Meal planning...

I promised a meal planning post, so here ya go!

When I plan meals for my family, I plan for more than a week.  I actually plan for an entire YEAR.  WHAT?!, you say?  Well, let me tell ya, it is so much easier and freeing than you might think.

I got the inspiration from this blog- BOLD TURQUOISE

I am never without food in my pantry or a meal on the table.  I don't have to eat fast food (unless I plan to) or stare at the freezer at 5 PM wondering what to do and kicking myself that I didn't thaw anything that morning.

Here's how my planner works...

I put everything in a bright blue 2-inch 3-ring binder.  It never gets lost in the clutter on my counters and it's the only bright blue thing I have in my kitchen.  I make sure it is the durable kind, though, as it's gonna get a lot of wear and tear over the year. Since I will be looking at it practically every day, I jazzed it up with a cute cover.  (Here it is if you want to make yours snazzy, too!)

I start by looking at the big picture.  I printed out a monthly calendar for 12 consecutive months.  This is for schedules and upcoming events.  NOT for the meal plan itself.  I filled in everything I knew was coming from soccer games and birthdays, to vacations and holidays.  These are important to remember since these events dictate what kind of food you need to serve and how you need to prepare (i.e. quick and easy on soccer nights, special meals on birthdays, traditions on holidays... you get the idea.)

Calendars to download.

I put all 12 of these calendars in page protectors.



I the printed out 13 2-sided meal plan forms.  My planner has two weeks on one sheet and a grocery list on the side.  This makes it easy to see the big picture and I rarely forget to pick up ingredients I need since I add them to the list as I make the plan.

This is the plan for this month and is still a work in progress.  I'll add the grocery list to the plan tomorrow when I pull out this week's ads and coupons.

Here is the download for the meal plan form I use.  

Then I take this one step further...

I print out a copy of every single recipe I will need for that plan and place it behind the planner form.  I do this for every form, even if it means multiple copies of the same recipe.

I know, it seems a bit excessive, but it is worth it.  Trust me.  I never have to hunt down a recipe... ever.  Even my hubby can make dinner without asking where to find what he needs!

The cool part... as I find a new recipe I want to try, I just stick it in the next blank spot on a planner form, print the recipe out, add my ingredients to the grocery list and stick the recipe in the binder.  I'm ready to go!

I plan to take this to another level and organize my pantry and fridge.  But that's a Pinterest project for another post!