It’s meal planning time!  The time that I take a few hours to plan and then a few hours to shop.  If I do it right, i only have to do this every few weeks without having to go the store much again.  Learning how to effectively deal and coupon shop is a work in progress for me.  My goal is to save as much money as possible in the least amount of time.  That’s what everyone wants, right?  So...as I continue to learn how to do this, which I am convinced by the way that things do get easier as you get experienced, I will post what I learn here.

I’m working on this today and through the weekend so actual results and details this week are to be announced :)

#1 -  Research your recipes

The way I plan my meals varies on how I am feeling at the current season.  Sometimes I prefer to take my information out of my favorite cookbooks, sometimes I explore new recipes online and sometimes when I’m feeling lazy or I’m in a season where putting together my own meal plans isn’t reasonable, I use a service to do the actual meal planning for me.  Emeals.com has been one of my favorite services to use.  It’s affordable and they help you save money by planning the meals around the sales at your grocery store for that season.  

#2 - Use a calendar

There are a few ways you can do this depending on what makes the most sense for you, and how much work you are willing to put into writing your menu plan down.  You can simple write down a 2 week plan, days and dates.  Then put your meals right beside each date on a peice of paper.