By planning ahead, I've been able to be more FRUGAL. For example, I can use a whole chicken for three different meals, so I plan accordingly. (Since there are only 2 1/2 mouths to feed here, this works for us!) I also can use or freeze the broth from the chicken, which means no more buying canned broth. We try to have breakfast for dinner once a week. (Breakfast foods seem to be much cheaper, and, since we always have cereal for breakfast, this is a treat for us!) Since we've actually been budgeting our money, I've been able to keep a little more focused on planning meals.
Even though I am a stay-at-home mom, I seem to be just as busy, if not more, than when I worked full-time. So, planning ahead what we will be having for dinner allows more TIME in my daily schedule. I hate to admit how many times I've struggled with getting dinner figured out. I can't decide what to make; I don't have the ingredients for what I want to make (which means an extra trip to the store); I run out of time to fix dinner, therefore, we would run for fast food and regret it! These are just a few of the EXCUSES I had come up with before. Now, I look at the schedule and go with it.
Now, this doesn't mean that I can't be FleXibLe. Many times, I've changed up the days of the week for various reasons. But, I still stick with the main schedule as much as I can. On Fridays, I make my shopping list. I just look at the schedule and figure out what ingredients I need for the week.
I have found menu planning to be a very helpful tool in our household. Do you have a plan like this? Is there anything that you do differently that might be of help to me? Just curious what other people do...
My next post will be my menu plan for the month of September. Hope you had a wonderful Lord's day!
Thank you, Lord, for our freedom here in the United States. Help me not take that for granted!
DENISE
No comments:
Post a Comment