Meal Planning Ideas

I have been talking to a lot of friends about meal planning lately.  In life I am a big time planner, and I love to meal plan.  It saves money and it is healthier.  I wish I could tell you this post will "give you 30 days of meals for $200 a month", but that is not the case.  Though I meal plan, I still spend $300-400 dollars a month on food.  I buy A LOT of produce and that is usually where the bulk of my grocery bill goes, that and fish.  I just thought I would share how I meal plan and hopefully someone can get something out of it.

I start off by printing off a calendar and going through my recipe book.  My recipe book is super ghetto, it is just a large binder filled with plastic pages and plastic 4x6 photo card pages.  A few years ago my Mom gave me the best Christmas present, she typed up her recipes and put them in a binder, that was the start of my recipe book.  Since then I print off a lot of recipes and slip them in plastic pages or jot them down on a recipe card and stick them in.  If you want some cute free printable recipe cards, check out these and these.

When planning, I plan a month at a time.  I then transfer it over onto my weekly menu board each week, and make a grocery list from there.  I also have a grocery list hanging on the side of the fridge at all time, so that if I run out of something while cooking or baking, I can jot it down so I don't forget.

 When planning I find it key to have an organized fridge, freezer, and pantry.  These were scary photos to take and post, but my fridge and freezer usually look like this.  I forgot to take one of the pantry, oh well.

 I generally buy my beef and chicken at Costco, divide it up into portions, and organize it in the freezer with Tupperware.   One thing of chicken or ground beef usually lasts me about 3 months, I have found this the most cost effective method for my family.  When I go to the store weekly, I will browse what meat is on sale and if it is a good deal I will buy a bunch and freeze it.  A few months ago Smith's had a killer sale on small steaks, I can't remember the cut or the price, but it was a good deal and they are tasty.  Don't mind all the Cool Whip, I am making an eclair cake for my Father-in-law's birthday.

 I buy half of my produce at Costco as well.  I usually freeze half and we eat the rest fresh.

When I sit down to actually plan my weeks usually look like this: 1 meatless day, 1 chicken day, 1 beef day, 1 fish day, and 1 "sale meat" day (meaning whatever other meat I have in my freezer, ie the steaks), 2 leftover days.  For me the 2 leftover days are key to keeping a cleaned out fridge and ensuring no food goes bad, and there is just no way I could plan 7 days worth of meals.  Both myself and my husband enjoy cooking, we like trying out new recipes, and I have found Pinterest to be an amazing resource.  We also make our son eat what we eat.  He doesn't get a special meal, I think it has really helped him to not be as picky, and he likes most of the recipes we make.

Another thing I try to do when planning to make the most out of my grocery list is I try to plan multiple meals in the month using the same ingredients.  For example if I buy cilantro, I will make Lime and Coconut Chicken week 1, Taquitos week 2, and Honey Lime Chicken Skewers week 3, that way I am using all my cilantro and it is not going bad.  Another example would be buying corn tortillas, they come in a large bag, so I make Fish Tacos week 1, Taquitos week 2, and enchilada casserole week 3.

Meal planning takes a little time, but I think it actually saves time, because once you have done it for the month, you're done!  No standing in front of the fridge thinking "what should we have for dinner tonight?" and no extra trips to the grocery store (which saves money!)

As far as snack items go, we buy a few things like dried fruit and nuts at Costco, and then keep them portioned out in the pantry.  I try to make a lot of items that are expensive, like granola bars.  I have found some great recipes on Pinterest for things like home made granola bars, muffins, mason jar salads, and smoothies.  The great thing about making your own is they are less expensive and more healthy!

I have found this is what works for my family and am always on the lookout for tips and tricks to implement that will save time and money. Feel free to check out my board "Recipes I've Made and Yum!" If you have any advice or ideas, please share!

Tidy Tips For Your Waistline

A few weeks ago, we had some friends over for "Sundae Sunday". It was a fun night of cards games, talking with friends, and ice cream. Truth be told, I am not really an ice cream fan. I can hear everyone gasping now, but it's true. For years I wasn't really a milk drinker, and after working at Cold Stone Creamery through high school, I just didn't care for ice cream. I am more of a sherbet kind of gal.

That being said, I have a friend who brought the most amazing VANILLA ice cream I have ever had. Vanilla plain and boring, is one flavor I almost never eat, especially plain. That is, until I tried the Tillamook french vanilla. It is amazing!!

The problem with ice cream is that it's load of fat and calories in every bite, especially the good stuff. So, to help me eat the leftovers in a way as to not gain 5 pounds, I made a game out of portion size. I tried to find the smallest thing to eat my ice cream in. That happened to be my son's KALAS cup from IKEA. I almost used the bowl, but the cup was smaller and a more appropriate portion size. A 1/2 cup of this particular ice cream is 160 calories and 9 grams of fat. Can you imagine if I used a regular bowl? Eek!

I have been trying to do this a lot with my portions lately. Especially snacks. I eat my snacks out of small ramekins (usually around the 6 oz size). It really works well. My servings are usually less than 200 calories. Small is better.

Do you have any tricks to control your portion sizes?

Healthy Homemade Popsicles

Yesterday it FINALLY felt like Summer, pretty much we just skipped Spring all together and went straight to Summer. It was 87 degrees, it hasn't been 87 degrees, since October 3, 2010, yeah people that is 8 months. Usually in the Spring we get some nice 70 degree days, not this year, lots of rain, and the temperature pretty much hung out in the 60's. WHEW, enough of that rant, the real reason I am telling you all of this is because Summer time brings a whole new batch of fun recipes! I have been wanting to try this one for awhile, the 87 degree day finally made me get around to it! I picked up some Popsicle molds from IKEA for $1.49, they go fast at my store, I was only able to get one set, I will have to scope them out early next year to get another set.

I found this yummy recipe in Wholesome Meals for Babies and Toddlers, it said it serves 4, but I am not sure how they are calculating that. It made about 12 Popsicles.

Strawberry Yogurt Pops

2 1/2 cups fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced

generous 1 1/4 cups thick plain yogurt

3 TBSP runny honey

a few drops of vanilla extract

Put all ingredients in the blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Pour the mixture into ice pop molds and freeze until solid.

This recipe is super simple, here are my notes. First, since it is a little early on strawberry season, mine were a tiny bit tart, we like sour stuff around my house, so we were fine with it, but if you want them a little sweeter, you may want to wait until further into the season. Next, because we like things more on the sour side, I chose no sugar added plain Greek yogurt. I try to use Greek in any recipe that calls for yogurt because it is so much healthier. It is tart though, so to get members of my family to eat it plain I have to mix in fruit or grams. Lastly, I used local honey. Local honey is supposed to help combat allergies, and this house is full of allergies. I don't think you can get more local than my honey, it is from my sister in law's bees. I froze them over night, so I may or may not have had one this morning for breakfast, but they are healthy, so I don't feel so bad. :) If you have a hard time getting them out of the molds, just run them under cold water for about 5 seconds, they came right out.

In the recipes' notes it says you can use any fresh fruit you have in season. I am excited to try lots, blackberries, peaches, raspberries, I can't wait for the Farmer's Market to start on Saturday!! If you don't have molds, you can also just whip this up as a smoothie, it is quite runny though, so in that case, you may want to add more yogurt.

Do you have any fabulous Summer recipes? Please share!

Tidy Tips For Your Waistline

I know it sounds cliche', but one of my New Year's Resolutions this year was to lose weight. I have been working toward that goal lately, and then with my Mother's recent health problems, I have been thinking a lot about what I am eating.

I have been doing fairly well with my weight loss goal, but I haven't been dieting. Diets don't work. Sure, they have short term results, but unless you think you will never eat a cupcake again, or you are willing to eat nothing but eggs for the rest of you life (I have a friend whose egg diet ruined eggs for her permanently), they don't work. For weight loss it comes down to a simple equation, calories in vs. calories out. I have been using the website loseit.com and have lost 7 pounds. I really like loseit, 2 of my friends, Cierra and Janey encouraged me to join, it is a free site, that helps you count calories. So I simply try to burn more than I am eating and try not to go over my budget.

I majored in Fitness & Nutrition in College, and one of my favorite classes was my Healthy Body Image class. I think everyone wants to be skinny, that is a given, but it is more than that, you need to be healthy and take care of your bodies by eating better and exercising. I have been working hard lately on improving what and how much I am eating. There were several helpful tips that I learned in that class like ordering a kids meal instead of a full meal and if you have to have sweets (I have a MAJOR sweet tooth!) try to choose lower calorie options, like licorice and Junior Mints. My teacher added the advice of eating your sweets earlier in the day, so you have more time to burn them off. She also suggested portioning them out to their serving size instead of sitting down with the bag/box. That last one really stuck with me and I now try to portion out what I buy from the store. This is what it looks like when I come home from grocery shopping.... The snack size bags are key, the smaller they are the less you put in them. I buy A LOT of snack bags. I come home, dump out the bag, and read what the serving size is. In the case of my dried fruit it is 1/3 cup. I then scoop a portion into the bag and that is it. The rule also is, ONE bag, you can't grab more than one for a snack!
Some of you may be thinking "UGH, that would take so much time, I just don't have the time to do that." I think of it a little differently though, I can either spend the time portioning out my food so I don't over eat, OR, I can spend the time on the treadmill. I really do enjoy exercise, but let's be honest, I would rather spend 45 minutes vs. an hour. I also use this trick to create my own 100 calorie packs, the ones in the store are WAY overpriced. It has worked well in my house, and I am feeling good about making healthier choice in other ways like hormone free milk & eggs, more organic foods, and less sugar. Same concept here, eating this way does cost a bit more, but I can pay more now, or with medical bills later in life.

Do you have any tricks to help you eat better or more healthy? I would love to hear them please share!