When we were first married, I brought up menu planning to The Man. After all, it's the popular thing to do (if you're a blog reader, it seems that everyone does it!) There are tons of cute ideas and printables to help make this chore easier. And as a newly married women, I was eager to jump in with two feet. The Man, not so much. He didn't want to be locked into a meal plan, even after I described that we didn't have to be locked in. So no meal planning for me. Instead we stocked up on our staples at Costco and the Commissary. Our staples may not be your staples...ours include diced tomatoes, tomato paste, cranberry juice, chicken breast, ground beef, pork, chicken broth, flour, noodles, onions, potatoes, carrots, celery...you get the idea. There is lots you can do with these items. And it worked for us.
One kink in our system was when I wanted to try a new recipe I would often have to buy some of the ingredients just for that recipe. If I didn't use it all it would often go to waste. Then I feel bad. I hate wasting food. I've lived in countries where hunger was a very real issue that was visible (I know it's an issue here in the US but I don't think it's as easily seen as it is in some other countries).
Then last week happened. Since I had been gone and no food shopping had been done, we didn't have a lot to work with. Money had been spent on other things and while we still had some, I didn't want to spend more than we needed to on food. So I made a meal plan to maximize food usage and saving money. It worked GREAT! I decided on what meals we wanted and then got what we needed just for those recipes. During the week we decided what we wanted to eat when. The end result...we enjoyed our meals AND saved money AND had the flexibility. SCORE! The Man is now on board.
I've started a master list of recipes/meals we enjoy so I can pull from that. I'm excited because I think this will help us enjoy those meals that I forget about and it will be easier to try new recipes. We're also looking to save some money and I know this will help!
Do you meal plan?
What are some of your favorite meals/recipes?
Any tips for a newbie meal planner?
