meal planning

I love meal planning. It combines so many of my favorite things: list making, reading recipes, planning, calendaring, couponing, and grocery shopping. I try to meal plan for two weeks at a time, when I can. I plan to use items from my freezer for the last part of the two week meal plan so that none of the produce spoils. I also try to plan meals where I can get leftovers out of it. I try to plan for a couple of fun breakfasts, too. I also use coupons as much as possible. Because of these reasons, it usually takes me a long time meal plan. However, once I am done meal planning and grocery shopping, I am done for two weeks! I made a document that makes it so simple for me to meal plan and grocery shop.

Meal Plan & Grocery List

If you click on that link above, it will take you to a google doc that I have created and shared that you can download and print. It makes grocery shopping so much quicker because it has the different areas of the store separated out.

I use coupons.com, couponmom.com, savingwithshellie.com, and thekrazycouponlady.com to find my printable coupons. We also use the ones from the Sunday newspaper.

I follow a lot of recipe blogs (you can find on my blogroll on my blogger profile) and Pinterest has also made searching for recipes fun. Here is my food board on Pinterest:

 http://pinterest.com/marylinds/foodie/ .

Here is our meal plan for the next couple of weeks:

MON (night class)-pancakes
TUES (Sla works late)-pizza
WED (date night)-sweet potato jalapeno soup with a salad
THURS (night class)- soup leftovers with rolls
FRI-leadership training all day w/all 3 meals provided. balsamic strawberries with almonds for snack
SAT-leadership training all day w/all 3 meals provided. Make guacamole that night for cinco de mayo
SUN - salad for lunch, bubble up pizza for dinner
MON (night class) -leftover bubble up pizza
TUES (lifegroup)- black bean, corn, cilantro, & avocado tacos & make oreo balls for work potluck
WED (date night)- overnight chicken, roasted garlic broccoli, rolls
THURS (night class)- leftovers of chicken, broccoli, and rolls
FRI (go to a retreat after dinner)- skillet huevos rancheros
SAT - retreat with dinner provided
SUN - honey chipotle turkey meatballs with roasted cauliflower with lemon tahini sauce