We don't really buy prepared meals because we are both cooks and love to do fresh food - so we shop mostly produce and meats. We can cut down costs by doing vegetarian meals and buying beans instead of the meats. Sometimes we will do a costco trip for meat and that helps to cut the cost (in the long run). Doing pasta meals is also fairly inexpensive. I find that doing meals with potatoes is also a nice cheap way to go if we ever want to cut the costs.

We love to shop together with our 1 year old DD. She loves to push the cart while in the baby carrier and we get to talk and have fun. We don't buy diapers (because we use cloth) and we don't buy formula since I'm a proud breastfeeding mommy. We do make our own baby food, but for the most part, she just eats what we are eating. We do buy her some homo milk because it's better for her than stuff we would drink (not enough fat).

A beautiful outdoor military handfasting

6 June 2009

http://www.mywedding.com/jamieandnicoleswedding

So any tips on planning meals???? I need to learn to budget!!!

 Chantal & Ben Lively - 04.22.08 - Punta Cana

Hoping for a little bean sprout soon!!!
 

XoXo (9/3/2008)

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chantsy (9/3/2008)

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I'm sure we spend too much. I wish I was able to plan my meals ahead and shop accordingly. Any tips would be appreciated!!! We are doing a bit better as we started buying meat at costco and marinating and freezing it. I wish we had a big box freezer so we can prepare meals ahead and freeze them.

So any tips on planning meals???? I need to learn to budget!!!

Marinating your meat ahead of time and freezing it is a great idea! As for tips for meal planning, my advice is to sit down every weekend and figure it all out. I try to prep things ahead of time as much as possible and make meals that require at least some of the same ingredients. For example, if I were to make a meatsauce, I'd brown more hamburger than I needed, set some of it aside and later in the week I'd use the rest of the hamburger beef for something like tacos. That makes for a ridiculously easy meal... stick it in the frying pan, add taco seasoning, chop some veggies, and there ya go! When you're cooking a chicken breast, make more than you need and have a chicken caesar salad the next night. So cooking more than you need for one night is really good to save time later in the week. Another thing that works great if you feel you maybe don't have much time is a slow cooker! If you don't have one, GET ONE! It's wonderful to come home to a nice home cooked meal that took no more effort than tossing something into a slow cooker pot and going about your day as normal!

www.kraft.ca is a wonderful website if you're looking for easy meal ideas! Meal planning is definitely not hard work, just requires a little bit of thought ahead of time Good luck!

Thanks so much Nikki!!!  Those are great tips!  PLUS I just got a slow cooker from my aunt as a wedding present.  I have yet to use it but I'm sure I'll love it!!!  Thanks again!

 Chantal & Ben Lively - 04.22.08 - Punta Cana

Hoping for a little bean sprout soon!!!