meal planning tips.

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one of my friends asked me to share some of my meal planning tips with her last week. i thought i would share some with all of you too! when jeremy and i first got married, i would literally get anxious & stressed out on sunday nights trying to plan out my grocery list. i don't have a completely "fool proof" system, but here are a few strategies that have saved me headaches & minor melt downs...

// online resources

my good friend, netta, posts weekly meal plans with recipe ideas. 

she links up with tons of other {mostly} moms on laura's site, organizing junkie. laura has menu planning print outs, recipe links, freezer cooking tutorials and so much more. an amazing resource.

// write it in something pretty

 because i declared that i am an artist, i chose something fun and colorful to write my weekly meal plan in. it makes it less painful.

// a running list.

if your family members say, "wow, this was an amazing meal!" i suggest taking note! if you work proactively, and keep a running list of meals that your family likes and didn't require all day in the kitchen, your meal plan will, in essence be done for you. 

// keep your list in one place. 

if you have a handy dandy notebook, then you can also keep a running list of items you will eventually need. {sometimes i might not necessarily need flour or sugar this week, but i need to remember to get it next month}. this keeps the random items floating around in your mind in one place.

// there's an app for that.

i've shared before the menu planning iphone app i use. it's a wonderful tool if you are a techie. i have to say, i resort back to pen and paper more often, but it has everything you need in one place, too. 

// save some cash!

and best of all, menu planning will save you from just picking up random items off the shelves and ending up spending way more than you intended. 

do you have any questions? anything i forgot to cover? feel free to leave them in the comments!