Planning For The Week
I’m not the best at planning weekly meals out ahead of time. My problem is going into a store and buying whatever I think looks or sounds good without any idea of how I’m going to use it, which leaves me with a lot of random ingredients and more than a few dollars wasted in produce that ends up going bad. That coupled with the fact that we’ve been eating out a lot more since becoming parents is the reason I’d like to give meal planning a shot. So, here’s to hoping this helps with reducing waste, saving a bit of money, and eating at home more often.
Here is how I’m thinking this week will go:
MONDAY: Crock Pot Mexican Corn & Bean Soup
TUESDAY: Salmon for Greg (he really liked this recipe I used last week) and miso soba stir fry for me.
WEDNESDAY: Pizza (I use TJ’s whole wheat pizza crust & here are a few recipes to make your own) and a salad
THURSDAY: Red Lentil Thai Chili
FRIDAY: Salmon for Greg and leftovers for me.
For breakfast, we eat the same thing every morning. I have a slice of toasted Ezekiel bread with eggs and another slice with avocado and tomato, while Greg will usually have a banana and Greek yogurt.
I pack Greg’s lunch and it is most often a big salad (field greens, tomato, cucumber, and sunflower seeds), a peanut butter or almond butter sandwich, and some kind of fruit. I tend to eat a lot of small meals throughout the day because it works best for me, so I don’t really have big lunch.
SHOPPING LIST
2 red bell peppers, zucchini, frozen corn, lime, extra firm tofu, cilantro, soba noodles, swiss chard, kale, green onions, couple of sweet potatoes, can of light coconut milk, salmon, pizza sauce, white miso, red curry paste
STAPLES I NEED TO STOCK UP ON
eggs, egg whites, Greek yogurt, ginger, lemon, Ezekiel bread, field greens, tomatoes, potatoes, cucumber, avocado, apples, bananas, garlic, almond milk, cous cous, coffee
I like to check coupon sites before I go shopping just in case there’s something I might be able to use. I like coupons.com, Mambo Sprouts, Earth Fare’s coupons, coupons @ Reddit (this is mostly codes for online shopping, but there are some printable grocery ones sometimes)
If you’re also in the Knoxville area, here are a couple of local blogs that feature deals and coupons: Coupon Katie (also check out her coupon database which is very helpful) and Frugalissa Finds.
If you do meal planning, any tips would be much appreciated! I’m not entirely sure if I’m doing it correctly or efficiently.
I hear you that’s how shop, but this year I set a goal to be less wasteful. So far so good, I am even slicing and chopping in advance, sometimes I freeze to be sure I’s not wasted. Good luck with your meal planing.
That’s a wonderful goal! I definitely need to prep everything right when I get home from the store—that’s a great idea. I used to prep salads and veggies every Sunday but stopped for some reason. Time to start that up again. Also, I just found out about this and it may help with your goal if you don’t do this already.. take your veggie scraps and keep them in the freezer in a ziploc bag, and once it’s full you can use it to make vegetable stock. I never would have thought to do that so when I heard about it I got really excited to do it since we go through so many veggies here.
Thank you, and good luck with your goals as well!
Thanks for the veggie scrap tip,I will start doing that.
I never even thought about looking for coupons online before I leave for the store – what a great idea for someone on a student’s budget like me!
I hope you find some good coupons to use! That coupon database is really good because you can search for specific items and see if there’s a coupon out for it. Good luck with classes this semester!
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