How I Meal Plan

🍋I started meal planning when we had five kids at home that were in five different activities at five different locations and my husband and I worked full-time.

🍋This really helped because our kids at that time were teenagers and they could come home look at the menu plan calendar and they could get dinner started before we got home.

🍋I set a MAJOR rule : if you don’t feel like eating what’s on the menu that night and you can choose to cook. You may choose anything from that week or the next week to switch it with. At that time I shopped two weeks at a time so all ingredients for those two weeks were already on hand. (This sometimes motivated them to start cooking because they really wanted something else that night)

🍋Now we are only three at home. My five older kids are off on their own have their own families and it’s me, my husband and our 15-year-old.

🍋 Do I stick to this meal plan all of the time? No not all the time. Things may pop up or I go to do my grocery shopping and the pice of something on the plan has went crazy!

🍋 I have screenshots of my master list and the menus saved in Notes on my phone. If I need to swap something I can quickly look at my list and find something that has ingredients that are less pricey.

🍋 We currently live 35 minutes from any grocery store so I still try to stick to a two week shopping rotation. If you are closer to a store I suggest setting down on Wednesday and checking sales in your area. You can the. Use your master list to do a meal for that week based on the sales.

🍋Don’t be afraid to buy ahead of something is on a great sale. If I find chicken or hamburger on sale I will get extra and vacuum seal it and freeze it. It saves it from getting freezer burnt and ending up in the trash.

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My best tip ever if you are a super busy parent. Make two months of meal plans and rotate those two months!! This is what I did when the five older kids were home!! Then as Spring/Summer hit I made two more and rotated those two for those seasons. #mealplanningtips #familymealplan #mealplanningmadeeasy #mealplan #savingmoney