Hollee, Meal Planner Extrordinnare!

Well, it's been a crazy little bit round here. I'm trying to get all my "chores" done today so I can relax tomorrow and enjoy mother's day. My husband brought me home a beautiful bouquet of flowers, so I want to make sure everything around it looks just as beautiful. Anyhow, some stuff went on last night that delayed my grocery run to this morning, which delayed the outlet mall run for a couple of hours. Got it all in, starting the laundry, and I will do my weekly "zone" of cleaning. I've "invented" a new process of cleaning my house that (I hope) will serve well. If everything goes as I see it, you can expect a post within the next couple of months about my process.

In the mean time - today's post is about meal planning and grocery shopping. I said I would do it, so now I am. I know, I know - I need to get more food (and pictures) up. I will, I promise. In the mean time, I want to share a few day-to-day tips as well.

Every week, on Thursday, my local grocer (Publix) releases their ads. Now, those in Florida will likely argue that Publix is the most expensive grocer. While it does cost more than say, Walmart...it is not unbearably expensive. And, if you shop the sales it is quite affordable. I am very brand specific in a lot of areas, so for me - I know when the sales go. When the sales go, I stock up.

On Thursday evening or Friday afternoon, I start my list. It begins with a list of sale items from the circular that I find online. This week they had lots of berries and citrus on sale. They also had tomatoes, broccoli, Kraft shredded cheese (some now made with milk from hormone-free beef!), and organic romaine lettuce. I also make notes about the items I purchase that don't go into meals, like this week that includes Mott's Apple Juice (BOGO), Post cereal (BOGO), and Nature's Own Organic bread (again, BOGO - and no high fructose corn syrup).

With my "ingredient" list, I head to AllRecipes.com where I begin to search recipes. It wasn't a great week for sales, so I couldn't really get too creative with my weekly menu. In fact, I don't think I'm trying anything new this week:

Friday: I was planning on making Nachos, but didn't make it out to the store. I just made Guacamole instead.

Saturday: Caprese salad (tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, basil, EVOO, and balsamic vinegar), corn (from last week), and some bread in the bread maker.

Sunday: OUT for mother's day!

Monday: Fried rice

Tuesday: Fresh Salad

Wednesday: Hungarian Lesco

Thursday: Broccoli & pasta in a light lemon and garlic sauce with pine nuts and goat cheese crumbled in.

You can see that I really attempted to utilize whatever vegetable and fruit was on sale that week. I have friends that do monthly meal planning, and that doesn't go for me as we use lots of fruits and vegetables in our meals. Come a week later, some of the less hearty veggies and fruits are done for. Its' about all we can do to get through a week!

When I've figured out my menu, I take that and my list of sale items, and put it all into one list. I try to keep the items in categories in the order I go to the store. I keep my list in a very small (4 by 6) notebook, with a pocket in the front cover for coupons.

Anyhow, since i do the meal planning anyway - I will be putting that up on my blog. I'm finding that many have an interest in this, and maybe one of my meals might help peeps in the same area.

Now, off to clean.