Meal Planning

I saw this wonderful post on meal planning and decided to take a stab at it. As the cost of living keeps increasing, our family has been trying to find ways to save money. Meal planning helps you save money by keeping you from buying things YOU DON'T NEED throughout the month. When you plan your meals ahead of time you are less likely to make an extra trip to the grocery store and pick up those three of four "extra" items. This month, I've prepared the following menu and we spent $550.00 for this month's groceries (we might spend a little more - another $20 or so for Thanksgiving). Now, I do need to let you know (if you just had a heart attack) that we buy in bulk so we tend to spend more in one month but we've calculated that we are only shopping every 6 weeks so it's averaging out to be around $370/month for a family of three. Now, I will admit that there's not a wide variety of side dishes in this particular plan (my husband barely eats veggies so I have to push the ones he will eat). For your plan, just add your favorite sides and make necessary adjustments to meet your budget.



Here's the meal plan for this month and, on a side note, I print two of these - one that is kept in my binder with all the recipes for the month in sequence and one to post on the fridge. You'll notice that I have a "Defrost" memo on each day to let me know what to pull out for the next night (some things, like roasts & whole chickens need more time to defrost so you'll see they are pulled out days ahead of time).

Monthly Calendar

I use the "Weekly Meal Plan" to have a handy overview of the upcoming week. I keep it in my binder behind the monthly calendar. I just rotate the weeks out as they come up so I have easy access to notes about how I want to prepare some of the recipes.



Weekly Menu Planner

Oh, and here's the cover for my binder - if you want one with your name on it and/or in a specific color - just leave me a comment with your last name, email address and color choice and I'll send you one - ready to print.


Menu Planner Cover

A Most Beautiful Poem

I love this poem so I did a little "design" and made it available for printing for FREE of course. I hope you also enjoy the poem.

The phrase "I carry your heart (I carry it in my heart)" reminds me that our calling as husbands and wives is to become ONE...one heart...and to love each other as ONE. As I struggle sometimes to make sense of the frustrations of marriage I try to remind myself that the promise I made to my husband is far greater than any petty disagreements or hurt feelings. I remember that I promised to become ONE with him and to love him no matter what - as Christ loves us.

I hope you enjoy. I did these in a lot of different colors so you could pick the one that best suits you but, if you want a specific color just shoot me an email with the CMYK values and I'll send it to you.

Many blessings to you and yours!


I Carry Your Heart Tan I Carry Your Heart Purple I Carry Your Heart Pink I Carry Your Heart Navy I Carry Your Heart -Grey I Carry Your Heart Brown I Carry Your Heart Blue and White I Carry Your Heart Blackngrey I Carry Your Heart Black I Carry Your Heart Teal

Prayer Journal Printables

Seems that I've been doing a lot of praying lately - for my sister who is having surgery to remove a tumor in her brain on November 2nd, for my daughter who misses her friends because she is working hard and going to college, and for my husband who is struggling with his job. So, I thought I would make some prayer journal pages (or just journal page). These are a little more masculine because I was thinking of my husband when I made them. I'll post pretty girly ones tomorrow. Until then, print some of these out for your husband, son, brother, grandpa, pastor, deacon, or whoever...maybe someone at work that you know would really benefit from a little prayer. Heck, you could even fill one out with a prayer and Bible verse to leave in your husband's/son's lunch just to let them know you were praying for them.

Hope you enjoy!


Prayer Journal Pages - Small Prayer Journal Pages - Large

Really Awesome Grocery List

Free printables are awesome and a grocery list printable is really awesome. I was surfing my favorite site the other day and came across a post for a Free Printable Grocery List. Hope you enjoy it! Oh, a side note, make sure you read the grocery list at the bottom. We are supposed to leave them behind and then the next person to find them is supposed to mail them to the creator...wonder what her plans are for them?