Menu Plan

Why didn't someone tell me how extremely EASY it is to plan your menu for the week. Why haven't I been doing this since the beginning? I've heard of the 'planning' thing, but it always seemed like a chore, and things always came up and the 'plan' went out the window. I did attempt daily plans, but it was kind of like an invitation to break those plans and I always ended up scratching stuff out and it ended up being more work in the end.

New philosophy: Plan, but be flexible. Substitutions with comparable products are FINE. Don't want chicken, have pork, steak, whatever. Don't want rice, have potatoe, pasta, whatever. Don't want leafy salad, have cooked veggies. You get it. If you have a dairy or oil there, make sure there still is one.

I can't get the spreadsheet uploaded, so I'll do a couple of days so you can see the template. I print off the week and put it on the fridge. Hubby is finding it helpful as well since we also decide the family meals for the week as well. He tends to do the dinners and we also build our grocery list around this template - so we're never scrambling for 'what is in the house for supper'. If it's on the spreadsheet, it's in the house. For the family, I put 'Same' or list what they will eat if they don't want what I'm having or vice versa. I also include a line at the bottom telling me my planned exercise times so the family is prepared (and so am I - no excuses).

One side, I do NOT eat protein bars every day. We, ahem, ran out of almonds so I switched my Tuesday snack since the bars were in the freezer. Hubby is making a trip to the grocery today to ensure the rest of the week goes off without a hitch.