Meal Planning! Save Time Save Money!

Save time, save money and save your sanity.

How many times have you stood at the refrigerator staring at what’s inside trying to figure out a balanced meal?

Staring and staring and not coming up with anything better than crescent rolls stuffed with onions and pickles.

Stop driving yourself crazy at meal time and plan out your week with specials.

Restaurants do this to stay on a budget and to save time, and we can learn a thing or two from the way they prepare for their dinner rushes.

Each Sunday, scan your paper for sales and coupons. If you see that ground beef is on sale along with green peppers, make meatloaf one night.

Make your menu out for the week. Of course you can hop over to my friend, Robyns blog:

WHAT'S COOKING? She has delicious and easy recipes over there to give you inspiration and a change of pace! Be sure to try her Taste Of Home winning recipe for Pasta Primavera!

Once you have your menu written out, its time to clean out your refrigerator. Believe me it’s so easy to get to the store and wonder, “do I have eggs at home?” Of course you buy them just to be safe and when you get home you find a dozen eggs. Now you just spent money unnecessarily.

So the fridge is clean, and your menu is written out. Go through and figure out what ingredients you will need for each recipe. Be sure to check that you don’t already have something hidden behind the box of cereal in the pantry. And prepare your grocery list. Monday morning, go shopping. Get it done and out of the way for the rest of the week. Yes, your produce will stay fresh for the week. Remember that now you have at least 5-7 days worth of groceries and meals. Just because you wrote down meatloaf on Monday and chicken on Tuesday doesn’t mean that you have to stick to those days, you can easily switch it up. Be sure to have at least one light and easy meal planned. Soup and sandwiches are fine for the days that you’re really busy. You may even want to make extras just to keep in the freezer for super busy, or just plain lazy days!

When you get home from the store, washing all your produce before putting it away will save you a lot of time when its time to cook. You can even chop some things up and store them in the fridge for when you need them. Anything you can do ahead of time will save you time in the long run.