Meal Planning Time!

How many of you have had the following happen to you in the last month?

• Looked at your fridge and pantry wondering what to eat?
• Wondered how you fit that much into your shopping cart?
• Ordered out because it was just plain easier?

I have to say, I have been guilty of all these things and more, in the past. However, with expenses and home projects we want to accomplish, saving money on groceries is priority one! Especially since we have so many lovely projects in progress (such as the kitchen re-org) or planned for the horizon (master closet, laundry room, etc).

I have also been motivated by the great blogs I have been following. There are SO many awesome tips out there from people who flat out kick you-know-what at saving money on groceries and making meal planning painless. To you all, thank you!

I have pinned a lot of great ideas on different things I can do, such as:

A recipe binder for keeping our families favorite meals handy. I especially love the visual for each item, as I will rarely cook something that I can't see a picture of beforehand.

Source: iheartorganizing

A great iPhone app for electronically tracking our shopping list and keeping track of the items that we purchase. Also, it keeps us focused on what we need, not everything that looks tempting.

I also love (LOVE!) that it automatically syncs our phones so we never have to worry that the other person got items on the list AND that you can categorize all your items. Yep, it was definitely love at first site with this app!

Easy (and FREE) access to coupons and recommendations on how to get the biggest bang for the buck in the shortest time possible. I am blown away by how many great tips, tricks, and goodies are on this site. The Pinterest boards alone could keep me entertained for quite some time and the coupon database is beyond cool.

Source: Money Saving Mom



A weekly meal board to document what we are going to have for the week, which should help us avoid the whiny "But I am hungry now" and "what's for dinner?" routines that we get ALL THE TIME! I love the team color of this one from Jen at iheartorganizing, but the day icons on the board below. Might even have to go with some spiffy chalkboard paint!

Source: iheartorganizing



Source: Tip Junkie

Now that I have my ideas all rounded up, it is time to implement. What are you doing to save money with groceries and meal planning?  Let the fun begin!

The Kitchen Re-org: Part 2

Last (and first!) post, I was blogging about my kitchen angst. While I am not 100% out of the woods, the kitchen has definitely become much more functional. Before the transformation, the space was underutilized and consisted of glass bowls and stacked papers.

The space was better suited to pantry items where bins fit perfectly and the depth was not so great as to lose items in there permanently. One half was dedicated to baking and related items. This has already made a huge difference and with items not buried behind one another, it is easy to grab out for meals. The baking goodies are great and when making breakfast the other morning, I didn't have to run between three different cabinets on three different sides of the kitchen to get what I needed. Yeah!

On the counter space below, I set up wine and coffee stations with all the fixings I add to make my better-than-Starbucks drinks every morning. Having my travel mugs, Keurig (oh, how I love my Keurig!), and vanilla flavor all in one place has kept me from going out and buying a Starbucks (at $4.05 a pop) and has put 10-15 minutes back in my schedule!

The old pantry became a combination area for glassware, storage items and kids pantry items. All kids items were corraled into bins and storage items went in the back. Plates, bowls, and related items moved from three places in the kitchen to directly above the dishwasher with glassware to the right. I can't get over is how wonderfully functional the kitchen now is; no more items falling on top of one another or getting lost in the cabinets. The kids are even involved in the action and did quite a bit of the labeling themselves.

The result is a kitchen that is organized, but very much a work in progress. I still want to:

• Create meal bins with all the dry ingredients needed for a recipe
• Finish labelling bins and add some more decoration to other bins

There are other areas to corral that I am just not sure what to do with. For instance, the table that ends up as the household dropping ground and the corner that collects all things bread, fruit and vegetable. After dinner, this is also the area where all the kids drop off their plates and other items. Please let me know if you have any ideas!



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