Greetings Money Saving Lords & Ladies! I’d love to tell you that I follow my meal plan to T every week. Can I be honest? Last week was a train wreck. Spring Break made me be an entirely lazy human being in all things home maintenance and personal discipline. Meh. So I’m playing catch up on cleaning and laundry while doing double reading on the #LentChallenge and praying for someone to come over and chase me around the block. I at least developed a meal plan that easy enough to follow and makes the most of the items we have in our fridge, freezer, and cabinets. And after some restaurant debauchery we all need more VEGGIES that are not french fries. I’ve committed to eating greens at lunch every day this week. 2 days in, I already feel better.
I should be getting chapters 2-7 back for the second round of redlines today, too. AND we have a field trip and academic team to keep up with this week as well. So I chopped extra veggies and bagged up snacks to go, too. Must. do. better. this. week. on all fronts.
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? 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 Chicken
Mashed Potatoes
Asparagus
Strawberries
Tuesday:
Chili (in the crockpot)
Topped with Cheese & Tortilla Chips
Apple Slices
Wednesday:
Marinaded Grilled Chicken
Grilled Pineapple
Brown Rice
Veggie Kabobs
Thursday:
Cheeseburgers
Roasted Red Potatoes
Green Beans
Friday:
Homemade Pizza
Fresh Veggies
Fruit or Apple Sauce
Saturday:
Brunch – Eggs, Ham, Pancakes, Fruit
Dinner:
Leftovers
Sunday:
Lunch out
Dinner:
Taco Night
Ground Turkey
Brown Rice
Black Beans
Salsa & Chips
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 or Pre-Order Slaying the Debt Dragon: How One Family Conquered Their Money Monster and Found an Inspired Happily Ever After (due out November 2014).
This post contains an affiliate link. That means when you get a great deal or maybe even something for free, you also help our family pay off our mortgage early. And for that, we royally thank you!