Meal planning and budgeting . . . getting started P.4!!!

[KatyTheChickenLady]

Thank You!

 

[breezy]

Ok so who has started the new year off with Katies system? How did you modify it to fit your family and life? I am going to try this without changing the dinners too much. I will be modifying the breakfasts since I dont always eat breakfast at the same time each day nor do I have time to cook many mornings. Im self employed and mornings can be crazy and unpredictable. Im moving the morning snack to early /mid afternoon when I usually need a pickup and have elimnated the afternoon cocktail hour but have rolled some of those ideas over to Saturday nights meal since we often have an appetizer or salad or antipasta plate kind of thing at the end of the week for dinner. Im really looking forward to trying this for 2010 and Im interested in how others have done it for themselves. Thanks to you Katy for all the work you put in teaching us your system!

 

[ScoobyRoo]

At the moment, I'm just trying to clear off my desk. I know it is made of wood.

I haven't seen it for a long time. I'm self employed also and as you said breezy, it can get chaotic and unpredictable around here. I am doing the bean recipes one night a week. With a daughter managing the highschool basketball team, a daughter rehearsing a school play and a son playing basketball it is hard to stick with a plan when you get unexpected calls asking to "pick-up" their kid or business calls. So, truthfully, I'm not modifying Katy's plan but trying to get a routine set up. Her ideas are helpful and then I get a kink in the plan

.
What I am trying to do is the bean recipes on Monday nights then have the leftovers again on Wed. night.
That is far as I got. I'm not giving up yet.

 

[The Chicken Lady]

I think this is a great idea. I think I will study this thread this evening. If anything, it would help me to plan more variety into what I cook and make grocery shopping easier.

 

[TACEYPERKINS]

Ok Katy- So My down fall was dinners, so I basically did the year of planning my dinners. It is almost done. It wasn't hard at all. Almost got it done in one day. The holidays got hectic though. I did each meal 8x a year. I just have to do my shopping list now. I have printed out all my recipies, then I will print out my menus. So no matter who goes shopping we all will know what we need by looking at the week in advance. I can't really stock up for the year,because of lack of space. But, this will help us stock up on the things we know we will need in advance. Thank you so much!!!!!!

 

[The Chicken Lady]

I was thinking of planning a month's worth of meals (Week One, Week Two, etc.) and then starting over at Week One once I finished with the last week, so that we'd get to eat our favorite meals at least once a month.

I could do a month's worth of cold weather meals (to rotate weekly through the six months it is pretty much cold all the time where I live), and a month's worth of warm weather meals for the six warmer months. That way I could plan for what types of food are more readily available (like fresh veggies and fruits) during certain months and save $$$ by cooking with things that are in season.

If I planned for a monthly rotation of meals, how many weeks would be appropriate to plan for? My guess would be four weeks' worth.

 

[MsMcChick]

Katy thanks!

I love what you do with your family. I've had so many changes in the past year, that just to have SOMETHING on a schedule is great. I am a single mom working 2 jobs and raising 2 teenagers, and we live 40 minutes from their school and where I work. Meals are hectic, groceries are expensive (although I have been dubbed the coupon queen by my family, it's still costly), and i never have time to cook in the morning. I have fallen down on the job of planning meals and I've grown to hate coming home at night and trying to figure out what to make. I used to love cooking/baking and coming up with new things, but it's all fallen by the wayside this past year.
I've got the spreadsheet saved, soon to print, and on to the fun of planning and shopping (which i do enjoy if i ever stop moving long enough to accomplish it!) I'm so excited

Thanks again! ~Tracy

 

[KatyTheChickenLady]

I am so happy I was able to be of help to someone!
I too was a busy single mom (I raised 4 kids on my own), and had a hugely time consuming executive job. I have almost always used my planning and budgeting methods, although I have perfected them over time; also, I've adjusted the types of meals as the kids grew from toddlers to big kids to teens, the ease of preparation (mostly crockpot dishes during the busy times), and quality of ingredients as my budget grew.
One thing I would strongly suggest if you have teens is to make them a part of it, teach them budgeting and planning now, they will thank you later.
The way we do it in our house now is each teen picks a day (and thus a catagory ie: chicken, pasta etc . . .) and they plan, shop, and prepare that meal for 13 weeks. (after 13 weeks they switch to a differernt day/catagory) They have to go off of my planned menu, read the recipe, check the cupboards for what we have, make their shopping list, go get all the ingredients while I am doing my weekly shopping, and prepare the meal. I supervise heavily, and disasters still happen, but they are learning and it's a good family time (I've found that even the teens who are not cooking that day still wind up in the kitchen - not on the computer- watching, laughing, and giving rediculous advise) . And the kid that cooks doesn't have to help with dishes that night.

 

[WhiteMountainsRanch]

All I have to say is WOW. I know this is an old thread but I would VERY much like some of your help and wisdom here. I hope you come back to this thread. My bf and I are at the ends of our ropes with food and spending money on food!

I read the whole thread and downloaded the excel worksheet. I almost finished with a 1 month plan but I will have to break it into two for grocery shopping. So once I have it all listed how do I make a grocery list from it? Also, where can I find the Tuna recipes?

Thank you!

 

[KatyTheChickenLady]

aw thanks! I will be glad to help.

the first place to start is not with recipes or shopping lists but with A BUDGET.
There are beef recipes with burger and those with Prime Rib, you don't know what you can afford until you make a budget, so let's start there.

How much can YOU afford to spend on groceries a month?
How much do you spend eating out? If you start cooking your meals will that savings go into grocery budget, savings or to pay off bills? Very important things to figure out.
Add up what you bring home; subtract from that you fixed expenses (housing, electricity, transportation, child care, bills etc.) What you have left is for savings (short term & long term), pocket money, and food.
Your food money could be 30.00 a month, or 300.00 (or 3,000.00 even) but you can't start planning your meals until you know how much that amount is.

I don't need to know what that number is, just let me know when you figure out what it is and we'll go from there.

What a fun start for the New Year for you!

I'll find the Tuna recipes, there was a thread on here with them.