In trying to be true to my Frugal bone, I am spending a few minutes each week planning the meals for my family. I won't go into detail yet.... I'm just testing the waters, but I was born a Planner!
Everyone knows if you buy in bulk, you save, right? Well I have never used a full 5 lb bag of potatoes. I'd use one or two for a recipe and forget the others were there until they were sprouting roots everywhere. So, when I found a great recipe that I wanted to try that needed potatoes, I decided to Plan Ahead and find another recipe that also needed potatoes. I could save money by buying the 5 lb bag, and use all of the potatoes in those 2 recipes. AND it worked so well! No wasted potatoes = no wasted $$.
Anyway, I just purchased a Freezer Menu that includes 20 recipes that you prepare, but not cook, and then freeze from SavingDinner.com. There is a 20% off coupon that is good on the 20 Meal Freezer Menus (freeze20) so I decided to give it a try. Pork was on sale last week, so I have lbs of pork in the freezer with no plans for it. I am going to use my new freezer menu planner to make the pork chop recipes (that sound fantastic!) and then freeze them so they are prepared and ready to be cooked as needed. This will allow me to purchase meats when they are on sale and use them without forgetting they are in the freezer. I'm really excited about this! I'm great at stockpiling, but I have to admit that when I clean out the pantry, I often find something that I forgot I had and have to throw it away because it expired. I'm hoping that my few minutes of planning ahead and making my complete grocery list in advance will prevent this from happening ever again!
Do you plan your meals in advance? Leave a comment with your tips!
