3 Ways Planning Helps with Homemaking

 Planing!

This touches every aspect of the homemaking. Activities, dinners and grocery shopping. Here are a few ways I handle each of these:

Activities:

This category isn’t too big in our home yet; with two toddlers there aren’t many activities going on for them. But I am a VERY social person and so at the beginning of the month I get all my event calendars together, MOPS, Building Blocks, Bible Study and play dates and block those times off. I am big on doing two big things on the same day. So if two events fall on the same day I pick one, sometimes that decision is hard but the repercussions of me over-extending myself and doing to much is harder on me and my family. 

Dinner/ Grocery Shopping

I like to plan my weekly meals on Sunday evening.  I like to add new meals in from time to time. Who wants to eat the same thing for every meal. Variety is the spice of life after all! When I do my planning I include at least 3 breakfast, 3 lunches, 2 snacks and 3 dinners. So that means there will be repeats of at least 2 different meals. Just incase you are wondering what we are eating this week here it is

Breakfast:

Steel cut oats

Eggs {scrambled, fried or omelets}

Waffles

Lunch

Tuna Salad

Chicken Salad

Chef salad

Lettuce Wraps

Dinner:

Taco Soup {out of the freezer}

Spaghetti

Breakfast for dinner

Snacks

Hummus and bell pepper

Nuts and fruit

Toast with nut butter and banana

So nothing that is rocket science. I’m not gourmet chef but my family likes it!  

Another aspect of meal planning is freezing meals. I love love, LOVE to freeze food for later in the week or month.

Grocery Shopping.

First and foremost I “shop” around the house before I even make my list. For instance, I go pantry shopping {going to my own pantry to see what is already in the house} and freezer shopping {take a guess that means}. I try to make sure and use the things that already in the house to maximize our grocery budget. As I make my dinner menus I take note of the meals that are a hit and the one that hit a sour note. The winners’ get their ingredients get added to the grocery list. This makes it easy to know what to by. But if I don't do these things I end up buying doubles of things we have, and forgetting things we need! 

How does planning help you run your home?