Monthly Meal Planning

About the time my daughter turned one, I found it very difficult to do my usual weekly grocery shopping with her.  I started doing some research (on Pinterest :) ) about monthly meal planning.  I was a little worried because I had recently dived into the world of couponing and I didn't know if I would be able to take advantage of the good deals if I was only really grocery shopping once a month.  Over the past year, I have developed my own system which has allowed me to do one big shopping trip a month, but still take advantage of good deals with I see them.

To start the planning process, I created a document where I plan out twelve meals for the month.  We don't eat at home every night and it seemed like this was the average number of meals I was cooking in a month.

Monthly Meal Plan

I use various sources to help me choose what meals to prepare for the month - my recipe box, recipe binder, my family's favorite meals, and of course suggestions from my husband.  I write down the meals on my meal planning sheet and on a piece of notebook paper, record everything I am going to need to prepare that meal.  After I have chosen my meals, I take all the ingredients on the notebook paper and compose a grocery list comparing that list to what I already have in my pantry and freezer.  If there are items that I have to buy fresh  the week that I am going to cook the meal, I write that item on my monthly meal planning sheet.  All other items get recorded on this template on my computer:

Grocery List

Once the list is printed, I go through my coupon binder and highlight anything I have coupons for.  These coupons I place in an envelope which I paper clip to my grocery list when I head to the store.  After shopping and putting all my groceries away, I have to update my pantry and freezer lists so I know exactly what I have at all times.  I keep these lists on dry erase boards on the side of my refrigerator right above our weekly meal plan board.  This way I can easily adjust the amounts or erase items when I use them.

I still go to the grocery store once a week, but I can usually pick up what I need in about 15 minutes which makes it much easier to have my daughter with me.  I look at what items are listed on my meal planning sheet that I need to purchase, what items I may need for lunches, and what is on sale that week.

It does take me about 2 hours to plan my big shopping trip, but overall it makes life much easier.  I know what I will be cooking for dinner that night and it allows me to save money by purchasing items in bulk because I know that I will use the ingredients before they go bad.  It is well worth the time and I hope you can figure out a system that works for you.

Planning a Room Makeover

When I am going to redo a room, there is a certain process I always find myself going through.  Over Spring Break, I am planning a master bedroom makeover.  Here is everything I have done to hopefully makeover this room in less than two days.

When I want to makeover a room, I start planning for it several months before I actually complete the makeover.  First, I browsed through some magazines and Pinterest to get some ideas of what I wanted the room to look like.  Then I sat down in the room and made a list of everything that I would need to get the look I wanted.

Once the list was completed, I thought about what I could do/make myself to help keep the cost of the makeover low.  I like starting the planning process early because then I can take advantage of sales and it gives me time to complete any DIY projects for the room.  As you can see, on the list I also record where I purchased the item and how much a paid for it. I like to remember where I got the item in case I need another one and I like to know the final total cost for the project.

As I find the perfect items for my room, I pile them all together in my office waiting for the big makeover day. I like to have everything purchased before that day so that I can complete the entire makeover, from start to finish, in under two days.  I couple days before, I will start to assemble some the furniture and probably start to clean out the room.  I will also be counting on a lot of help from my mom the day of the makeover.  I have a two-year old at home, so the faster I can get the room painted the better.  Hopefully between the two of us we can keep her entertained and get the makeover done.

I still have a few items on my list to find, but I do have two more weeks until Spring Break.  I will make sure I post before and after pictures and how everything went.

The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies...Ever!

I love warm, chewy, homemade chocolate chip cookies.  With most recipes that I have tried, the cookies start out chewy but after a couple of days they are now longer that way.  They are still good, but not chewy. I will no longer look for recipes because I have found the best chocolate chip cookies ever!

I made my last batch of cookies on Saturday with my new recipe and it is now Friday (almost a full week later) and they are still just as chewy as when they came out of the oven!  Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies is the recipe that I found on Food Network's website.  My oven can only handle two cookie sheets at a time, so I only scooped out dough for two cookie sheets at a time.  While these sheets were in the oven I kept the rest of the dough in the fridge.  I think this helped to keep them from spreading out on the cookie sheet while cooking.

If you love chewy cookies, please give this recipe a try.  They are delicious!

Recipe Binder

I love to cook!  I love to try out new recipes.  Over the past year, from all the different cooking magazines I have subscribed to, I have collected a huge amount of recipes to try.  The pile was starting to come overwhelming and when I did want to find something new to make for dinner, it would take me forever to go through the pile and find something that would work.  This weekend I decided to do something about it.

I sorted the recipes into main categories -  Breakfast, Snacks, Dinners, and Desserts.  I put these into folders labeled appropriately.

Now where to store the recipes that I really like once I try it out.  I currently use a recipe box, but I no longer have the time to sit and re-write the recipe onto a card.

Then I found an old picture album with the pages that are sticky and have a plastic covering.  This is going to work perfectly as a storage device for the recipes that I like from my pile.  I printed divider pages off of the computer with the same recipe headings as the folders.  When I like a recipe, I am going to cut it off of the page and place it in this binder.

The nice thing about the plastic covering is the recipe will be protected from food splatters and I am cooking it!