Meal Planning

Maddy helps me do our weekly food shopping every Friday morning at Pak N Save Albany.  You might have seen us - she is the little girl sitting in the pink gingham Clean Shopper.  (Flower Power design shown below).

This is one of the best things I have ever purchased.  I can't tell you how many times we get stopped and asked where we got it from each week.  And Madeline just loves it!

But that aside, I am a huge supporter of Meal Planning and will happily chat to anyone about the merits of meal planning if we get on the subject of supermarkets.  I love it for the following reasons:

1. It saves money!  I plan out our weekly menu on Thursday nights before I go food shopping on Friday.  I ask if anyone (that being Mr Little Housewife) if he has any special requests.  Then I check online what is on special, then I "shop from my pantry/fridge/freezer" first to see what I can make from what we already have and then only buy what we need from there.  So there is no double upping on things we already have and wherever possible, I can overlap ingredients too.

2. It saves waste!  On average one third of the food New Zealand families buy gets thrown away.  Because you "shop from your pantry/fridge/freezer" first, you can keep an eye on expiry dates and make sure you use anything up before it expires.

3. Sanity!  By planning ahead you avoid the 5pm "whats for dinner" panic.

4. New Recipes - I love to try new recipes and I try to factor at least one in each week.  So by planning ahead it ensures I have the ingredients to work through my HUGE recipe collection.

Did I convince you what a great idea this is yet?  How about these super cute and free printable menu planners to pop on your fridge to get you started...

In Honor of Design

The Project Girl

Ollibird

Delish

 Jenny Collier Photography

Fab N Free