I spend too much money on food. I want to get organized and stop wasting money and food. I currently WOH but I will be a SAHM withing a year!!! I want to make a meal plan that is healthy and low maintenance. Please tell me all about your meal plans!
TIA

I just made a list of our favorite meals (we have about 20 meals) and we just rotate those.

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Most of my meals are very simple; main dish, side dish and veggie. Sometimes we will have salads too or maybe just celery and carrot sticks. I rarely serve bread with meals, but that is just me. I think if my bread making skills were better or if I had a bread maker it would be different. That is it really. It just depends on the meal and my money situation. For instance, last nights meal: baked fish, one box of lipton noodles, one can of creamed corn. I can not remember what I spent on the fish since it was a big bag and I only used 5 pieces, lipton noodles-$1, canned veggie-.40. Snacks for the kids are simple things too; crackers, cheese, fruit, cold cereal, baked goods.
Look under the Kitchen chatter forum. Many of us post what we are making for that days dinner and also some of us post our weekly/monthly menus too. That should also give you some ideas.

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Nothing is as important as passion. No matter what you want to do with your life, be passionate.
Jon Bon Jovi

This is what I did too, I wrote down the meals I can make, that are healthy, affordable and we enjoy. Then I just pick which ones I am going to make that week (starting with what I have at home already) and only buy what I need at the store. By the next time I go shopping, we are down to practically nothing. I have what I need and we don't waste a bunch of food. It takes some time to get used to it, it can be a bit shocking to see an almost bare fridge!

ETA: just read araefinn's response and she explained it well, we also do the simple meals and simple snacks and don't have bread with meals. I also use many of the same ingredients in many ways in different dishes, especially meat and veggies....we eat a lot of peppers and zucchini so I sautee it, roast it, put it in sauce, use it in stirfry. It cuts down on the number of veggies I buy while still eating healthy. If I roast a whole chicken, the leftovers can be hot sandwiches, curry chicken, chicken pasta, chicken tacos, and make stock from the bones for a soup.

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Doing my best to raise a GEEK- Genuine Enthusiastic Empowered Kid!

I do my plan a little different. I have 30+ menu ideas written out. I try to only use each dinner meal once per month. I work odd hours, so I put my work schedule on the calendar first. On days I work until 8, I plan either leftovers or have something in the crockpot. My husband doesn't cook at all. Then I fill in the days I have off or get off early with more extravagant (aka time consuming) meals that my family will eat as leftovers. I'm on a $300 per month grocery budget, so planning is definitely key. When sour cream or cottage cheese goes on sale, I will buy as much as I think we will use before the expiration date. I have about 10 meals that I know I always have the ingredients for, so if we aren't in the mood for something I have planned, I can always make it. Chili and spaghetti are the usual examples. I hope this helps, and good luck with getting to be a sahm. I wish we could afford it, but I would be too anxious with our debts being as high as they are. LOL!

Our dinners are pretty simple here too: I usually prepare a main dish, side item, and bread(yeast rolls, garlic toast, dinner rolls). My dh is a big bread eater, so I have to include that in! I have between 10-20 meals that I rotate, I always look at the sales ads to see what meats/side items are on sale and usually buy those things to work with. Another good idea is to look at the meals you really like, and see if you can make more of them from scratch, to cut down on buying convenience/processed food items. The kitchen forum has a lot of great recipes/tips.

I lost my message. See below

I take a templete of the month and fill it in with meals that we like. From that I make my meals for the week. I also combine what is on sale or what I have on hand. Like this past weeks meun was:

Sat roast a chicken, mashed potatoes, cole slaw
Sun I cooked a pork loin in the cockpot with vegs
Mon we had chicken (using some of the leftover from Sunday) burriottoes(SP), rice and finished the coleslaw
Tue we had BBQ pork (used the leftover pork) sandwiches with vegs and potatoe pancakes (used the leftover mashed potatoes)
Wed we ate at the neighbors. We took over cheese and crackers
Thrusday Used the rest of the chicken and made chicken, rice, cheese casarole with rolls
Fri eat what ever is leftover or grill cheese and soup.

Next week will start with
Sat hamburgers, salad, fries
Sun turkey dinner with all the fillins
Mon Hot turkey sandwiches
Tue veg Stir fry over rice or noodles
Wed eating with the neighbors I'm taking a salad
Thursday Soup and sandwiches
Fri leftovers