Menu Planning Printable - Help yourself cut your grocery budget

Hey guys.

I've been hard at work planning and making this printable for myself to share with everyone.

So in an effort to have a solid menu plan and shopping plan in place before heading out to the store I plan to start doing my shopping on Saturday's. My ad circulars come to my mailbox on Wednesdays or aren't available on any apps until late Tuesday or until Wednesday. I usually head to the store having maybe looked at an ad or two for a few minutes and tend to miss things. Like lets say eggs were on sale for $1.89 at Aldi's, not bad, but if I had really taken the time to study all the circulars I would have seen that they were 99 cents at Albertsons. So the extra time will help me avoid making those kinds of mistakes. Another reason I think it will work better for us is because we are all home, there's no need to rush home to get ready for work or to pick up my daughter. This way we can run all our errands on the same day, visit multiple stores to snag the best sales for the most savings without the added pressure of having to be back home at a certain time.

So as promised I wanted to start menu planning. I had been trying to menu plan on a regular piece of notebook paper but I found I was just kind of throwing things on there that in the end didn't make sense. So the more I tried paper after paper, I said to myself I need to find a better way. I searched the internet for a printable because I really wanted to create a successful plan where nothing would end up forgotten or going to waste.  I feel proper organization is necessary for it to be successful. Plus who doesn't want a super cute printable. But everything I found was just not fitting the criteria for me. So I set out to create my own, which wasn't easy with my browser freezing twice creating the same template a total of three times #TheStruggle. I wanted a place where I could plan for breakfast, lunch and dinner for all 7 days of the week. Log what I had to work with, like what was in the pantry, fridge or freezer? What needed to be used right away? What was I missing? What did I need to go shopping for? I also needed a space to give myself reminders a bit of a to do list to prep ahead so I wouldn't forget to do something that was necessary for a dinner I had planned. Like defrost meat or soak dry beans overnight etc. I need that, I mean it, after having these kids I swear I am honestly lucky to just remember my name. So a reminder list is crucial to me so I don't ruin my plans and throw off the whole menu planning.

Because I didn't find one that worked. I made my own and decided to share with all of you incase it would be useful to anyone.

Download your free printable using the link below. For my printer I had to set the image to 49% to fit the entire page. You may have to adjust for your printer in your settings.

Happy menu planning.

Click HERE for your free printable. Download through dropbox.

Here is my real life example of how well it worked for me. I used a highlighter to cross off things after I had incorporated them into the menu. I tried to make use of all the perishables especially.

Hope you guys like it. Speak to you next week.