My shot at Monthly Menu Planning

I have been in two modes lately... 1) SAVE MONEY & 2) SAVE TIME!  I usually grocery shop once a week on either Sunday night or Monday morning, once a week.  Plus, I always have to run up to the store once or twice a week for something I ran out of or forgot about.  Our grocery store is about 15 minutes away.  So not a huge deal, but still a deal none the less.  So, in order to stop all the grocery visits and get organized.  I decided to try out menu planning.  I hate when I buy random groceries and thought I might use them and then the next thing they are old and waisted!

I had a few friends ask me to write a post about how I'm doing monthly meal planning and then at the end of the month, I'll post about what I would do differently and what I loved!  

Yesterday we joined the Costco world!  So we started, BUT we started with NO plan!  Just looking at stuff we eat a lot of.  Last night after the kids went to bed I searched endlessly for the PERFECT planner.  Every one I found I would tweak a bit, but this one is what I went with.  Yes, I spent $10 on one when you can find them for free of Pinterest.  However, this one was the most "Allyson Friendly" I could find.  I love that the pantry inventory was filled out.  Even if they aren't foods we use, I can white out the words and put other ones over them.  I also liked that the meal planner for the week was broken down into breakfast/lunch/dinner.  I would add snacks too, if I was making my own.  I also made a list of meals we love to eat.  Break them up into categories.  I made a "Winter" & "Summer" list.  And then in the list break up into chicken, beef, seafood, etc.  I really only cook dinners... rarely do big breakfasts unless we have company, so my list only has dinners.  If you have this list, when you are in the middle of trying to come up with a full months worth of meals, you wont get stumped.  I pulled out pinterest and that helped in making the list.

I read a few different blogs on how they meal plan and got several different ways.  One they do an inventory on what they have first and then select meals to fill in they're monthly calendar first, based on what they have.  Another, they fill in the calendar first, then do inventory and base it on what they need.  Oh, on my inventory, I changed the "Use by" to How many I need this month.  I'll explain more in a bit.  So, what did I do?  I chose this month to fill out my calendar first and then do the inventory.  But, next month I will do the other way.  My reasoning is, I didn't have much of anything so there wasn't much of a stock pile, other than flours, sugars, oils, etc.

I got started by filling out my monthly calendar first.  We eat out, usually every Friday and Saturday night, plus I take the kids to lunch 1 day a week.  Other than that, its eat at home. I put on the calendar if we are out of town, or having company.  Then I started filling in the dates with dinners I was going to make.  I only put the main course, not all my sides or dessert.  Then on the side grocery list I wrote everything I'd need to make those (main course only).  Then I printed out of Meal Planner for everyweek.  I filled in what we'd eat at each meal, but this time put all my sides too.  Then same idea on the shopping list side (this time don't put the main course "supplies", remember they are on the other page).  Then I took inventory of what I had already.  I took all the pages, sat down with my phone and the made a note on it of what I needed from the store.  On my weekly shopping list I crossed of what I got.  This way, when I get to that week, I know if I need to get anything from the store.  I bought a lot in bulk!!!  I bought fruits in bulk, because 1) we eat a lot of it and 2) I can freeze most of it and it still taste great later.  Even the bananas I can thaw and then use to bake with or make yummy smoothies. I found 6.75 lbs of 88% lean beef.  And 2.5 lbs of chicken breast.  When I got home I decided that all up into what I would use for a recipe.  Put each amount in a freezer ziplock.  I also bought shredded cheese in bulk.  It freezes and thaws pretty good.  Yes, I will still have to go to the store every week, but after $300 of groceries for the next 3 weeks, I'll only have to go for milk, bread, and some produce.  I also, still have 3 lbs of ground beef for the next month!  One of the things I bought in bulk was Mac 'n' Cheese.  15 boxes!!!  So, we will only use at the VERY most 6 boxes this month.  That means I have enough for almost 3 months.

I know this will take planning ahead & sticking with the menu!

Mother's Day 2013

What a great Mother's Day weekend I had.  Our celebrating really started the weekend before.  My mom and sister came over and stayed the night Friday and then Saturday we woke up and drove to Canton to do some junkin'!  Now that we've moved, we are only about 45 min away!  YAY!  We had a great time!  After we came home the kids, Jeff and I went bowling!  It was the first time we took the kids.  They loved it!  We bowled one game and I have to say, bowling is not my game, but Sadie can bowl!  She must get that from Jeff.  Jury is still out on Tripp ;)

The next day we tried a new church out and then after church went to the grocery store.  On our way I told Jeff where I wanted to eat dinner at Saturday night for my mother's day dinner the next weekend.  I could tell it was killing him to keep his secret.  While in the check out line, her burst.  He said, "I got us a room at the Gaylord for Saturday night!"  How sweet!

So fast forward to this weekend!  Friday night, we took a meal to one of Jeff's new agent and his wife.  They had their 2nd baby boy about 2 weeks ago and we wanted to meet him.  Their other son is 2 and both kids really like him.  We had a great time chatting, eating, and the kids played great.  For 2 hours, their baby didn't make a peep!  Great little boy!

The next day, we went to lunch at Firehouse subs and then headed for Grapevine.  On our drive into the Gaylord, we noticed the Resort Pool was open!  YAY!  It was 82 outside, but a little windy.  We checked in, changed into our swim suits and went to the pool.  It was too chilly for me to get all the way in the pool, but not Sadie!  She started swimming and met another little girl and played for along time.  Tripp didn't want to go too far in either, but played in the zero entry area where Jeff and I laid back and watched.  It wasn't crowded at all so we could relax and not get too worried about the kids getting lost!  After swimming for awhile, we went back to the room and relaxed with a movie.  Then it was dinner time!  We went to one of our favorites, Mellow Mushroom Pizza!  So yummy!  After dinner we went to Grapevine Mills Mall and did a little shopping, then back to the hotel for some ice cream and bedtime.  The next morning we met Nana & Don at Cracker Barrel for breakfast.  

After breakfast we headed home and drove by to look at a lot that we have our eyes on!  We emailed our realtor that evening and put an offer in on it!  Fingers crossed!

What a wonderful Mother's Day weekend!  At one paint, Sadie said, "we need to get mommy flowers & a necklace!"  While that is so sweet of her, Jeff said, "mommy would rather do something fun then get a gift!"  He knows me so well!  Perfect weekend!

What's new with The Whitts???

Well... we will be moving to Caddo Mills!  Jeff has been named the new Agency Manager for Hunt County.  This is a bittersweet move for us.  We've made some very dear friends in Brownwood and have really grown to know it as home.  But, this is a great opportunity for Jeff.  AND, we will only be an hour from my mom and sister, this was a huge selling point for Sadie.  She's excited that she can go visit Chicher this summer easily to work on their favorite hobby together, building Barbie furniture!  The next month or 2 will be a complete whirl wind... but, we'll get through it!

My sweet THREE year old boy!

Today, Tripp turns 3!  It has been such a pleasure being his mommy and watching him grown!  Love you Tripp!!!!

And there's our streaker!!!

During our Community Life Groups, Tripp & Adalyn, my friend April's almost 1 1/2 year old, got into the sunscreen and painted Tripp.  She was crying because it was on her feet and she was slipping.  Hope this isn't a sign of things to come!!!

And she did it again!!!

Yep, Sadie cut her hair again!!!  And her babysitter, Bailey, told us that she told her she wants scissors to cut more!

 The cut

The fixed hairstyle, thanks to the fabulous Amanda!

Breakfast with Santa

Can you Believe Santa and Mrs. Claus came to our church to eat breakfast with us?!?!  And I forgot the camera!!!