Meal Planning like a BOSS!

This post is not a normal, fashion-y post.  And since this my blog and I am the boss here (ha!), that's ok! Quite a few of y'all asked how I stay organized as a working mom and plan our meals.  As much as I laugh at the thought of my "organized chaos", I thought I would tell you how I do it!

If I did not meal plan, we would eat out every night.  Seriously, when I don't, that is what we do.  Being a working mom, I have to do my grocery shopping on the weekend and be completely prepared each night as soon as I get home.  So my first advice to plan your meals on Sunday or Saturday for the next week.  When I try to do more than one week, I end up wasting food as I change my mind or something comes up that I forgot.  I shop on Sunday afternoons or evenings.

Next, you need a meal planner. There are great planners out there but this is my favorite from The Project Girl. Here is the link!

This my favorite planner because it groups your shopping list for you and it is really simple.  I swear it cut my shopping time in half!  Here is mine filled out for this week.  This is a crazy busy week so we are having easy stuff.  Who am I kidding? Every week is easy stuff.  I am just trying to come up with an excuse why guacamole is the only thing in the produce section :) AND I just realized I put my canned goods in the dry goods section :)

Here is my other tip.  Keep a theme for each night.  Monday nights are always crock pot night, Tuesday is always Mexican, or "Taco Tuesday" and Wednesday is always Breakfast food.  Usually I would do Italian on Thursday, but this week it is a holiday.  We always eat Chinese take out on Sunday.  The kids love that they know what each night is and it relives the pressure for me to come up with a whole new menu every week. I change up the dishes, but theme always stays the same.  I am serious, this alone will relieve so much stress!! Trust me! We usually eat out on Friday and Saturday, but when I can, I use those nights to try something new.

Dinner time is a big deal at my house and very important to us.  We take turns saying the prayer.  We go around the table and each of us tell about our days.  Each child loves to tell us what they did :).  It is no perfect "Leave it to Beaver" scene as usually at least one kid does not like something...or a drink is spilled everywhere, but it is perfect for us :).

Hope that helped!!! Feel free to ask me any questions!!!

Have a good Monday!!!