I love to grocery shop!
Is that weird? I love to make the grocery list, get a good deal, check off each item as I shop. It started
very young, just ask my mother!
As a result, I love to menu plan. I use to be really good about it, but
working full time made that difficult. I wanted to create a menu planner printable that would really be useful in helping me plan better. I also wanted it to be pretty since I would have to look at it each day to remind me what the heck we were eating. Check the end of the post for a link to download the free menu planner.
So I put together this little menu planner pack. It has each day of the week so I can right down what we are having for our meals. It also has a little shopping list. Why? Because I ALWAYS FORGET SOMETHING! With this list, I can just simply grab my old menu and take it to the store with me so I don't forget something.
I'll be honest, to save myself time and energy, I actually do a "monthly" menu plan. I put that in quotations, because it is VERY flexible. But it helps me get some ideas on paper. I can always rearrange (I do so weekly) and change what we might eat. But it helps my brain at least think about the entire month, what nights we have different activities or events or holidays. Planning for a month has been a big life saver.
If you want to learn more about my monthly menu you can check out my method HERE.
Once I plan out the entire month, I take it week by week. I fill out my weekly menu planner printable, put it on the fridge and go. It makes the process so much faster and I really enjoy figuring out what to have each week.
Another tool you
might find useful is creating a recipe list. This is a list of the
recipes my family eats often. I can reference this page each month for ideas on recipes we haven't had in a while. Don't have your own list of family favorite recipes? Perhaps you can start one with the help of our my recipes page !
Lastly, I try to cost out my recipes for each meal. I don't do this regularly, but I have tried to cost recipes over the years. This gives me a good idea of how much I should be spending on food. If you've never costed out a recipe, make sure to check out this great post about recipe costing. You'll also want to download out free cost of food spreadsheet to help you with your food prices.
I hope you find this menu planner printable pack helpful and inspiring so you can start planning meals for your own family. I know when I meal plan, I save time, money and stress.
