If you noticed that there was an April Meal Plan and no May Meal Plan, you were right. Big mistake on our part. See the first week of May was crazy as my sister got married so we figured we would meal plan after we got back. It didn’t happen. I don’t know what we ate but I guess we ate something or another seeing as we are still here. It was a disorganized mess though.
Here is the background to the monthly meal plan …
Last year, we did weekly meal plans. Well we did weekly meal plans most of the time. I say most of the time because some weeks we forgot to plan. Life got busy, school work was out of control, the preschool business started, the family all got sick. You name it, life happens. When I suggested a Monthly Meal Plan late last month, I was sure my husband would declare me nuts for good. BUT … he was on board. He was on board so much he tried to find a monthly meal planner online. There were none to be found that worked for what we wanted though. So being the Excel junkie that he is, he made a calendar he could fill in a meal for each day.
Part of my accountable in doing this is posting our Monthly Meal Plan each month.
So I know June is half way over so why bother posting this. I want to show you we did plan … well some. See the bottom for more details on that.
I am going to see if this graphic works this month. The clunky format I have been using is taking me forever to type up and well I just need to get faster at getting this up!
Update: I am not loving this graphic but don’t have time to fiddle more right now. So click the graphic to get a “big” version of it you can read. Improvements to come … hopefully sooner rather than later!
A few notes …
- Yes, breakfast is empty. We decided we aren’t all eating the same breakfast. If I make muffins, the kids eat those and maybe I will too. Breakfast is a free for all it seems with the focus on making healthy choices. As for lunch, we have been focusing on leftovers and on-the-go meals. My husband has had the kids busy doing activities this summer so they are eating picnic style lunches on a regular basis it seems. Once again, the focus is on healthy choices.
- The dinner plans have lots of holes in them. Why? We were tired of planning out every dinner and we need to clean out freezer. So the empty nights become “get creative” nights. We have also been trying to cook a basic meal like the ham dinner last Sunday. We then use what is left to create multiple other meals.
- This week’s shopping list is tomatoes,cucumbers, sour cream, milk, and eggs. We needs some basics and then a few fresh items that we are getting from the garden or CSA yet.
If you are looking for answers on monthly meal planning, ask the questions you have! I don’t know that I have the answer for you but I will look for them!
If you want the empty Excel spreadsheet formatted like a calendar, let me know and I will send it you via email. Just send me an email at simplybudgeted at gmail dot com.
Have you tried monthly meal planning? How did it go? Any tips or suggestions?
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