Meal Planning

Until recently I hadn't planned out meals day by day.  I would make a list of meals that we wanted to eat, buy the ingredients, and keep that list on the fridge.  Problem was, some meals would need fresh ingredients that would go bad before we got to that meal or something would need to be thawed out and I wouldn't do that in enough time.  Some friends of mine were using Google calendar to meal plan and encouraged me to give it a try.  I'm hooked!

I love using Google calendar and having meals all planned out for several reasons.  Probably the biggest benefit is that I've done the work of figuring out what to eat for dinner ahead of time.  I don't have to stare at my list trying to figure out which meal to make, which meal needed that onion that is going bad, etc.  I like the feature that allows you to simply click on a meal and drag it over to another day if plans happen to change.  I type in leftover days once or twice a week since we are a small family and usually have extras.  I'm also using the calendar to plan out my other baking - bread, granola bars, bagels, and other things that aren't necessarily dinner, but need to be planned.  Knowing what we are eating for dinner ahead of time also allows me to create better meals.  If I know what we are having I can make fresh tortillas, put some cinnamon raisin bread in the bread machine, or be sure we have a fresh salad on hand.  Using Google calendar has been a great tool to use in feeding my family healthy meals and organizing my day a bit more.