July Meal Planning

I wanted to share my meal planning calendar for July.  In June I started meal planning and am TOTALLY loving it.  I had been wanting to do this forever because coming up with the ideas for dinner is always the hardest part for me.  I also would start thinking about dinner about 3 pm or later and it was too late for so many things.  Now I look at the next day or so and see what I need to pull out of the freezer.  I've been doing this for about a month and I'm working out some kinks but making great strides.  It took me quite awhile to plan out the whole month of July because I'm not just randomly putting meals in a slot.  For example, I have pulled pork sandwiches and hamburgers in the same week so I buy buns once and they will still be good two days later.  In the past it always seems like I buy buns, we eat a few and then throw away the rest.  Another example of taking meal planning one step further is taco salad and beef tostadas.  I will make a lot of taco meat ahead and use it for both the salad and the tostadas.  I also know that I will be gone one night so it's leftovers for the girls and Kevin that night.  I also planned out BBQ chicken one night where I will bbq tons of chicken and then use them the next two nights for Chicken Carbonara and Fiesta Ranch Chicken.

This has also helped with grocery shopping.  I went to the grocery store at the beginning of the month for the majority of the items.  Of course I can't buy everything at the start of the month because they won't last but this has helped so much for planning for the store.

Let me know if you have any ideas on improving meal planning.

For a blank calendar check out Pink Pickle Studios.