As a stay-at-home mom with three children that are home schooled, it is important that we streamline our day-to-day activities such as chores, school and meals. The easiest way for our family to operate is to plan a two-week menu, based on my husband’s pay schedule and plan our grocery list accordingly. This saves us a lot of money because our purchases are planned and we rarely go out to eat or buy convenience foods because our meals are planned ahead of time. This helps me to keep my calorie intake low because I make most of our meals and I can control my portion sizes and the ingredients I use.

There are plenty of websites that offer valuable tips and advice for menu planning as well as some great print-outs to help you get started organizing your meals and saving you money! Some of my favorite sites include:

Darla Shine’s Happy Housewives Club

Darla’s site offers wonderful print-ables. Check out the Weekly Menu sheet as well as the Grocery List. You can use them as is – or you can use their wonderful example to tailor your own lists. Be sure to stop by their individual pages and get recipe ideas from the cooking section and terrific organization and housekeeping tips from the homemaking section.

Donna Young

There are some fantastic grocery shopping lists here as well! Donna Young is a perfect example of an organized woman! And the lists and tips she offers on her site are invaluable. I really recommend you grab a cup of coffee, or tea, and cruise her site for a while – you won’t be sorry!

Now, for our home, I do not have the meals assigned to a particular day. I simply have a master list of 14 to 15 dinner menu options. This allows me some freedom to switch to an easier meal on busy days, or to have something nice to serve when company comes over on short notice.

By planning our grocery list, it’s easier for me to provide healthy meals for our family and low-calorie options for myself all while saving a bundle of money by skipping the take-out and fast food meals.