Monthly Meal Plan

January’s over and it was another successful month of meal planning.  That’s right, I said MONTH.  We’re definitely on the monthly meal plan train (vs. weekly)–I find that it is SO HELPFUL for SO MANY reasons:

• It keeps us from eating out and/or eating crappier food (i.e. frozen dinners, canned soup, etc.)
• It saves us money by allowing us to buy ingredients in bulk/reuse partial ingredients instead of tossing them (like half an onion)
• We only make one trip to the grocery store a week (instead of three or five)
• We go at least 4-5 weeks before repeating a meal–making sure we don’t tire of our old standbys and giving us plenty of opportunity to incorporate new recipes
• We only have to sit down once a month, which saves time overall
• It lets us more thoughtfully plan out splurge meals, instead of wasting them on nights when it’s 6:30, we’re hungry, and just then realize we have nothing ready to eat.

I know that this isn’t for everyone, but it’s a system that works really well for us. We’re definitely still open to last-minute invites and mixing things up, and it’s super easy to cut out meals or repurpose ingredients.  Last month we started freezing leftovers from certain meals and have incorporated them in this month’s plan.  If they hold up well, I think we’re going to start doing that more often and saving up those leftovers for busier months full of travel, hectic work schedules, etc.

While we’ve always planned for dinners, last month I started planning out lunches too (just using leftovers to get us through the week).  I’ve found this has allowed us to still keep some carb heavy meals in rotation (lightened up mac & cheese anyone?!) but eat them at lunch so our bodies have time to digest & utilize them.

In case anyone’s interested, here’s our FEB MEAL PLAN!

Monthly Meal Plan

Scott and I are working very hard to solidify our budget (more $$ for a house!), and one of the BIGGEST categories we waste our cash on is eating out!  Sure, it’s a nice splurge once in awhile, but it is incredible once it is all lumped together, staring at you….YIKES (do you have mint.com?  if not, I highly suggest it….!)  We needed to cut back.

While we were trying to get in shape for the wedding, we made a conscious effort in the month of January to plan our meals and only eat out twice a month.  As a result, we were able to save $2000 IN ONE MONTH!!  Crazy, huh?

So, I’ve spent the last two months MENU PLANNING!  Initially, this was a daunting task that I DREADED.  However, as it’s our third month, the task has already gotten a whole lot easier, so I thought I’d share some nuggets of wisdom I’ve acquired:

• Figure out your “eating out triggers”, and plan for them.  For example, ours are: not wanting to cook too much throughout the week, not wanting third-day leftovers on Friday (sounds silly, but you’d be surprised how often we throw our hands up and just go out on Friday!), needing comfort-style food a certain # of times, incorporating old favorites (pizza), and having on-hand ingredients for lunch (another culprit of “I have nothing to eat, let’s just go out!)
• Find one or two 5-10 minute meals (with leftovers!) and eat them twice a month.  This is a GODSEND, and gives us absolutely no excuse to eat out if we are tired and don’t actually WANT to make whatever meal is on the calendar.  Ours are Soy Tacos + rice and black beans and Chicken Burgers + Roasted asparagus–YUM!
• Do all grocery shopping for the week on Sunday, or just at once (with the exception of some fresh fruits/veggies you’ll need later in the week).  I find if I’ve already purchased the ingredients, I’m mush less likely to waste them.
• Save the complicated, multi-step recipes for the weekend.  Sometimes I like getting busy, but big meals like Shepperd’s pie (where you have to cook meat, veggies, and make mashed potatoes… THEN bake the darn thing!) are just too much for me after a full day of work.  Save those recipes for the weekend and stick to ones that can be done in 30-45 minutes for the weekdays.
• Choose an ingredient theme for the month.  While it’s not necessary, this has really helped us manage freezer space.  For example, last month was ground turkey; we went to Costco and got a giant pack of it, then made sure to incorporate enough turkey recipes that we would use it all up in a month (side note: we are also limiting our Costco trips to once a month, so this plan perfectly supports that one :))
• On that note, reuse ingredients when possible.  I rarely use an entire onion in one recipe, so I make sure to plan two in the same week that need it.  Same with herbs and other foods that go bad fairly quickly.  Waste not, want not 🙂
• In terms of actually making the meal plan, just print out a calendar, block dates you’ll be out of town/have plans, then star the days you’ll have to cook (budget 1-2 days after for leftovers).  Determine the number of meals, and start adding your old standbys.  Then add in one or two new recipes you’d like to try this month, and stick with it!!

I know it sounds silly, but a meal plan is just “scheduling” what you eat–it takes your judgment or impulsiveness out of it.  It’s like a meeting you have to go to–and with consistency I’ve actually really started to like it!  Plus, Scott gets excited to see it each month, it’s like a fun reveal for him 🙂  And the proof is in the pudding–last month we cut down our restaurant bill by about $1000–woooooo!