Meal planning

A meal/menu planner makes a great bridal shower gift and is SO useful.  If you're the kind of person that over-buys at the grocery store, planning exactly what you're going to make for the upcoming week makes sticking to a list much easier.  I'll admit I haven't used my meal planner in a while, but I'm ready to get back into it!  

My method:  I go through a stack of recipes and write down any ingredients that I don't already have.  One thing you have to be careful about is using more than recipe that uses the same at-home ingredient- like milk or eggs. Make sure you have enough before hitting the store.  Every now and then when I'm feeling extra organized I will re-write my list so it goes "produce, aisle products, meat, dairy" and on the side of each ingredient I might note which recipe I'm using it for.  This print-out meal planner/grocery list would work just as easily!

In the future I plan to have a specific day where I blog about my meal plans for the week.  This month has been very different than most because we've been eating out of our pantry and freezer more than we usually do.  I have about $25 left to spend on groceries for December.  The budget challenge is much harder than I thought because while we are not exactly running out of food, I'm a little sick of soup, tuna and spaghetti noodles.  It's worth it, though!  There is a lot of pride in saving money.

I just found this website and I'm excited to try out some of the recipes listed, especially the recipe for Pizza Hut Breadsticks!  You can find it using the search bar.