The JOY of Meal Planning!

It’s taken me a year to get this down to a science. I believe I have one of the easiest methods out there, but everyone has their own way that works for their family. Try out the method that works best for you. Here’s mine:

First - Make a list of Main Courses and Sides. These should be things that you already know how to make.  

You may include things like frozen pizzas, and other things you frequently make, even if its not homemade. Of course, I recommend making everything homemade. Its cheaper and healthier to make food yourself. If you don’t believe me, you’ll find out after a few weeks of feeding your family for under $20 a week.

ANYWAY. Put your two lists into plastic page covers, and stick them on the fridge or somewhere you won’t lose them. My toddler often steals them off the fridge and adds her scribbles.

Getting Started!!!!!!

Look in your freezer and fridge first, see what you have on hand that needs used up, or could be used to make a different meal. Then check your pantry (soups, pasta, mixes.) Write down what you see.

Now, go to your 2 lists of meals you know how to make. 

Using the ingredients you already have, see if you can make any meals without buying a thing. (This is my favorite. We call it our “Chopped” challenge like on Food Network- Using only things on hand to make a meal.)You’ll be surprised HOW MANY meals you can make if you really try. I usually get to about Thursday in my weekly plan.

Try to plan for variety in a week, Beef on Monday, chicken on Tuesday, soup on Wednesday and so on. Try not to repeat the same flavors back to back. Keep in mind you will be eating leftovers the next day, so you wouldn’t want meatballs on Tuesday, then again for lunch on Wednesday, followed by meatloaf on Wednesday night. Too much beef!

Ask your husband/children if they have any special requests for the week.

Work through the week (or whole month) planning out what you want to eat. Then write a grocery list of what you need from the grocery store. Start with a goal of $50 MAX per week for groceries. I don’t care how big your family is. Try it. The longer you do this, and the more you use the freezer method, you should be able to get your total even lower. 
HOWEVER, if the store is running a GREAT deal on meat, or soups, or something you use a lot of, use your extra cash to bulk up your freezer & pantry. Say your planned meals were about $30. Go ahead and spend the extra $20 occasionally to buy the sale items. A few times a year you will have to spend over $50 to get your stockpile of chicken/beef and treats built up again. But believe me, its infrequent. 

Post your weekly plan on the fridge, and check every night if you need to thaw something for the next day. The day of- just relax! You know what you’re making! You have all the ingredients you need! Make delicious food!

Note: The fifty dollar limit does NOT mean you cannot enjoy steak, organic produce, Ben & Jerry’s, or other expensive splurges. I think we've eaten healthier, and had more options as a result of this method that we ever did before. Say you’re planning out the week of Father’s day. Let’s say Father’s day is a Monday. Pencil it in and plan the rest of the week budgeting out for the cost of daddy’s steak. Pasta salad and baked potatoes are very cheap to make for steak sides. Add a bag of potato chips and you’re good.  Have the extra pasta salad for lunch with a sandwich on Tuesday. Use the extra potatoes in that 5lb bag to make mashed potatoes with baked chicken on Wednesday. Have toasted cheese & tomato soup on Thursday. Super cheap. Make pulled buffalo chicken salads on Friday, and use up the  potato chips that evening for your Red Box movie night. Saturday grill up veggie skewers with shrimp, and make bruschetta for an appetizer. Sunday go out for lunch. Boom! You did it.


How to use Freezer Meals with Meal Planning:

To me, the best part of freezer cooking is what LITTLE time it takes to make a meal when you’re simply thawing out an already cooked supper, and adding fresh elements.

Say Tuesday is my Spaghetti night. 
Monday evening, I go to the freezer and pull out my 1lb bag of Basic Beef Mix. I put the Ziploc bag in a mixing bowl in the fridge to thaw. 
Tuesday evening: While I boil the noodles, dump the Ziploc contents into a skillet to warm up, add a jar of spaghetti sauce, put some garlic bread in the oven and I’m done! 
Dinner in 9 minutes!!!!


Say Wednesday is my taco night.
Tuesday evening, I go to the freezer and pull out my 1lb bag of Basic Taco Mix. I put the Ziploc bag in a mixing bowl in the fridge to thaw.
Wednesday evening: I dump the Ziploc contents into a skillet and heat. Grab your tortillas/hard shell tacos from the pantry. Build tacos on plates. Add cheese, lettuce, whatever you want for toppings! 
Dinner in 15 minutes!!!

The JOY of Freezer Cooking

A few months ago, we started using the FREEZER as our go-to appliance in the kitchen. Weird, right? Little did we know how it would literally CHANGE our life.

I soon found out there are many ways to go about Freezer meals. Typically you pick a day, cook for several hours straight, and freeze everything once it’s cooled. Although I use this method every several months when my stock runs low, there are also easier ways. An alternative is to simply cook extra of your normal meals, with the intention of freezing the leftovers. This way is more practical with my toddler running around. I personally have found success using both.

If you want to try a cooking marathon day, once every several months, start with these suggestions:

Buy chicken and ground beef in bulk whenever it goes on sale. Literally you can never have enough. Cook some of it up with taco seasoning. Cook some of it up with peppers and onions and carrots. I usually have between 7 – 10 lbs on hand, some cooked, some not.
As for the following recipes for beef mixes and chicken stock, I have to thank Natalie over at aturtleslifeforme, the blog. It was a great launching point for my love of freezer meals. Thanks, Natalie!

 Basic Beef Mix to have frozen

 Mix 2 lbs. of ground beef, chopped onions, green peppers and carrots into a non-stick skillet and allow to brown. Adding shredded carrots is a *tasteless* way to incorporate more veggies into your diet. I swear you can’t even see them.  Once this is all cooked and cooled, divide into (2) gallon size freezer bags (If you were using more than 2lbs, divide into more bags so that you end up with roughly a lb of meat per bag + the veggies.) We like to add a thawed bag to spaghetti sauce, but you could also make sloppy joes or use it to top nachos.**See my next post for an example of how to incorporate this mix into meal planning.

Basic Taco Mix to have frozen

Cook up 2 lbs. of ground beef and add taco seasoning. Cook till brown, cool and divide up between 2 gallon size freezer bags.  It’s great to pull out for tacos, taco salads, topping for a baked potato, or nachos. **See my next post for an example of how to incorporate this mix into meal planning.

Chicken Stock and Shredded Chicken

  It’s also useful to make your own chicken stock and shredded chicken. Simply put bone-in chicken pieces in a large pot with water. Add a lot of carrots, celery, onions (quartered) whatever spices you like.  I simmer it, covered for about an hour or until the chicken is cooked, but the longer it simmers, the better.  Pull your chicken out, throw away the veggies and let the broth cool.  Once the broth is cool, freeze it in 1 cup increments (Quart size bags) for chicken stock for other meals.  Shred the chicken into small pieces, and freeze the shreddings into quart size bags too. You can make buffalo chicken salad,BBQ it for on top of a baked potato, chicken salad, chicken tacos, or enchiladas.


I make beef mix, taco mix, chicken stock and shredded chicken every few months during a cooking marathon. It usually takes me about 3-4 hrs to end up with 10 or so pounds of beef and taco mixture, 10 or so cups of chicken stock, and 6 quarts of pulled chicken. SO WORTH IT!!!!!!!!!!! Stay tuned for how to use these freezer meals in meal planning.


BUT- say you don’t want to go to all that fuss yet….You can still make freezer meals!

If you make more lasagna (or other casseroles) than you can eat in two days time, take the remainders, slice them into fat strips, wrap in plastic wrap and aluminum foil, and put in a labeled freezer bag. The night before you want them, thaw them in the fridge. Then heat up the slice in a baking pan in the oven, with garlic bread at the same time. Walla! Dinner in a flash. Don’t waste anything you worked hard to prepare. Freeze it instead of putting it in the fridge to be forgotten! That’s a great meal that’s ready on a day you’re just too tired to cook!



I freeze *literally* everything. Just make sure you label and date everything.  Here are some of my freezer staples:

Chopped Onion and celery

Chopped *Stop Light* Peppers (Red, Yellow, Green)

Grated Carrots
Frozen potatoes – French Fries, Hash browns, Tator tots, etc.
Butter Blocks
Shredded cheese – all flavors
Hamburger/Hotdog buns
Loaves of Bread
Cooked Pancakes/Waffles (30 seconds in the microwave and ready to eat!)
Hotdogs
Bacon/Sausage
Pepperoni
Beef Mixtures
Marinated chicken, steak, shrimp
Juice Concentrates
Fruit Puree’s
Casseroles in strips


Most things do just fine in the freezer for 3-6 months, some items can be stored up to a year. Google if you don’t know!