menu for the week {organization!}

Before we bought our house, we lived in a 3 bedroom apartment in the city.
"In the city..." --> I laugh at that. Only because we aren't truly out in the country now {shhh! don't let the cows know I said that!}, but the closest grocery store is a little over 5 miles down the road. Whereas, when we lived in Tempe, I had a choice of stores, including Costco, almost at arm's length.

I found that with since moving here, plus the added expenses of owning a home, we've totally gone off of our menu/organization/grocery shopping plan. It used to be that Isabel and I would prep the kitchen, make our lists, and then go shopping very early on Saturday mornings. Very early. Now...? There's really no rhyme or reason. Except for our Costco trips (p.s. closest Costco? 16 miles down the road).

With this new found lack of organization, all of a sudden, the daughter goes to make a cake and there is no oil. NO OIL!? That's never happened before. Or... the kids are eating full meals for snacks, because there is nothing quick and easy to grab.

For the sake of my own sanity, I've decided to pull out all of my old spreadsheets and methods and update them a little. In our monthly budget, I have $500 set aside for groceries and toiletries. I also have $300 set aside for Costco (which includes dog food, meat, cheese, and other bulk items).

Now more than ever, I need to STICK to those numbers. In addition, I need to quit serving the same old meals, I serve all of the time. Tacos, sausage, veggies and pasta, etc. I need to branch out a little more {more on that later}.

This is where the weekly menu comes in. If I write it down... I have to stick to it, right?

Here's a close up of one of my forms... the meal plan and shopping list.

Based on the flyers I scoured through (see above) and the coupons I have on hand, I filled out my menu and our shopping list. For each day of the week, I've listed out breakfasts, lunches and dinners.

In addition, I made the sheet, laminated it and then broke it out by breakfast, lunch, snack and dinner - for each day of the week. This is the copy that will be hanging on the fridge for the family to see.

Ignore the huge GREEN writing... it was the only dry erase marker I had on hand. Hmmm, I need to add that to my shopping list - new markers.

It took me a while to get everything back up and running... but we are ready for our shopping on Thursday.
On Sunday, I am having the family over for Easter - but after that, we are sticking to the schedule. I have 30 coupons that I cut from the paper this past Sunday (okay, two papers)... and based on my shopping list, I am going to go online and see if I can find/print any more. Anything to save a few bucks. ;)

Now that this part of the process is done, I am working on creating a family friendly recipe book to keep on hand for when I am planning meals. The goal is to try one new recipe each week.