Want to get organized with your meal planning?
Then this is the blog post for you!
Nothing excites me more than being organized in the kitchen. When I'm on top of things everything seems to run like a smooth ship. Mama stays happy and the kids get fed. And really that is all that is important, right?
I'm kind of old school. Yeah, I have an iPhone and I'm sure there are 1.4 million different apps to organize my grocery lists and pick the best meals for me, but in the end I just enjoy taking an old pen to the paper and writing it down.
If you are like me, then this blog post is for you.
I got a little bored the other night when making my grocery list {on the back of an envelope from a old bill I might add} and I thought, 'this would be a lot more fun if I had something PRETTY to write this all down on'.
So I created a quick one and printed it off.
I then went back to my grocery list and then promptly forgot about it. I went about my day. Feeding kids, chasing a dog, running errands, blah, blah, blah. And then, I kid you not, I woke up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and while sitting upon the throne {sorry, TMI?} my thoughts went back to that printable I had made earlier in the day.
If I liked using it, wouldn't others too?
The timing on this could not have been more perfect. The other two kids jetted off with their grandparents for a few days to visit family, so miraculously I had a wee bit more time on my hands. With the youngest napping one day I created four others + a freezer inventory sheet {I'll explain that later}.
I wanted to give you guys something that you too could print off and use in your home. These are perfect for jotting down your ideas, what is needed at the store, taking it with you while shopping and then pinning it to the fridge when you get home.
I like to put mine on the side of the fridge right next to my pantry where I can see it multiple times a day. I'm busy, and even when I often glance at it right after breakfast, by lunch I'm looking at it again because I got distracted and never got out meat to thaw for dinner. That is MY life.
I've also found everyone likes their menu plans and shopping lists to look different, so I got all crazy on ya and created five different ones. I figured between the five you could find one you like, right?
If not, we're not friends.
You're too high maintenance for me.
And I guess if you only like those phone apps that do all of this and much more, you've probably stopped reading by now. But me? I like to write. I don't like to put down my phone, in my purse in the store {and it ultimately gets buried}, only to have to pick it up again because I can't remember what I just read, punch in my password {again}, open up the app {again} and then finally remember what I was supposed to be looking for.
We've come full circle folks.
I hope you share this with your friends. I want you to share this with your friends! Especially your mommy friends. Don't you think they'll love it?
Or if you are really feeling generous, just go ahead and print some off for your friends and hand deliver them. Knock on the door, hand them over and pray you haven't insulted them.
Maybe only give them to your "really good friends". Because really good friends don't get insulted when you tell them the truth.
You're very disorganized and I now you need help with meal planning and grocery shopping. Here you go. See ya later.
Let's not think I'm giving all the love to what we NEED TO BUY. We also need to pay some attention to our deep freeze.
Do you have one? We do. The don't call it a deep freeze for nothing. Stuff gets lost in that black hole. Your best cuts of meat can get shoved to the back to only be found 6 months later covered in freezer burn.
So like any good food blogger I created a freezer inventory sheet. When that baby is full, go ahead and write down EVERYTHING that is in there. Everything. Then tape this sheet to the freezer door. Whenever you pull something out of there, cross it off the list. You will know exactly what you have at all times. And the same goes for when you go to the store and pick up a couple of things and mindlessly throw them in the freezer. Write them down on the sheet. Keep the list up to date and you'll never lose that rump roast again.
So let's say you also need help picking the meals you want to make for the week, well I have a solution for that too!
Here are some very popular meal planning posts I've put together the last couple of years. Take the help wherever you can get it!
Each graphic is printable, so just click on it and it will take you to the Google Drive site I set up. Print some copies off and get to work.
Enjoy!
