do you have a monthly meal planner? well josh and i have a system that works for us and i honestly thought we were doing really well - until i read what this lady does!
she has 4 children + her husband & her equals 6 and they eat for $9 dollars a day altogether! can you believe that? i'm still in shock! here's how she does it:
How do I plan?
- we eat leftovers once a week
- I allow for 2 nights of eating out per month
- we always have breakfast for dinner at least once a month
- I try to vary chicken, beef, and fish recipes
- I double every recipe that I can and store them in the freezer. I don't use all the meals in the same month, some "spill over" into the next month. I takes me about 3-4 days to do all the planning, shopping, and prepping. These are good nights to use the extra meals.
- I also prepare both breakfast tacos and lunch tacos for the month (recipes below). I wrap them in foil, place them in gallon sized zip lock bags and freeze them. They are super easy to pop in the microwave and eat on the go. This month we made about 30 breakfast tacos and about 60 lunch tacos.
How do I prep it all?
I make 3 lists as I gather recipes:
1. Prep/no cooking (throw all ingredients in a freezer bag, label it, freeze it)
2. Prep/cooking (requires minimal cooking - maybe cook chicken or beef or noodles - but then put in bag or dish and freeze)
3. Make day of (can't be frozen, or prepped ahead of time)
When I get home from shopping, I spend the next days prepping all the meals that I can and stocking my freezer. I also label my calender so I know which days I have no prep work for dinner, and which days I will. I try to take into consideration our schedules and plan crock pot meals on days we are out and about.
How much does it cost?
This month I spent $200 at SAM's and $129 at HEB.
$329 for 37 recipes (I made 2 extra this month to take to friends). That's less than $9 a day for us to eat.
to read more click here.
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