Meal Planning Workbook

Welcome to my Meal Planning

workbook.

This workbook will teach you to save 50% of more on your

groceries, here are some things included:

1. Meal planning strategies and tips.

2. Printable meal planning sheet.

3. Printable shopping list.

4. *BONUS* Four of my favorite meals you can frequently

find in my meal planning calendar.

I hope you enjoy and learn! You can also visit my recipes

resource on iamthatlady.com here.

Lauren

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How to Create

a Meal Plan:

Am I the only one that starts to stress over dinner at 10am? I think I actually

wake up in the morning stressing about it, and if I don’t have a plan for dinner

it messes up my whole day! I LOVE meal planning, but I hate cooking. Is that

even possible? I love meal planning because then I don’t have to think about

what to cook, I think about it once a week as I create my plan, and then I just

execute the rest of the week.

Meal Planning alone can save you hundreds of dollars per month.

It helps you plan around the sales, reduce waste and food in your house

spoiling, and keeps you from eating out at restaurants when you are in a bind.

This is how I recommend starting to meal plan, my goal is to save 50% or

more. If you use coupons, that is icing on the cake!

1.) Start by getting out the sales circular for your local grocery store. The

front page features all the ‘Loss Leaders’, these are the items that they

put on the front page that they want to use to lure you into their store,

that way you spend more money there. These items change every week,

and are the items to stock up on for the week.

2.) I start my meal planning by finding out what is Free or Cheap. I find

the free items that I get using coupons, then the cheap items that are on

sale. I then turn to either Pinterest or my own recipe page for ideas on

what to cook using those ingredients.

3.)Find the meat that is on sale, and try to match the meat on sale with

some of those free or cheap items. Ask the butcher at your local store

when they discount their meat packages, then go to the store during

those times. My local store does them at 8 am every morning, when you

go in during this time you see large ‘Meat Reduction’ stickers on them.

These are reduced for quick sale because they are near expiration date,

and can easily be frozen for up to 3 months before eaten.

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4.) After you have picked out your free or cheap items and you meat sales, fill

in your menu plan with side dishes. What produce do you want to eat for the

week etc.?

5.) Write your meal ideas on a calendar so your family can see it. Mine is on

the front of my refrigerator. That way if my husband has to make dinner, he

knows what recipes to chose from.

6.) Always have some simple go-to meals on hand. Two of our go – to meals

are Pita Pizzas and Eggs and Sausage. On any given day you can find

supplies to make these two meals for dinner, this way we never have to grab

that emergency pizza. Learn to play the grocery game. Make a list for your

grocery items, put everything that you need for the week for your meals on

this list. The goal is not to go back to the store – studies show that for every

extra minute you are in the store you spend an extra $1.75. By shopping once

a week you are already saving yourself money.

7.)Avoid those one ingredient trips, because of what I said above, you know

that you will buy things that you do not need. Shop once a week and only

once a week.

8.)If you decide meal planning takes too much time, you can always sign up

for a meal planning service like Emeals.

Have you heard the term that 1 hour of planning can save you 4 hours of

execution. By spending one hour to plan our your meals for the week, you are

savings yourself hours of mental energy, stress, and time! Dedicate to sit down

once a week and plan out your meals and make your shopping list, trust me that

doing this will help you save a lot of money!

The following pages will be worksheets that you can use to help organize your meals planning

recipes and shopping lists. I highly suggest creating a Meal Planning Pinterest Board where

you can keep all of your recipe ideas!

If you have a Smartphone, you should download the Favado App so that you can search for the

unadvertised sales in your local grocery stores.

Printable Shopping List

© That Lady Media LLC

Fresh Fruits/VeggiesSnack Foods Dairy/Meat Frozen

Bread/Breakfast /Beverages

Baking Canned/Boxed Household

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Created by iamthatlady.com

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Created by iamthatlady.com

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BONUS SECTION: I wanted to give you a BONUS section which includes 4 of my Go-To meals that

I use when meal planning. These four recipes are favorites in our house and

they cost between $5 and $10 for the entire meal. When starting to meal plan

having some go-to meals is a must!

Here is my family spaghetti sauce recipe passes down from my grandmother in Italy - it is the best one you will ever cook - don't trust me - try it! Serves: 8-10 Ingredients:

3-4 cans of Crushed Tomatoes (either regular or with basil, oregano and garlic) 28 oz. sized cans. You can also use fresh tomatoes from your garden!

4 cloves of garlic (pressed or chopped finely) This is the garlic press we have and LOVE IT!

A bunch of dried basil (probably 3-5 Tbsp)

A bunch of black pepper (probably 1-2 tsp)

1 Tbsp of sugar (optional - if you want the sauce a little sweeter)

2 Tbsp olive oil ⅓ cup of grated Parmesan or Romano cheese

Minced Green Peppers (optional)

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Instructions:

1. Heat the olive oil in a 5+ qt. pot over medium heat, and add the chopped or pressed garlic.

2. Heat for one to two minutes, making sure not to burn the garlic, then add all the crushed tomatoes, black pepper, basil and sugar. Stirring often, bring to a low boil.

3. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 2-3 hours stirring often. 4. For the first half of the simmer time, do so with the pot uncovered, then

cover. 5. Add the cheese, stir in and simmer for an additional 5 minutes or so. 6. This will make the equivalent to 4-5 jars of sauce, and the cost is probably

about half (and it tastes way better).

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Chili Recipe: Ingredients:

2 lbs. hamburger (or turkey) 1 can of red kidney beans, rinsed (15 oz)

1 can crushed tomatoes (28 oz)

1 can of water (28 oz)

1 large onion, minced

2 cloves of garlic, minced or pressed

2 Tbsp chili powder

1 Tbsp salt 1

tsp black pepper 1 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (optional – depends on how spicy you want it)

1 1/2 Tbsp red wine vinegar

1 tsp worcestershire sauce

1 Tbsp chocolate chips Directions:

1. Over medium heat, cook ground meat in a large pan with the minced onion until browned.

2. Add the garlic and cook for another minute. 3. Drain the meat. 4. In a large sauce pan or stock pot over medium heat, add meat (with the

onions and garlic) and mix with all other remaining ingredients except the kidney beans.

5. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer until you’ve reached the desired thickness.

6. Add kidney beans and simmer for an additional 30 minutes. 7. Top with shredded cheese & sour cream and serve with a side of

cornbread.

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15 minute Red Pepper and Kielbasa Pasta

Ingredients:

Elbow Pasta or Farfalle (we used Tinkyada Gluten free elbow pasta)

Hillshire Farms Turkey Kielbasa (12 or 13 oz)

1 Red Pepper, sliced

1 Yellow Pepper, sliced (you can also use a green pepper if you have that instead)

1/2 cup beef broth – used beef bouillon

1/8 tsp pepper

¼ cup parsley 1-2 tablespoon olive oil

Parmesan cheese (optional) Directions:

1. Cook pasta 2. While pasta is cooking, sauté peppers in oil until soft. 3. Add kielbasa and cook until browned. 4. Add broth and pepper and bring to a boil. 5. Simmer for 10 minutes and then add to pasta. 6. Top with parsley and parmesan cheese.

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Easy Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

Ingredients:

2 qts of chicken stock

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

2 medium carrots, halved lengthwise and roughly chopped 3 medium stalks of celery, roughly chopped

2 Tbsp dried thyme

2 cups of cooked chicken, shredded

1 tsp black pepper

Kosher salt

8 oz. egg noodles (or 2 cups brown rice)

Directions:

Heat the olive oil over medium heat and add onions, carrots, celery, thyme, pepper and a pinch of kosher salt. Saute for 5 – 6 minutes, stirring often.

Add the chicken stock, chicken and 1 Tbsp of kosher salt.

Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer for 45 minutes.

Add the egg noodles and cook until the noodles are done.

Taste and add additional salt as desired.

Serve and garnish with parsley.