but first, weekend tidbits of course!
Friday night I put the girls down and went to bed at aboutā¦ 8:45? Ha. David returned home on the red eye early Saturday morning. I had visions of a cozy breakfast together, but go figure he was a little tired, so he went to take a nap while Hailey and I baked cookies.
There was an excitement in the air because Mema and Grandpa arrived later that morning and we spent the day catching up, playing with the girls and watching a ton of great football. A win for Georgia Tech and a great Georgia victory over Auburn makes for a happy household!
Donāt mind the laundry piles. Itās an ever-present scene around here.
Saturday after breakfast, the gang went on a bundled up walk
and I got to go grocery shopping. Solo. (Wheeeee!!!!) Itās the first time in a few weeks I got to sit down, make a plan and execute in blissful solitude. It reenergized my meal planning mojo and made me want to share some of my favorite meal planning tips .
1. Make a plan. Knowing what is for dinner and having it all on hand makes my life so much easier. Nothing fires my engines like walking into a grocery store with a categorized list (food nerds unite!!).
2. Shop your pantry and fridge. This helps me eliminate wasting any food and you never know when you might find half a carton of goat cheese remaining and be able to knock that high priced item off your list before you even step foot in the store.
3. Only buy what you need. If you are fortunate enough to have access to bulk bins, take advantage! If you only need a few sesame seeds, this helps save a lot of money and wasted ingredients. I feel like an evil genius when the cashier rings up $0.73 worth of a food.
4. Swap ingredients if necessary.One (of many) things I like about cooking over baking is the endless flexibility. Since they didnāt have pine nuts in bulk, I swapped those pricey little gems for on sale cashews instead.
With that kind of organization and sticking with the list, shopping goes quickly!
I even had a chance to make some enchiladas and breakfast sandwiches for David
before fitting in a late afternoon walk with the girls.
No need to thank me, girls. Your enthused faces say it all.
For more meal planning talk, here’s another post I’ve written about it!
How was your weekend?
What is your favorite meal planning tip?
Marnie @ SuperSmartMama says
I saw a photo of your Sunday chicken enchiladas on IG and guess what I added to my meal plan for this week? *grin*
I’ve been meal planning for eight weeks now and I am much better with my grocery list at the store. We have fewer random ingredients in our fridge and pantry, and I am getting better at throwing out unused ingredients as soon as they go bad. The less crowded the fridge, the easier it is for everyone to find what they are looking for!
Monica says
Your meal planning template looks exactly like mine! I’m pretty sure meal planning is the only way I get a decent meal on the table every night as a working mom. If I didn’t plan ahead we’d eat PBJ every night!
Lazy, snowy weekend over here. Pretty sure the toddler is in the middle of a growth spurt so he ate everything in sight.
Erica { EricaDHouse.com } says
Grocery lists make me insanely happy. I organize mine by aisle in the store. That’s not OCD.
erin says
Ugh…that Auburn game was painful (war eagle).
I really need to get re-enthused about meal planning…I do it every week, but I feel like I’ve hit a bit of a rut recently!
Brittany Dixon says
I was in a meal planning rut too and finally felt excited about it again this week! And I understand your pain. I felt it times 100 last year when ‘the catch’ happened š
erin says
Oh goodness, I bet you did. š
BTW I hated to see what happened to Gurley. That’s tough…especially on a non-contact injury!
Jessica @Myhealthypassion.com says
I LOVE a planned week and grocery lists! Weird?! So happy I am not alone in this!!! I need to do a better job shopping my pantry!
Heather says
I’m definitely going to have to start making breakfast sandwiches in advance – such a good idea!
Our weekend was cold, but busy and fun – we celebrated our little girl’s first birthday. š
Brittany Dixon says
Oh how special! Happy 1st birthday to her!
Brynn says
I am SUCH a planner! I agree, checking the fridge before hand helps me reduce food waste and get creative!
Lindsey @ Simply Lindsey says
Our grocery list/meal plan layout looks the same! I cannot grocery shop without a list. Or else I’ll forget everything and buy things we don’t need. I also swap out some of the more expensive, fancy ingredients. My favorite meal planning tip is to take inventory of what you already have before you plan meals for the week. This helps reduce food waste and gets me to be a little more creative in the kitchen! š
Liz @ I Heart Vegetables says
Such great tips! I love the one about shopping your pantry š I’ve been trying to get better at that to use up extra ingredients?
Jen says
I used to be better about making specific meal plans, but these days I usually come up with a few ideas, buy what we need, and kind of play it by ear throughout the week.
I am also a total grocery store nerd, and I make my lists so that they flow by area of the store. You know, since I know where every single thing is, I write down my list in the order in which we’ll encounter it. I am a dork. It helps, though!
Paj says
Question – Do you freeze those breakfast sandwiches? Making them ahead sounds great but don’t want them to get soggy.
Brittany Dixon says
I do freeze them and they don’t get soggy because I use Ezekiel English muffins which are hearty and thick. I’ve made them with Thomas’ before and sog city!
Laura @FitMamaLove says
I’m always so impressed with people who meal plan and prep! I did it for a short period of time, but now I just go and buy a bunch of meal, produce and grains and throw random things together. I could see myself possibly meal planning again, but I’m positive I will never be in the weekly meal prep category of people. That’s a whole other level!
Paj says
Nevermind sorry, just saw the link.
chelsey @ clean eating chelsey says
Yum! I love the look of your dinners this week. I’m all about only buying what I need. I am always left with an empty fridge on Saturdays!
Stephanie says
Thank you for the great meal planning lessons! I love the idea of buying just what you need from the bulk section – we’re going to try that! I just noticed your grocery list is organized in sections; can you explain the layout? Also, I’ve always wondered, can you reheat your breakfast sandwiches in an oven? We don’t have a microwave.
Brittany Dixon says
The sections I used were: meat, aisles, bakery, bulk section, produce and cheese! It fits for the layout of my store.
I’m sure you could reheat in the oven, but I’m not sure how long it would take from frozen. Maybe you could put in the fridge the night before to cut down on time?
Alex says
Your enchiladas look soo good! Reminds me to think outside of the box and try some new recipes from time to time. I really enjoyed the tips you shared! I think planning is so key in being ready for the week. My favorite tip that has probably helpede this most and significantly reduce the amount of time I spend in the store is grouping the items like you mention. I group all its together acoording to like product and I lay it out as to how I walk around my store with its layout (I.e. Produce-bulk-seafood-etc.) it helps me consolidate my list and I don’t waste time walking back and forth from one end to another in the store!
Parita @ myinnershakti says
Great tips! I’m always swapping ingredients based on sales, what I currently have on hand, etc.
And the UGA game was a big highlight. Other than that, we kept things pretty low-key around here!
Erin @ Her Heartland Soul says
Your oldest daughter looks so much like you!! Cookie baking in cold weather is the best.
And random but Iād love if you shared this post on my new Weekend Snapshots link up. The link-up just went live today!
http://www.herheartlandsoul.com/weekend-snapshots-linkup/
Christy @TheMuddyApron says
I’m horrible at planning my meals. Honestly. You have great ideas, but once I hit the store, all bets are off. More almond butter to add to my collection? Sure, why not. I have to be better at this.
Caitlin says
Please tell me you rewrote that list to make it pretty??? My lists are always full of scribbles and scratch-outs.
Wish I was better at meal planning/shopping my cupboards and freezer… Need to work on that!
Brittany Dixon says
Oh heck yes I totally did! My first draft was just jotting it down, then I rewrote it to organize it into sections. Oh man, should I be embarrassed by that?
Hannah @ CleanEatingVeggieGirl says
I just recently started shopping the bulk bins and I do not know why it took me so long to do so! Since I am almost always only cooking for myself, it is a major money saver. Plus, I don’t have to buy a gigantic bag of something that I only need a little bit of for a recipe. Great tips, Brittany!
Brittany from CountingMyCupcakes says
Haha, their faces in that last picture are too cute. Great tips! Grocery shopping is one of my favorite weekly activities.
Lauren @ Fun, Fit, and Fabulous! says
What great tips! The thing that makes meal planning so much easier for me, is grilling up a few different types of protein on Sunday night to be used in various dishes throughout the week. It saves so much time and money!
Sagan says
I LOVE meal planning. I can’t imagine NOT doing it! Mr Science and I sit down together with a pile of cookbooks and our laptops and we plan two weeks of meals at a time (obviously much easier for us to do 14 days since it’s just two of us to feed and no kids!). Since there are just the two of us, we can generally count on a meal lasting for two days (and / or eating leftovers for lunch). That’s one of the best ways to meal plan – make extra amounts so it lasts longer!
Matt says
Great tips!
Stephanie says
I’ve been reading your blog when I can for a little while now and the more I read it, the more inspired I feel. So thank you for that! Great tips today on shopping the bulk bins. I think I know what you’re talking about, but never realized that’s what they were. Can’t wait to check them out on my next trip.
Joanna @Makingmine says
I’ve just recently started meal planning, and it has made a HUGE difference in good, healthy meals actually ending up on our table. Thanks for these tips – I need to be better at shopping my pantry/fridge. I end up with too many duplicates (and wasted) food!
Brittany @ Delights and Delectables says
Love meal planning. We do the same thing here. I love shopping in my fridge. Usually, I start there to see what we have and base meals around that!
Monica says
Is Hailey’s kitchen a KidKraft? My son is 15 months and obsessed with kitchens. I have my heart set on one of the KidKraft kitchens but I’ve heard they are hard to assemble!! What are your thoughts? I just love how they look vs another plastic bright toy!
Brittany Dixon says
Yes it is a kid kraft! We’ve loved it. I don’t recall if it was tough to assemble, most likely because David did it. So while I’m not help there, I can say it’s durable, cute and has gotten a LOT of love!
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