That's my meal plan, and I'm sticking to it!

Dave and I were married my senior year in college when I was 21 and he was 22.  We wouldn't think twice about spending money at a restaurant or on other recreational things, and we certainly did not pay much attention to our grocery shopping habits.  In time we began to seriously budget the money we were bringing into our household by only allowing ourselves to spend certain amounts each month on eating out and entertainment.  We held ourselves and each other accountable to this budget by carefully choosing what to do and when to do it each month.  This is around the time we got into playing, and loving, World of Warcraft.  It's a budget friendly way of spending time with each other while socializing with others...even if it is a virtual world.

As we began to work towards saving money each month, I would still find myself at the grocery store daily.  It was so easy to simply stop by Wegmans on my way home from work and pick up ingredients for dinner.  Of course, this is before we had children, since there is nothing simple about going into Wegmans anymore.  However, what we came to realize was that every grocery store trip was costing us $25.00 or more causing our weekly bill to average around $150.00.  Seeing as how there were only two of us eating, this number was unbelievably high.

When the decision was made that I would stay home, the first thing we had to look at was ways to bring our overall grocery bill down.  This was long before I cared about sale shopping or looked into couponing, so we needed a quick and simple solution which is how we turned to meal planning.  I have no idea why it took us so long to do this!  It is the easiest way to save money on groceries and stop yourself from pulling out your hair every morning when you ask the dreaded question; "what should I make for dinner tonight?"  By meal planning we were able to cut our grocery bill in half while, at the same time, knowing dinner was already home just waiting to be cooked.  The only exception in our home is Friday.  Friday is my day not to cook!  Other than that, we stick tight to our meal plans every week.

So, what is meal planning?  It's when I sit down Thursday evening to plan out our weekly meal itinerary then build my grocery list around those meals. 
Example Meal Plan:
Sunday Breakfast - Pastry Bar & Special K Shake
Sunday Lunch - Grilled Cheese & Tomato Soup
Sunday Dinner - Crockpot Stew Beef, Rice, Green Beans & Italian Bread

Monday Breakfast - Cereal
Monday Lunch - Sandwiches 
Monday Dinner - Loaded Caesar Chicken Salad

Tuesday Breakfast - Bagels & Cream Cheese
Tuesday Lunch - Leftovers
Tuesday Dinner - Mustard Salmon, Angel Hair Pasta & Mixed Vegetables

Wednesday Breakfast - Cereal
Wednesday Lunch - Sandwiches
Wednesday Dinner - Homemade Pizza

Thursday Breakfast - Waffles & Sausage
Thursday Lunch - Leftovers
Thursday Dinner - Venison Pot Roast, Mashed Potatoes & Simple Salad

Friday Breakfast - Eat Out
Friday Lunch - Berry & Spinach Smoothie
Friday Dinner - Order Out

Saturday Breakfast - Strawberry Pancakes, Bacon & Eggs
Saturday Lunch - Ham Calzones
Saturday Dinner - Roasted Pork Tenderloin, Macaroni and Cheese & Broccoli

If you don't already plan your meals weekly, think about using this easy and successful tool.  It will make your life simpler while saving you $$.  

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