I am excited to announce one of our family resolutions for this year. We are working off Monthly Meal Plans this year!! Yes, monthly!
Last year, we did weekly meal plans. Well we did weekly meal plans most of the time. I say most of the time because some weeks we forgot to plan. Life got busy, school work was out of control, the preschool business started, the family all got sick. You name it, life happens. When I suggested a Monthly Meal Plan late last month, I was sure my husband would declare me nuts for good. BUT … he was on board. He was on board so much he tried to find a monthly meal planner online. There were none to be found that worked for what we wanted though. So being the Excel junkie that he is, he made a calendar he could fill in a meal for each day.
Part of my accountable in doing this is posting our Monthly Meal Plan each month. Yes, this month is a tad late but I running like crazy trying to catch up on some blog posts. (I hope you noticed!)
So here it is …
| Date | Breakfast | Lunch | Dinner |
| 2 | Pancakes | Leftovers | Chicken Leg Quarters Cheesy Broccoli Rice Salad |
| 3 | Oatmeal | Soup and Salad | Meatloaf Baby Potatoes Veggie |
| 4 | Sausage Muffins | Soup and Sandwich | African Beef Curry Rice Salad |
| 5 | Cereal | Soup and Salad | Terriyaki Chicken Pasta Salad |
| 6 | SEC Muffin | Salad and Sandwich | Leftovers |
| 7 | Oatmeal | Soup and Fish | BLT Pizza Salad |
| 8 | Bacon & Eggs | Out | Pork Stir Fry Rice |
| 9 | Pancakes | Leftovers | Beef Stroganoff Egg Noodles Salad |
| 10 | Oatmeal | Soup and Salad | Baked Pasta Salad |
| 11 | Sausage Muffins | Soup and Sandwich | Vegetable Beef Barley Soup Salad |
| 12 | Cereal | Soup and Salad | Meatloaf Mashed Potatoes Salad |
| 13 | SEC Muffin | Salad and Sandwich | Leftovers |
| 14 | Oatmeal | Soup and Fish | Tacos |
| 15 | Bacon & Eggs | Out | Chicken Skewers Rice Salad |
| 16 | Pancakes | Leftovers | Shrimp Pasta Salad |
| 17 | Oatmeal | Soup and Salad | Veggie Stir Fry Rice |
| 18 | Sausage Muffins | Soup and Sandwich | Beef Barley Stew Salad |
| 19 | Cereal | Soup and Salad | Sloppy Joes Salad |
| 20 | SEC Muffin | Salad and Sandwich | Leftovers |
| 21 | Oatmeal | Soup and Fish | Pizza Salad |
| 22 | Bacon & Eggs | Out | Fajitas |
| 23 | Pancakes | Leftovers | Ham Mashed Potatoes Peas |
| 24 | Oatmeal | Soup and Salad | Cheesy Pasta Ham & Peas Salad |
| 25 | Sausage Muffins | Soup and Sandwich | White Chicken Chili |
| 26 | Cereal | Soup and Salad | Burgers Salad |
| 27 | SEC Muffin | Salad and Sandwich | Leftovers |
| 28 | Oatmeal | Soup and Fish | Tacos |
| 29 | Bacon & Eggs | Out | Spaghetti Salad |
I totally couldn’t get the calendar format to work so you could read it. This looks like the best bet right now. It isn’t perfect formatting … I honestly don’t like it. BUT it delivers the content so it will work this month. I’ll work on this as the year goes on! I have another 11 months to practice, right?! 😉
A few notes …
- Yes, breakfast and lunch repeat each week. That was for ease of planning to be honest. After we planned all the dinners, we were tired! My husband plugged in the breakfast and lunch plans on his own!
- The breakfast and lunch plans are mostly for my husband and I. The kids dig their cereal and muffins in the morning. Plus if they didn’t have mac and cheese and apples for lunch on a regular basis (their chosen combination!) there would be a revolt around here!
- The dinner plans are simple. We didn’t have ground beef so we had to get some at Sam’s. As a result, meals are made ahead already. The meatloaf, taco meat, and Sloppy Joes are all put together and frozen … in some case for this month and next month!
- This week has been so easy for us so far. The only snag is that we used up our big tub of lettuce so far. I will take that problem though! We have Iceburg lettuce for our Friday pizza so we will be using that for salads. We are using up everything we bought and we honestly didn’t have to buy that much. We are able to pull a lot from our stash and keep shopping to keep our stash ready for next month’s meal plan.
If you are looking for answers on monthly meal planning, ask the questions you have! I don’t know that I have the answer for you but I will look for them!
If you want the empty Excel spreadsheet formatted like a calendar, let me know and I will send it you via email. Just send me an email at simplybudgeted at gmail dot com.
Have you tried monthly meal planning? How did it go? Any tips or suggestions?
Next month, I hope to get up our plan as soon as it is together so watch for it if you want to use part of it as your own!
Wow! It's tough to keep it all according to plan. But good for you guys, you helped each other to achieve your meal plan goal. This is very convenient with families that are saving their budget for their future.