*Fist Pump!* We survived our month of no restaurants. We celebrated by ordering pizza from Domino’s yesterday. But today it’s back to regular meal planning, veggie chopping, and being intentional with every item in our cabinets. The good news is that now that our little annual restaurant “fast” is over, we can intentionally plan we want to dine out and actually enjoy those meals. Oftentimes, most of us end up dining at a restaurants because we don’t have a plan. Because we don’t have a plan, we don’t even enjoy the meal. But planning to dine out builds margin into our life so that we determine exactly where we’re going, how much we’ll spend, and maybe even the opportunity to look over the menu and choose a favorite item. The experience becomes what it was meant to be – a luxury! That means it’s time to plan our meals for this week at home so we can truly splurge and enjoy it.
If I don’t have a plan, I know I’ll fail when it comes to best using our resources, money, and time without a meal plan. I don’t always follow our meal plan to a T but there’s a relief in knowing that we have all of the items to make meals all week long that we need. That way, we use the groceries we have and stay out of the drive thru (obviously saving money!). Regular meal planning was one of the many keys to us paying off $127K in 4 years. Simply paying attention made huge waves in our finances. Did you catch my segment on WTHR a couple of months ago? It focused on tips & tricks for meal planning. Check those out for some of my best tips!
Don’t forget I have a newly designed Meal Planner to help you in your meal planning and grocery list endeavors. And you can always find it (along with other great resources) on the FREE Printables Tab on Queen of Free.
Without further ado, here’s what’s for dinner on the Royal Table this week:
Monday:
Baked Potato Bar
Ham & Cheese
Salad
Apple Slices
Tuesday:
Ground Turkey Nachos
Guacamole, Black Beans, Salsa, Cheese
Brown Rice
Apple Sauce
Wednesday:
Spaghetti
Salad
Crusty Bread with Olive Oil
Thursday:
Ham and Soup Beans
Corn Bread
Mac-n-Cheese
Friday:
Grilled Cheese
Chips
Apple Sauce
Saturday:
Brunch – Eggs, Ham, Cheese, Toast
Fruit
Dinner: Pizza
Sunday:
Lunch Out
Dinner:
Chili
Fresh Veggies
Apple Sauce
Planning meals was definitely one of the biggest keys for success in our paying off over $127K in debt. Often I swap days or side items to make our menu plan work but the main purpose is to make sure I have everything on hand I need for meals throughout the entire week. The less you go to the store, the more money you save!
What are you having on your Royal Table this week?
Gain inspiration to pay off debt! Check out Inspiration to Pay Off Debt: 30 Days of Encouragement from the Queen of Free on Kindle.
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