{menu planning}

Menu planning is something I've been trying to be better about. Before we had kids I would plan a month's worth of meals and then do most of the grocery shopping all at once. This worked great because Brett was in school full time and I was working full time. But now we tend to make a trip to the store at least once a week or more and our schedules are pretty full. I am trying to make a menu plan for the next week by the Friday before and get the grocery shopping done by Sunday. This seems to work most of the time. I like how much better organized I feel and at 5:30 when Brett comes home and I leave for work I feel a lot less guilty when there is a meal prepared. It also keeps us from eating out quite as often. So, I thought I would share some of the meal plan downloads I've used. Of course, you could make your own (and I have), but it is nice when the work is already done for you! And sometimes you just need to change things up a bit.

This one is a free download from Becky Higgin's blog. I really like how this one has a place to write down what other things are happening that day to help you plan around them.

This one is a free download from Sherelle Christensen's blog. I like how you can plan for an entire month. She also has a shopping list download on her blog.

And then I bought this really cute one here on Jessica Sprague's website. I think I got it when it was on sale for a dollar. This is the one I use now and I love it. Although, it can be a bit big when taking it to the store with me.

I just feel like having something to make meal planning a little more exciting might make me want to do it a little more.