Weekly Meal Planner and Shopping List

Do you ever find yourself staring into the fridge at 5pm wondering what you're going to feed your family for dinner? I have been there a time or two myself, so I created this printable meal planner and shopping list worksheet to avoid unnecessary stress at mealtimes. Follow the simple steps below and you will be well on your way to stress free mealtimes!

Here's how to get started:

• Click on the link below, print out the worksheet and cut the sheet in half.
• Take a look at your calendar for the week ahead and make note of any nights that your family will be dining out.
• Take inventory of what's in your fridge, freezer and pantry and try to incorporate those items into your menu.
• Browse recipes and decide what you'd like to eat that week. I try to stick to easy, thirty minute recipes. I also try to use some of the same ingredients in my recipes.
• Write down your meals for the week on the left side of the worksheet.
• Fill in the grocery list on the right side of the worksheet.
• Shop.
• Decide where you are going to store your worksheet so that it's always easily assessible. I keep mine in my purse in a small 8.5 x 5.5 binder (see picture), but you could also keep it on the fridge or a cork board.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD MEAL PLANNER

Happy Valentines Day!!

I hope you are all having a wonderful V-Day!

XOXO

Keep Track of Spending with Cash Envelopes

Until recently, I've never carried cash around. But now that I'm married with a child, I'm always needing cash to pay babysitters, the cleaning service, dog groomer, etc. To prevent having to go to the ATM several times a week, I make one withdrawal from the ATM every Monday morning. To keep track of my spending, I keep the cash in a special envelope in my wallet and record each purchase on the outside of the envelope. That way, no dollar goes unaccounted for and at the end of the week I know exactly what I spent cash on. It's great for accountability and helps keep track of where you're spending your cash. CLICK HERE  to download your own.

My Fave Kitchen Organization Products

To follow up on yesterday's post , I have listed below a few of my favorite kitchen organization products. Enjoy!

This undershelf basket is available at The Container Store . 

Copco Non-Skid Turntable from Bed Bath and Beyond . You can use them to store condiments  in your kitchen cabinets, pantry and/or fridge. They can also be used to store medicine in bathroom cabinets.

Expandable Spice Rack from Bed Bath and Beyond

Gravity Feed Can Rack from The Container Store

These Snapware Storage Containers (available at Target) are great for storing pantry staples.

This kitchen cabinet organizer, available at Bed Bath and Beyond, provides additional storage under the kitchen sink. I use mine to hold my dishwasher tabs, counter wipes and dish scrubbers.

It's also great to store cleaning products under the bathroom sink.

Kitchen Organization

The kitchen is very often the most used room in the house, which is why it's important for the space to be organized and functional. I've listed a below a few pictures and tips that will hopefully inspire you to reorganize your kitchen! 

I love this organized pantry via Marthastewart.com.

 

Use drawer dividers to organize cooking utensil drawer.
Make sure to line drawers with non-stick liner to prevent dividers from slipping.
Image via marthastewart.com

I love this idea from bhg.com. It's a quick, inexpensive project. Sheet metal can be purchased from Lowes for under $10. I have one in our kitchen and  use it to store a magnetic grocery list and frequently used recipes.

Organized kids cabinet via iheartorganizing.blogspot.com. I love the bibs hanging on the cabinet door. Clever!

This is our "sippy cup cabinet". I use it to store the baby's cups, snack traps and food containers. Please forgive the poor photo quality...It was taken with my phone!

Plastic container storage via realsimple.com

Organizing with Baskets



Image Courtesy of tomscheerer.com



Image Courtesy of Young House Love



Image Courtesy of pagodaroad.com

Image Courtesy of Architectural Digest

Image Courtesy of marthastewart.com





Emergency Contact Sheet for Fridge

If you don't have an emergency contat sheet on your fridge, I would highly recommend taking a few minutes to download this link (courtesy of hellobee.com). If you have little ones at home, it's also a good idea to keep a printout on the fridge with each child's schedule. It will save time and energy when the sitter arrives and will give you peace of mind knowing that that sitter has all the info she needs.



**I print my fridge documents on cardstock, laminate and stick them to the fridge with double-sided tape.