Every week when its quiet at work I sit down and plan out the meals I’ll cook for the following week. I usually do this the day before I go grocery shopping. I make a list of each day and write beside it what I’ll be making for dinner that day. This isn’t anything set in stone per se, but it helps me get a basic idea so I can make up my grocery list. Meal planning helps me to get in and out of the grocery store faster, and I always know exactly what I need. After I make the list of what I need I’ll actually RE write the list by section…I’ll put all the produce first, then the “middle section” odds and ends, the meat, the dairy, etc. and I order it by where it is in the store. Is that totally crazy? It only takes me an extra minute to re-order the list but for some reason it helps me so much because if I don’t do it then I inevitably overlook something in the produce section and by the time I realize it, I’m on the other side of the store and have to run back over to other sections I already visited! That’s a huge pet peeve of mine, so ordering the list based on where it is in the store helps me save time. (Until they decide to rearrange the store. I hate that so much! haha)
Another thing that I started doing recently to help myself with meal planning is to make a “menu” of sorts to leave out in the kitchen somewhere to remind me of all the meal ideas I had for the week. Before making a menu, I had trouble remembering everything I had planned to make for the week because I usually wrote it down on my grocery list that got lost or thrown out. I decided to design a cute menu that I could print out and keep in the kitchen so I would know exactly what I need to prep each day for that night’s dinner. I thought it turned out really cute so I wanted to share it with you guys!
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I found this cute frame on Amazon that is also a magnet! It is front loading so you just slide your piece of paper in there and stick it on the fridge. How cute is this!? Its half decoration, half functional organizational tool. Find the frame here!
Print out the menu below and add your meal plan! Stick it in a frame, use a magnet to put it on the fridge, or get a magnetic frame for it. Enjoy!
Do you use a meal plan or do you just wing it? What are you making for dinner this week? Let me know in the comments. 😉