month long meal plans?

[esmama]

Does anyone do a 1 month or 3 month long meal plan and actually stick to it?

[krankedyann]

I have in the past. I always left one day a week open to clean out the fridge, as well as eating leftovers for lunches.

[Benji'sMom]

I do a one month, and YES I stick to it. My menu for July was in this thread: http://www.mothering.com/discussions...highlight=july

I'm doing something a little different for August. I know from experience that we pretty much eat a lot of the same stuff every month. So what I'm did was shop around for the cheapest price for staples (whole wheat flour, whole grain rice, dry beans of different types, common canned goods, etc), and figured out how much it would cost to buy in bulk (flour 50#, beans at least 10# I don't remember exactly), then I priced around the cheapest meats from the sale papers (found chicken for 39c per lb!!). Came up with a total price on this stuff (I think it's $132?) And I will plan an August menu around that.

Usually I planned before buying, and didn't buy based on sales, but for August I'm going to buy first then plan, based on the cheapest prices. And I'm sure the staple items will actually last more than 1 month, and I'll just look for another meat sale in September. Now, that only leaves perishable items to buy, like fresh produce, eggs, milk. (Except figuring out how much to buy at one time BEFORE making the meal plan comes with practice and experience, based on what we usually eat in a month.)

[ClassiclyAmber]

I would love to try this...

[rachelagain]

I do-- and I really like it. PM me and I can email samples if you want.
I plan breakfast and dinners and lunch on the weekends. It helps me to use dried beans, etc-- since I know before the day to soak them overnight.
I make a day towards the end of the month to sit down and do it. I don't have to do too much anymore, since I've been doing it for several years and so have previous ones saved on the computer. When I save them I mark what day it starts at, so the weekends are already lined up they way I need. It took me about a year to get a good verity. I print it out and tape it to the fridge. The kids love it, as they know what we are having.
When grocery shopping I just look it over and usually know what I have in the pantry, so then I know what I need to buy to finish the meals.
I have tried shopping once a month, but it was alot of work, so now I shop 2x/month w/ going to grab milk/eggs in between.