Everyone has their own way of going about meal planning and grocery shopping. Some start with the ads, others start with a cookbook, some go online, and some come to Meal Planning Mommies! Of course, that last option is the best option. (wink, wink)  My husband and I have been doing the married and cooking on your own thing for over a decade now so we have tried A LOT of things! This is a post about what we have tried in the past and what we do now that is working for us and might work for you as well.

My seasons of cooking over the past ten years.

SEASON ONE: FOOD IN A POUCH IS A MEAL, RIGHT?

In the beginning of our marriage we were on a tight grocery budget of $50 per week.  There were many nights I bought a $1 pouch of Noodle-Roni and added a little bit of chicken and called it dinner. When we started to earn a little more I started experimenting with meal planning ideas, like “Once a month cooking” and I started to have fun finding new recipes out of cookbooks.

SEASON TWO: COUPON DEALS ARE MY NEW ADDICTION

Once we had kids and I was not working we went through was a season in our marriage when the budget was extremely tight again and I swore by coupons and all the fun places I could match the coupons up with store sales. I fell in love with Money Saving Mom where I would learn what to get at CVS and how to get the best deals. I would get $50 worth of groceries and toiletries for less than $10 and I would come home and sprawl out my deals over the table and celebrate with my husband what I got.

SEASON THREE: EFFICIENCY IS KEY

Now that I am working I have less time for coupons, and I see a greater value in bringing efficiency into my process. I still value a good deal and I make it part of how I consider my grocery shopping, and I am still all about a recipe that only requires a handful of ingredients or less, but I like to get in and out of the stores as quickly as possible and not have to go back until the next week if I can help it. My meal planning process can be broken down into a few easy steps, and by using our free printable grocery lists it can be incredibly efficient.

SEASON FOUR: DO A LITTLE OF ALL THREE and SHARE THE IDEAS ON MEAL PLANNING MOMMIES, WHICH IS WHAT I AM GOING TO SHOW YOU NOW.

Here are my six steps to creating a
healthy, frugal, and easy meal plan.

STEP ONE: PICK YOUR MEAL PLAN.

If you are looking for a Weight Watcher meal plan you can go here to see our archive. If you are looking for a Gluten-Free meal plan you can go here. Or you can see all of our meal plans here. If you are wanting to create your own meal plan and grocery list we also have blank printable meal plan and grocery list sheets that you can fill in on your own here.

STEP TWO: PRINT OFF YOUR MEAL PLAN AND GROCERY LIST.

Once you have picked the meal plan that you think your family will enjoy, scroll to the bottom of the post and print off the meal plan page and the grocery list.

STEP THREE: Go through your refrigerator, freezer, and pantry and cross off any ingredients on the grocery list you already have on hand. You don’t want to buy a can of beans if you already have five cans in your pantry.

STEP FOUR: Write in the things you need to buy that aren’t part of the meal plan. (i.e. milk, eggs, flour, garbage bags, etc.) Also factor in breakfast, lunch, snack foods, and non-food items.

STEP FIVE: Go through the ads. I go through our grocery store advertisement and look to find good deals on foods we love to eat. For instance, our grocery store had a one day produce sale where they were selling bananas for just 33¢ per pound and strawberries for $1 so I did my grocery shopping on that day and we got lots of strawberries and bananas that week. SMOOTHIE ANYONE!?!

STEP SIX: Hang up your meal plan on your refrigerator for reference later. When I am about to prepare a recipe I refer to this and pull out all of the ingredients onto the counter before I start cooking the recipe. I also keep a list of the snacks we have, like Sarah suggested, and a separate pad for writing down things we need throughout the week so I don’t forget to get them the next time I go grocery shopping. Another way you could do that is by using our blank grocery list printable and fill in what throughout the week. I have an extra meal planning pad on my refrigerator that I use. My family does “Family Night” every Friday night so I just write “OUT” on my personal meal plan to remind myself that I don’t have to plan anything that night and it reminds me what days I was going to cook what. I bought my meal planning pad from Michaels a while back for $1. They have always sold a variety of these pads for as long as I have been going there.

And then finally, of course, hit your grocery store and enjoy that your grocery list is written and typed out in the order of how you would find the items in your store!

There is my current process for meal planning and grocery shopping. So, how about you? Do you have any special tips on how to meal plan and grocery shop?