Spring is here! I’m looking forward to the warmer temps and the sun but no so much the rain & thunderstorms. However, these Etsy finds make me dislike the rain a little less.
Make sure you click on each pic and visit the shops!
XOXO,
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Friday, March 26, 2010
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
{What’s Your Flavor?}
I sure hope summer gets here soon, I’m FREEZING! I’m ready for it to be so hot that I can’t wait to stock up on my favorite flavors of ice cream.
So tell me, what’s your favorite flavor?
Monday, March 22, 2010
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Monday, March 15, 2010
{Meals for a Month, Part II}
Ok, so did everyone get their master list and recipes together? Did you try to schedule your meals on a calendar? Are you ready for the next steps? If you missed Part I, you can read it here.
Once I got my recipes together, I decided that I wanted to actually have recipe cards for each. This way, hubby can have exact instructions in case I have to work late or for some other reason, can’t get dinner started. There are several options online for recipe cards. I’ve seen some printable cards on Etsy.
However, I used the free printable cards on Skip to My Lou. They have it set up perfectly! All you have to do is enter your ingredients and instructions and it puts in on the card for you to print. You can find them here.
So, I have my menu and my recipes, now it’s time to make the shopping list. I did this on a new tab in my Excel file that contained my menu. On my shopping list I had 3 columns, one for quantity, one for the item, and one to order the items by how they can be found in the store (you have to know your store pretty well for that last one). Then, I went online to the coupon sites that I frequent (couponsurfer & coupons.com) and printed off the coupons for the items I needed. I also went through my coupon organizer to see if I had any coupons there too (I actually ended up throwing all of them away because they were expired). I’m not very good at the coupon thing yet but that’s a goal of mine…..I’ve got to get our grocery bills down! Once I gathered my coupons, I noted next to the item on my list that I had a coupon and how much is was for. Once I had my shopping list complete, I placed a number in the 3rd column that indicated the order in which the store has these items then I did a sort to get all the like items together. Lastly, print your list and get to the store!
| Qty | Item | |
| 1 | Contact Solution (Coupon $1/1) | 1 |
| 1 | Milk | 2 |
| 1 | Dozen Eggs | 2 |
I did my grocery shopping tonight and it went super quick with the way I organized my list. I got to the store and back in about an hour so I think I’ll be sticking with my shopping list format!
I haven’t quite decided how to display my menu and recipes cards for each week’s meals but I’ll definitely share once I do! For now, they are on the refrigerator….who knows, they may end up staying there. ;)
Sunday, March 14, 2010
{Meals for a Month, Part I}
Let me start by saying that I am, in no way, an organization/planning guru. This is something that I have come up with by researching other methods and combing pieces to work for me and my style/personality.
Something that I absolutely hate to do is figure out what to have for dinner each night and my hubby is absolutely no help with this task either. Our conversations usually go a little something like this:
Hubby: What are we having for dinner?
Me: I don’t know, what sounds good?
Hubby: I don’t know, what do we have?
Me: I don’t know, go look?
Hubby: Well I don’t know what we need to make anything?
Me: Well what do you want?
Hubby: I don’t know, what sounds good?
Needless to say, we usually end up going out and grabbing fast food. Ugh!
In the past, I have actually created a menu for the week (in no organized fashion) and found that it made my life less stressful just knowing that I didn’t have to think about what to make for dinner. However, I’m no good at consistency so there have been weeks where we eat out all week.
Today, I actually sat down and was determined to plan some meals and my shopping list for the rest of the month. About a year ago, I first attempted a meal planning system by making a Master list of meals that I typically make. When I started planning today, I referred to that list, did some recipe searches on the web and came up with my meal plan (in Excel).
| Week of March 14th | Week of March 21 | Week of March 28 | |||
| Sunday | Meatloaf | BBQ Brisket | |||
| Monday | Tex Mex Stir Fry | Hot Dogs | Chicken Enchilada Casserole | ||
| Tuesday | Hamburgers | Leftovers | Leftovers | ||
| Wednesday | MacNCheese with Smoked Sausage | Spaghetti | Taco Salad | ||
| Thursday | Grilled Chicken Salad | Leftovers | Leftovers | ||
| Friday | Beef Enchiladas | Meatball Subs | Out | ||
| Saturday | BBQ Monterey Chicken | Out | Garlic Basil Applesauce Pork chops |
I started my list by reviewing what I already had and planning meals around that. Once I had my list together, I scheduled it out trying to alternate chicken and beef and mixing in some really easy quick meals. I’ve also added in some Leftover days which are when hubby has school so it’s easier to just heat something up since he’s only home for a very short time before heading off to school. You’ll also notice that I added in a couple of Eat Out days….everyone needs a break from cooking right? However one of those days I know we will be celebrating a birthday by eating out so that’s why I scheduled it for that particular day.
Stay tuned because on Tuesday I’ll be posting Part II which will include making a shopping list and collecting the recipes for the meals I’ve planned.
Until then, check out some of the Meal Planning finds I discovered on Etsy.
If you have questions, I’d be glad to answer them. You can ask in the comments or email me! Also, if you already have a meal planning system, I’d love to hear about that too!
Happy Planning!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
