Meal Planning - update!

I am proud to say I have been doing quite well with my meal planning these days.  It's still challenging to find variety each month with two picky eaters but I'm working on it. This month, November, I have decided to throw in a meal of Lamb Chops.  My husband has never tried lamb and neither has my son.  I used to cook a lot of lamb so it's time to get back to it.  If they like it we may get some freezer lamb from the lady who processes our chickens.  You can't beat anything fresh from a local farm, lamb would be no exception.

I didn't realize until I started meal planning that I was cooking the same boring stuff all the time. BBQ steak was on that first meal plan at least 4 times.  Granted it was a summer month but still there's much more to summer cooking than BBQ steak!  My meal planning is bringing me back to my old recipes, the ones I cooked years ago when I worked in a small town that had no fast food restaurants and a husband who actually preferred home cooked meals.

I have been using Pinterest a lot to source new recipes.  My November meal plan contains 5 new recipes.  BBQ steak is only on the menu once ha ha.

We are also saving money!  There is a noticeable difference in our bank account. I realize this should not be a shock but our excuse was always "we don't drink alcohol and we don't smoke so it's okay to indulge in take-out".......  I am keeping track of what we spend on take-out now, it is the only way I can make my husband truly see how much it is costing us and how much we could save.  

It is very tempting when you are tired after a hard days work to just swing by a restaurant.  No cooking, no dishes.....And some days take-out is inevitable, like the days my husband works a double shift and I get off work at 6pm.  I have actually scheduled those inevitable take-out days into the meal plan .....  But there are nights there is no excuse not to cook.  Our biggest obstacle most nights was the fact that I had nothing planned and no food out of the freezer.  I was throwing frozen steak on the BBQ last minute.  With our meal calendar I simply look ahead to see what meals are coming up, head to the freezer, get what I need and put it in the fridge.  Last night I came upstairs with a shopping bag full of frozen meats for the next few days.  I thought - "this is like grocery shopping right in my own house".  I used to throw out a ton of spoiled vegetables.  Now I only purchase what vegetables I need for upcoming meals.  I used to purchase vegetables so I had what I needed on hand for whatever I might make.  I now realize how dumb that was.  Some things like canned goods and frozen vegetables can be stocked to have on hand but to buy fresh vegetables with no plan as to how you will use them is a waste of money.

I have used colour coding on my calendar as well.  The days my husband cooks is orange, take-out days are red and new recipe days are blue.  

Here is a link to my Pinterest account where you will find my recipe boards:

http://www.pinterest.com/luv2cook2/boards/

I almost gave up on my meal plan a few times as I was finding it very time consuming to prepare and frustrating to think of meals ahead of time.  I have learned that putting the work into it today makes tomorrow much easier.  I save my past calendars to see what we have eaten the previous months.  I don't have a detailed meals list, just my prepared calendars.  I am learning as I go, saving money is a huge incentive to stick with it not to mention the health benefits.  I hope hearing my journey is helpful to you and encourages you to give meal planning a try.

'til next time!