Pre-planning Meals

Pre-planning our meals has been a simple and effective way to lower our grocery bill each month. We shop once a month and it was important to have a well planned grocery list that would meet our needs without having to make extra trips to the store to purchase forgotten items.

I realized that we had certain meals that we were eating on a regular basis. I began writing up a list of the meals. I scoured through my recipes, making note of all that were ones enjoyed by my family. The list included soups, stews, casseroles, etc. I made a note by each recipe of the cookbook with the page number to make locating the recipe easier.

The next step in pre-planning the meals was to make up weekly menus. Using a simple chart that I made allowing one space for each day of the week, I began choosing meals for each day. This is a good family activity. Let your children help choose the meals for the week. Allow for any special activities in your menu planning. If your family is active in sports or extra-curricular activities, a meal made in the slow cooker or casserole in the oven may be a good choice for those busy evenings. Make up several weekly menus. You need only to plan the evening meals. We have 12 weeks of pre-planned menus.

On the back of each menu, I have a listing of the groceries needed for that week's meals. This will make planning the grocery list much easier. On the menu itself, I make a note of the location of the recipe. Another option would be to write the recipes for that week onto index cards. Place the menu with the recipe cards into a sheet protector and store in a binder.

I find that having a variety of pre-planned menus to be the most beneficial. I have menus including many homemade soups and stews for the cold months. During the spring and summer when we are busy with gardening and other homestead activities, we grill outdoors most evenings or have other quick to prepare meals. Meals include salads and other foods that are refreshing on a hot day.

Each month, we mix up the menus. No two months are exactly the same. This helps to prevent the family from becoming bored with the menu. You can also start incorporating new foods by making up new weekly menus throughout the year.

During the Holiday season, pre-planning our menus can be an asset. I pre-plan all the baking and other preparations. Meals made in the days prior to the holiday are easy to prepare or slow cooker meals. This helps to lighten the load at a busy time of year.

Pre-planning our meals makes our lives easier. Our grocery bills have lowered due to the pre-planning. When we go to the grocery store, we are able to make all the grocery purchases at one time and avoid having to make the long trip more than once in the month. It has also made meal preparation easier as I don't have to plan a meal at the last minute.