Meal Planning

Hey, everyone!

When I first got married almost 14 years ago, cooking was something I really enjoyed doing but I did not have much experience. I collected recipes since my Home Economic days when we learned to cook at school. Growing up I was given recipes for delicious meals and desserts by many different family members and friends. For my bridal shower, everyone had been given a recipe card and asked to share a favorite recipe with me. I cherish those recipes, especially the ones from my loved ones who have passed. I have an entire drawer of cookbooks and a full recipe box. I have pinned oodles and gobs of recipes on my Pinterest account and I love trying new recipes. As much as I love to cook and try new things, I found myself fixing the same dishes week after week. I was in a rut!

Many of my girl friends had similar complaints. My mother who had cooked since she was a young girl often agreed, "I don't know what to cook!" My sister gave me some ideas of things she would make and my mom gave me a few ideas. Even my dear friend Amber Willingham shared some of her family's favorite meal ideas with me. It really helped to compare/swap recipes with family and friends. But before long I would find myself back into another rut!

I am a list maker and I really love to make lists. It is fun to do and I enjoy the process. So I created some charts and lists for meal planning and it really helped a lot. I have had a system in place for several years now that allows me to be a little more creative when it comes to meal planning. Those I share the idea with are always glad to hear it and so I thought I would just film a video to show you my meal planning strategy. I don't do this every single week but it really is nice to fall back on when I want to change things up a bit!

Thank you for watching! I hope you enjoyed the video. Feel free to share your meal planning ideas with me in the comments below! Have a great one!

Hugs,