Meal Planning

When I was pregnant with Lily, I started to plan out our weekly meals. We found that it saved us a ton of money on grocery shopping when we planned ahead. I try to spend around $50 a week on groceries when I meal plan. This includes dinner, lunch, breakfast, and snack items. We also make almost everything from scratch which helps us to save as well. Over the last month or so we have been eating out a ton and grabbing quick stuff to make at home because of the move. This has resulted in us not eating as healthy, but it also has been getting expensive. Even though we do not have our kitchen stuff yet, I decided we needed to get back on track with our eating habits.

I used to meal plan on Mondays, but I have now switched to Wednesdays because my new favorite store, Sprouts Farmers Market, runs sales starting on Wednesday. If you shop on Wed. you get the previous week's sales plus the upcoming week's sales. I love everything about this place! It is actually an indoor market similar to Trader Joes on the east coast. They have just about any produce you could possibly think of and their prices are awesome! Today I picked up a ton of produce and 3 packs of organic chicken breasts for just $20! I was excited about the 49 cent avocados and cantelope. In addition to Sprouts, I have also been picking up a few groceries at the new Super Wal-Mart by our house. There are a few things that are always cheaper at Wal-Mart.

I am going to attempt to post my meals every Wednesday (this is for you Amanda) on the Weekly Meal Plans page on my blog. You can get to it by clicking here or on the link to the right under pages. Most of my meals do not have recipes online, however if you ever need the recipe just ask! Although I only had to plan 4 meals for the week, it was a little more difficult than normal since we only have one pot, one pan, and a handful of plastic utensils in our kitchen right now.

My next kitchen adventure may be to try OAMC (Once a Month Cooking)! I can't wait to have my "kitchen" back!