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Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Flexible Menu Planning

Some days I think my life would not function without menu planning. I plan monthly and weekly. I use a master menu plan where I keep all of our families regularly-rotated meals listed. I grocery shop based on my monthly menu plan.

But all that being said, I am not a big fan of stick to rigid plans in any area of my life. So I've learned to be flexible in the meals I make and not worry too much if I veer from the plan.

Since I only shop once a month, and since I always strive to stick to our $350 monthly budget for the 6 of us, you'd think this veering from the plan wouldn't work out too well for me.

And I guess that's the beauty of knowing myself and my tendency to buck the system. It never is a problem because 95% of our meals work from some off-shoot of the same basic ingredients. So those ingredients are always purchased in quantity and they're always on hand. I see that as license to have fun with our meals each day and not always stick to the routine.

Being flexible in the kitchen really works for me. Find more WFMW on Shannon's blog.

4 comments:

Debbie said...

I am glad to have found your blog. There are six of us and I am way over $350 a month. I thought I was being frugal too! Obviously, I have much to learn from you.

Anonymous said...

I am so impressed by the $350.00 grocery bill. Please share your grocery list for a month. I would love to see it. I am in the process of trying to get my grocery budget under control. Thanks.igbar

Svr said...

I hope you participate in MPM with recipes???? I'll be checking back in for sure!!!

Jennifer said...

What do you buy when you are at the grocery store? I would love to buy a months worth of food at a time, but my gosh... I don't know what to buy! lol I already have large quantities of foods such as frozen veggies, meats, cheese, milk, bread etc. I purchase these things when they are a really great deal so that I don't have to buy them at their normal prices. However, I still have to buy all the little things that go to make a meal. I am still working on stockpiling since we got our freezer last summer and I am still learning.