Meal planning: saving money and sanity

Just before we rang in the New Year I proclaimed 2010 to be The Year of Money. Primarily saving money, and one of the ways I proposed to do this was to start meal planning. For me, cooking dinner has been like that recurring dream where I'm a contestant on a game show but wearing no pants. Four o'clock would roll around and I'd start to panic because I couldn't think of anything to cook, and I'd just get freaky and overwhelmed. So we'd eat out. We were eating out or ordering take-out 2-3 times per week. And I'm not talking about fast food here. I'm talking about gourmet pizza and proper sit-down restaurants, which added up big time. But all of that has changed now. We have not eaten out as a family once in 2010. We will at some point, but for now I'm devoted to home-cooked meals. Meal planning has transformed the way I approach dinnertime and has removed a huge amount of stress in my life. It's cut down tremendously on the amount of wasted food, and it has saved us money by not dining out.

The only meal I do any planning for is dinner, because breakfast and lunch around here seldom varies. I don't have a magic formula or use any kind of spread sheets. Once a week (seldom on the same day, but often on Wednesdays, not sure why) I spend an hour planning meals for about 7-10 days out. Then I revisit the plan a few days later and tweak it if needed. Here's my process:

1. I use a week-at-a-glance day planner that has lots of space for each day. Yep, the paper kind. I love this one made of 100% recycled paper. (Thanks, Liz!) This allows me to see what's going on during the week, whether hub has a late meeting, daughter has basketball practice or if I can see if time will be tight around dinner so I can plan accordingly. I write in pencil.

 
2. Then I pull up my Master Dinner List, a Word doc that simply lists entrees and where I can find the recipe if needed. What I've learned about myself is that I just need an idea on paper. Just getting the idea, the name of an entree, is about 75% of the battle for me. Santa Fe Beef & Beans. Vegetable Lasagna. Grilled cheese sandwiches. I write down any dinner idea on the list, no matter how mundane. Right now I have about 40 entrees listed, and when I try something new and successful I add it to the list. I try to plan for at least two meals that will have leftovers for the following dinner. One night usually features pasta, one night homemade pizza.

 
3. Once I've jotted down my dinners in the planner I make a shopping list for about 4 days worth of food. Anything longer than that is asking for spoilage. I get out my binder of recipes (literally, a binder into which I've taped recipes onto cardstock-weight paper in no particular order, aka organized mayhem) or whatever cookbooks I need, check ingredients, check to see what I already have and make a list. Then off to the store!

  
I cannot tell you how radically different dinnertime has become around here because I have a plan and I'm not stressed out. The quality of our dinners has improved dramatically. We are throwing away almost nothing because I've planned for leftovers. I've earmarked all of the produce and meat that enters the fridge, and it all gets eaten. There is no room for error. In fact, most of the time our fridge looks pretty bare, and I love that. I know exactly what's in there. Amazing! 

I can't say that I'm saving any money on groceries, but that wasn't really my intention. We're saving money by not eating out. I'm not a coupon user and I like shopping at our local co-op and New Seasons Market, which is more expensive than, say, Winco. But I have a grocery budget, and I'm sticking to it. Using Mint.com helps me track how much I'm spending at the grocery store so that I can see where I need to make adjustments.

Also, not eating out every week makes the prospect of eating out so much more special. Meeting a girlfriend for dinner. Date night. Celebrations. I savor these rare and special occasions now.

Are you meal planning? Have a system that you'd like to share? Let's hear it!