How to Meal Plan for a Whole Month

I'll kick this off by saying I like grocery shopping and I like cooking for my family (feeding them is a different story. I'll just say kids are tough sometimes!)

Now that you all question my level of sanity I'll get on with how I meal plan for a whole month and give you the high points of why I plan out a month at a time.

I first did this on a whim, right before Gabe was born because I knew I wasn't likely going to be taking my newborn out of the house for a couple weeks and I was getting a little bored waiting around for baby Gabe to make his appearance.  Oh - and my husband said I should try it (but this is my blog and my story so let's pretend that this was all me!  Kidding, kidding.)  Regardless of whose idea it was (thanks Adam, you do know what you're talking about sometimes) it worked really well!  It saved time, money and my sanity as well as reduced food waste.  All wins!

Here's how it works:

First, I use this Go-To Meal Ideas form from Emily Ley.
Next, I list out 20 meals for the month and note where to find the recipe.
Then I build my grocery list.
Finally, I go grocery shopping.
All that's left to do is pick a meal from the list on the fridge and make it!

The interesting thing about grocery shopping is that I can spend the same amount of money if I plan for a week of meals as I do for a month of meals.  Does anyone else experience that?!  Needless to say, planning for a month rather than a week is definitely a money saver!

Tips for success:

1. Cook meals with similar ingredients within 5 days to reduce food waste.
2. Store what you can in the freezer until you use it, things like bread and cheese.  If you don't use it all (specialty breads that work for one meal) put it back in the freezer.
3. Make meals with fresh ingredients within the first week.
    I still stop at the grocery store regularly to pick up additional fresh ingredients, milk and things I forgot.
4. Substitute frozen fruit and vegetables when you can to save a few dollars.

In the end I plan about 20 meals to pick from.  I cook breakfast and one planned meal a day for my family, even on weekends.  Saturdays I cook lunch since church is at 6:30pm - we do something quick, like buttered noodles, for supper for the boys. Sundays we plan an evening meal.  Sunday lunches are usually leftovers or sandwiches.  For side dishes, I just list out the possibilities and pair them with a meal - no shame is making the same side dish twice in a month.  Then of course there are pizza nights, date nights and other days we eat leftovers.

I should also note that we stock our freezer beef, pork and whole chickens so the only protein I purchase from the grocery store is pork chops (I buy a loin and have the meat counter cut it when they are on sale - $1.49/lb is a good sale in Iowa), bacon, lunch meat, and frozen chicken breasts. In the summer we have a garden so we freeze green beans and carrots.

I'll post my monthly meal plans to my Facebook page so make sure to follow me there to download my list of monthly meals!  You can also download my April Meal Plan here.