Meal planning

 Up until this past fall I had never taken the time to sit down and write out a meal schedule for the week, I just didn't think it was necessary. On top of that a meal plan seems so constricting like once you write down your meals for the week and buy all of the groceries you are tied in whether you feel like chicken casserole on Tuesday night or not. How wrong I was. Not only is planning out our weekly meals more economical, it is also fun! I really had to change my mindset about the whole thing. Planning doesn't have to be about wracking your brains for hours every weekend trying to come up with meals for the week or just using the same old recipes over and over again. I look at it as a chance to try new recipes and make fun meals each week.

A meal schedule is also much more versatile than I thought it would be. There is so much freedom within each recipe to modify ingredients to suit your needs on any given day. Also, if something just isn't sounding good to us one night we will do one of 3 things: cut it out of the plan all together, switch it with another night's meal, have a mini date night and eat out!

My love of reading food blogs helps me to explore the culinary world with just the click of a mouse. If I find a recipe during the week I want to try I bookmark the page so that I can remember it for our next week of meals. This ensures that I always have several different recipes to draw from when planning meals. I have found this method to be so fun because I get exposed to so many different writers and recipes throughout the week.

Some of my favorite food blogs:

*Sugar Crafter - for sweet and savory
*Smitten Kitchen - just a good, well written blog
*Eat, Live, Run - every recipe I have tried has been delish
*Oh She Glows - for vegan and vegetarian recipes
*Tasty Kitchen - a compilation of different recipes/food blogs
*Pinterest - Although its not technically a blog there are SO MANY recipes to browse through, love it

Sample of my weekly grocery list + meal plan:








I like to list my meals on the back of the grocery list so that I can make sure I have all of the ingredients for each recipe before going to the store. Also, your list does not have to look like a piece of trash...it might even up the "fun" factor if you buy yourself a cute little grocery notebook or something.

*Sausage,Kale,& White Bean soup - Sugar Crafter
*Chicken Gyros - The Girl Who Ate Everything
Spicy Thai Noodles - A Small Snippet
*Turkey Pot Pie - Sugar Crafter

*Recipes we love