Meal Planning - Week 4

This is our final week of meal planning! Today we are going to take a look at the full menu we made and then explore what is next. So once you have each day accounted for and you wrote out the ingredients you need. It is time to make a list. There are of course many ways to go about this. I find the best way to do it is by listing all the things you need and going from there. So I am going to post the first few days of the menu I planned and just show you what I mean by making a list.

This part is so easy and simple. You already did all the work, you already listed all the ingredients you needed all you have to do is write them together. So for these you just write each individual ingredient, keeping in mind that you do not want to write double items. So let's focus on day one.

Grocery List:

Granola

Berries

Yogurt

Cold Cuts

Buns

Sliced Cheese

Mustard

Ground Beef

Relish

Ketchup

You'll notice I don't write buns twice or Mustard twice, you want to only write what you need. A thing of mustard will last for a while so you don't need two of them. For things, you will need double (ground beef let's say) I like to put x2 or whatever many you need. That way it is all in one place. You aren't moving on and having to go back to the meat because it was somewhere lower on your list.

You will notice on my list above that I made a few notes. I like these little tricks because I find them helpful to shop. You can see at the top I did Rotisserie Chicken with the x2, below it I have the name brand of Bouillion. We call it Bovril, that's how we know it by, so if you know an item by a certain name or you want a certain brand, go ahead and write it that way. Other things you'll notice is I write ground in brackets for the sausage because it doesn't have to be ground but that's what I want. You would do this for things like yogurt let's say, you would write what kind you want (vanilla, strawberry, etc.). Lower on the list you will notice I write Steak (pack of three). That's how many steaks I need for my week. So I need to either find a pack with three in it or a pack of two and buy an extra one. It's just not to remind me that if I can't get a package of three, that's how many I need. And finally, you see I have on sale in brackets. This is good because you want to buy as much as you can on sale. And knowing what is on sale helps you make a decision. If you can afford it, buy it. Vacuum seal meat and you can save a ton of money. Again this is where knowing your family comes in. If you rarely eat pork chops, and you already have some in the freezer, don't buy more, it isn't worth it. But if you eat pork chops every week and you only have one meal worth left in the freezer, buy them for sure!

You will also notice on my list I wrote Salt, Pepper, Italian Seasoning. You don't have to write this obviously, but it is a great example of the next step. Once you have your list, take it with you to your kitchen. Go through your fridge, freezer, cupboards and cross out anything you already have enough of. So like salt, pepper, your favourite seasonings. Most people will have the basics; ketchup, relish, mustard, oil. Things like that. So once you know for sure you have some and enough to make all the meals in your plan, cross it off your list.

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Once you have your list you can simply take it to the grocery store. However if you find it a little messy after having to cross things off, you can rewrite it. This time try and do a walk through your grocery store and write your list in order of where you start. So most grocery stores you walk right into their produce section. Start there, write all the fruits and vegetables and things like that (salad mixes, salad dressings, etc.). And then move through the store writing what you can remember goes where. Don't worry too much about this, it's just helpful when things are in a nice order. Another great tip is to bring a highlighter with you. As you shop cross things off with your highlighter. Once you get home you can take a pen to that list and cross things off as you unpackage them, so you know you do indeed have everything you put on your list.

Once all the shopping is done, now is the time to solidify each day's meal plan. I personally go with the freshest stuff first. You want to use your vegetables and stuff like that first because they definitely won't be fresh (or even still good) by day fourteen. I usually start however with the Rotisserie Chicken. That's going to be hot and fresh when you buy it. Simply leave it in a warm oven while you make potatoes to go with it and pan gravy, mix together the coleslaw, and boom supper is ready.

During this process, one thing that is very important is to think about your schedule. It simply doesn't make sense to schedule a big meal in on a day when you work late let's say. So you want to be mindful of that. Also, try to spread things out. No one wants to each chicken for lunch and dinner for days in a row. So do your best to spread things out.