Menu Planning

I used to be the queen of couponing.

If a good deal was to be had, I'd get it.

In my pantry I had stacks and stacks of granola bars that I'd bought for 10 cents a box, cereal for 50 cents a box, and tuna helper for 30 cents a box.

Looking at my pantry, you'd think we were well stocked...but not really.

You can't make a very rounded menu for the week, let alone a few days out of granola bars, cereal and tuna helper.

So I quit couponing

...for the most part.

I still use a coupon here and there for shampoo or deoderant, cheese, or chicken.

But I was tired of spending so much time shopping and stalking up on good {but not always healthy} deals

and at the end of the day not being able to answer that aged old question,

"What's for dinner?"

Instead this is what I do:

I write down 14 dinner ideas

{Cause these are the tough ones.  Lunches and Breakfasts are pretty basic.}

I make a list of all the ingredients I'll need to make those 14 dinners.

I look at the inventory I already have in my pantry and my fridge.

Anything I don't already have in stock that I will need to make those 14 dinners, I write down on a list.

I take that list to the store.

And my cart gets really full.

But I only have to shop once every two weeks.

And that makes me happy.

{cause grocery shopping isn't as fun as other kinds of shopping}

THEN,

after all my groceries are put away, I write all my 14 dinner ideas on a chalk board I have hanging in my dinning room.

{it used to be a chore chart but we use word of mouth for chores now...more on that later}

I don't assign certain dinners to certain days of the week because I may not want lentil tacos on Monday or I may be too busy to make chili on Wednesday, etc., etc.

Instead, I pick something off the list and then cross it off after I've made it.

It's nice.

All the ingredients are already in the house.

When I'm asked, "What's for dinner???"

All I have to do is look at my list and choose. 

And I spend less when I only shop once every two weeks instead of once every three days.

And that

...is REALLY nice.

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