during the colder months I’ll make huge batches of soups, or pastas, etc. and try to only go to the grocery store once a week. Whatever we won’t end up using for lunches or even dinner leftovers I’ll freeze for later.
Pinterest has helped me out a lot when it come to meal planning but I will admit, what makes things a lot easier is that I have the Delaware Ave. Price Chopper a block away so I buy in spurts rather than all at once to make sure I always have fresh veggies and that nothing gets rotton, which is great for a single girl but probably wouldn’t be ideal for a family.
Those pads are a great idea1 I save my meal plans for several weeks and then redo. 😉 Here’s a tip for you. I know how much you enjoy dressing Rowan so thought you might like like this blog: http://coolkidsclothes.punt.nl xo, Eileen
Thanks for sharing where you got the notepads, I’ve been looking for those everywhere!
I like to meal plan, but lately I’ve been trying to spend less on groceries.
So, I go with more flexible ideas and buy produce that’s on sale. And, it’s working so far!
I may shop more frequently, though. I’m liking your blog a lot lately…been following for a while…seems like more variety nowadays! 🙂
Cute notepads! My boyfriend and I usually just grab a piece of junk mail to write down our grocery list on 😛 It’s getting thrown away anyway right!? But yes, we started planning our meals soon after we moved in together (just about 3 years ago). We both work full-time and come home at different hours of the evening, so planning meals definitely helps our week flow smoother. We typically shop together on Sundays and put together a list of 5-6 dinner recipes. From these recipes, we determine what ingredients we have and what we need – What’s needed gets added to the list. We also add on foods for lunch if our dinners won’t provide enough leftovers throughout the week. Finally, we add everything else we would need for the week (milk, cereal, snacks, juice, etc). Taking a few minutes to do this each week makes shopping a breeze and we are hardly left with waste at the end of each week 🙂
perfect timing!
i’m working on a post about this! I just cleaned out the fridge yesterday and made my first legit meal plan this week. I reeeeeeaaaaaaalllly hope that i can keep it up because it’s kinda like how you prep what you are going to wear the night before. It just makes things easy and less complicated. The problem I face is that I have to come up with things to make for my blog so that interferes with all of it.
I love the ALL OUT OF notepads. I ALWAYS use them. I didn’t know that they had a WHAT TO EAT notepad. I’m gonna hafta board that train.
These notepads are such an amazing idea! So clever and they look so cute
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these notepads are the best! i use them all the time…they add a dash of playful to my usual nerdiness.
check out http://www.knockknockstuff.com/ for other fabulous knick knacks. as the site says…they “put the fun in functional”
🙂
rachel @ swankyanddapper
we are meal planners too, as of recently. it’s made everything so much easier and better, especially when my fiancé comes home from a work day and it’s his turn to cook. he says that not having to spend time thinking about what to make and seeing if we have ingredients to make it has made him like cooking again.
Link textI blogged about it here: Meal Plan.
I battle constantly to use up food before it spoils. We keep too much in the fridge and I can’t see everything we have to use it, and then it all goes to waste! I try to vaguely map out the week’s meals on Sunday and take another look on Wednesday, but it gets difficult, we get busy, the planned meal isn’t appealing, etc…but I hate wasting money on food that just rots! I love those notepads, using them would make it more fun to do meal plans.
I really need to buy those notepads. My meal planning has sucked as of late, but this has inspired me to try harder.
I have to meal plan, too. It makes life simpler with all we do. I have a sort-of schedule, too. Mondays are quesadilla, Tuesdays are pasta, Wednesdays are soup/sandwich, Thursdays are chicken, Fridays are pizza. Saturdays are for trying new recipes, and Sundays are for leftovers. It’s easier that way for me. And we don’t eat the same meals every week. Like, a Monday might be cheese quesadillas (with accompanying sides, of course), and then the next Monday will be black bean/cheese quesadillas. Like that.
Sometimes I have to throw in an extra leftover night, if our leftover shelf is getting full. (We keep our leftovers on one shelf so we can make sure to use them up.)
I bought a $1 meal notepad at Michael’s. I’ll be needing a new one soon, though. The one at Ruche is cute!
Those note pads are so cute! I HAVE to plan before going to the grocery store, otherwise it’s a total waste of money and time. The husband and I have taken to planning our meals together on Sunday and buying groceries that day. That way, we’re both involved in the food-making process and get to pick up a treat or two at the store!
i love this! i actually got a few of these exact notepads for christmas – but haven’t used them yet! thanks for reminding me! isn’t organization great?
I am a slave to meal planning! I hate starting a week without doing it! I recently started using these cool sheets: http://www.delish-blog.com/2012/01/free-printable-menu-planners/
They are really helpful, and really cute 🙂
We’ve been using the What to Eat notepad since August! I used to dread the “What do you want for dinner” conversation. Meal planning has made grocery shopping so easy, and at the end of the week we haven’t wasted. Whoever is home first can look at the list and see what’s for dinner and can start cooking! I love it!
I do this too and it makes a HUGE difference. It also helps with planning ahead for leftovers so nothing gets wasted!
these notepads or so helpful! i can’t survive without them 😉
now i just need to work on the meal planning!
I love these pads, what a great idea! In the past I made meals in advance and froze them so I didn’t have to think after a long day at work. Now I work from home and it’s easy to slip into an unorganised, slap dash cooking mode….going to get onto the menu planning, plus my Mum would love these….perhaps for mothers day?!
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I actually have the What to Eat one and LOVE it! I’ve always planned our meals out for the week because like you said, you end up going shopping and realise you dont have anything for a meal so I love to be able to plan it all out and have it on the fridge so I know what we’re having. I think these are such a great idea!
Love these pads especially the All Out Of one!