Ok so one of the first new things I wanted to try was meal planning. Meal planning is quite simple - writing down the meals you want to create for seven days, then creating your grocery list based on the ingredients you will need for those seven days.
I decided to do this because I either overbuy or under-buy at the grocery store. So by the end of the week I am either throwing out some molding veggies, or I am making a mid-week trip to the grocery store again because we don't have enough meat or whatever. And since we are being honest, I shop at the cheapy-stores most of the time, so when it's night time and we need extra food, I end up at the 24 hour A&P or Sobeys grocery store which jacks up their prices because they are the only two 24 hour stores in town!
Ok, rant over....
So you see my point. Meal planning will help in regards to cost savings and time savings. No more sitting in your Kitchen looking around saying 'What should I make for dinner tonight?'
So I have been looking around for different types of meal planners. There is software, books, and plain ol' charts you can use.
Software: I very rarely buy software, so almost all software I post will be free. Unfortunately, the free versions of the meal planners just don't cut it. Lots of bugs and not enough features. But if you are a die-hard techie (I do everything online/computer), here is the best software I found. It is a 60 day free trial, st which point you need to buy. I think the cost was $25.99? Close enough...lol.
http://www.ffts.com/
It has
- Nutritional analysis
- Creates a shopping list based on your recipes
- Shopping list cost comparisons
- Recipe database
- Much, much more.
Plain ol' charts and manual writing: I downloaded a free meal-planner template from Microsoft.com. It is 7 days worth of meals, including snacks,
printable,
type-able, useful. I will be
keeping my meal plans and grocery lists in a binder so I can always remember recipes, cost effectiveness, etc. Maybe I can get to a point where I have enough recipes to rotate over 2 months!
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/TC010183031033.aspxNow another option is like the first picture, simply writing it out on any paper. Easy, no printer ink required. I just like charts....LOL
I have already gone shopping for this week (go figure) but on the weekend I will upload pics of my planned meals and grocery list. Hopefully this whole thing works!
Enjoy and Salaam!
So - since my last post, I had a baby girl (mashaAllah) and finances are stretched even more thin. Maternity leave is done and now within a year we went from two full time incomes for 2 people, to one full time income for 5 people. Let me say, ALHAMDULILLAH for the one income. 
