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Meal Planning for Minimal-ish Moms

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Blueprint 2, Meal Planning · February 18, 2018

Monthly Meal Planning (Make it in Less than 1 Hour!)

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Monthly meal planning seems like an overwhelming task but it doesn’t have to be – it can actually be quite simple. I’m going to show you how create a monthly meal plan fast and easy!

(This post probably contains affiliate links. My full disclosure policy is quite boring, but you can read it here if you’d like!)

Monthly meal planning is NOT hard, as a matter of fact, I think it’s simpler than planning any other way (including weekly)!

Why to meal plan monthly

1 SAVE TIME

You’re already sitting down to meal plan (maybe weekly?) with your planner, calendar, meal ideas, etc. Why get out all this stuff 4 times instead of 1??? That in itself would save you time but where the real time savings comes in is the decision factor.

If you’re planning for a week, you have to narrow down all. the. options. into 7 days. When you’re working with a full month, you grab a few ideas and plug them in and you’re done.

2 SAVE MONEY

You’ll save money at the grocery store by having a master list for the month. Plus you’ll be able to shop the sales because you know the plan ahead of time!

If you’re not a natural planner, don’t worry this is not that hard. And will help you save lots of time (and money by not being in the store all the time!).

How to Monthly Meal Plan

1 Theme Nights

This is by far the quickest way to meal plan – you set up certain types of food or cooking for certain nights of the week based on your schedule. I’m sure you’ve heard of Taco Tuesday, right???

Here’s the thing, it doesn’t have to be a certain type of food if you think your family will get bored often. As a matter of fact, I don’t recommend that. I recommend starting with HOW to cook instead of WHAT to cook – like Slowww cooker Sunday or Sheet Pan Saturday.

2 Work down, not across

I know the natural tendency is to go across, filling in week 1 then week 2, etc. But working down is much faster! Say you’re starting with Slow Cooker Sunday. Since you’re already looking at crockpot recipes, instead of deciding on ONE meal you’re grabbing 4 that you want to make.

Boom.

Boom.

Boom.

Boom.

Now all Sundays are done. Move on.

Want to watch a video version of this and meal plan for a month with me? Check it out here!

3 Find recipes

This is the part you dread, yes? You could absolutely open some cookbooks, flip through magazines, or open Pinterest.

But it’s SO overwhelming!

Now, I know you might not love searching Pinterest for some top, kid-friendly recipes all the time. BUT I DO! So I created the Ultimate Theme Nights + Recipes list. It’ll save you SO much time with dozens of kid-friendly recipes that match each theme night! Grab it here.

4 Optimize for grocery shopping

What on earth do I mean by that? Ok, so before you make yourself 4 grocery shopping lists, I want to encourage you to try and save even MORE time by going to the store less.

How???

Put all the recipes that require fresh ingredients (read: spoil fast) in the 1st and 3rd weeks. Then all the meals that use pantry, frozen, or items that don’t spoil quickly in the 2nd and 4th weeks.

This allows you to only go to the grocery store twice a month!

5 Create grocery list

Once you have your meal plan set, you can go ahead and make your grocery lists. If you’re going to try out the two week method, you can always put a little color coded dot or something for items for the 2nd week.

Don’t forget… online grocery shopping is a HUGE time-saver! See if your local grocery store offers online shopping (with parking lot pick-up or delivery). You’ll totally get the fee back in money saved not walking down the aisles (especially with kids!)

Where to shop online

These are places that I have used or someone I trust has used. If you’ve had a good experience with a different service please drop it in the comments below so I can add it!

Click to be taken directly there:

Thrive Market (my absolute favorite!)

WALMART GROCERY (CLICK FOR A $10 COUPON)

You need an an Amazon Prime subscription for the next two, if you don’t have one click here for a FREE 30 day trial!

Amazon Fresh

Amazon Prime Pantry

There you have it. Now go grab your monthly meal planner and start meal planning LESS!

In: Blueprint 2, Meal Planning

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Cut your melon the proper way, folks. No cutting i Cut your melon the proper way, folks. No cutting it into little boats and scraping the seeds out and then cutting the peel off. 
Nobody has time for that. 
Also I can’t stomach buttercream frosting anymore. 

#kitchenhacks #howtocutmelon #summermelon #simplekitchenhacks #mealplanningblueprints #mealplanning101
Had to hop on this trend… Had to hop on this trend…
Do we have any in common?!? 5 things I don’t d Do we have any in common?!? 

5 things I don’t do: meal planning edition! 

1️⃣ buy eggs at the store
I’ve found local eggs that are not only healthier but WAY cheaper than the store! 

2️⃣ step foot in grocery stores
I RARELY go grocery shopping anymore. I mostly use Walmart+ for delivery/pickup and Sam’s Club. I more than make up the fees by not buying extra stuff while walking down the aisles (especially with a kid, iykyk).

3️⃣ stock my pantry
Less is more. It’s easier to get dinner on the table when you don’t have a bazillion options. Kinda like it’s easier getting dressed when you don’t have a million clothes. 

4️⃣ cut coupons
Wanna make my blood boil? Mention extreme couponing. 😡😂 Your time is worth more money than those coupons are saving you. Cut it out. (Pun intended!)

5️⃣ meal plan every week
Another time suck. If you don’t want to do a capsule pantry, fine. But at least meal plan for the month. Doing it every week and starting with that blank calendar is just silly. 

Did we have any in common? Any you disagree with? Comment and let me know!
Want to actually enjoy your summer without figurin Want to actually enjoy your summer without figuring out what’s for dinner every single night… 

I’m breaking down the 3 steps to my summer meal plan in a brand new FREE workshop tonight (and yes there’ll be a replay!)

Here’s what I’m showing you: 
🍉 Understand the ONLY meal planning mistake you need to avoid and what to do instead!

🍉See the endless possibilities of making delicious meals using just 35 ingredients.

🍉Learn how to automate your grocery shopping but still save money on groceries (without couponing)!

🍉Uncover my secret trick to coming up with new dinner ideas that your family is guaranteed to love!

🍉Minimize food waste by planning meals with ingredients that can be used in multiple dishes.

🍉PLUS, get a free Summer Workshop Action Guide and all the details on the meal planning program that has changed the lives of over 1200 mamas.

🍉 and FINALLY, I’ll unlock my secret 3-Step Blueprint to Creating Delicious Dinners with Minimal Ingredients!

You know where to find the link! It’ll be there until Monday to watch the replay! 

You can also comment SUMMER WORKSHOP and I’ll send you the link! 

#simplesummermeals #mealplanningblueprints #mealplanningworkshop #mealplanning101 #mealplanningmadesimple #capsulepantry #capsulepantryblueprint #summerdinners #whatsfordinnertonight #whatsfordinner #summerdays
You don’t need that kinda negativity in your lif You don’t need that kinda negativity in your life. 

I guess I’ve got the dishwasher on my mind after my last reel. #dishwasher4lyfe
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