meal planning-how do you do it?

I start with the sale paper. I find what's on sale and then look through my recipes to plan our meals for the week. I have them all (tried and ones I want to try) saved in a cookbook software on my laptop that also syncs with my iPhone, so I always have them handy.

We rotate through the same 6-7 meals. Just easier that way. Cheaper too, buy in bulk!

Someone posted a pintrest pic from Martha Stuarts website today, it was a stuffed squash with beans, garnished with guac....and I thought wait that's healthy. Hmm...sometimes cooking websites give you inspiration, especially for me in the vegetable department.

First I check what I still have left in the house. I usually find a recipe or look through what's on sale.
Then I usually have a lot of ingredients left over, so I make something with that for the next day.
I also have a list of dinners I really like on my computer, for when I am really out of inspiration.

I do it a month at a time, on a large desk calender we hang on the wall. I do a huge pan of roast chicken on monday, then do chicken and dumplings, or chicken pot pie, or chicken enchilada casserole, etc that week. Then ill do a huge crockpot full of spaghetti sauce one monday and then do lasagne, or spaghetti, or pizza's the rest of that week. We have a mexican week when i do a crockpot full of beans, etc. I try to not waste anything, including any broth or drippings, so i try to plan it out well in advance, shop the sales with coupons and stock up on items we use regularly. But this way i also know nothing will go bad before we use it and the family loves leftovers for lunch.

That's a really good idea.. Thanks!

The longer you do it the easier it gets. On a daily basis I usually build my day around dinner. This makes it easier to keep my husband and son happy and stay within my goals as well. I don't always have the entire week planned out so in that case I have breakfast then if I haven't already planned dinner I figure that out. Then I pick lunch and fill the day in with snacks of fruit, protein shakes and nuts. I'm all about bargains and coupons so thats how I decide what to buy, and I pick at least three specific recipes I plan to make out of what I buy for the week. Always have staples on hand and make lists before going shopping so you have what you need in the house. Check out sites like skinnytaste.com and dashingdish.com to get great tasting healthy recipes.