Blogmas Series: Holiday Meal Planning

Last week, I gave you some ideas and tips for anyone who has to celebrate "Christmas on a Budget". I really hope that you are beginning to implement some of those principles that I talked about, into your own home.

Another major way our family of seven is able to stay on budget is through monthly meal planning. Meal planning is simply taking some time to plan a number of your meals for the next few weeks or month, depending on how you want to do it. Your current season of life will help you determine what method will be best for your family at this time. In the past, I have tried both: planning out meals for the entire month or just planning our meals out two weeks at a time.

My favorite method has been to plan our meals each month and as I meal plan, I make two grocery lists. One list is for items I need to buy for meals during the first half of the month and the second list is for items I will need for meals during the second half of the month. Let me clarify, I only plan out our dinners, because we pretty much eat the same few things for breakfast and lunch. As a result, I add those items to my grocery list when we need them.

Honestly, right after we moved to Hong Kong, I just planned for two weeks at a time, because it was easier for me to plan than finding time to do a whole month at a time. Now that we have settled into a good routine in our new home, I am going back to planning one month of meals at a time. I like planning one month at a time, because then I don't have to worry about finding time to meal plan during the second half of the month. I like getting everything planned out at once.

Several years ago, I wrote a blog post called, "Meal Planning on a Budget". Many of the tips that I will share with you today are similar to that older blog post. Please continue below to read about how plan out our meals.

How to Meal Plan

1. Pray.
I believe that God cares about all of the details in our life and that includes our meal planning. God sees your faithfulness to plan good and healthy meals for your family. He will help you to stay on budget if you are faithful to seek Him first in everything that you do. Yes, even meal planning...

2. Make a Weekly (or Monthly) Meal Plan. 
Pull out your calendar. I use both my wall calendar and the calendar in my phone to make sure that I know what is coming up this month. It helps me to know when my husband will be traveling, which means I might not need to make quite as much for dinner. In addition, you will need your favorite recipes. Again, either pull them up on your phone snd browse Pinterest or break out your favorite cookbooks. These will help inspire you to try new things and not just make the same few dishes over and over again.

3. Make a Grocery List. 
If monthly meal planning, you might want to make two grocery lists. I tried shopping one month at a time, but it has never worked for me and my family. We enjoy fruit and vegetables, which won't be good for an entire month. As a result, I go grocery shopping every two weeks. Always check your cupboards and try to use up what you have first. If still need additional ingredients write them down either on your grocery list.

4. Go Shopping.
This is the hardest part, stick to your list!! If other people in your family try to persuade you to buy things that aren't on your list, then just don't take them with you. Go shopping by yourself. Try your best to find things on sale. However, don't go crazy buying every new product that is advertised at your grocery store of choice.

5. Reuse Leftover Meals.
If there are meals that you do not eat this month, save them and roll them over to the next month. This is another key tip to keep you on budget and not waste the food that you already purchased.



All that begin said, as the holidays are quickly approaching take time to sit down and plan out some meals for the next few weeks. Plan what you will have for Christmas dinner and any other special occasions you might celebrate this month.