If you google "Meal Planning" you'll find tons of different recommendations, charts, and how to's.  That's cool, but I don't have time to figure them out.  I've settled on a simpler method.  This is how I meal plan.

First, gather your stuff.  I grab my shopping list, it's the white board.  I saw it one day in an office supply store and I splurged on it.  It was $9.99.  I don't spend money easily (lucky for Jason). It has been the best $9.99 a woman can ever spend.  Every time I need something I write it down immediately.  Now I almost never forget stuff I need.  There is nothing more grievous that getting multiple kids to the store and back and then realizing you forgot the eggs.  Or the cheeseballs.  I'll spend money on cheeseballs any day.  Now I'm distracted by cheeseballs!  Focus!

You'll also need two slips of paper.  The slips of paper come from all the papers my kids bring home from school.  Teachers love to send stuff home on colored paper!  And I love colored paper that comes home free.  I just cut it into strips and use the back.  Boom, baby!  Colored paper for free!  Actually I just realized it was purchased with my tax dollars.  Sigh.

Lastly, you need your favorite recipes.  Maybe you don't have any yet so you'll need to sit down in front of this amazing blog and use that.  My favorite recipes are ones I print or clip out of magazines and keep in the binder.  Also, my sister and I each made cookbooks on Heritage Makers with our family favorites.  Also, I once compiled a "menu" with all the recipes I cook frequently.  I also like to use the weekly grocery ads for inspiration.  If you don't have a place where you keep all your recipes, I recommend starting with a binder. Buy low!


Now that you have your shopping list, your slips of paper and your recipes, get a pen!  Aren't you glad I'm here?

One slip of paper is for the store (it's awkward to take the white board, and my kids have erased it in the car), and one for your meal plan.  I'm a WalMart shopper, so I write that on one sheet (and any other errands I need to run, like going to the bank or getting gas or going to the post office).  On the other sheet I write down the days of the week.



Next, check your schedule and write down events you have that might interfere with cooking.  For example, Saturday is Date Night, Tuesday is Boy Scouts, and Friday night is a Daddy Daughter Campout.  I don't want to end up planning a big meal on Date Night when we're going out, and on Boy Scout night I know it will be hectic getting kids and a husband off to mutual.

Next, flip through your favorite recipes and start filling in your days.  On Date Night the kids will be eating Mac and Cheese, leftover spaghetti and applesauce and carrots.  On Boy Scout night we're having easy freezer food (like chicken nuggets and french fries or a frozen pizza) so I can be available to help find scout shirts and Scout books.  On Wedneday, when I have nothing going on I'm hoping to make calzones since it's more time consuming.  We're having leftovers on Daddy Daughter Campout Night since I'll be prepping camping food with said daughter.

As you write down each recipe, check the ingredients to see what you need to buy and write it down.  Add anything else from the whiteboard shipping list (like vitamins, a bridal shower gift for a friend's daughter, and church shoes for Liz).



Then shop with your shopping list and clip your meal plan back on the whiteboard so you won't misplace it.  I refer to it through the week.  Sometimes the plan changes and I feel like BLT's instead of calzones so I switch it around.
The best time to meal plan is when you're NOT hungry.  The worst time to meal plan is dinnertime.  How do you meal plan?

These are my Dad's Baked Beans and they are one of my favorite foods.  I love them hot, or cold as leftovers.  I always bring them to parties and BBQ's and everyone things I worked for hours on them.  The truth is that they take about 20-30 minutes and are very budget friendly.

Drain one can of pork and beans.  I've used both name brand and store brand.  Both work well in this recipe.  You can double or triple this recipe for a crowd.  Since ALL the ingredients for this recipe are either in your pantry or are condiments, this is a great recipe to make without planning ahead.

To the drained beans, add brown sugar, ketchup, mustard, honey and dried onions.


Cover and simmer for 20-30 minutes, look at that color change!  You can stop the recipe right there and eat it!

Or...let's take it to the next level!  See what's in the bowl?  That's kielbasa, otherwise known as Polish Sausage.  I have about one cup that has been grilled and cut into chunks.  Add it to your beans and heat through.  We cooked Keilbasa for dinner a month ago and didn't finish it all.  So I chopped it up and froze it to save for these beans.

Serve with burgers, hot dogs, or BBQ pork sandwiches like we did.  It will make your man happy!


Mike's Baked Beans
Serves 6-8

2 can pork and beans, drained
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup ketchup
1 T. honey
1/2 tsp. mustard
1 tsp. dried onions
1 c. kielbasa, or hot dogs, or 3-4 strips bacon, cooked, optional

1. Drain pork and beans (you can leave some of the liquid for creamier beans), add to a medium sized saucepan.
2. Add brown sugar, ketchup, honey, mustard, dried onions.  Simmer for 20-30 minutes, stir occasionally so it doesn't burn on the bottom.
3. Add any optional meats and heat through.  Serve warm, or cold for leftovers.

I have four kids so I make A LOT of pizza.  That means we go through A LOT of cheese.  Here's how I always have cheese on hand.

I buy pre-shredded mozzarella cheese at CostCo in bulk.  One bag is about 40 cups of cheese.  Even through it's shredded, it's cheaper than buying it in a block.  And it's one less thing for me to do!

I also buy sandwich size Ziploc baggies at CostCo.  You'll need them for this tip.  Add 1 cup of cheese to one sandwich baggie.  Jiggle the cheese around so that it's flat and uniform in the baggie.


Seal the bag all except for a finger widths amount.  That's the air escape valve.  So technical!


Roll up your bag to squeeze out all the air.

Seal up the opening.

Look!  It's vacuum sealed!  I just saved you $100 on a vacuum sealer!  I take checks and credit cards.

Nice and flat and air tight!  Now stack them up and put them in your freezer.  One bag it good for one good sized pizza.  And since you just bagged up 40 c. of cheese, you can make 40 pizzas!

Do you hate it as much as I do when lettuce gets swampy and you have to throw it away?  Wasted produce is a bad thing for a family on a budget.  Here's how I get my lettuce to last forever.

Unwrap your lettuce and give it a rinse in cold water.  Pat it dry with a paper towel.


Wrap it in a dry paper towel or two and put it in a gallon bag.  Mine are not ziploc, they just close with a twist tie.  You can find them in the baggie section.  You don't need to close the bag or anything, you can leave it open to give it some air.

Don't cut lettuce off the head until you're ready to use it.  Keeping the head intact helps it stay fresher longer.  Just tear off what you need and put it back in the paper towel wrap when you're done.  If the paper towels start to get too moist, replace them with fresh ones.

Now put it in the fridge and it will be there whenever you need lettuce (Taco salad anyone?).  The paper towel helps suck up extra moisture.  Of course, you could just eat more salad before it gets a chance to go bad.  But that's just crazy talk.

After 14 years of marriage I had an epiphany while making taco meat.  If you add beans it stretches the quantity to twice as much.  I will now present you with the most multipurpose, easy, budget friendly dinner of all. Get ready to save money!

Brown your beef (I'm using 3/4 of a pound), and drain the grease.  Then drain one can of black beans and add to the ground beef.  My beef was from the freezer and the beans were in the pantry.  No shopping required!


Add 3/4 cup water...

Add 3-4 tablespoons of McCormick Taco Seasoning.

Simmer until the sauce is thick and delicious.

Here's the multipurpose part...Make it into a Burrito!  Jason added salsa, lettuce, tomatoes and a little bit of shredded cheddar cheese with a "Daddy" flour tortilla.

Or make it into taco salad!  Heidi put her taco meat on a bed of corn tortilla chips with lettuce, tomato, cheese and a dollop of sour cream.

Or make it into a taco!  You can toast your taco shells in the oven using the directions on the box.  It makes them so much more delicious than right out of the box! Liz is a taco purist, she added taco meat and cheese.  She's often anti-vegetable.  But that's okay because so am I.  We get our vitamins so don't judge us!


If ground beef is $1.99/pound and a can of black beans is about $0.50-$0.79 than the beans are half the price of the meat.  It may not sound like you've saved much, but if I cook Taco Meat once a week for 14 years of marriage, here's some math fun for you.

Budget Friendly Taco Meat:
3/4 lb. ground beef = 1.99*3/4 = $1.50
1 can black beans = $0.50 (thanks to the caselot sale at Smiths!)
Total =  $2.00
Once a week for 14 years = $1,456

NOT Budget Friendly Taco Meat:
1 lb. of ground beef instead of 3/4 pound = $1.99
another pound of ground beef instead of a can of black beans = $1.99
Total = $4.00
Once a week for 14 years = $2,912

Savings = $1456 over 14 years or $104 a year

What would you do with $104?  And this is just the money saved on one meal.  Imagine if you had a whole collection of budget meals?  Never underestimate how much you'll save by being wise for every meal.

And what if I bought dry beans and cooked them?  One pound of dry beans is about a dollar and makes a huge quantity of cooked beans.  I also have a recipe for homemade Taco Seasoning!  Let's save those recipes for another day...

Multipurpose Taco Meat
Serves 6 (that's $0.33 per person, not including toppings)

3/4 or 1 lb. ground beef
1 can black beans
3/4 c. water
4 T. McCormick Taco Seasoning (or more or less depending on how hot you like it)

Extras:
Taco Shells or Flour Tortillas or Tortilla Chips
Lettuce, chopped
Tomato, diced
Cheddar Cheese, shredded
Salsa
Sour Cream
Guacamole

1. Brown and drain ground beef.  Drain beans and add to beef.
2. Follow directions on Taco Seasoning (mine is McCormick, it's 3/4 c. water and 4 T. mix) and add to beef and beans.  Simmer until thickened and heated through.
3. Prepare extras and serve with hot taco meat.
4. Plot how to use all your extra money...