The Elevated Ordinary

Meal planning helps me save time, money, and energy – in today’s economy, we can’t afford not to plan our meals in advance! Since I’m home full time with a busy toddler, it’s so important for me to come up with cheap, easy, healthy family meal ideas so we don’t rely on takeout or other pre-made meals. Here is my outline for planning our meals:

• On Saturday afternoons, I take an inventory of what I need to use up in my fridge, freezer, and pantry. 
• Using my weekly meal template ideas, I come up with a few recipes that we’ve either tried and liked, or want to try. 
• I shop for groceries online at our local grocery store (H-E-B) and set a pickup for Sunday afternoon or Monday morning depending on our plans!
• Early in the week, I make a plan for getting larger amounts of ingredients prepared for meals throughout the week.

I use Google Keep for my lists and weekly planning so that I can easily share with my husband and stay on the same page. Here is my 7 day family meal plan template.

On Mondays I set our rice cooker up to make enough rice to cover two days worth of meals! Currently I am loving a 50/50 mix of long-grain white rice and white quinoa (it’s 1:1 for water, as well). Tuesday I reheat the rice with vegetables and eggs! Our Wednesday “round bread” category can be anything with round bread – DIY pizzas (dough recipe here), a dish using pita bread, a dish using tortillas, or even round buns. Thursday is pretty self-explanatory, as is Friday. I love to cook huge meals with lots of components so on Saturdays I try and go all out, and this is also a great day to invite people over. To give you an idea, this past week I made the tortillas for our taco feast (in addition to pico de gallo, guacamole, etc.). I got the idea for Sunday “snack dinner” from Haley Wynn Designs, and we love it! It’s self-serve, and we can pick whatever sounds good from the fridge, pantry, or freezer. It’s a great way to use stuff up, and also helps defeat the Sunday scaries in my opinion. My favorite snack right now is cottage cheese, pickles, and a crispy piece of toast or some crackers. I always season my cottage cheese! Keeping a semi-structured routine keeps our family meal plan budget friendly, healthy, and easy.