I came across I'm an Organizing Junkie's Menu Plan Monday about 6 months ago. When I was working and before C we would eat out at least 3 times a week. I look back now and I think "Oh my gosh! Think about how much money we wasted eating out!!" If you add that up, let's say 3 times a week at $25 a meal. That's $75 a week for 52 weeks... that's $3900!! Think about what you could do with an extra almost $4000. Crazy.
So, when we went down to one income we needed that extra money. I started looking for ways to save and one of the first things to go was eating out, insert sad face here. I started first by using Hamburger Helper meals and premade foods and realized that wasn't saving much money either. I had to come up with a food budget and stick with it. I had to find a way to make meals that are good too. I started searching recipes and blogs for ideas. Generally, I like to cook and I'm pretty good at it. I just hate to make things that take forever.
Then I stumbled across I'm an Organizing Junkie. She has great reasons for menu planning and it works, not only to save money but, to save time in the kitchen. Check out her 13 Reasons to Menu Plan. I started menu planning immediately after I came across this. I would plan out my meals a month in advance, make my list, cut my coupons and go shopping. I managed to keep my grocery budget at $250 a month. It was awesome but, I got burnt out. So, I started doing it in 2 week increments instead of 1 month. This helped a lot. I stuck to my budget and I have the freedom to move the meals around in the 2 week period if I need to.
Each Monday, I'll start posting my menus for the week and I'll start linking the related recipes.
Monday: Pork Chop Surprise
Tuesday: Chicken Breasts and Veggie Pasta
Wednesday: Chicken Enchilada Casserole
Thursday: Spaghetti Casserole
Friday: Leftovers
Saturday: Homemade Pizza and Breadsticks
Sunday: Leftovers
For more information and recipe ideas head over to I'm and Organizing Junkie to check Laura out!
