Meal Planning to Save Money...Resolution #1

I think I may have found a New Year's resolution. Another fellow blogger, Megan, wrote a post about meal planning. And the more I read, the more I realized, I need to do this too! Not only to have something planned and have less to think about, but to also save us some money.

Since Wes and I have been married, the subject of money has come up quite often. It's crazy how you can try to prepare for such things in premarital counseling or just by talking it out with each other before the wedding and it is still a hard subject. I am lucky that we are both the type to be able to talk about things like adults and not let it get out of hand. We always come to an agreement that we are both happy with. And for that, I am a lucky woman to be married to Wes and to have the wonderful marriage that I do.

So, a few months ago, being the organized one, I decide to go over our expenses and create a budget. I know, I said it...budget. We both realize the importance of sticking to a budget but when it comes down to actually implementing the budget...we tend to "fall off the wagon". All good intentions, just can't seem to stick to it. Anyone else have this problem?

After looking at what we currently spend our money on, I found the culprit to all our money woes...EATING OUT! In a period of one month, we had spend almost $500 on eating out alone! Whoah!!! That is just craziness to me! I didn't feel like we were going out to eat that often, but I guess the numbers never lie. So I immediately break out the budget form and get to work on balancing out our expenses a little more appropriately.

Now this was..oh...last month that I wrote up our first budget. And did we stick to it? Nope. We didn't eat out as much but by no means were we trying to stick to an actual budget. Long story short, I have done probably two more budgets for us since then and still no luck in following through. Work in progess.

But I do know where our weakness is and that is still eating out. So when I read about others making a resolution to meal planning, I thought that would be a great way for us to save money and eat out less.

I spent all morning yesterday creating our first week of meals. (I am only attempting dinner so far..we are lucky to see breakfast or lunch on a regular basis) I got a great form for meal planning that has given me a good start to trying to plan ahead.

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I pulled out my new cookbooks that Wes and I have gotten as wedding gifts and started planning!

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I chose to stick with a few meals that I have already done before but also add in a few new ones to try. Wes and I also decided that we will have a "buffer" for one day of the week that can be pizza night. And thanks to a crazy evening last night...we already used up the pizza night. Starting out well aren't we? Ha

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Here is my first week meal plan!

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Once that task was accomplished, I had to make a trip to the grocery story to buy all of the goodies we would need for the week. One and a half hours later and $160 spent, this is what one week's worth of groceries looks like....

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Wow. What work it is to shop for a full week. What was even harder was having an official list to shop from. Why this would seem easier having a list so you can go right in and out, it wasn't that type of experience for me.

Here I am in the grocery store, trying to read my list, check things off, keep track of how much I'm spending, and every person in the store (really..every single person) was running into me, trying to push me along. Ahhh!! Let me shop in peace people!! It drove me crazy! This doesn't seem to happen when you don't have a list and a predetermined agenda. But the second you have a list to guide you along, the people will get impatient with your wandering around trying to find what you need and just flat out make you want to give the list up all together. But I stuck to my guns and finished my shopping successfully. Success but nerves were a little bit shot.

Okay, I had a bad first full week meal planning shopping experience. Luckily, I get to do it all again next week. Yay! We will see how it goes.

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No meal planning is complete without an organized binder to store away all the meal plans and wonderful recipes we will try. So I had to make a trip to Office Depot too.

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And it turned out like this!

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I can already tell that the weekly plan will be adjusted quite often depending on Wes and I's schedules. The plan is that the adjustment won't include eating out but simply changing what to eat on what day.

I hope I can keep up with it once school starts back. For now, one week down! Many, many more to go!

Tonight's meal: My Mom's Mexican Casserole! YUM!

(Yes, this is supposed to be Wednesday's dinner. Changing it up already!)

Quick and easy. Here is the recipe for those who want to try it. Thanks Mom! Delicious!!

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Mexican Casserole

By: Melanie Jackson

Ingredients

1 can Cream of Mushroom soup

1 can Cream of Chicken soup

1 (8 oz) can chopped green chilies

3 cans chicken

1 cup chicken broth

1 bag Mexican style shredded cheese

2-3 tsp chili powder (depends how spicy you like it)

3 tsp minced onion

1/8 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp pepper

Tostito’s Chips

Directions

Combine all ingredients in bowl except chicken, cheese and chips

Layer x 2: chips, chicken, sauce, cheese (end with cheese)

Casserole Dish (9x13)

Bake in oven 30-45 minutes at 350 degrees

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