One of the questions that I have been asked many times over the last few years is how do I plan my grocery shopping and menu plan each week.
I know many of you have questions because you are over whelmed with where to start when it comes to menu planning and others of you are looking for ways to change up what may not be working for you when it comes to menu planning and grocery shopping.
I recently mentioned doing a post on the subject on Facebook and many of you thought it was a great idea. So, over the next few weeks I am going to share how I plan my menu and my grocery shopping.
I also hope to share a few shopping trips with you and how I choose what meals I will make for the week. I am hoping that this will inspire some of you as you plan your menu and shopping trips.
Today I want to start this series by saying there is no one way to shop or plan meals. What works for me may not work for everyone.
I live in the country where there is no store down the street. I have to drive a good distance, so I tend to do one or two large shopping trips each month and then just get the basics in between as it is convenient.
I also order quite a bit online and through Azure Standard. We buy half a beef each year, raise hogs, and my husband and two kids hunt, so meat is something I do not really buy weekly or often. I also keep a well stocked pantry and cupboards.
Many of you may live in the city and have many stores right in your area that you can go to each week and that is great. You can shop all the sales each week and that works for you.
I use some coupons, however I am not an avid couponer, but I know many of you are. Some of you are on tight budgets and others of you have a little more room in your budget for groceries. Some of you deal with food allergies, and some don’t.
We are all different and living different lifestyles. What works for one family will not necessarily work for another family.
The important part of menu planning and grocery shopping is to make a plan that works for you, your family, and your grocery budget. Get ideas from others and see what things you can incorporate into your life, but make it work for you and your family.
If you have any questions or anything specific you want to know when it comes to how I menu plan and grocery shop, please leave a comment and I will try to answer them over the next few weeks.
This will be fun to read. I’m always curious as to how other people do it.
I love finding new recipes for us to try, always using ingredients I readily keep in our home. I menu plan based on what is here, in my stockpile, from the stack of new/family favorites recipes I am in the mood for that week. I normally keep a running menu plan on my smartphone’s homepage and update/delete the meals as I make them. This works for me because I always have my phone with me and work with it constantly all day. I will add any needed ingredients, say for instant we are out of garlic salt, to my grocery list and get it when I shop. I used to shop a few times a week based on sales…but with gas prices at $4 here now and I am a SAHM to our baby boy…that’s not happening. I have switched to trying to go every other week very recently. Milk seems to be what we run out of the quickest.
Looking forward to these posts. As a full-time working mama, I could use meal planning help!
Was wondering where you got your “Menu Planning” notebook?
TIA.
I will share more about that soon. Several others have asked also.
Love your blog. Learned so much.
Can you tell me where you purchased the spiraled weekly menu planner notebook I see in the picture? Thank you.
Several readers have asked, so I will share more information about that soon.
True, there are so many different ways to meal plan and where you live and your budget are big parts of how you go about it! I have found that I am not so much of a coupon clipper any more either because I buy a lot of store brand items and using the coupons (even when they were doubled) are still not as good a deal on the national brands. Plus, if you look at what coupons are the food products are most often for a lot of processed foods which we don’t eat.
There are so many resources available for learning how to meal plan (online, friends, books, etc.) the important thing to remember is to get started in baby steps and just get started! I have been doing it so long now it is just second-nature.
I am also wondering where you got the menu planning notebook, as well 🙂
I will share more information on that soon.