My Weekly Meal Planner :: Giveaway

The last two days {posts} have been about organizing your recipes and creating an easy, time-saving method in which you can have all of your meals planned for a month or longer.

As I mentioned earlier, I have a great (and super cute) weekly planner that helps me with my grocery shopping.

I flip through my recipe book and find 6-7 recipes I want to make this week. (this process takes me a little while b/c I am also looking at the sale flier for the grocery-thus, helping me to determine which meals to make)


Then I grab my oh-so-stylish weekly planner and fill in which meal to have on each day of the week.


Next, I take a quick look through my pantry and fridge and take stock of what I need to purchase for each meal. In the column to the right, add the items needed from the store to complete each meal.



Viola! Meal planning and list making were never so easy and fun.

Now for the truly fun part: GIVEAWAY time



Do you want your very own recipe book (magnetic) and weekly planner? Yes?! I thought so! (color may not be the same as my recipe book-not sure if I still have that paper)

4 chances to win: Leave me a comment, follow this blog, follow me on twitter, or follow my face book page.

Leave a comment for each one you do. Deadline for this contest is Friday. I will choose a winner Tuesday morning and ship that same day.

Filling your recipe book

As previously mentioned, I have a fabulous method for my meal planning. You all have made your super cute recipe books by now right? Ok, good! Now we need to fill them.

Start by thinking of your 5 favorite dishes.



Then think of 2-3 dishes you KNOW your family LOVES.



Next, think of 2-3 super easy, quick meals. Ya know, the ones you make on nights that little Johnny has soccer practice at 4 and little Suzie has ballet at 4:05 and they both have piano lessons at 5:10, and Big Brother has to be picked up from chess club at 5:15. What are your meals for those days?



Got that list made? Good, now go through all of your floating recipe cards and bazillion recipe books, track down those recipes and get the ingredients and prep/cooking instructions.

Once all that is done, add them to your new recipe flip book. {I am giving you one of my favorite recipes to get you started}

Taco Soup

1 lb. ground turkey or beef
1 large can diced tomatoes
1 can chili beans in sauce
1 can black beans (rinse and drain)
1 can Ro-tel (original or spicy, depending on your taste)
1 can white shoepeg corn
1 packet Taco seasoning
1 packet Ranch dressing mix

Cook the beef first and drain, if needed, then dump it all in. You may need to add water to thin it some. Enjoy!

Note in the above picture I did something silly. Please don't copy my mistake. Make sure you write the directions on the back of the card in the same direction as the front. It makes reading your recipe book much easier.

Once you have completed this last and final step, Enjoy! Realize, that you now have a small handy book to reference and it is filled with 11 recipes that are tried and true. You know your family will enjoy them and you now have the next two weeks of meal planning done! DONE!

Continue to add recipes until you have 30. That is a whole month of planned meals. Once you have reached that number, add 20 more, 50 recipes to get you through, such a time saver!

I can't tell you how much I use mine, ok well, yes I can. I use it every week. And I am so thankful for it. It makes my grocery shopping much less painful as well. I currently have 38 recipes in my book, still working on the other 12. I use this, combined with my weekly meal planner and the local grocery store sale flier. I save time and money!

Weekly Meal Planner you ask? Check back tomorrow!