Meal Planning & Couponing - Part 4 (FREE DOWNLOAD!!)

I've had so many of my friends ask about my weeknight recipes. I think it's because I really am into the whole "being a wife and cooking thing." Now don't get all riled up on me. I don't think it's the job of the wife to stay home and cook, clean, and take care of the kids necessarily. I believe the husband and wife should share responsibilities, and I probably won't ever stay home, even when I have kids (yet who can predict the future?!). I'm very into my career, and I'm all about women being able to have the freedom to do what they want. On the other hand, I LOVE coming home from work and putting a quick meal together. I find myself able to relax in the kitchen, and experimenting with different recipes makes me happy. My husband does a ton of the cleaning, so it's a 50/50 split.

I also love being organized. I'm happiest when I know things are in their place, and that comes in handy at work because I am constantly in the midst of expensive chemicals, proteins, etc. If you're not organized, money is lost, and my boss doesn't necessarily appreciate that. I might not have always been organized, but now, it's natural to me. Places like The Container Store make me so happy! My husband thinks my obsession with buying dividers and baskets is a problem. I think it's a solution. :)

With our busy schedules, the way I have stayed organized in meal planning is to create this handy excel sheet. It lists all of our meals in sheet 1 (but for your purpose, it has the 16 meals I will be sharing the recipes of), the ingredients, and any savings, coupons, and rebates for those ingredients. I go through it every week and update my shopping list (found in part 2 of the excel sheet) and change the sales and coupons for the week. All I have to do is copy and paste the ingredients (and savings, coupons, and rebates) into my shopping list and remove the ingredients I already have. I also use the handy Excel Feature called "Sort By" for this. When I've gone through all the meals in order, I randomize it, so I'm not making the same thing over and over or necessarily the same days. It's so easy!

Abbreviations To Know:

PC - Paper Coupon

DC - Digital Coupon

CYO - Check Your Offers

PYOO - Pick Your Own Offer

On Sheet 2 is my shopping list. It's not my exact shopping list because I find that kind of weird for you to know exactly what I buy every week. But it has some of the staples from our house, and I add to it like I stated above. Since you buy things that don't necessarily go into the meals planned (and I'm just including dinners in the one I'm providing for you), I have also updated some of the savings, coupons, and rebates for some staple items in the household, such as orange juice, milk, etc., that may not be an ingredient in the meals (some are, though, since I did this before updating all of the meals).

For the next couple of weeks, I will be sharing the following 16 meals:

Chicken Spaghetti, Philly Cheesesteak Sandwiches, Beef Broccoli, Pineapple Pork, Meatloaf Muffins, Enchiladas, Chicken Florentine Pasta, Taco Pizzas, CBLTs (Chicken, Bacon, Lettuce, & Tomato Sandwiches), Grilled Steak with Chimichurri, Grilled Pork Chops with Carmelized Peaches, Baked Tilapia & Vegetables, Maple & Soy Salmon, Enchilada Casserole, Shrimp Gumbo, & Oven-Fried Chicken

You can already see what ingredients are needed, and I will follow up with a detailed description of how to make them. They're some of the quickest and most delicious meals, and most are healthy (or have healthy substitutions)! Three are also crockpot meals, and I use those on nights when I'll be home later than usual. I also have other favorites on my personal excel tracker (like spaghetti and meals that everyone has their own recipes of), so feel free to add your family recipes and build a huge index of meals and make it suitable to YOU. Another suggestion would be to add another sheet of breakfast and lunch ideas, though I usually just add those quicker items to my shopping list since we are pretty basic for those meals. My goal is to help others simplify their meal planning!

I hope you'll stick around to see the recipes I post!

So DOWNLOAD your FREE Meal Plan & Coupon Tracker now! Here is your link to view and edit!

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Q7t87SaE3MZKNxH_eagczyPv7JFfcirJQAFUAtX9GXM/edit?usp=sharing

Happy Meal Planning!