Do you meal plan?

[Mrsjen]

I decided to try meal planning this week and I think I'm hooked! It took me like an hour a d a half to read the flyers for sales and some cook books for ideas and I was done. It's so easy that even my husband looks on the fridge for the plan and has started meals when imbusy instead of just giving dd kraft dinner! Lol

Save time and fat content (as well of course money!)

Just had to share because I'm so excited about it!

[jasperandchar]

We do meal plan (2 adults and 2 kids), everyone gets to pick 1 supper each week (my youngest son always choose burritos or HH), anyhoo we also have Saturday night is restaurant at home night, I make sure I have pizzas or chinese food frozen foods, etc... in the deep freezer and it's great. Save alot of $ doing this, but it is nice to go out once in a while.

[kissjo]

I've been meal planning since the beginning of the year. I meal plan around whats on sale at the store. I've also been using the "money jars", as described in "til debt do us part". I also started grocery shopping only once a week. Not only have I saved money on my grocery bill this year, but there is always food in the fridge. I have a meal plan list on the fridge or I have the recipes printed and leave them on the cupboard. We allocate money every month for a meal out, but we usually use a groupon to go along with this to help save even more money. I think this year is the first year ever that my grocery bills have been under $300/month for 2 people (and this includes our meal out!).

[Daisiefire]

I am Reading gail's book right now and we will be living out of jars and weekly meal planning starting this paycheque.
I like the idea where everyone picks a supper they want
Right now we spend upwards of 600-700 per month on groceries to as little as 135!!and that doesn't include eating out!!!! We are way too sporadic with our shopping..I will go shopping my my MIL, so I don't have to wait for DH to be home.
I'm sure meal planning and weekly shopping trips will help big time.

[misschelsey]

The jar idea is a great idea, I've read all of Gails books and there are some grab habits to take from those books!
I don't divide everything out using jars (I have done it before and It was great! I always seemed to have money at the end of the week and it really teaches you to live with in your means)
Something I do religously is a little side jar. So for example, I had a $400 speeding ticket that I got on the Anthony Henday. It's due April 1st so what I did for the last month is every time I had a little extra change or even $5/$10 bill in my wallet I would empty it out into that jar thoughout the month. I actually had enough money collected that I paid my ticket a week early! But now I owe $530 on my taxes, and I'll be doing the exact same thing. I have already $90 in my little side jar and I'll keep putting misc change, bills etc into the jar and see how much I have by April 30th when my taxes are due. This way I dont "feel it" as much when I need to withdrawl $530 out of my account. Even if I make a $200 dent, its easier to go to the bank and withdraw only a portion of the $530 since I have some in my jar already!

[RedEng]

I've planned out my weekly meals for over a decade, mainly because I don't want to be running to the store everyday for ingredients.

Like Jasperandchar every so often I let the family pick a meal. I only plan 5 meals per week, because there is usually leftovers.

I was getting pretty tired of planning meals and looking through cookbooks, so I created a Spreadsheet. The main columns are labeled by as follows (Seafood, Poultry, Beef/Pork, Vegetarian, Other, Sides). I created three sub-columns under each main column (Recipe Name, Location(i.e. which cookbook), Special Ingredient).

I find the Special Ingredient column most helpful, so that less food goes to waste. For example if one recipe uses 125 mL of Sour Cream, but I buy 500 mL container, I can do a quick search for what other recipes use Sour Cream.

I have a list on the side of my fridge of an inventory of what's in my freezer so I can't choose to use up some meat in the freezer or check what's on sale for the week.

I've also created an electronic folder of recipes I've found on the internet.

[jasperandchar]

sounds like meal planning is the way to go, my kids think it's great picking their 1 night a week meal, I also only plan for 5 meals a week like RedEng, I watch the show 'til debt do us part....it has really good ideas, I think next pay I will start the $ jars, my grocery bills are usually $700-800 a month (2 adults, 2 kids, 2 large breed dogs and the wild birds we feed lol), the price of groceries has gone up so much in the last 3 years alone. I shop for bargains like everyone else, I also started freezing dairy products (cheese, sour cream is great because they often are 50% off if near expiration date - I don't freeze milk because we don't like it).

[start-the-car]

I meal plan too. Been doing this for 5-6 years now. I even keep track of how much we spend for meals. I know pretty anal. Sometimes the kids get a pick. I set the menu on Sunday, takes 1/2hr'ish. I find if I don't do this on Sunday then when it comes to 4:00 on what ever day I'm too lazy to figure out what to make and then we get take out. I don't always stick to the guide/menu but it is a money saver.

[kissjo]

I've planned out my weekly meals for over a decade, mainly because I don't want to be running to the store everyday for ingredients.

Like Jasperandchar every so often I let the family pick a meal. I only plan 5 meals per week, because there is usually leftovers.

I was getting pretty tired of planning meals and looking through cookbooks, so I created a Spreadsheet. The main columns are labeled by as follows (Seafood, Poultry, Beef/Pork, Vegetarian, Other, Sides). I created three sub-columns under each main column (Recipe Name, Location(i.e. which cookbook), Special Ingredient).

I find the Special Ingredient column most helpful, so that less food goes to waste. For example if one recipe uses 125 mL of Sour Cream, but I buy 500 mL container, I can do a quick search for what other recipes use Sour Cream.

I have a list on the side of my fridge of an inventory of what's in my freezer so I can't choose to use up some meat in the freezer or check what's on sale for the week.

I've also created an electronic folder of recipes I've found on the internet.

Wow - you're organized! I thought what I was doing was organized, but you stepped it up a notch.

[mrsfreeman]

we meal plan, and take turns between the 4 of us picking off the list that i make up. i also choose my meals based on sale items and coupons that are nearing expiry. i hate throwing out expired coupons, wahh! this helps me to keep rotating our food (using up older stuff) which is a big saver. apparently north americans waste about 30% of their food! meal planning helps with that big time!! and the DD's really like picking a meal when its their turn!!

[mrsfreeman]

we meal plan, and take turns between the 4 of us picking off the list that i make up. i also choose my meals based on sale items and coupons that are nearing expiry. i hate throwing out expired coupons, wahh! this helps me to keep rotating our food (using up older stuff) which is a big saver. apparently north americans waste about 30% of their food! meal planning helps with that big time!! and the DD's really like picking a meal when its their turn!!

[alwaysdaddysgirl]

I don't meal plan but I always have my freezer stocked up with food. Usually leftovers are frozen so they can just be defrosted. I always have the staples available. Anything can be whipped up in my slowcooker in 4 hours or 8 if in the morning. I should be more organized but there is always something to eat and we haven't thrown anything out in awhile.