We have 3 kids between the ages of 2 and 20. Living in our house. Eating our food. Guess how sick we are of hearing “What’s for dinner?”
I am the sleep-deprived woman wearing pajama pants and a sweatshirt, wandering the aisles of the nearest super market, tossing brightly colored packages of carbs into a shopping cart while a toddler practices her unbuckling skills and acrobatics. I always come home with an SUV full of groceries. None of them are ingredients for actual meals.
Coffee, wine, and cookie dough are not a problem. Those I manage to keep well-stocked. Produce, meat, and dish soap, however… well it’s tough to remember what we need sometimes! A couple years ago we got to the point where we were spending hundreds of dollars a week at the grocery store. And hundreds more ordering pizza because we had nothing to make meals with. We were getting kind of fat and our wallets were staying very skinny. Something had to change–we had to start planning!
I’ve tried other grocery lists and meal planners. The shopping checklist I had on the fridge in college was a great way to keep track of when we needed more beer and ramen–not so great for making sure the fridge is stocked with family-friendly meal fixings. The giant mom-schedule-and-meal-planning note pad I bought when I deemed myself a “real grownup” helped us plan healthy meals, but we’d get to the store and forget we were out of toilet paper. Kind of important.
Failing to find what I needed in a meal planner, I set out to make my own! My weekly menu planner offers the best of both worlds: Sections for planning meals for the week at the top (the open-ended blocks of space allow you to plan just dinner or every meal of the day), lines for meal ingredients below, and a super-useful checklist for marking off staples as you run out!
Pre-planning our meals for the week and sticking to a list while at the store has helped us stay on budget and helped us eat healthier as a family. As a bonus, we don’t end up staring at a fridge full of condiments at 6:00 with no dinner ideas.
For a while, I was printing off my own, but who wants to print off planning sheets every week or keep a stack of loose papers around? Busy moms (and busy people who aren’t moms!) need something better! A notepad! I’m so excited to announce the launch of my new menu planner note pad! Available in four bright an modern designs! Get yours now!
Want to personalize one for a gift? Act fast! Personalization will only be offered through November 1st!
I want to hear from you! How do you keep your meals organized? What do you look for in a meal planner? Is there a way I can make this planner more useful for you–or are there other planners/notepads you need?
Get Fresh 