Meal Planning

I don't meal-plan in the usual sense of the phrase. Most of the time when you think "meal plan," you think of specific meals assigned to specific days. I don't do this; instead, I find it is easier to have a list of meals available to use. This includes freezer meals that just need to be heated up and also meals that I have all the ingredients available to complete but not yet assembled. In addition, I have a running list of meals that I am missing maybe 1 or 2 components, so that when these ingredients come on sale, I can pick them up and move that meal to my main list.

Right now on my list of available meals, I have the following:
*Roast beef
*Spaghetti pie (freezer meal)
*Chicken pot pie (freezer meal)
*Chicken-broccoli roll-ups (freezer meal, enough for 2-3 meals)
*Flavorful chicken
*Chicken cacciatore
*Frozen pizza
*Pork chops
*Tacos
*Grilled cheese and tomato soup
*Spaghetti
*Pigs in blankets
*Pancakes
*Beef teriyaki
*Sloppy joes

On my list of meals missing 1 or 2 components is beef stew; all I need are potatoes, and if I get a 5-pound bag of potatoes, I would also be able to make twice-baked potatoes and/or just plain baked potatoes, which I sometimes serve as part of a meatless meal. I also have several pounds of hamburger frozen and am looking for some new recipes to use this in.

I keep these lists in my family organizer, which is on my desk, and it is easy to look at the weekly calendar portion of the organizer and see the meals I have available listed on the same page. This helps me allow for variations in our schedule during the week and working in leftovers as available.

The above meals will easily last my family 3 weeks. By knowing what meals I have available and making sure they are used before falling into the freezer pit of no return, we will stay out of the fast food lane and hopefully accomplish some financial goals in the process.